I really wanted a more clever title for this blog post, but I need to stay consistent. If I did get more creative, I would have used something with his new album titled Moments. Anyway, I digress. When I heard that Darude was coming to town, I had to request an interview. I mean, he is a legend, after all. I worked with his team and we decided to do the interview before his set. He was playing at Urbane Manner, a venue I wasn’t familiar with. It was a venue that I would quickly fall in love with, and I can’t wait to go back. They had craft beer on tap… Right?! My friend Michelle was there, and she bought me a beer… Thanks!
Darude was running a bit late, and he did a meet and greet before our interview. We headed inside and did the interview in the kitchen, and had a great time getting to know each other. Thanks to songs like “Sandstorm,” Darude is a legend and is one of the first, and maybe biggest, producers on the planet. It was an honor to meet him and learn more about his recent move to Finland, his new album and more. This was fun, and it is my pleasure to introduce you to “Rude Boy.”
“Sandstorm” is one of the most iconic dance tracks ever.
If you say so!
I do say so! That song has been around forever. When did that come out?
It was about sixteen years ago now. It originally dropped in Finland in 1999 and 2000 elsewhere.
You grew up in Finland. Tell me more about what that country means to you. I know you and your family recently relocated there.
Moving back there was always the plan. My wife is American, but she has some Scandinavian roots. She loves it there, and we decided to go back there. We feel it is a great place for our son to grow up, and later on, if he decides to see the world, we will be more than happy for him to do that. We just built a house and I have a garage/studio. My life really hasn’t changed much other than I am flying a little bit more. When I am home I am trying to be a 9 to 5 dad. I take my son to preschool now… Just do my studio stuff and every couple of weeks I am on the road.
That is cool that your wife is okay with that. That you’re able to have a healthy relationship.
I am not going to go into my wife life much more than that, but when we met she knew what I did and knew what she was getting into. A little after we met, she started tour managing me. We actually traveled together for a few years. She knows exactly what this is and what I do. Now she sometimes craves being on the road!
Moments is just unbelievable. Talk about that album and the inspiration behind it. It’s been a while since you release an artist album.
It’s called Moments because those tracks came from certain moments in time. Some are 7 years old. I started soon after I made Label This! There is something about these tracks that triggered something. We had some hardship in our family, then some happy times… Those inspired these tracks. With the album I needed to decide if I wanted to make everything sound 2015 with songs that I had gathered over time. I decided I am not trying to copycat anything or to force it to sound 2015. I wanted to make good music and that is why there are sounds from 2009, old school Darude songs. Half of the tracks were done in the last year or so, and those are more modern sounds. I also collaborated with several people because I wanted their sounds. The track called “Moments” with Tom Fall. Because of label reasons, he is not on the title. But I am allowed to say who I produced it with. He is a brilliant producer from Finland.
I had a wide variety of dance music. Then I decided it is about the music, not the genre. Not fear, fear is too strong a word, but I was wondering if people would think it was a mixed bag of something or if they would realize it was different styles. That is a good explanation why I called the album Moments.
“Beautiful Alien” is my favorite song on the album. Period. What is your favorite song on the album?
That is difficult. I didn’t write the lyrics for “Moments,” but I talked with the guys and we had this amazing writing session. I knew the guys, but we met the first time and talked half the day. I spilled my heart to them, and they wrote and gave me full writing credit because of our writing credit. They felt that what I told them they could turn into the lyrics. You can only think of the last words of the chorus, “We could go all the way tonight.” It could mean lovers, it could mean the party people here tonight, or it can mean so many things. There are lines throughout the song that are meaningful to me.
You took over EDM.com’s Snapchat the other night. Was that fun?
That was cool. I hope I wasn’t too tame. I was trying to figure out some silly stuff, but it didn’t really come out like that. (Laughs.)
Las Vegas is an epicenter for dance music in the United States. What are some of your favorite clubs in Sin City?
I haven’t been in Vegas in a while. The last time I played there was at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. I used to love Rain.
Tell me more about EnMass Music.
EnMass Music is Randy Boyer and myself. Randy is a DJ/producer. I’ve known him ever since my first gig in the U.S. We are very like minded thinking promotions, thinking music and being down to earth. EnMass is a product of that. It is not in full gear, but we have our own production stuff. It is a hobby that we want to turn into a label. We want to find new talent and find stuff we would play in our set. It is a cool pet project, and now that the album is done, I hope that I can get back to fostering new tracks.
There are a ton of good DJs out there. What are you listening to when you are not producing your own stuff.
Ferry Corsten, who is in town tonight. Unfortunately at the same time. I just went to dinner with him. He is a veteran and he knows what to do on stage. I love listening to him. Ilan Bluestone has been putting out some really cool tracks recently. I have to mention Super8 & Tab. Joonas Hahmo released a song called “Ocean Drive” that I am going to play tonight. I always want to push my Finnish buddies. There is so much good talent there and I want to foster this brotherhood we have.
In all of the interviews I do, I always give the artist the last word. Go.
If you want to hear someone at your favorite venue, don’t wait for the promoters to figure it out, go tell them. About me, I am what you see is what you get. I want you to go by and listen to my music, but even more so I want you come see me live. That way we can communicate and I love playing music.
Connect with Darude:
Website: http://www.darude.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Darude
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Darudevil
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/darude
Always cool to read stuff from artists that I play. Thanks!
Remind me next time I see you to tell you the story of where we did this interview. It wasn’t exactly in the kitchen!