Tiesto: The Dancing Astronaut Interview

Dj_Tiesto_by_Yanina

Dancing Astronaut got a chance to speak with arguably the greatest and most influential DJs of our era — Tiesto. We discussed his College Invasion Tour, upcoming gigs, new DJs, and the relevance of the DJ Mag Top 100 list which recently closed. Find out what Holland’s finest has to say after the break!

DA: With your College Invasion Tour recently underway, as a San Francisco-based news outlet we were pleasantly surprised to see 6 stops in California including one at UC Davis. Why was there a huge influx of gigs weighted towards California venues?

Tiesto: Well, California is a quite a big state, lots of people, lots of venues where you can see me play. I havent played in California in over a year and around the LA area I haven’t been there in close to 2 years. So I’m excited and hopefully we can do some some damage.

DA: You have plenty of big names opening for your shows during your University Tour such as Porter Robinson and Ken Loi. How did you go about picking them?

Tiesto: I try to bring along guys that I feel will do well in the future. I want them to come along, bring their own tracks and bring their new sound and ..yeah make them part of the family.

DA: Do you have any upcoming collaborations with the DJs within your ‘family’?

Tiesto: No, not really at the moment. Im always up for collabos but I’m working on a lot of things at the moment: some demos, some ID’s. So I’m a little bit all over the place. I got this Coldplay remix that I just finished yesterday so that’s convenient that it’s finally finished.

DA: Being such an influential DJ you mentor other producers, most notably Angger Dimas in your group Boys Will Be Boys. Are there any other DJs you are bringing up in the near future?

Tiesto: Yes there are a few along with Angger. The Bassjackers are doing really well and another one is Tommy Trash who is going to be really good.

DA: All of us at Dancing Astronaut love Tommy’s remix of “Falling Out Of Love”. We love his sound!

Tiesto: Cool, yeah! Tommy is really talented he has a few releases on Musical Freedom coming.

DA: Your show at the Home Depot Center is the biggest single headliner DJ performance in North America. Do you have anything special planned for this gig or are you going to treat it like any other event?

Tiesto: Well because it’s a mark in history for me and (EDM) in North America we have to come up with something special. I consider this one of my most special shows I’ve done in the US so far so I’m really going all out for that show. I’m going to put all of the money we have back into that show and it’s going to be a really spectacular show.

DA: You have booked two shows (back to back) at Ruby Skye on October 30th and 31st – are there going to be any differences between the sets? 

Tiesto: I noticed when I play two nights in a row it is always different. There are some special effects and opening tracks that will be the same but no two nights are ever the same. With music there is something magical in the air so  you never get the same results.

DA: As you probably know the DJ Mag Top 100 voting recently closed. How influential are the results in booking events and how accurate are the rankings? How important are the rankings in a producers career?

Tiesto: Oh, I think the DJ Mag thing is pretty much irrelevanant nowadays. I dont know if anybody really looks at it still. I haven’t looked at it in a couple of years and I can say it hasn’t really effected my career. I have been in the top ten for the last 10 years I think, but I really don’t think people really care about DJ mag top 100. There are so many more outlets now like Facebook. You can look at the Facebook pages of all the DJs and see who is the most popular in the world. Most popular is obviously David Guetta. He has like 25 million facebook friends (likes) and last year he wasnt even number 1 on DJ mag top 100 so I think that list is just irrelevant nowadays.

DA: Thank you for your time it was an honor to catch up with you. Look for a few of the Dancing Astronauts in the front row for your show at Ruby Skye on Halloween!

Tiesto: Thank you, I will definitely look for you guys!

Posted by on September 26th, 2011 at 1:15 pm.
  • Anonymous

    great interview Senthil! 

  • Anonymous

    Did you really call him “arguably the greatest DJ of our era”? There is no way in hell he is remotely close to that title. Influential certainly without a doubt but there are infinitely better DJs both from a technical and production side. His live performances/concerts have been massive and he draws huge crowds but that doesn’t make him the greatest. 

    You’re better than that.

  • http://www.djdinsy.com DJ Dinsy

    any of the DA’s coming up to the avila beach show next wedn?

  • Idalialala

    TIesto is the best in the world enough said

  • http://twitter.com/kunalbambawale Kunal Bambawale

    Have you seen him live yet?

  • Anonymous

    You can’t be serious with that question. I’ve seen him countless times in all types of venues and shows. What’s you’re point? That he gets better live? That is flat out false to people who actually know what a properly mixed and performed show should sound like. I have had some of the best times to his sets don’t get me wrong, but he isn’t the greatest, even arguably. 

  • http://twitter.com/kunalbambawale Kunal Bambawale

    It’s good that you’re informed – some people make sweeping statements without even experiencing an act live.

    When we say ‘greatest,’ we look for consistent performance and contribution to EDM both as an industry and as cultural, phenomenon. Tiesto’s residency at The Joint in Vegas brought EDM to an entirely new audience, setting the precedent that allowed so many other DJs to win Vegas residencies.

    I agree with you – I wish he’d stuck with his old euphoric trance style, but it’s testament to his greatness that he’s catered his style to US audiences. He was willing to sacrifice his reputation to devoted fans like you in order to win new ones. It was a bold choice.

    The man is an icon, and his college invasion tour is introducing EDM to young people – young people who will drive the future of this scene. Ultimately, the future of dance music depends on more people being exposed to the genre we love.

    Plus, he throws a hell of a party :)

  • Anonymous

    I agree that his contribution is unquestionable. And again he is one of the most successful DJs ever. I just can’t call a man the greatest DJ when his skills are noticeably not there. I certainly think he has done great think growing the audience, but the way he has just catered to wherever the money is lately really turned me off. I refer to his live shows now as robotic, everything is almost always the exact same. 

    “He was willing to sacrifice his reputation to devoted fans like you in order to win new ones. It was a bold choice.” I think that view is off. He purposefully went the route he did because there was more money, I don’t think he did it for purely the greater good of EDM.

  • Oo971

    dude ive seen countless of DJ perform live. pvd, oakenfold, avicii, deadmau and many more. Tiesto has one of the best live performence. And as a producer he created many legendary tracks(traffic,adago4strigs, elements of life, dance4life) back in the days. He totally change the trance scene around the world. By being the greatest DJ/Producer he influenced many people with his own unique style. Even though house is not his strong suit. Yet he managed to pull of popular tracks(cmon,076,dontditch, maximal crazy). No one else wud be able to accompished what tiesto had. Not even to metion his sold out O2, opening for olympics, and other great achivements!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=684051517 Alberto Barron

    haha, I see your point. Calling him one of the best isn’t exactly what I would have said :P but there’s no denying his influence!

  • Sean Fleming
  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=524764807 Usman Hussain

    Senthicii! Awesome interview. Agreed with everything you said, and the questions were really interesting. You go girl! <3

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=524764807 Usman Hussain

    You have some valid points, but then again, Tiesto has always been dynamic. He’s constantly changing his style. He’s always had. And I am pretty that Tiesto has enough money to retire and take it easy, but the fact is; He loves what he does, and he makes money doing it.  

    His skills and talent is unquestionable. The fact that he’s so enormously popular and still in the scene, and has been for over a decade, speaks for itself. I’ve seen and experienced his live-shows (not intoxicated of course), they’re really great, and not static at all. As a matter of fact, I was in turkey this summer and watched him at his Club Life tour. When I got back home to Oslo, he had another tour show. This happened in a 1 week interval between the two shows. I can assure you that the set and the effects were not the same at all, let alone the atmosphere and feeling.

    I don’t get why people hate on Tiesto nowadays. Look at what he has accomplished and done for the EDM Scene. He’s also helped tons of renown Producers/DJs to get where they are today. Garreth Emery as an example; a living trance legend.

    I love how people say he’s not that good of a producer. Being a producer myself, I can assure you that’s not the case. Tiesto, like Armin and A&B, is an exeptional sound engineer. The fact that he creates all the sounds and presets all by himself, also speaks for his skills. I personally respect him a lot because of that. That’s of course, my personal opinion. I don’t really think most of the music sounds that interesting though, but the mastering and mixdown is really great.

    All in all. He’s famous and loved by the EDM Community. Unlike David Guetta, who’s just as popular within the EDM Community, but disliked. Although, David Guetta is the biggest factor that has driven EDM into the masses. He may not be the best DJ in the world, nor the best producer, but heck if he hasn’t deserved all the things he’s accomplished up to now. Which no one can deny, and that concludes to him being the “greatest dj of our era”.