Music is essential to my life. My motto is: Don’t be a prisoner of your style. That goes for everything in life. Your life can be so much more colourful if you try and venture outside your safe boundaries and try to have an open mind to other stuff that’s going on around you,” Dutch trance guru Armin van Buuren told t2 over email.

The This Is What It Feels Like man has not slipped below the top three slots of the coveted DJ Mag list for over a decade. You read that right, he has been in the top three since 2003, and has been the cherry atop the list a record five times (four in a row from 2007 to 2010, and then again in 2012). That’s not all, if you have enjoyed any new trance act, chances are that someone is on Armin’s label, Armada Music. And if you want to catch up with the latest in the genre, the best place would be Armin’s weekly radio show/podcast, A State of Trance, which is also the name of his compilation album series. Before you shout ‘wow’, read on.

Three years after he brought his landmark show, A State Of Trance 600, to Mumbai, the award-winning DJ is returning to India with the newly conceptualised ASOT Festival. To NSCI-SVP Stadium in Mumbai on June 6 and the day before, he will be in Hyderabad. Joining him in Mumbai will be Cosmic Gate, Orjan Nilsen, Simon Patterson (his first gig in India) and Super8 & Tab. 

Over to the Ping Pong man.

First, your thoughts on bringing A State Of Trance Festival to India with Percept Live and Sunburn?

ASOT and Armin Only (an all-night electronic dance festival) are my most important projects. I’ve always been a big fan of radio and I love being able to give new talent a stage to shine on. That’s what I love most. Don’t forget, I had a lot of help in the early days from other artistes and it feels great to do something back.
Second, I really love to connect the audience at the event with the people listening on the streams… literally turning the world into a dance floor by spreading audio and video to anyone who cares to see it. Percept will do full justice to my property. Sunburn has revolutionised the dance music scene in India and they are truly pioneers of dance music in India.

What do you like most about the audience here?

Indian fans have a great understanding of dance music. India has a huge EDM following and the scene has only grown multifold since the last time I visited (2012). The hospitality of the fans is incredible. EDM will always evolve and so will trance. There’s a global boom currently.

Trance, psy-trance… do you take genre discussions seriously or is it somewhat overrated?

Trance can be very addictive and this also shows how much love there is for that sound. But music will always move on. My problem is that nobody has a clear and right definition of what trance is, what is techno and what is house. Some guys on some download portal simply put music into categories but that DOESN’T mean it is what it says. Throughout my career I’ve always played tracks across the board. If it fits into a set I want to bring, I will play it. I play tracks that I like and that interest me. I’ve learned now that I will never be able to please everyone, but I can get pretty close trying. Don’t forget, melodies are very important to me and I love the music that a lot of people label as trance, whatever that is exactly. I like the current state of the scene with lots of different sounds that still bring that euphoric feeling.

Dance music is like an oil stain. It has spread throughout all other genres of music. There’s electronic beats in most pop albums, and even in classical music… they’re working with dance music influences right now. I like that dance music is constantly reinventing itself. It will never go away, but it will change.

You have been voted the #1 DJ a record five times. What makes you so successful and what keeps you on top?

If I can inspire a young artiste to compete with me, then my mission is accomplished. It’s not up to me how people will remember me, but I hope it’s my love for trance. If anything, I’d be proud if they still remember my work for ASOT, Armada Music and the tracks I did. I’m definitely most proud of the fact that people say they can clearly recognise my “sound”. It’s strange when fans go, “I’m awestruck with your success”, because they like the music so much and I want to say to them, “I’m a fan too.” I’m a fan first and foremost and I’m nothing special. I’m just an ordinary guy from the Netherlands who finished his law degree. I’m married, I have two children, I have a company, and I try to make a living. I do what I love and that’s it. It’s nothing special.

Since 2001, you have been hosting the radio show A State of Trance. How many tracks do you usually listen to in a week?

Between 200 and 500. I have a team downloading them, who put all the promos that I get sent over on a server. But I personally check all the music because I want to hear everything.

What kind of music is played at home? What did you listen to as a youngster?

People know me from trance music, and that’s what I love, but I listen to all kinds. One day I might listen to Jamiroquai, then I might listen to the new Ellie Goulding, then it might be Rage Against The Machine. I try to be open-minded. If my wife plays Wham’s Last Christmas during the holidays and it fits the atmosphere, then I might enjoy that track at that moment. The right music comes at the right time. My parents listened to the Pink Floyd record The Dark Side Of The Moon. To this day, it’s still the best-sounding record I’ve ever heard. It was made in 1973 and if I compare it to a lot of other records, it’s just the best sound. It was recorded on tape and then transferred to vinyl. It adds a certain warmth. I’m a bit nostalgic.... I have to say Klaus Schulze because my dad was more into the progressive stuff, the very first electronic music. Looking back, it was no surprise I’d be in music. Because one of the very first electronic… was the 1968 (album) Walter Carlos’s Switched-On Bach, and my dad was fanatical about that record. My dad was really into new experimental music, and he was alone in that. His friends listened to the Beatles, which he liked, but he had his own path… of electronic music. Maybe it’s in my DNA.

Do you read a lot? Any book you would recommend to our readers?

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. If you could buy a human being from a shop, this would be the manual that comes with it. It’s like reading a manual to your brain. It’s scary. He does experiments with you in the book. He basically says our brain has two brains: Brain 1 and Brain 2. Brain 1 is the fast, thinking brain and Brain 2 is the slower thinking brain. And the balance between the two is what’s important. You have to read it.

You have always encouraged people to behave on the dance floor. What is the worst behaviour you have come across?

I’ve seen many many silly things. I’ve seen people falling off big stages. Fortunately, I’ve never had an incident of ‘death’ at an event but I have seen people getting hurt. I’ve done 10,000 gigs so far, so you’re bound to see things like that. At 91 per cent of the gigs, nothing happens, especially with trance music, there isn’t that stigma of alcohol abuse, so people are mainly there for the music. We, as DJs, need to stand together and make people aware of the dangers of overindulgence, so we can prevent things like this. There will always be stupid people, but now is the time to bring a positive message to these events –– dance more, drink slow and you’ll have a better time.

Finally, your cure for a hangover?!

I don’t drink enough anymore that I need a hangover cure but I would say that the best solution is to drink lots of water and keep hydrated with a lot of fresh fruits. I’m 38 now, so drinking is a little bit harder than when I was 20. Now whenever I go somewhere I take my running shoes and I see the city because I don’t have a hangover. It’s a win-win.

I like Armin van Buuren because.... Tell t2@abp.in