Neither here
nor there

>> East German techno icon Paul van Dyk
breaks down walls, bridges musical
gaps and plays with new toys

MIDDLEMAN: Paul van Dyk

by JACK OATMON

PVD is not an outmoded rave drug, nor is it a discontinued recording plastic. And you might think that pills and vinyl would be dear to PVD’s heart, to hear the music. But Paul van Dyk doesn’t do any drugs at all, and he doesn’t play with records anymore either. He’s still in the game, though, and arguably more devoted than ever. Over the past 15 years, he’s bounded all over the shop as a DJ and produced an ungodly trove of albums, tracks and remixes. Now it’s all culminating with his latest LP, In Between, his tour-de-force foray into the margins of pop-inflected techno.

Mirror: Tell me a little bit about In Between.

Paul van Dyk: Well, I had the chance to work with some fantastic guest musicians on the album. Rea Garvey, Jessica Sutta from the Pussycat Dolls, David Byrne and many more. It’s kind of a manifestation of what I always say, which is that it’s not about pigeonholing things into a particular style. This is clearly electronic music, but at the same time, it involves a lot of different influences from different genres as well. If you combine those elements, you can create something that sounds unique rather than just trance, techno or progressive house or whatever. And that’s what you can find on the album. I also think it’s the best album I’ve done so far, so I’m proud of it.

M: Definitely. It’s a pretty eclectic record.

PVD: You know, the other day, I was listening to my Seven Ways album and I was thinking, “Why did people ever call me a trance DJ?” Because I’m not playing the stereotype trance sound and I never actually made any of that style of record. So I’m just wondering how that happened. It’s probably the biggest misconception of my career.

M: Do you think the wide influences relate to all the travelling you’ve done as a DJ?

PVD: I’m a musician. As a musician, I’m interested in all different kinds of music. Music to me is not about one particular thing. It’s about reaching out. And of course travelling involves a lot of influences socially as well. So I see and hear many things and all that ends up somehow in my music.

A studio on the stage

M: How do you think things differ now from when you started doing this?

PVD: It developed from a small club culture into one of the biggest youth cultures in the world. When I started, the DJ was the freak in the corner while other people had fun. And now what people see in a DJ, and what it means to them, is rather different. And like any style of music, once it gets popular, you get new elements coming into the music. And they’re not necessarily the core, clubby elements. Meanwhile, so many people are making it that the output of electronic music in terms of quality and quantity is much higher. As well, electronic music is a very forward, directed music. It’s open and it involves many new and different elements all the time. That inspires others in turn to do something new. That’s the great thing about it.

M: What about the changes on the technological side?

PVD: When I’m on stage in a club, I have two computers with me and they’re linked to each other through interfaces. I have a special mixer with MIDI and synthesizers. I have MIDI controllers and keyboards. So it’s much more like a mobile studio in a way. The great thing about that is that I’ve developed the same enthusiasm for making music and being a musician and a producer as I have for DJing in the last 15 years. Having the possibility to include those elements onstage for me is the ultimate thing. I can play your favourite song, but it sounds completely different because I’m playing a lot of things live. It’s a very interactive and intense experience of electronic music. I definitely think this is a step forward. I was thinking about it the other day. What did I used to do after I mixed the record in? Was I just hanging out for eight minutes not doing anything? There’s so much more you can do and you can be so much more courageous now. Electronic music has always been about breaking the boundaries on the creative side as well as using the latest technologies.

At Metropolis on Friday,
Nov. 23, 10 p.m., $80