Paul van Dyk: “I don’t have anything in common with Rihanna, why would I work with her?”

World-renowned DJ Paul van Dyk visited Moscow again a couple of weeks ago to play another set. During his stay, “Apelzin.ru” met the famous DJ to discuss his music, the different performances in our country, and to find out if he speaks Russian.

We all know that you are one of the most acclaimed and highly paid DJs in the world. You were nominated for a Grammy, “DJ Magazine” has named you several times the best DJ in the world, and, as an artist you have rarely left the TOP-10 list of electronic musicians. What does it mean to be Paul Van Dyk?

Well, I just try to be better every day and the next challenge is always the next show. So, achievement is one thing, but it’s the approach to the art form itself that is important, and this is something that I’ve kept. I’m very very passionate about this music and I’m very passionate about every little sound and every little detail of what I do. I think it is much more important than any awards.

Yeh, I agree. I mean you’ve done a lot for music nowadays and staying down to earth makes you an even greater person.

It’s down to my Mum more than to me. She raised me that way.

I know it’s not your first time in Russia, right? You’ve been here before?

Many times.

So you must know some Russian words already?

Well I learned Russian in school actually. I grew up in East Germany so of course we all learned Russian. The problem is that I never had to use the language. As soon as I left school (which was a few days ago), I never really spoke Russian. When I’m here after 2 or 3 days I pick up a bit more, but I just arrived last night.

So you recognize some?

Yeh, I can read the language, just basic things like ‘spasiba’ (thank you), and all that sort of stuff I still know.

That’s great. So what do you like most about Moscow and Russia?

Well its like a very open minded scene here. People really enjoy this music every single time that I’ve played here. It’s going to be the first time tonight at Space Moscow. Before I was always at Gaudi or some other event halls. And it was always really energetic.

Is there a difference between an audience in Russia and other countries?

There are a lot of differences. But I don’t even try to memorize these because to me it’s always down to, on one end, what I want to do musically and my artistic approach to the evening, and then the interaction with the audience. If I have a preconception, like ‘oh they are going to be like this or like that’ then it’s not as pure as it should be. So I try to go in with a blank page, and am kind of like ‘ok, what are we going to do tonight’. And that’s, I think, a much better approach. The thing is, knowing that I’ve only had good shows here makes it even better.

I guess it means that you are very professional. So it’s really great to have you here in Moscow, because you know a lot of musicians these days exclude Russia and Moscow when it comes to touring. It’s really strange. It’s great that you are not one of them. So can you tell us more about your next album, its out in May right?

Well obviously, “Politics of Dancing” started as a DJ mix compilation concept but through our working on this album it became more and more an artists album. So instead of remixing other peoples music and then putting it on there I just went to the studio with these people and started to actually create new tracks. So it’s now a collaboration artist album. And, I had the chance to work with people that I wanted to work with in the past, and that I already have worked with. So we’ve all done album that we are really proud of and we hope that you guys like what we’ve done!

It seems to me that you are not looking for the easy way. You are Paul Van Dyk. You can get any artist, but you are looking for someone special I think.

Well to me its about artistic integrity, which is much more important than any kind of marketing twist. As an example: I don’t have anything in common with Rihanna, why would I work with her? She might be really nice, but I don’t have any musical connection. So to me it makes much more sense to do that with people that have the same understanding of music. And to me music is something that has to last for longer than three minutes on the radio. It’s something that has much more substance than your regular average pop song. Of course if my music is popular and it’s being played…and I have sold a lot of records in the past, but I’ve never left the path of that artistic integrity and this is something that actually is much more important to me.

Making music to me is one of the most fun things, and making music with friends or people that you really respect and look up to is much more fun than a marketing guy or manager telling you ‘oh you should work with that person’. It’s not how I work.

Because it will help to sell album?

Yep.

So what was the main inspiration for your album?

The main inspiration was that people were asking ‘is there another Politics of Dancing coming’. So I said yes! And now were working on it. And again, throughout the time the whole creative concept actually shifted into an artist collaboration album. It is inspired by life, everything I see, everything I experience and then of course I took on all those musical inputs from the people that I work with. So we have different varieties of sounds, elements in there as well, but obviously it is the signature ‘me’ sound because I produced it all and I’ve written most of the songs.

Another question that I just can’t hold back. What kind of music do you listen to? I mean, any other kinds of genres?

Different things. My girlfriend is from Columbia so we listen to a lot of Latin music as well.

Wow, I can’t imagine this.

It’s fun! It’s really cool I really enjoy it. I’d have to say the last 3-4 years are the happiest of my life, so it’s great. And it’s a different feel, its very intense music as well which is something that I like about it. I also like bands like Placebo, and bands like Linkin Park, something that is intense. I like music that reaches out to me, not just the blurry stuff in the background in the rain.

I know that you worked on a record for Linkin Park, so you have something in common?

Yeh, that was something where they had their own idea of the sound of music as much as I had mine. But we had the same approach to what the music should do, that is, it needs to be intense, it needs to be straight forward, and no ‘wishy washy blur’.

It seems like music is something really personal to you. So do you keep in touch with people you worked with, any celebrities or musicians?

Of course. The problem is that we are all busy, we are all touring. My very best friend Johnny McDaid is very busy touring as he is a member of Snow Patrol so they always like touring and doing all their stuff. Whenever we can we meet each other, even if it’s just for a coffee at the airport while I’m arriving and he’s leaving. We are constantly in contact and, you know, we have Skype, Facebook, Twitter, all these things so we can always communicate.

It seems to me that you already have everything that a man could wish for. What is your dream?

I don’t know, I don’t function in these patterns. It’s not so much like ‘the dream’ or ‘the next big thing’. To me as an artist I want to become better every day. I want to learn more about everything that is actually going on. So I really hope I can am able to make music until I retire or die at some point (both laugh). I might not be travelling as much or playing in front of people, but be at home and maybe producing chill out music when I’m 60. I don’t know, I really don’t know. I can’t imagine not making music, so I guess that’s something that will always last.

Could you say a few words to all of your fans and all of our readers? You don’t realize how many fans you have here. I have a sister in Siberia and she was really star-struck by the news that I will speak to Paul Van Dyk, she was just really freaked out. So it would be great if you could tell something to all your fans waiting for you in all the cities in our country.

Well in general how to approach life is that it’s always important to stay true to yourself and believe in your dreams. Because, you know, I’m the kid of a single Mum in East Germany, there were no prospects for me to do anything, such as what I’m doing now. I couldn’t even dream of it. But, I believed in it. I felt that I have something to give musically. And that’s the thing – be respectful, and be tolerant to the people that you are surrounded by and then I think all will actually work out eventually at some point.

Thank you so much, that was really interesting.

Thank you.