Armin van Buuren: The hospitality of the fans here is incredible

How did the idea of bringing the ASOT festival to India happen?
I love the vibe of the country and I’m looking forward to reconnect with my Indian fans. It’s going to be an intense night of eclectic trance, state of the art production and stellar line-up. I’m bringing to India the world’s first festival programmed around a radio show. It’s definitely closest to my heart as it’s one of my most ambitious trance tours.This was one of my biggest dreams.
READ: A State Of Trance (ASOT) festival to come to Mumbai on June 6
I think I’m going to be the first DJ to ever to own a festival of my own, like a proper festival, with several arenas. The State Of Trance, my radio show, will now be turned into a full-scale festival. So I will have multiple rooms in a big arena. And it makes me very proud, not because of me, but because I really have a vision now where I can help other artists to show their creativity to a bigger crowd. For me, it’s really exciting, because the sound that I really love and really believe in is now really growing. It shows that there’s an underground fan base for it that, it needs to be bigger. And I’ve got to be honest with you, I don’t think that trance is the most popular sound right now in electronic dance music, but I keep supporting it simply because I love it so much. The folks at Percept put up a stellar show for Armin Intense and I couldn’t resist the chance of bringing ASOT (A State of Trance) festival to Asia through the dance music institution in India, Sunburn.
Which acts are you looking forward to at the festival?
Cosmic Gate, Simon Patterson, Orjan Nilsen, Super 8 & Tab.
What keeps you going and expanding your repertoire?
The ingredients for a great DJ – it's the connection to the audience, the crowd, the mixing of your songs, the song selection, and the different emotional peaks and highs and lows, and you’re there, conducting it. Trance is where my heart has been for so many years. But I also like to explore new production techniques. I think my fans should start worrying if there’s no progression or experimentation.
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Let’s face it. Trance is not the most popular genre in electronic dance music at the moment. But, it’s closest to my heart. If I were to change my sound drastically and play something that has nothing to do with my classic sound, it would not feel natural to me. So, I keep playing trance as close to the current sound as I can. I try to appeal to a bigger audience, but still play my own sound, I can’t just play something else because of commercial success or whatever. Earlier on in my career, I may have tried to really stick to a specific sound. With my last album, Intense, I think I was really able to let that go. I just go into the studio, and I do what feels right. And I don’t think about being commercial, or not commercial, or being trance, or non-trance, or making EDM or non-EDM — or just thinking about how a track should impact my crowd or whatever.
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I just make music because I want to make it and because it feels right, and I know now for a fact that no matter what you do as an artist, no matter what decisions you make… whether you stick to your safe sound and your safe haven or whatever you’ve been doing throughout the years, or whether you try a new sound, you’ll always win and lose fans. The only responsibility that I have is towards myself to make music that I really like. Just as a person, I can’t do the same thing over and over again. It just bores me. I made a track back in 1999, which was a huge success, called ‘Communication’, and I still love that track. It’s still very dear to me. But I can’t make another ‘Communication’. It would just bore me. I really want to do something different every time when I’m producing — I think I owe that to myself, rather than to my fans or anybody. When I’m in the studio, I want to create something that excites me.
Apart from producing music, what else can we look forward from you in future?
A lot of shows around the globe. ASOT and Armin Only are my most important projects. I’ve always been a big fan of radio and I love being able to give new talent a stage to shine on. That’s what I love most. Don’t forget I had a lot of help in the early days from other artists and it feels great to be able to do something back. Second, I really love to connect the audience at the event with the people listening on the streams. Literally turning the world into a dancefloor by spreading audio and video to anyone who cares to see it. I started off with hosting ASOT so the show will always hold a special place in my heart. I’m looking forward to the release of ‘Armin Anthems’ to celebrate 20 years as a producer.
What do you think about the Indian electronica scene?
Indian fans have a great understanding of dance music. India has a huge EDM following and the scene has only grown multi-fold since the last time I visited. The hospitality of the fans is incredible. This whole generation is growing up listening to dance music. It's a cultural movement really, and I think only retrospectively will we be able to confirm that. It's just amazing how it's grown and how much different sounds have been developing throughout the years.
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Listen to Armin Van Buuren songs on Gaana.com
WATCH: Armin van Buuren live at The Flying Dutch 2015