DARUDE Talks to FM about music, touring, and his CD, RUSH

Early in 2000, a track by the name of Sandstorm shot up the dance music charts in Finland, becoming number 1, and keeping that top spot for a whopping 17 weeks. Like wildfire, Sandstorm spread throughout Europe,
eventually hitting the top of the British
charts and reaching global sales of nearly 2 million units. The second single from his debut album, Feel The Beat, continued the success of it's predecessor, shooting to #1 on the Finnish Dance Chart, the UK Club Chart, Mixology Dance Chart UK and the Australian Dance Chart. With such a huge level of success, many have been long awaiting the second album release from Finnish native Darude, entitled Rush. With sounds ranging from soft and sexy to true intense trance, the sophomore album proves to be an amazing follow up to his first, and is sure to top sales of his first album release. During a brief pause on his tour through Finland, we had a chance to find out about Darude, his inspirations, and his views on the world of dance music:

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How did you first get exposed to trance music?

Heard it on the radio. Actually I liked rock and heavy stuff before that and
listened to them side by side for a long time. I still actually like some new-metal and punk stuff and I still listen to the old WASP, Twisted Sister, Metallica etc every now and then. Great stuff to 'empty' your head with... :)

How old were you when you got your first gig as a DJ?

I was 24 when I performed live my first time as Darude.

When did you know that /being a DJ/ was what you wanted to do for your
life¹s endeavor?

After couple of times on stage. Before that I didn't know that I had a performer inside me.

If you weren't a DJ, what would you be doing?

A DJ is a person who plays records, CD or vinyl usually, DJ is not necessarily a live performer or a producer and a live performer is not
necessarily a DJ or a producer. I started as a noise maker (= a beginning producer), then started playing live, and I've also started to DJ recently, my style is close to my own music and I also like to spice my set up with some breaks every now and then.>> I'd be repairing Apple computers, taking care of ordering replacement parts, would install software, install networks, would do customer support face to face and over the phone and probably would be happy because I was happy with my life before the music thing took off.

What is different about the music/ DJ scene in Finland when compared to
the rest of the world?

Finland is a small country, so we don't have too many dedicated house or
trance clubs for instance... But I guess it's like that everywhere in smaller cities. Our electronic scene is very active and we have both underground and commercial circles which mainly come along pretty well... :) There's tons of artists and groups that have gotten signed internationally and gotten on good compilations during the past few years (AR52, Fluid In Motion, Miika Kuisma, K-System, Aalto, Super8, JS16, Dallas Superstars, Modulation, Skydive, Jori Hulkkonen, Dirt Devils (1/3 Finnish), etc...)

How has computer technology impacted the world of dance music?

"Everyone" has a possibility to make good _sounding_ stuff these days and
burn it on cd. You only need a PC or Mac and a program (compare to a $500K studio ten years ago). That doesn't necessarily mean that the content of the cd, the music itself is good, though... Also the internet has a great role in the spreading of dance music (in good and in bad) and it also gives beginners a chance to share their music and get the always important feedback from non-
biased people (you know how brutal people can be anonymously!).

How did your huge hit Sandstorm come about? What was your inspiration?

In the beginning I tried to learn stuff from other people's tracks, and now
later on I still get kicks and inspiration from great music. The vibe is the key thing, the right mood. Sometimes it might be a track, sometimes it might be a single sound or a drum loop that makes it for me. With Sandstorm it was a certain club where the DJ played good uplifting trance. I went there 2-3 nights a week just to listen to the music and practically ran back home, switched on my gear and started to make music. After one of those nights and early morning Sandstorm got the basic form and sound it still has.

When did you first realize Sandstorm was such a huge hit?

Err... When the money started coming in... <joke>...
I guess it being #1 on the Finnish Dance Chart was a nice indication of it
but maybe getting #3 in UK Singles Chart made me finally realize how big it
had become.

What can your fans expect from the new album? How different/similar is
it to the previous album?

Compared to the first album 'Rush' is maybe a bit more stylish, a bit more
progressive (not as straight to the point), drum works are a touch harder or
tighter but on the other hand I believe that 'old' Darude listeners will definitely find familiar things on this one, too. The tracks are all aimed at dancefloor, trancy/hard house tracks + two bit housier/tribal tracks and a chillout track with acoustic guitar. Maybe this is just a little more thought out but also has a bit more variety overall.

Your new Nokia 3650 Mobile Diary on Darude.com is a great concept, how
did it come about? How long do you plan to keep it going?

Actually I've had that in mind a longer time already, first just snapping pics with a digicam and uploading them to my site. As we were about to start making that happen on the site I realized that it'd be easier and much closer to real time if I could do the same with a camphone and send them right away... I contacted my webmaster and he sorted the tech stuff out and here we are! I'm pretty proud of it; I think it's very good fan service. I'm thinking of keeping it going as long as I have the site up, maybe sometimes it'll be quieter, sometimes more frequent.

Are there plans for an international tour to promote the new album after
the Finland tour? If so, when will the tour start?

I'll fly over to US in the beginning of July, spend 3 weeks there and come back mid-August and stay another 3-4 weeks performing and promoting.

Where can fans look forward to seeing you this summer and fall in the
US?

All over the place. The best way to keep informed is to visit my site darude.com or my booking agents' site byassn.com, or popgramfinland.com