Comeback college

>> Belgian techno whiz CJ Bolland, the sequel

by LORRAINE CARPENTER

"I'm gonna do some 12s 'cuz I've been off the scene for such a long time, get a bit of a buzz going again, and then I can release an album. I've got so many tracks here to chose from, and I've built this new studio that I'm using to the max, so plenty of shit. You actually called me at the best time 'cuz I was about to kick the studio to bits." Even Belgian techno DJs crash their PCs. Between flying to places like Budapest in the wee hours for intense festival sets, CJ Bolland has been perfecting his studio, giving his new tracks some "final tweaking" and setting up three record labels to call his own. The Mirror tracked the man down for a chat about all this, and Star Wars.



Mirror: I heard you wanted to do music for the last Star Wars movie. Would you drop everything if George Lucas called you up to work on the next one, Attack of the Clones?

CJ Bolland: Well, if I was approached this week, no (laughs), but in a couple of months, maybe. You know, I'd love to do all this stuff but I just haven't got time for anything. It's like with remixing, I'll remix anybody, especially stuff that I was really into when I was a kid, like Depeche Mode or Anne Clark. I love doing them kind of mixes, but right at this moment in time it's not possible. But yeah, Mr. Lucas, yeah sure, in a couple of months.

M: So tell me about your collaboration with Tom Barman [from Belgian rock band dEUS].

CJB: We're doing this electro meets rock, meets, well, just meets anything album. It's called Magnus, it's a hella-cool project. I need to get completely away from the techno scene for a while, just in my own mind, just to do something else in the studio. And, funny enough, Barman is producing a movie as well, a Belgian film, so some tracks are gonna be featured in it.

M: Okay, what's the deal with your three record labels? Are you superstitious, or--

CJB: It all got a bit confusing when I was on London Records and I was putting out big beat singles and then techno, and then there was electro, and it was all a bit too mashed and mingled. Nowadays--on this side of the world, I don't know what it's like over there--if you don't stick to categories, people just get confused, so I'm doing a techno label [Mole Records], an electro label [Scalelectrix] and a drum & bass label [Under Siege] just because I love it so much. The techno thing obviously goes along with my DJ sets 'cuz I play techno and I need to be doing this kind of stuff, but electro and drum & bass are where I'm really at right now, personally.

M: Are the labels strictly for your projects?

CJB: I've also signed some other artists. I've got this bus driver from Brussels, this 22-year-old bus driver, just wicked. He's got this little Atari at home and one keyboard and a little sampler and he's coming up with stuff that's just mind-boggling. Pretty much anybody's welcome to send me demos.

With Robert de la Gauthier, Omar Santana and many more at Arrival 5 on Saturday, Aug. 11, 10pm, $40+. At Sanair, on Route 235 near St-Pie--directions and full info at www.thearrival.net. Shuttlebuses from CéGEP Vieux-Montréal, $5