Interview: 3ISACROWD

Written by the B&B Crew Sunday, 17 October 2010 15:03

Check out our interview with 3SACROWD, one of Holland's latest and most exciting DJ collectives...

  

3SACROWD is a new DJ collective of Alan Luna, Mike van Duuren and Bart Hendrix. The trio is all highly respected DJs in their own rights, playing in the best clubs in Holland and beyond. The boys individually and collectively promote their own events and are now also hard at work in the studio. We decided it was time to check in with this dynamic trio for the full lowdown:  

How did you first meet each other?
Uhhmmm for sure that would be Supperclub, where we all have our residence for years now.
We found out our musical taste overlaps a lot and our sense of humor works out together so we became friends.

How did you come up with the concept to work together and the name 3SACROWD?
We found out that DJ-ing solo is sometimes a little dragging: you are so focused on mixing and selecting of tracks that there is not enough time for anything else.  
Mike: As a DJ I did a lot of duo DJ-ing and found out that it gets you a lot of energy and inspiration when there's a good connection. It brings you to unexpected trips though your record bag. You feel more at ease facing big crowds and dare to take more chances. You also have more time to actually focus on the people before you when the other DJ is mixing. When Alan and I noticed that we had a lot of chemistry together, especially with back-to-back-mixing, we were wondering how it would be to play with an additional DJ.

Would it be 3 times as much fun, for us and the crowd?  Because we both worked with Bart and both had a great time DJ-ing with him, we tried it out and it was perfect. We all have a different personality but that's never in the way, on the contrary! It creates a very organic playlist that surprises us every single time and we have so much fun that it becomes a sort of show behind the booth. There is always something happening.   The name 3sacrowd comes form the irony of being the third wheel, which is never the case when we play together, with the exception that when we're on a stage so small that one of us is constantly falling off it.

Please describe your sound to Beats and Beyond readers.
Uplifting, deep, refreshing, true House music

Original productions are important in getting ahead as a DJ – please tell readers of BnB a little about your studio work.
Original is the word. We want to make stuff that fits in our sets and represents us. We don't want to restrict ourselves to a style or arrangement that we think off while making music. We like it most when we surprise ourselves while tinkering live with the nuts and bolts, the outcome is often something totally different than what we want to make. Working together and talking about it can bring it back to the original idea of making tracks that rock in our live-sets.
We are working with different platforms like Ableton, Logic and Cubase. Everything is digital and midi controlled.

The three of you, particularly Alan, are booked to DJ outside of Holland regularly – please tell us some of the highlights of 2010 so far gig wise for you all.
Bart: Uffffff…too many!!! Last Queen’s Day was a blast! 5 gigs in one day…total chaos….. Of course all the festivals we did this summer… (Rockit, Loveland, DanceValley, Sneakerz etc…)
We play a lot in Turkey (we’re probably much bigger names there then in Holland) and that is always something to look forward to. The clubs there close much later than in Amsterdam and the reactions are wild. This makes us go all the way which means we sometimes find ourselves going back to the apartment dressed up in wigs, falling asleep in obscure after-bars or wake up in a totally different part of town.

Mike: Fuerteventura during the World Championship Football was a hoot too; while we were playing on the beach the MC announced that Holland scored the first goal against Uruguay. That's quiet funny when you're hopping around in your swimming trunks with the biggest Cuba Libre in your hand, surrounded by sea, sunshine and people from other countries. Alan: Coming to Montpellier (France) a couple of times a year for the opening and closing of the beach season is always a big big pleasure for us, around 5000 people go mental! They always welcome us with Caipirinias as big as a vase when we arrive in the morning. It's like family… We had a lot of highlights there but we don't remember 'em all that well...

What are the challenges facing 3 people in a cramped DJ booth? Please tell our global audience what your technical setup is.  
It's all back to back to back (sometimes literally (4decks) …so before we start we have some fun deciding who's going to start. Then the rest tries to get their records at a place not too far from the booth and then the fun begins… the fact that most of the time we have little space get us in the mood of trying out the nerves of the others by playing difficult-to-mix records or dancing while someone is mixing. We do this as openly as possible so the people are able to see something more then only a DJ staring at his buttons. Sometimes that feels like a challenge, being entertaining, opening up to everybody, but it never is, it all goes automatic. And… The smaller the DJ booth, the bigger the booz bill….

You recently performed at the Sneakerz festival with MC Spyder – how did it go and is Spyder now a regular part of the setup?  
Alan: We did around 6 or 7 festivals this year and almost every time he was there. It's great working with him because he knows and loves our sound and attitude, and he joins the fun by playing the people with lots of 3SACROWD wordplay!
Bart: He’s not regular yet, Mike fancies him…so…you never know…
Mike: Pffffffff….

Tell us about some hot events lined up for 3SACROWD between now and the end of the year...
We are working on a compilation for Supperclub’s next CD. ADE Wasabi-agency’s (our bookings agency run by Sabine Marquenie) showcase. We're also looking forward to our first gig in Zurich, which is great because we love the town. Fuerteventura is coming up again but first we open for Felix the Housecat in Istanbul which should be great. Nice one as well end of the year we open in Istanbul before Daft Punk.

Do you have any amusing stories for our readers - something naughty?
Mike: The one that I was a little drunk during playing in Montpellier that I fell with my ass in a bass-monitor? I had difficulties getting out of it because my ass was kind of stuck but it was strangely comfortable I can tell you.
Bart: It is blond, has blue eyes….and his father is black….
Alan: I would say the 2 potatoes Mike sometimes seems to carry with him….Why???

Please name your all-time classic track.  
Mike: I don't have an all time classic track; the moment I listen to a song too many times another one pops up and knocks it from the number one place. I can tell you that "Dixtrit" from Bassfort is a song that rock my chair this month.
Bart: Insync – “Storm”
Alan: I don’t really have one…there are so many nice tracks…. But for a classic… Manuel Gottsching – “E2-E4” ..or all the Maurizio stuff I really like…

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