[i:Vibes] A Trip Through Scandinavia [2/4]

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A Trip Through Scandinavia [2/4] - Darude

16:15 - May 9, 2005

by Spherix

i:Vibes: What's the real Ville Virtanen like?

A: Quite similar but a little less polished than the Darude in the promo pictures... ;) And he’s a very easily approachable and social but still pretty private guy.

i:Vibes: In which point of your life did you know that music was your thing and what pointed you towards electronic dance music?

A: I’ve listened to music quite actively since I was less than ten years old... I realized that I could make may own music when I was 19-20 years old when some (then) new friends of mine showed me what they were doing with PCs and some freeware programs. It opened up my eyes (and ears I guess :), all of a sudden I could analyze a track, hear separate stuff like different drums and bass and lead instruments etc. as opposed to earlier hearing just a whole track and thinking it's very complex, science-like thing... I didn't decide to be a musician, I just tried it and got hooked. And here I am. I guess because I’ve never (regretfully) taken the time to really learn to play any instrument properly electronic music was my only option because not everything in it has to do with your playing skills but your ears, sense of style and good sounds and also programming.

i:Vibes: Which artists have influenced you and your music the most and why?

A: Very many metal bands when I was a kid; WASP, Kiss, Twisted Sister, Bon Jovi... Punk stuff; Bad Religion, Therapy, Green Day, Offspring... Eurodance; Modern Talking, Bad Boys Blue, Fancy, Sandra... And later italo disco/house, acid house, happy hardcore, trance; Den Harrow, Lazerdance, Koto, Guru Josh, 49ers, Black Box, The Rebel MC, KLF, Shamen, Scooter, Marusha, Westbam, Members Of Mayday, Dance2Trance, Faithless, Snap!, Sash!, DanceNation, JS16... And some Finnish rock and punk bands just to name *a few*. These days I look up to my Finnish fellow producers as well as some international producers/djs who’ve made a long consistent career for themselves.

i:Vibes: You have fairly recently started to tour as a DJ. Hows it going?

A: It’s going great! It’s true that I’ve “officially” only been booked as a dj for a year and a half or so but I’ve done a lot of gigs before where I first played my live set and then afterwards spun a little extra dj set on top of that if the crowd or buyer wanted it. I see djing as a great extension of a producer’s repertoire because that way you can keep yourself updated on what’s happening “out there” as well as have your name out there between albums and live tours, letting people know what you’re up to. And who’s to say that djing needs to be “only” spinning records? You can use laptops or other little gadgets to spice it up for yourself and for the partying crowd.

i:Vibes: Which gig has been the best so far and why?

A: Out of the about thousand or so gigs it's really hard to pick one. Maybe MTV Ibiza 2000, 12000 people, outdoors, one of my first big ones outside Finland. Definitely one of the finest gigs. I just hade an amazing gig in Salt Lake City @ Vortex, that place just rocks! The whole place was just mental, taking off with each build-up, partying, sweating, all that good stuff! I still get goosebumps thinking about that. ;)

i:Vibes: You are most widely known as the producer of 'Sandstorm'. Did you ever think during the production of the track that the song would become the hit that it actually became?

A: No, how could I have known? I just made it for myself, jammin' alone in my little studio. The only "bigger" thoughts I had were something like "I'd love to hear this in a big PA system and see people dancing". But I didn't even dream about high chart positions or big sales etc... And I still don't. Sales and popularity etc are nice things of course but the biggest thing to me is to sit (or groove) by my computer and synths and make music. Also, these days performing live and djing is equally great (and gives me insttant feedback of the stuff I’ve done in the studio) but anyway at that moment when I’m having fun making music or playing it the success side of it doesn’t matter, it’s the moment, the smiling faces, sweaty bodies etc. that I get my kicks from.

i:Vibes: What was it like to score so highly with your very first single?

A: Great. :)

i:Vibes: Your third album which is named 'Label This!' is on the way. What can you tell us about it?

A: Well, it’s taken a long time for me to get stuff finalized for that one and I’m still working on it. At the moment I’m playing 3-6 tracks off it in my dj sets and I’m getting good responses so it looks I’m doing something right. The music is still melodic, still trancy but maybe I’m experimenting a little more on the left and right if you compare to my two earlier albums. I’m pretty sure there’s going to be a breakbeat track and maybe even a not-so-Darude sounding track or two on it this time but I’m still confident the people liking the earlier ones will find this one interesting and moving also.

i:Vibes: A new album often means a new single. Do you have any new single on the way that you can give us some information about?

A: Sorry, nope. I’ve got a couple of possible single tracks by now but I/we haven’t really decided anything yet.

i:Vibes: We recently spoke to the Danish DJ/producer Michael Splint who told us that the Danish trance scene is kind of non-excistant. What is it like in Finland and how would you compare the Finnish trance scene to the other Scandinavian countrys' scenes?

A: Finland is a small country, so we don't have too many dedicated house or trance clubs for instance... But I guess it's like that everywhere in smaller cities. Our electronic scene is very active and we have both underground and commercial circles which mainly get along pretty well and even sometimes support each other and mix to create a buzz. There are tens of artists and groups that have been signed internationally and have been on good compilations during the past few years (AR52, Fluid In Motion, Miika Kuisma, K-System, Aalto, Super8, JS16, Dallas Superstars, Modulation, Skydive, Jori Hulkkonen, Above&Beyond (1/3 Finnish), etc...)

i:Vibes: You have plenty of new stuff on the way, what more does the future hold for Ville Virtanen?

A: More touring, making more music, collaborating with different people, producing stuff with and for other people, maybe activating my own little label. Oh and I just started a monthly mixshow on ETN.fm, Salmiakki Sessions, which is on the third Thursday of each month (details on my site darude.com), I’m really exciting about that.

Now simply choose Good or Bad to the following statements:

i:Vibes: MP3

A: Good and bad. Legal downloads rock, people leeching morally questionable stuff suck.

i:Vibes: Sauna

A: Good, only sex can be as relaxing as sauna is...

i:Vibes: The Finnish 'Tango music

A: Good, dancing so close to someone can never be bad...

i:Vibes: Swedes who associate everything that has to do with Finland to the 'Mumin trolls'

A: Good, because there’s nothing wrong with Mumin trolls

i:Vibes: Standing in the middle of a Sandstorm

A: Good, as long as you’re drinking ‘Sex On The Beach’ at the same time

i:Vibes: The Finnish cellphone manufactures 'Nokia'