Holland's Lucien Foort- Put That Saxophone Away

Dread-locked Dutchman Lucien Foort spent his early years learning saxophone at a prestigious music conservatory though is these days best known for his DJing, regularly touring the world spinning his own blend of progressive, trance style house, Humble, friendly and unusually thoughtful, he recently caught up with Skrufff's Angie Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as he continued his global travels. Increasingly high profile, he began by stressing his vibe.

"Holland is a small country and if I do an interview on TV, people that remember me from elementary school will see it and think, it's all stardom and I must be making a lot of money. Yes, elements of that are there but the other side is all the traveling with the hassles of losing bags and losing records- it's not as easy as it seems to be.

If you want to be a pioneer that brings music all over the globe, you have to be prepared that it's never gonna' be easy and you'll never be 100% successful all the time. But hey, you've got to have goals in life."



Skrufff: Your international profile took off in 2001, with you playing everywhere from the Sinai Desert to Israel to the USA, where was the most exceptional spot-

Lucien Foort: "New Zealand because I really like the nature there. As a music producer I'm inspired just by seeing these vast untouched lands which you don't see in Europe. In Europe, everything clings together, and Holland in particular is a very small country. For instance, comparing Malaysia to Holland, to drive from here (KL) to Singapore would take a good couple of hours whereas doing that from Holland I'd be half way into France or Belgium already. So I prefer to go somewhere where I can really see a lot of nature."

Skrufff: You recently said in an interview that "sometimes in Europe, people have preconceptions about what music should be like", why-

Lucien Foort: "That's to do with the side effects you have when the music industry has been developing for a while, such as in England where dance music's been going on for 14 years. What happened there is that the people who were originally dancing, the older brothers and sisters would tell their younger brothers and sisters 'You need to go to this club or that club', or 'that's where you needed to be back in 94, when those times are actually gone.

Kids these days just follow all these big icons that were big in a different time frame and the icons are complacent. I fly all the time and when I go to places like Singapore and see the freshness of the scene it reminds me of the way it was back then; uncomplicated, fun music with everybody having a good time. There's too much politics going on in Europe's club scene at the moment."

Skrufff: I understand you're a classically trained musician and received loads of support from your parents, what was their reaction when you took up DJing-

Lucien Foort: "My mum originally saw me as becoming a music teacher, actually. At the Conservatory in Holland, they stress how important it is to be able to read music but not how to improvise, and I don't think that's good. It helped me to have a musical education but at some point I had tosay 'Mum, I want to jdo something by myself because if I stay here I'm just gonna' end up playing dead composers' music".

Skrufff: How much has your music education helped your DJing-

Lucien Foort: "It definitely has, because I'm less likely to mix two records together that will clash really terribly. People on the dance floor might not know whether it's in or out of tune or key but they will hear if the mix is not sitting tightly. Musical training helps you to develop your sense of hearing as well. Especially with records nowadays, with all the extra effects, you need to have a really good listen first. "

Skrufff: What's your assessment of the standard of today's DJ generally-

Lucien Foort: "I've seen a lot of DJs and producers that have been hiding in their attic for a long time and all of a sudden they Tags

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