Hard Dance Event (HDE) took place for the fifth time yesterday in the Melkweg, Amsterdam. At this conference many great artists and representatives talked about their mutual passion, music. On of the panels was about live-acts. How live is a live-act nowadays? Minus Militia (Crypsis, Chain Reaction & Radical Redemption), Donkey Rollers (Zany, MC DV8, Johan) and Ophidian talk about the subject. MC Da Syndrome was the host of the panel.

Da Syndrome: Ophidian, what does a live-act mean to you?

Ophdian: For me it’s a way to express a little bit more how I make the music and what the ingredients are. I think that it’s interesting for the audience because they can see a little glimpse of how you work when you make the track. I work with a lot of melodies and edits, so it’s cool to show on stage how I built the tracks in the first place.

Da Syndrome: Zany is a live-act all about the show, or is it about the music?

Zany: Show.. No we make a lot of tracks and people know them. But for the live-act you make some special edits, most of the time. But for us, as Donkey Rollers, it’s all about the show. We have a clown named Peter (DV8) on stage as well, so… The show is complete.

It’s a combination of things, but I think the show is most important because you want to entertain people.

Crypsis: I think it’s both, because people are also coming for the music right? So when we play live we want to do something different then a DJ-set. So we made a mash-up mix of a lot of track that we put in 30 minutes. But people also want to see something, so that’s where the show comes from.

Da Syndrome: So where do you make the decision to include an MC, or to perform on stage as 3 DJ’s?

Well we made a choice not to take an MC with us, but we take the MC who is already present at the event. It works better for us.

Da Syndrome: What is the success-factor of a live-act?

Radical Redemption: I think when we started Minus Militia the most important thing was to create a whole ‘we-feeling’ against the world. So the whole Militia thing is set up like a real military theme. We also perform like 6 times a year, so we keep it exclusive. That’s also because we all have our solo-careers which go really well for us.

Crypsis: Besides that it’s not special anymore when you perform too much as a live-act. So when you perform 6 times per year, you can always have new tracks. Otherwise you would hear the same tracks every week.

Radical Redemption: Also when you perform 6 times per year you can make something special out of it each time. So at Supremacy, Art of Dance came to us to do the album release ‘Legion of Strength’. We were thinking about what to do, because we wanted to make a real fucking impact. So together we decided to do a big entrance. It has to be like ‘What the fuck was that?!’

Da Syndrome: So Ben (Chain Reaction) how did you experience that?

Chain Reaction: Well I think the same as Joey (Radical Redemption) I was like ‘What the fuck?!’ We started to talk about Militia more than a year ago. We wanted to do something together, but the moment when you’re on stage for the first time, that’s the moment when everything comes together. We had to wait and see if the crowd would like it. From the start it was a massive vibe with the audience, so I believe a live-act is the complete thing. I find it the most wicked thing to do.

Before we go on stage it’s like ‘Wow shit..’ we’re pumping each other up and there’s a lot of good aggression. The audience has to take it and they do. So we’re blessed men!

Da Syndrome: Johan, you guys started Donkey Rollers quite a few years ago, how many years for now?

MC DV8: 2003

Zany: Without Peter hahaha.

Johan: The moment that we started Donkey Rollers was when Q-dance was working on the very first Defqon.1 and they asked us if we were a live-act. ‘Yeah, now it is’ haha. They asked us if we wanted to perform on the mainstage. So we were thinking how to make it work and we started with the show.

Da Syndrome: Ophidian, what’s the difference between a live-act and a DJ-set?

Ophidian: For me it’s a totally different approach. When I play a DJ-set I’m spinning records.. Well I’m spinning virtual records now haha. I have a different approach to a live-act, because I’m not a ‘show’ person. I’m actually scared to death of this microphone here. I’m not the kind of person who you will see jumping on stage with a big spotlight on him. From very early on I always had the idea to do a live-act, because that was a way for me to show more about myself.

The way for me to communicate is through the instruments. So for me the difference when I do a live-act is that I really play instruments live. If I mess up live, I’m going to mess up. You can look up live-acts on YouTube haha. But I believe that’s part of the charme of it.

Da Syndrome: Joey can you tell us something about your live-act, because you also use live instruments right?

Radical Redemption: We use Ableton Live. But a lot of people think everything is live. In a DJ-set you have your seperate tracks and you mix them together. With a live-act you make a mix before the event. So the 30-minute mix is done. You can’t do anything about it. You put it in Ableton and then you start to think what you will do with it live.

You put the tracks from the mix in Ableton without the samples. For instance our track ‘Crackin’ Your Ribs’ has a whole acapella build on it. We take it out and put it in Ableton, we do that for every track. We can add acapella’s, we can add kicks, but you need a mix to do that.

People also ask us how it’s possible that lyrics appear on the LED-walls behind us when we play live. That’s because a waveform in a track is the same as your fingerprint. Every single waveform is unique, so when we go to our VJ he loads in the tracks and the computer recognizes it. That makes the LED’s go on.

Da Syndrome: DV8, you’re also a live-act (DV8 Rocks!) next to Donkey Rollers. What equipment do you use on-stage?

MC DV8: Well I’ll be very honest. I use a USB-stick and a microphone. It’s not live, I only push play. But I put in a lot of effort in making those tracks work. Let’s not call each other pussies, but the thing is that ‘live’ these days is just not that live. You push play and shit still goes on. And you know why? Because people, you guys, want perfection. You guys will fucking moan at one light going the wrong way at the wrong beat. Maybe you’ll complain about it on the internet.

It’s true. You all create a situation where artists and organizations have to pursue perfection. So you take as little a risk as you would possibly have to take. So in my case I take absolutely NO risk. I just put them all together, well actually I’m going to be honest about this. Zany puts them all together haha. And I’ll just go on stage, push play, but I sing the fucking vocals live.

You can all try and be magicians, but you have to perform your stuff to the crowd that likes your music. Thát is live. Don’t get me wrong, I like performing live, but the whole scene kind of evolved. I wouldn’t be offended if it’s not that live. The artist still makes the music for you to enjoy. Do you think 50.000 fucked up people are going to look like ‘Arhrhhhhhrh I do raahhhhh think he ahhhrrr played that composer very well rahhhhhhh’ Hahaha. It’s the truth.

Radical Redemption: It’s kind of the truth, because it’s the same as we do when the mix is made. But for Radical Redemption live it’s the whole fucking experience. The event organizers want the whole show to be huge. If you see a fireworks show, it’s all synced. You send in your tracks 6 weeks in advance so the fireworks company can sync the show.

Ophidian: That’s why I never have fireworks at my shows.

Radical Redemption: But for me Radical Redemption live is more about the show. The same as Minus Militia. We like to create something with our live-act. The shit needs to be tight man.

Crypsis: I agree with Joey. When I go live with Crypsis I stream vocals and effects. You make it special for the people, but it’s not really live. I chose MC Tha Watcher to pump up the people.

Da Syndrome: What is the most popular live-act in your opinion?

Crypsis: Minus Militia haha.

MC DV8: I would say Metallica..

Zany: Hehe…… There are a lot of good live-acts. Every act is unique.

Chain Reaction: It’s the vibe and the performance. The tracks and the music are key, but it’s not just one thing.

Da Syndrome: Can every DJ do a live-act?

Zany: No.. Because not everyone is skilled to do make a really good performance. And not everybody is skilled to make a good live-act.

MC DV8: Mag ik ook nog iets zeggen?

Zany: Alweer?

MC DV8: Haha, the thing is that some live-acts are all seperate artists. There are certain DJ’s out there who put on a live-act, but it’s not really any different from a DJ-set.

Da Syndrome: How does a live-act defeat your own solo-career, because you’re playing the same tracks?

Ophidian: Well no not really. Not all tracks are suitable for a live-act. I won’t play a live-act every weekend, because it would totally wear me out. There’s so much stuff I have to prepare, so I always get mad at stuff the day before. If I play a DJ-set it will be a whole other experience. For me it’s true that I don’t really interact with the crowd during a live-act. It’s because I’m just very busy haha.

Da Syndrome: Johan what do you think is the future of live-acts?

At the moment it’s a very big hype of course. Everyone suddenly wants to go live. When Gunz for Hire popped up they really brought something different. I have a lot of respect for that. They set the bar very high. It’s a really good part of entertainment which people like. They bring CO2-guns, fireworks, I mean what’s next? Slaughtering a pig on-stage? Hahaha.

Radical Redemption: I think it depends on what you want for yourself. If you want to make quick money, then Minus Militia should do like 6 shows per month. If you want the live-act to endure, don’t overkill it. We are working in an entertainment industry. If you’re booking a live-act it’s because you want your venue to be absolutely packed. It needs to be exclusive. Hard Dance Event (HDE) took place for the fifth time yesterday in the Melkweg, Amsterdam. At this conference many great artists and representatives talked about their mutual passion, music. On of the panels was about live-acts. How live is a live-act nowadays? Minus Militia (Crypsis, Chain Reaction & Radical Redemption), Donkey Rollers (Zany, MC DV8, Johan) and Ophidian talk about the subject. MC Da Syndrome was the host of the panel.

Da Syndrome: Ophidian, what does a live-act mean to you?

Ophdian: For me it’s a way to express a little bit more how I make the music and what the ingredients are. I think that it’s interesting for the audience because they can see a little glimpse of how you work when you make the track. I work with a lot of melodies and edits, so it’s cool to show on stage how I built the tracks in the first place.

Da Syndrome: Zany is a live-act all about the show, or is it about the music?

Zany: Show.. No we make a lot of tracks and people know them. But for the live-act you make some special edits, most of the time. But for us, as Donkey Rollers, it’s all about the show. We have a clown named Peter (DV8) on stage as well, so… The show is complete.

It’s a combination of things, but I think the show is most important because you want to entertain people.

Crypsis: I think it’s both, because people are also coming for the music right? So when we play live we want to do something different then a DJ-set. So we made a mash-up mix of a lot of track that we put in 30 minutes. But people also want to see something, so that’s where the show comes from.

Da Syndrome: So where do you make the decision to include an MC, or to perform on stage as 3 DJ’s?

Well we made a choice not to take an MC with us, but we take the MC who is already present at the event. It works better for us.

Da Syndrome: What is the success-factor of a live-act?

Radical Redemption: I think when we started Minus Militia the most important thing was to create a whole ‘we-feeling’ against the world. So the whole Militia thing is set up like a real military theme. We also perform like 6 times a year, so we keep it exclusive. That’s also because we all have our solo-careers which go really well for us.

Crypsis: Besides that it’s not special anymore when you perform too much as a live-act. So when you perform 6 times per year, you can always have new tracks. Otherwise you would hear the same tracks every week.

Radical Redemption: Also when you perform 6 times per year you can make something special out of it each time. So at Supremacy, Art of Dance came to us to do the album release ‘Legion of Strength’. We were thinking about what to do, because we wanted to make a real fucking impact. So together we decided to do a big entrance. It has to be like ‘What the fuck was that?!’

Da Syndrome: So Ben (Chain Reaction) how did you experience that?

Chain Reaction: Well I think the same as Joey (Radical Redemption) I was like ‘What the fuck?!’ We started to talk about Militia more than a year ago. We wanted to do something together, but the moment when you’re on stage for the first time, that’s the moment when everything comes together. We had to wait and see if the crowd would like it. From the start it was a massive vibe with the audience, so I believe a live-act is the complete thing. I find it the most wicked thing to do.

Before we go on stage it’s like ‘Wow shit..’ we’re pumping each other up and there’s a lot of good aggression. The audience has to take it and they do. So we’re blessed men!

Da Syndrome: Johan, you guys started Donkey Rollers quite a few years ago, how many years for now?

MC DV8: 2003

Zany: Without Peter hahaha.

Johan: The moment that we started Donkey Rollers was when Q-dance was working on the very first Defqon.1 and they asked us if we were a live-act. ‘Yeah, now it is’ haha. They asked us if we wanted to perform on the mainstage. So we were thinking how to make it work and we started with the show.

Da Syndrome: Ophidian, what’s the difference between a live-act and a DJ-set?

Ophidian: For me it’s a totally different approach. When I play a DJ-set I’m spinning records.. Well I’m spinning virtual records now haha. I have a different approach to a live-act, because I’m not a ‘show’ person. I’m actually scared to death of this microphone here. I’m not the kind of person who you will see jumping on stage with a big spotlight on him. From very early on I always had the idea to do a live-act, because that was a way for me to show more about myself.

The way for me to communicate is through the instruments. So for me the difference when I do a live-act is that I really play instruments live. If I mess up live, I’m going to mess up. You can look up live-acts on YouTube haha. But I believe that’s part of the charme of it.

Da Syndrome: Joey can you tell us something about your live-act, because you also use live instruments right?

Radical Redemption: We use Ableton Live. But a lot of people think everything is live. In a DJ-set you have your seperate tracks and you mix them together. With a live-act you make a mix before the event. So the 30-minute mix is done. You can’t do anything about it. You put it in Ableton and then you start to think what you will do with it live.

You put the tracks from the mix in Ableton without the samples. For instance our track ‘Crackin’ Your Ribs’ has a whole acapella build on it. We take it out and put it in Ableton, we do that for every track. We can add acapella’s, we can add kicks, but you need a mix to do that.

People also ask us how it’s possible that lyrics appear on the LED-walls behind us when we play live. That’s because a waveform in a track is the same as your fingerprint. Every single waveform is unique, so when we go to our VJ he loads in the tracks and the computer recognizes it. That makes the LED’s go on.

Da Syndrome: DV8, you’re also a live-act (DV8 Rocks!) next to Donkey Rollers. What equipment do you use on-stage?

MC DV8: Well I’ll be very honest. I use a USB-stick and a microphone. It’s not live, I only push play. But I put in a lot of effort in making those tracks work. Let’s not call each other pussies, but the thing is that ‘live’ these days is just not that live. You push play and shit still goes on. And you know why? Because people, you guys, want perfection. You guys will fucking moan at one light going the wrong way at the wrong beat. Maybe you’ll complain about it on the internet.

It’s true. You all create a situation where artists and organizations have to pursue perfection. So you take as little a risk as you would possibly have to take. So in my case I take absolutely NO risk. I just put them all together, well actually I’m going to be honest about this. Zany puts them all together haha. And I’ll just go on stage, push play, but I sing the fucking vocals live.

You can all try and be magicians, but you have to perform your stuff to the crowd that likes your music. Thát is live. Don’t get me wrong, I like performing live, but the whole scene kind of evolved. I wouldn’t be offended if it’s not that live. The artist still makes the music for you to enjoy. Do you think 50.000 fucked up people are going to look like ‘Arhrhhhhhrh I do raahhhhh think he ahhhrrr played that composer very well rahhhhhhh’ Hahaha. It’s the truth.

Radical Redemption: It’s kind of the truth, because it’s the same as we do when the mix is made. But for Radical Redemption live it’s the whole fucking experience. The event organizers want the whole show to be huge. If you see a fireworks show, it’s all synced. You send in your tracks 6 weeks in advance so the fireworks company can sync the show.

Ophidian: That’s why I never have fireworks at my shows.

Radical Redemption: But for me Radical Redemption live is more about the show. The same as Minus Militia. We like to create something with our live-act. The shit needs to be tight man.

Crypsis: I agree with Joey. When I go live with Crypsis I stream vocals and effects. You make it special for the people, but it’s not really live. I chose MC Tha Watcher to pump up the people.

Da Syndrome: What is the most popular live-act in your opinion?

Crypsis: Minus Militia haha.

MC DV8: I would say Metallica..

Zany: Hehe…… There are a lot of good live-acts. Every act is unique.

Chain Reaction: It’s the vibe and the performance. The tracks and the music are key, but it’s not just one thing.

Da Syndrome: Can every DJ do a live-act?

Zany: No.. Because not everyone is skilled to do make a really good performance. And not everybody is skilled to make a good live-act.

MC DV8: Mag ik ook nog iets zeggen?

Zany: Alweer?

MC DV8: Haha, the thing is that some live-acts are all seperate artists. There are certain DJ’s out there who put on a live-act, but it’s not really any different from a DJ-set.

Da Syndrome: How does a live-act defeat your own solo-career, because you’re playing the same tracks?

Ophidian: Well no not really. Not all tracks are suitable for a live-act. I won’t play a live-act every weekend, because it would totally wear me out. There’s so much stuff I have to prepare, so I always get mad at stuff the day before. If I play a DJ-set it will be a whole other experience. For me it’s true that I don’t really interact with the crowd during a live-act. It’s because I’m just very busy haha.

Da Syndrome: Johan what do you think is the future of live-acts?

At the moment it’s a very big hype of course. Everyone suddenly wants to go live. When Gunz for Hire popped up they really brought something different. I have a lot of respect for that. They set the bar very high. It’s a really good part of entertainment which people like. They bring CO2-guns, fireworks, I mean what’s next? Slaughtering a pig on-stage? Hahaha.

Radical Redemption: I think it depends on what you want for yourself. If you want to make quick money, then Minus Militia should do like 6 shows per month. If you want the live-act to endure, don’t overkill it. We are working in an entertainment industry. If you’re booking a live-act it’s because you want your venue to be absolutely packed. It needs to be exclusive.