Interview: Madskillz

Dutchman DJ Madskillz is a much in-demand producer, remixer and DJ with over 90 tracks to his name. For over 20 years he has released on labels like Richie Hawtin’s Plus 8 Records, Stealth Records (run by Roger Sanchez), current darling Dutch labels Area Remote and 100% PURE (run by scene godfather 2000 and One) and Bitten.

On Friday 30th July he plays with deep houser Oxia for Filth at Sankeys in Manchester. We caught up with him for a quick chat.

How much of an influence is/was the Dutch scene on you?

I’m getting influenced by a lot of stuff, not only the Dutch scene in particular. I like a lot of the stuff my fellow Dutch colleagues do and it has influences on my sound, but so does all the music I hear or play.

How would you describe your sound to someone who didn’t know?

Tight, driven, energetic Tech house with a Mad flavour!

• Date: Friday 30th July 2010
• Event: FILTH @ Sankeys - Oxia, Format:B + DJ Madskillz at Sankeys
• Venue: Sankeys

What’s been your best gig this year and why?

That’s a tough question...  Some DJs will consider the biggest gig as the best because it’s very overwhelming to see that many people dance and react. But I like the small gigs also. I like it when you have a direct contact with your audience.  So far this Summer, the Belgium and UK crowd are favourites.

How do you choose which records to play each week – what does each one have to make you feel?

There’s a lot of good tunes in my crate that stay in there for months. I’m talking about unreleased stuff, some good oldies and of course my own tunes. I’m very critical about the new tunes I pick out to play. I buy and listen to a lot of stuff (from deep house to smashing big room techno tunes) but to play in my sets it's got to have that mad energetic tech house flow.

How do you keep ahead of the curve in terms of the music you make?

I’m spending a lot of time in the studio during the week and also, after 20 years of producing, still keeping an eye on new technologies and new trends. If you  want to stay current, you need to emerge with them.

What are your current top three tracks?

Well let’s just drop some names of producers whose tunes I really like to drop:

Kaiserdisco, Jay Lumen, Carlo Lio, Uto Karem, Anton Pieete.

What are you working on at the moment?

A new release on Bitten, a remix on Klimaks (Noir) and a really big remix wich i have to keep a secret until it has been confirmed.

What can people expect from your set at Sankeys for Filth?

Tight, driven, energetic Techhouse with a Mad flavour! Looking forward to playing in the number one club of the world!

Tickets are no longer available for this event