Piano lessons at five. Recorded cassette tape mixes by the age of 11. A signed artist by 16. Dutch hardcore DJ, Ophidian, has always had music as his primary focus.
You’re headed to Brisbane for WinterBass where you’ll debut your live show for the first time outside of Europe and the USA ... can you explain what exactly you’ll be doing?
When I perform live it's not all about fireworks and MCs, but rather about performing the songs. I break down the songs into basic elements and rebuild them live, usually intentionally leaving out certain aspects that I can then layer in by playing them, like strings and pianos on a keyboard, and kicks, glitches and edits via a midi controller. This means that my live act will never be exactly the same twice.
The WinterBass anthem was written by you, with vocals from MC Justice. It’s the first time you’ve worked with a vocalist.
I don't usually work with vocals in this way. My tracks are usually based on atmospherics with sounds and voices filling in a certain mood or emotion. For this project I wanted to go for a more straightforward anthem that appealed to a broader slice of the scene, so I chose a melody based track with an MC playing into the theme of the party.
The Australian hard dance community... are you surprised at the loyalty and passion the local scene exhibit for the genre?
Not really surprised, because I know how much passion there is. I’m really full of admiration for your scene though. Every time I'm over there I notice that, even though the scene is not as big as in some European countries, the drive and pride is so strong that I sometimes wish fans and promoters in other places were even half as passionate as some of you are.
Snakes... you obviously have a fascination with them, considering your DJ moniker; where does your interest in our scaly friends come from?
It's not just snakes, really. I'm almost obsessively interested in science and nature, and that interest makes its way back into the work I produce. I’ve taken inspiration from sharks, insects, natural weather phenomena, physics, astronomy. Snakes were just another reference — one that I thought sounded nice!
Ophidian will join Weapon X, Mark Breeze and Crypsis when WinterBass takes place at the Arena Fri Jun 29.
