Who wrote this?
How far can one man go, with the help of his family? Solomun has built what one could call a musical empire; spanning a record label, booking agency, hit releases, worldwide residencies and now even his own festival. What better moment to talk to the big man than right before his next big success. Read on for all you ever wanted to know about Diynamic humour and Solomun’s favourite restaurant in the Dam.
1. If you had to describe yourself in 5 words to an 80-year-old grannie, what would you say?
“I work when you sleep.”
2. Over the past five years, you’ve produced an enormous amount of tracks, ran one of the hottest labels out there and managed to perform around the world like a maniac. Do you do anything special to keep yourself sane?
“Sometimes it’s really extreme and too much, but I try to keep it all as simple as possible and of course I have good people working for Diynamic or for me, so I can manage it all in a good way. This year I took the first 2 months off and really tried to relax. If you travel too much it’s really hard to find inspiration in the studio, but after those 2 months off I got back in with a fresh approach and did some remixes for Miss Kittin and Foals, and two EPs.”
3. The Diynamic family is growing bigger and bigger. Can you name a) your biggest support, b) the family member with the best sense of humour and c) a young talent you recognise yourself in?
a) Biggest support: “Musically: H.O.S.H., since day 1. My closest advisor business wise: Adriano.”
b) Best sense of humor: “Of course me, haha! The good thing the whole Diynamic family has in common, is the same sense of humour. But the undisputed champion of classical Hamburg humour is DJ Phono.”
c) Recognise myself: “I would never envy a young talent that reminds me of myself as a young talent. And by the way: Ain’t I young anymore? What happened?”
4. Has there been a point in your career when things weren’t going your way? Did you ever consider giving up?
“Honestly, never. Producing music and DJing is the only thing I ever wanted to do. For me it’s the job of my dreams!”
5. You’ve been in Amsterdam many times, do you have any particular connection with our little town?
“I have to confess that I always feel very very good in Amsterdam. One reason for sure is that Studio 80 in Amsterdam was one of the first clubs that digged our Diynamic sound, so we’ve always felt very welcome when we played there. And last October, when we had two sold out shows during ADE, this whole impression was even stronger than before.”
“My favourite restaurant: Toscanini!”
6. You’re hosting a complete ‘Diynamic Festival’ here this summer, a first in the world if I’m correct. Why here of all places?
“Like I said before: the Netherlands and especially Amsterdam is the perfect place for us to do it. We love the city and the people, so for us it was no discussion about the place for our very first Festival. And for sure Amsterdam is a very good place with lots of festivals and of course a good place for all other people from Europe to go to.”
7. You’ve recently picked up Karmon with Diynamic, a talented Dutch kid. How did you discover him and what did you like about him?
“My good friend and label-mate H.O.S.H. told me a long time ago about this super talented kid from the Netherlands. And what shall I say, he was right. But I didn’t pick him up, it’s always a process before we have new members of the Diynamic family. It was also a process with Karmon, but you know, he’s a great guy and now an important member of our family.”
8. Your own festival, record label, booking agency, underground hit records, Ibiza residencies.. What’s next for Solomun? Is there anything left for you to aim for in house music?
“I never think too much about what could happen in the future, so I’ll stay with this concept.”
9. What do you do on a day off?
“To be honest, I rarely have real days off. When I’m home I’m always in the studio. I’m not a workaholic, but also I’m not really good in hanging around doing nothing for a whole day. When I’m free I do love to have dinner with some friends or to go swimming.”
ADVERTORIAL
This is a sponsored article by one of our beloved and hand-picked brands. We guarantee the same quality and relevance for sponsored articles as we normally provide. Interested? Contact us via our about page.
Sharing is caring!
Tweet
