When they released set times for Dreamstate SoCal I started to plan my visit. I wanted to interview as many acts as I could, but also wanted to see a few sets while in town. On Friday I wanted to see Ben Nicky, Matt Fax, Solarstone., Ferry Corsten and Giuseppe Ottaviani. I also wanted to see a few names I wasn’t familiar with like Taylor Torrence and DJ Khromata. It was a great start to a weekend filled with beats.
Things heated up on Saturday with ATB, AUDIEN (doing a trance set!) and Armin van Buuren. I had a few interviews lined up on Saturday, too. Sadly, I missed seeing with RJ Van Xetten, but we connected on Facebook and arranged for an interview. This has been a long time coming, and I have enjoyed listening to his music. He plays out quite a bit, too. I am excited for this one! It is my pleasure to introduce you to RJ Van Xetten.
Sorry we didn’t connect at Dreamstate SoCal. But it was a fun weekend! Did you have a good time?
We had an amazing time! It was definitely one of the most fun we’ve had at a Dreamstate so far. Aside from 2019 when I married my wife (Irina) being the number 1 Dreamstate experience.
It was cool to see Audien do a trance set. Armin’s set was great, too. Oh, and Ben Nicky. Wow! Who all did you see while in town?
Didn’t get to see many, because my wife was hunting down an autograph from Armin van Buuren (JK!) We started our Friday supporting Dustin Husain, and some of Adam Stark. Then we moved onto Taylor Torrence, then 8kays, then spent some time backstage, and went to go see Miss Monique. (They are both from Ukraine, so my wife was loving being able to talk Ukrainian with them). Then Saturday, I didn’t get to start out the night with anyone since I was doing opening duties on The Void stage, but after that I made sure to hear my brother GANESH play, then some Yoshi & Razner, Renegade System, David Forbes, and then Armin to finish off the night. (His set was SO GOOD!)
Tell me more about GVX. How did you meet GANESH and what inspired this project?
Long story short, Gary and I came from the same era of DJing in Los Angeles at a club called The Orion, as I was budding as a new up-and-coming DJ, he was leaving the scene in 2003 and moved to Oregon, so we crossed paths. At the time I had heard of GANESH, but never really got to see him spin live. Fast forward to 2017 we started reconnecting via Facebook, and the rest is history. The inspiration came from Gary and I’s love for old school vibe of trance, and his love for techno. With music coming full circle again, it just made it that much easier for us to follow suit.
I did Google it… But I couldn’t figure it out. What does RJ stand for? My wife wants to know, too!
RJ stands for Rigoberto Jr (my last name is Lopez, definitely not Van Xetten as some (if not most) people think.
Speaking of Dreamstate, you are a Dreamstate Resident. What exactly does that mean?
Basically it means that I’m in rotation for Dreamstate shows, whether it’s clubs, or festivals, or Twitch streams.
There are a lot of great night clubs in Southern California. Specifically in Los Angeles. What are some of your favorite places to play?
My favorites have been so far Exchange LA, (used to be the Los Angeles Stock Exchange back in the 80s and 90s), Academy LA (used to be Q-Topia Event Center during the early 2000s, then Vanguard, then Create Nightclub), and AVALON Hollywood (used to be The Palace back in the 90s.)
Tell me more about HQ Recordings and your relationship with that label.
HQ Recordings is a very fast and upcoming label Owned by Amanda Vanderhayden, and Gary Chartier, right now we are just light speed when it comes to getting recognized. We focus mostly on the harder side of trance… Dirty, gritty basslines, big leads, and just driving sound to get you moving all night long. My relationship to them is I am currently their A&R (Artists & Repertoire), I’m basically responsible for listening to new up-and–coming music/artists, and pick them out to see if they fit our label. We have recently grown and expanded we have 2 sublabels… HQ Noir which is our all things techno label, then HQ Ascension which is all things uplift, and if you’ve heard all the rage of NFT’s HQA is our NFT label on RCRDSHP which is owned by Obie Fernandez. (Another artists who has numerous releases on HQ as well!)
You are active on all the socials… Facebook, Twitter, Instagram… Heck, you’re on TikTok! Who is managing all of that content and where do you come up with ideas for fresh material?
It’s definitely daunting to be on so many socials with so little time on my hands, but I do have help! My wife and manager take care of Instagram and Twitter for me. I handle my personal Facebook page, while my manager takes care of the Facebook Page. I’m a bit new to TikTok, but I’m starting to post more stuff on there, since I know it’s all the rage with the youngins. I also do have a YouTube channel where I post sets, and Twitch streams and all that jazz! I can tell you this much, without the help of my wife, and manager… I would definitely be lost, and probably wouldn’t be as active in socials like I should be. Thank you my love (Irina)! Thank you Amanda for all your help!
What can fans expect from seeing you live?
Well, I’ll tell you this much, Ricky. It all depends on the show, venue, and time slot placement. If I’m playing at a club (let’s say Exchange), and I’m opening the night, I’m going to give them a groovy paced set around 125-127 BPM of some DEEP DEEP progressive vibes, so that I set the tone for the night. Now… If I’m closing the show at Exchange… My BPM cap is OFF, and I can go as full force as I would like. Now, if I’m opening at a festival (like Dreamstate) I am going 100% full force since it’s my 1 hour to shine! Just recently I got to share the stage again as GVX with Gary (GANESH), and we closed out another favorite club of ours called Academy (as aforementioned). We literally started at 144 BPM closing right after Greg Downey who absolutely DESTROYED that place, but the crowd was definitely not expecting for us to close out the night the way we did. Here’s the set if you’d like to listen!
Do you ever make a mistake on stage? If so, how do you recover?
Very seldom I do, but if I do, it’s usually unnoticeable to an average listener. To a DJ, they’ll call me out on it IF they catch it (hehe). I spent many years perfecting my craft, and if you listen to most of my mixes, I’m usually very precise, and technical with my mixing.
Where do you come up with ideas for new music? Do sounds just come to you or do you sit down and produce a track from scratch?
Usually I sit down and start with a chord progression, because then I can build my melody off of the chord progression (my favorite key to write in is F-sharp minor) then I just go from there.
It seems like every DJ has a podcast. Any plans on producing your own show?
I do have a podcast. It’s on Podbean, and Apple Podcasts. I don’t speak over it, or do any voice overs, as I feel I don’t have that “radio voice” for it. I just let the music speak for itself.
Who inspires you? I am always curious what music a DJ is listening to when he or she isn’t producing.
Normally, I’m usually listening to whatever is out that’s hot, what’s new. I try to pull inspiration from other artists, as I don’t want to sound like them, but still want to mimic the style that they are doing with my own flair to it. If i’m not listening to trance, my go to is 90s music (hip hop, rock, Eurodance, New Jack Swing, etc…)
What headphones are around your neck?
I have the black V-MODA Crossfade M-100 Master headphones. My wife got them for me.
What are Audiophile Sessions all about?
Audiophile Sessions is the name of my podcast , also the name of my show I have on the DI.FM Hard Dance Radio channel which basically I get to showcase other artists on there. It’s 2 hours long and airs every 1st Friday of the month from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm PST. It ranges from techno, to even happy hardcore, I don’t discriminate, I love it all!
Listening to RJ Van Xetten Radio By Spotify. Cool you have that! Do you get a chance to add/suggest songs to that playlist, or does Spotify handle that for you?
That playlist is curated by Spotify, I don’t have much control over what is on Spotify.
I love your logo… Who designed that for you? You’ve got some pretty cool merchandise, too! The face mask is timely.
Thank you! My logo was done by a friend of mine who’s been a graphic designer for years, and he’s also been a friend of mine since 2002, so we got a long history as friends. As far as the merchandise goes, I don’t have to do much as I use drop shipping (basically made to order sites) like Printify and Printful which make it super easy to make all my merch ideas come to life! Here’s a link to my merch site.
Digging your single “First Journey”. Tell me more about that single. The artwork, too! Who is designing your album art?
Thank you! “First Journey” definitely has a really great sound to it, and one of my favorites to date! That single came about while I was just going through a rough patch with my music, and was channeling that feeling of not being able to write music and turned it into that track. As far as the artwork, the label (Kinected Recordings) is the one who made the album art for it, I’m a bit sad that the label has sunsetted, and no longer will be putting out music. I feel happy that I was the 2nd to last release before the label sunsetting. Here’s a purchase link for those who want to still buy it!
We’ve talked about a lot today. What am I missing? What else can you tell me about RJ Van Xetten?
Well, this year has had its ups and downs, but I’ve had an AMAZING close to the year. Right after Dreamstate I got to play again at Academy with my brother Gary (GANESH), and then I’ve had the honor to remix a big techno artist’s track (you’ll hear more about it coming up soon) as GVX, I have lots of dates pending for next year, and a show coming very soon (can’t tell you just yet! Just have to follow my socials to find out more). I’ve had a new release come out a few weeks ago (12/16/2022) on Black Hole Recordings (Tiësto’s label) sublabel called Hard Trance Europe (HTE), and it’s the final release for the year for them, so I get to close out 2022 for them with a bang. Here’s the link to listen and purchase! The track is called “F# Bombs”.
What’s next for RJ Van Xetten?
It’s a secret… Shhh… Well, I can’t really disclose anything at this time, but as mentioned before, just gotta follow my socials to find out more!
Thanks for doing this, man. I enjoyed that. In all of the interviews I do, I always give the artist the last word. Go.
Thank you so much for this opportunity Ricky, it’s truly an honor and a pleasure for this interview! Much love, and see you all on the dancefloor VERY soon.
Connect with RJ Van Xetten:
Website | Podcast | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Spotify | SoundCloud | YouTube | Apple Music | Twitter
