link to the interview on FTB.pl

Considering the expectations and opinions let me start with maybe not so unusual question. Could it be, that 2006 will be the "Year of DJ San"?
It’s difficult to predict such a thing, but it obvious that I will work my ass of to do whatever I can not to disappoint the people who are saying these kind things about me. It’s really great that Superstar dj’s are supporting your records and that magazines are writing about you, but what’s most important for me is to play new countries and to show people a good time with my music!

After many years of contributing for Dutch trance and club scene, including top shelf residencies in prestigious clubs - you decided to spread your wings and go ‘worldwide’ a couple years back. What was behind that decision?
A couple years back I used to play every weekend in Holland, Friday and Saturday. After playing every festival, club and radio station, you just need new challenges. For over a year I committed myself as a resident to the world renowned clubnight Kremlin (the #1 night in Amsterdam for 3 years) and played there every Saturday and also touring with them in the USA, UK, Mexico, etc. This period I will never forget and it gave me the opportunity to see how important it is to build a good night. And playing besides dj’s like Oakenfold, Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren, Digweed, etc.. every weekend was surely a dream come true.

In the meantime I was also producing and at the time I spread my wings I also had a hit single called Solid Sessions – Janeiro to my name, so this made it a lot easier to get international recognition.

How did it happen that You've decided to take residency in Elevate in India. This sounds quite exotic and mysterious.
I got a request to play the club quite some time ago, but it was only after playing the club for the first time that I realised that India -of all places- had a ‘Superclub’ to offer! The crowd as well as the Management reacted really positive to my sets and after two performances they offered me to become their International Resident. Since I think the club has amazing potential, I accepted on a monthly basis. And just recently the Elevate has been voted 35th best club in the world by DJ MAG (UK), something I’m very proud of.

Comparing all other venues You've been playing around the world - what's so special, different in Elevate. (atmosphere, people, how people response to Your music - similarities and maybe differences from Europe)
The dance scene in India is very different from the dance scene in Europe. You can hardly compare the two. You should realise that apart from the major cities like Delhi, Bombay and Chennai, you won’t hear house music at all! The majority of the Indian people (India has a population of about 1.000.000.000 people) are into traditional Indian music and probably will be for ever. But the youth in the major cities of India are open to new kinds of music and the last few years the house scene has been growing rapidly in this age group. It’s really amazing to play in India because the music I play is so new to them. Everyone is just smiling and jumping up and down like they have nothing to worry about; an indescribable feeling!

Recently You've released Elevate CD - your latest DJ compilation. Let's get "behind the scene" and tell us something about history of this CD.
This is my third mixed compilation and when Fektive Records (NL) asked me for my ideas on the CD, I instantly thought of the Elevate Club. Surely since it’s one of my residencies, but also because I firmly believe the club has a massive potential. Elevate was dying for an opportunity to introduce their club to the world and this is a perfect way to do it (the booklet therefore is packed with pictures from the club). Everything the club has to offer is just right, from the sound (hydraulic dance floor) to the lights to the incredible design (same designers who did the Fabric in London) to the employees. They deserve all the attention they get (the club was voted #1 Indian Club 2 times already) and I strongly believe that their brand is strong enough to travel boundaries and even conquer harts of clubbers worldwide.

Let's get back into Your international DJ career. What are Your expectations for nearest future? How do You feel as member of top class international DJ bunch?
I try not to get sidetracked from what I believe in. There’s a lot of very good dj’s out there and I want to deliver the best music and dj sets as I possibly can. Surely it gives me great satisfaction that people are comparing me to dj’s like Armin Van Buuren, Tiesto or other high profile dj’s, but I’m San and my style is different then theirs. For me it’s crucial to stay focussed and to strive to surprise music with quality sets with new and exclusive music. I’m not there yet ;-).

Looking forward into Your schedule for summer 2006 - is quite impressing. Europe, Asia, South America. Tell us a little about life of travelling DJ.
One of the advantages of being a dj is that wherever you travel, you are welcome! There’s always friendly promoters, who look after you very well and most importantly the people I play for give me the satisfaction and the energy to go on. You also get to see a lot of things and you experience loads of different cultures, which is surely amazing.

Along Your successful DJ career - You’re still very active as a producer and you do the A&R (Artist & Release Manager) for the international record label Fektive. Let's follow this path. Let's start with a little of history of Fektive, the idea behind, biggest achievements so far.
Fektive records (www.fektive.com), is a very cool team of people who have been active in the dance scene for a long time. Fektive itself is a new label that focuses on tech house, progressive and trance music. Their goal is to push talented artists alongside with established names. The first record is not out yet (San & Sebastian Moore – Night Eyes), but it’s already supported by Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, Judge Jules, Marco V, M.I.K.E., etc. So we have high expectations for it. The first CD is Elevate mixed by myself and has just been released. We are getting very positive reactions about it.

Being part of Fektive label- explain us - how You choose artists who are a part of Fektive family, and a little about music selection. Is it "just like that" or you prefer any specific sound/style.
To pick someone to be part of the Fektive family (=sign him/her to the label) it’s not just about the music. The producers should have the same drive and ideas as us and they should be prepared to work on their career 24/7. Fektive is not only releasing music, we are also guiding the artists, arranging publishing for them and helping them with improving their music and studio. I’m happy to say that your very own Angelo Mike will be part of the Fektive team as well!

No the music style is not ‘just like that’. I like many variations of electronic music, but as a label you are sometimes limited to what you can release in contrast to what you want to release. A label gets supporters along the way and they are mostly coming from the same genre. But for a dance label our orientation across the genres is quite wide. We strive to have different angles and therefore have a trance version as well a progressive and tech house version for every release!

A lot of traditional record labels suffered a lot due to massive development of net-labels and download sites like beatport.com - do You feel anything like that as well?
Sure all labels ‘suffer’ from this. But I think this is also part of development of the music scene, so there’s no need to be to negative about that. Yes records are selling less now and will disappear in the years to come, but on the other hand its much cheaper to manufacture cd’s, so if this is the route we have to take, then we’ll take it. I think that we’ll eventually all go the download route, so sites like Beatport.com are pioneers in the field (they also sell our stuff ;-)). As a label you just have to adapt to the new technologies, just as well as being a dj…

So what is Your future vision of Fektive, expectations, possible ways of development, and of course - next releases that You've already planned.
Fektive is currently developing a new website. We have a temporary website now: www.fektive.com. We will be focussing much more on the download site of things. Giving the people the option to buy vinyl, CD as well as an MP3. We are also setting up three compilation series, one will be a mixed compilation serie called UNFOLD of which John 00 Fleming will be doing the first one.

I’m really excited about the forthcoming productions on Fektive as there’s a lot of tracks I think are really amazing. So besides Night Eyes, by Sebastian Moore and myself there’s Glenn Frantz, a mega talent from Malta. His release called Borderline will be the second on the Fektive imprint. This guy is gone go places, trust me. Oh and by the way Armin says the same thing about him .
After that dj Ruby will be up with his new track Modulation Error. There’s also a remix of Phynn (Blackhole), one of Tiesto’s favourite producers, on there. After that there will be a very special one; 2 new remixes of Solid Sessions – Janeiro, a real must have. And there’s much more…

Your latest production NIGHT EYES BY SAN & SEBASTIAN MOORE received very positive response and gained support from top DJ's like Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren, Marco V, Ferry Corsten, Judge Jules, Marcus Schulz and many more. Tell us a little about that EP.
Well actually it hasn’t been officially released yet (in two weeks it will be through Astralmusic.com), but indeed I’m thrilled with the amount of support its getting. The last record of mine that received this kind of support was Solid Sessions – Janeiro and that became a hit, so let’s hope it can immolate this success! The EP contains 3 mixes of Night Eyes, the original which is a tech trance edit, a Niklas Harding remix which is more trancy and a Glenn Frantz remix which is more progressive. So everyone gets a pick!

How do You manage to be a busy DJ, label owner and producer in the same time. Do You ever sleep at all?
Hahaha, you would think so! Like I said I live and breath music. If I don’t dj or make music I have the feeling that I cannot express myself. Especially playing my own productions in front of people going wild, gives me the energy to go on with what I’m doing. Surely there’s also people behind the scene who I cannot do without, like my Manager and label partner for example. It’s hard work, but I think that if you want to excel in something it’s always hard work!

This days overwhelming presence of computer software in music production seems like a must for any producer. But You've chosen the traditional way of production with recording studio and tons of hardware. Why?
That’s not completely true actually. Most basis for my productions are put together on my laptop, that goes with me everywhere I go. It’s just handy for the quick ideas I get at the weirdest moments, in my dreams for example I hear melodies sometimes. At home in Holland we have two studios, one is the Fektive studio which is totally outboard, with tons of hardware and the other one is all ‘in the box’, basically a very fast computer with a couple of screens and speakers.

Do You have any experience with latest computer equipment/software for DJ's/producers. What is Your opinion about that. (Final Scratch, music making software etc.)
I use various software programs like Cubase, Reason and Ableton Live for production. Ableton Live is most convenient in regards of Dj’ing for me. I use it to create special versions of my own tracks, that only I have. Sometimes I also take my laptop with me to a gig to use it alongside the CD players and turntables.

And finally - to the last part of our interview - along Elevate in India and Malta residency You're also a resident DJ in Kristal club in Bucharest, capitol of Romania. Why You've chose n Eastern Europe country? You've been in Poland recently as well, so what is Your opinion about Eastern European club scene?
I’m very enthusiastic about the Eastern European scene, since the people are very energetic and overwhelming. They are thankful for every party they get! In Holland the standards of parties are so high that people have gotten used to this and they don’t want anything less. Value for their money is a way to put it. Don’t forget that the average entrance fee in Holland is 5 times higher then in Eastern Europe. I think that the focus should be put back on the music a little more, that’s what it’s all about, not how clean the toilets are ;-).

In few weeks we'll hear You on Hypnosis Arena stage at Polish edition of famous Creamfields festival along Marco V, Mauro Picotto, Gabriel & Dresden and many others. Do You already planned something special for this event?
Yes I did, I have some tracks I will play at Creamfields for the first time ever to test them for the Polish crowd. I really look forward to this event and I hope to see all of you there