| Menno De Jong
To celebrate his new monthly podcast , thanks to Intuition Records we’ve been able to exclusively interview the man who could kick the shit out of Chuck Norris whilst making you dance to some epic beats; Ladies and Gentleman we give you Menno De Jong
MPFS - Hi there Menno De Jong, thank you for your time, its very much appreciated. First and foremost the boring questions you’ve probably heard a thousand times before; When did you first get into producing Trance music?
Menno De Jong - Hello there! Well, it all started quite a long time ago already (nearly 10 years now that I think about it). When I was about 13 years old some friends and myself started making tunes in a program called Fasttracker, in MS-DOS on a pc in the basement. We were inspired by what was called Dream Trance at the time, which varied from music by Jam & Spoon to Robert Miles and Moby. After using many different programs and instruments I discovered Cubase, the software package I still use to produce music these days, except on a Mac!
MPFS - What do you prefer, Dj’ing or being in a club and hearing one of your own tracks/remixes played and the crowd going wild?
Menno De Jong - Well, playing my own track whilst the crowd goes wild is incredible of course. But sometimes it’s nice to lurk in a corner anonimously and see that your music is appreciated when others play it out too! I still really enjoy going to parties in general so I don’t mind both really. Basically hearing your tune in a club is one of the best feelings there is so you can’t go bad either way!
MPFS - What kit do you use to make tracks?
Menno De Jong - Here is a roundup of the stuff I use…
Hardware: Macbook Pro, External Apple Screen, RME Fireface 400, Dynaudio Air 15 Speakers, Access Virus Ti Synthesizer and 2 Midi Controllers.
Software: Cubase 4.1, Battery, Kontakt, Massive, Predator, Albino 3, Minimoog, Stylus RMX, Atmosphere and Trilogy.
MPFS - What is your favourite own production to date?
Menno De Jong - Mark Otten - So Serene (Menno de Jong Heading South Dub Mix)
MPFS - If you could make a track with anyone in the world, past or present, who would it be?
Menno De Jong - A vocal tune with someone like Sarah McLachlan or Imogen Heap would be awesome. I’m also a big fan of The Police, Queen and Beethoven, and a lot of other diverse music. Hypothetically this list could be endless!
MPFS - Are there any clubs/events you’re yet to play you’d really like to Dj at?
Menno De Jong - There is a huge festival in the US that features quite a bit of dance music called Coachella, I’d really love to play there sometime. I’d also really like to play at Godskitchen Global Gathering sometime, have heard great stories about it!
MPFS - Tell us a little more about the Intuition Pod Cast, what made you take the challenge on and where do you plan on taking it?
Menno De Jong - Well, the move to a podcast was a very intuitive thing, although the radio show has been very succesful in the past the change feels like the right thing. What makes Podcasting so cool is that in the end you reach more and more people with much more consistency because whenever they launch iTunes or Winamp it automatically checks if new episodes of the free podcast are available, once subscribed that is. Also, because I decided to make it a monthly rather than weekly happening I can be much more picky about what music to include, and give people a much better idea of what tunes I play. There are also a few cool gimmicks within podcasting, if you use iTunes or an iPod to play the podcast you can see pictures that I have personally made on my travels as well as check what track is playing as you go along!
I’ve already gotten some amazing feedback about the podcast, and thousands have already listened, if you’re curious and want to check it out, you can subscribe whenever you like on www.mennodejong.com (there is a Podcast FAQ if you’re not quite sure what to do!)
MPFS - Here at MPFS towers we like to try something different, the following questions are a little bit strange, enjoy!
Menno De Jong - Oh dear :-)
MPFS - Have you ever wanted to punch a clubber?
Menno De Jong - Never.
MPFS - Ever taken more than one Dj whore back to a hotel?
Menno De Jong - Well, I have actually had a girlfriend since long before DJing took off, so I’ve never taken a girl back to my hotel after a gig at all, other than my girlfriend and my mum who frequently tags along haha!
MPFS - Tell us a joke, the more offensive the better.
Menno De Jong - What do you call a blonde who’s died her hair brown? Articifial Intelligence!
MPFS - Who’d win in a fight, you or Armin Van Buuren?
Menno De Jong - I’ve got a thing for doing martial arts and watching kung fu movies, weigh 93 kilos and stand 2.04 meters tall - but you never know of course haha! In practice Armin and I are more likely to cuddle than fight though because we get along really well!
MPFS - What animal would you sooner be, a Lion or a Gorilla? Why?
Menno De Jong - Probably a gorilla, I like to grunt and pound my chest whilst putting on silly faces! I spent some time in South Africa a while ago and my girlfriend and friends had a hard time pulling me away from my newfound monkey family in Kruger park!
MPFS - What super power would you like to have, invisibility or being able to walk through walls?
Menno De Jong - Walking through walls as being a very tall guys I frequently hit my head on doors, ceilings and anything else that gets in the way!
You can subscribe to Menno De Jong's monthly podcast at www.mennodejong.com, also handy for club listings and an up to date discography. Thanks for your time Menno, take care. |
