10.06.2006 DJ Raoul (Swirl People) @ Prozak/Krakow, Prozak, Krakow Einstellungen

[fakeschlange]

fettes booking! (IMG:http://www.technoboard.at/style_emoticons/default/thumbs-up.gif)

ein q&a auf ugh von letztem jahr:

Raoul is surely a contender for nicest man in clubland. He is half of the revered production duo known variably as Swirl People, Swirl Peepz, Cozy Creatures, Different Noodles, and Tiger Sprouts. He is founder of the Aroma Recordings imprint, through which he has released Swirl People’s own music between quality from the likes of East Coast Boogiemen and Lawnchair Generals. And he has earned a solid place for himself as a creative and charismatic DJ on the international circuit. But it seems none of his success has gone to his head and no part of his extensive experience has dented his enthusiasm for house music culture. I met him earlier this year when he managed to deliver a scorching set at a totally chaotic party in Tokyo.

You were resident at the bi-monthly party Food from 1996 to 2005: Was it purely a house party or did you mix up the styles?

Food was the first proper and regular house night that happened in Belgium and for its time it was very avant-garde almost, so I was really happy when two months after the start I was offered a residency. It was mainly a house night but in a very broad sense... house music is very broad so it was a story every single night with almost every important house DJ debuting in this country at Food. At the end of the night the ritual was to start playing some funk or disco or whatever was old, quirky and good!

How is playing a residency different to playing a one-off party?

With my residency in particular I always ended up playing at least 3-4 hours which made it possible to go and experiment heavily and tell a "house" story. One-off parties are not like that but I like both of them! I do miss my residency a little at the moment but I enjoy the traveling a lot, too, and the continuing challenge of making people dance to your music in new places.

You were DJing long before you got into production while your Swirl People cohort, Dimitri, has a musical background and started producing at a young age: Does that mean you have distinct roles in the studio?

We were a very complimentary duo from the beginning. We started working with each other almost 10 years ago already, and nowadays we both do stuff that we didn’t used to do… I must admit one thing though - I am not touching the mix down at the end because my ears are in a worse state than Dimitri’s for sure!

How do you determine which of your aliases a track will be released under?

Usually if we end up using a different name it’s because we feel that this particular project name stands for that track. Like when we do our Cosy Creatures stuff we always have more jackin’ cuts in mind for that. Some of the names we also use on purpose because most of the people don’t know (or didn’t know) that we are behind it. That creates a no judgment situation up front and therefore the music has to be the strongest tool to sell the record. Call it a challenge.

Do you have plans to work independently, or with anyone else, or perform live?

As a team, Dimitri and I will not stop in the near future - it’s just too much fun when we are doing studio time together. But Dimitri has worked already with tons of people, mostly as a sound engineer but also as a co-producer. I am not really planning other collaborations simply because there’s no more time left. As for going live, we are seriously planning some shows for next year with the release of our new album.

You’ve already made two albums - Hi Mom, Let’s Dance and Special Combo - and have that new one on the way: Do you think of them as a unified work or just a collection of tracks?

We try to work in a very unorganized way when it comes to albums. We really try to avoid falling into a same ol’ thing. Albums are never done in one go either; they can contain tracks from years ago as well as brand new stuff. The exciting part is also that the songs as a package, with some nice artwork and the whole thing around it, sound different than when you listen to all the tracks separately. So yes, I believe at the end it has to be somehow unified.

Some of your music has a real party vibe with titles like “Play Along” and “Lotta Fun”: Do you go into the studio with the intention of making a club-rocking track or does it just happen?

We go in the studio and it usually happens like that. A party vibe is one of the main things we look for in the studio – it is after all music that sounds best in the clubs or at parties!

Is there any secret behind your wonderful basslines?

Our twenty fingers and our compressor that makes it sound warm! Like Dimitri always says: “Basslines are the backbone of your track - it’s really important!”

Which comes first with vocal collaborations: the music or the lyrics?

We usually write the music first and after the vocals are put into place we work the track neatly around it!

The recent Heather collaboration “We Used to Party” has a wistful tone: Do you think people are still having as much fun as when you first got involved in the club scene?

Some of the people are not having as much fun as before. I think the older party generation definitely has a problem here and there but on the other hand, that’s pretty normal. Things change, people change, music changes… The younger generation sometimes doesn’t realize what is happening around them so this song is all about waking them up too! Heather wrote the lyrics on this track so she probably has this experience in Chicago but it reflects Europe too in a way. For example, the Belgian scene is getting smaller every year. A lot of people just don’t care anymore but then there’s a newer generation that is slightly getting into it again. Things like that go up and down all the time.

So what spots are hot right now in Belgium?

In general there are some dope house parties down here in my hometown Leuven so in a way this is the house capital of Belgium. But in Ghent, places like Decadance are pushing the boundaries too - getting a lot of new talent from all over the world. In the south of the country, places like H2O keep the house pressure going on, and here and there some really good one-offs are held. I throw an Aroma night twice a year with some Aroma talent behind the decks and this party can also be considered pretty good, if I can say this about my own night… hehe.

Aroma Recordings has been going strong for seven years now: What are some pros and cons of running a label?

The cons are that I get tons of good music but I can only put out a certain amount of releases a year. The pros are that I can push new talent and open up the gates to the Europe house scene for US (or other continents’) producers/DJs.

Finally, the Aroma website says it has been “Smelling like your feet since 1998” but what kind of feet are you talking about: clean and manicured or unkempt and sweaty?

Haha, I was waiting for someone to ask me about that. The story behind it is that a little while ago I did a guest mix on a famous Dutch radio show, and the host asked me where I got the name for the label and he thought I got it when putting out my shoes after a long night of DJing. That cracked me up for the whole road back! I must admit, though, that I prefer the clean and nice smelling ones!

www.raoulbelmans.net
www.aromarecordings.com
www.swirlpeople.com