Taking A Few Moments With Darude (Exclusive Interview)

[divider]How Live is Live?[/divider]

Not all DJs start out as DJs. For many like Darude, they’re producers who make a hit song and all of a sudden people want to see that song performed up close and personal. Once Sandstorm blew up, he started playing live electronic performances. He found that after the typically short set was over, “people wanted more … So [he] just sometimes played a half an hour sometimes an hour of [his] favorite tracks afterwards.” At that time it was common for clubs to not even have a stage, only a DJ booth, so DJing is something he just fell into. Sometimes he would have a guitar player, or percussion, or a singer with him “depending on the country and what kind of gig [he] was doing.”

“I want to break the idea of just pressing play.”

Whether that means remixing, rearranging, or introducing live elements to a song, Darude wants to do it. He wants to evoke a reaction from you when you hear music, and he wants you to pay attention. “These days I brought some of the live elements back. With current gear you can DJ normally but then sample live, maybe play a little bit of keyboard … People react to it, so that’s fun.” There’s a whole lot more to a Darude set that pressing play, that’s for sure.

Photo Credit: DejaWoo.US

[divider]Consistency or Coincidence?[/divider]

We asked Darude about the similarities between Sandstorm and Beautiful Alien, two tracks the carry a fair amount of overlapping production elements.

“It was intentional … I didn’t plan it like that initially … The chord changes are quite similar to Sandstorm, so it just lended itself to putting some of that stuff in.”

The beginning melodies are similar, but the drops are decidedly different. They are in no way the same song, but it’s nice to pay homage to the track that made him blow up. He started “freaking out towards the release date a little bit because [he] thought it was too much.” In the end, his audience appreciated the tribute (like we did).