Dutch powerhouse producer Quinten van den Berg aka Quintino was recently revealed as the next big EDM artist to tour the country. The Sherp managed to catch up with him to talk influences, his sound and his plans for the future.
For those of you who didn’t know Quinten was discovered by Laidback Luke at the age of 18 and started to take his stature as a DJ and producer beyond the normal club scene, playing at innumerable landmark gigs and high profile festivals. In the summer of 2011, Quintino decided to join forces with Sandro Silva and continued his ascent into the Dutch Dance Music elite with the release of ‘Epic’ on Tiësto’s ‘Musical Freedom’ label. The single topped DMC’s Buzzchart, entered the top five of the Beatport Top 100 and hit the #1 position of the Dutch charts. The track is still played to this day, and is highly considered to go down in dance music folklore as one of the most addictive tunes to hit dance floors all over the world.
Most of the top DJs in the world are from Netherlands — be it Hardwell, Tiesto or Armin Van Buuren — all are Dutch. Can you tell us why? Could you also tell us about the good and the not so good things about the EDM music scene in Netherlands?
Its difficult to explain or pinpoint what the exact reason why so many Dutch DJs are popular around the world. I do know that the Dutch crowd go to so many parties that they are harder to please, therefore we as DJs have to work harder and always try and give your best performance. This is now starting to pay off worldwide.
You started Djing at the age of 18, how has the scene changed since then?
The biggest change in the DJ scene with now and when I started as a DJ is the popularity of DJs and how people look at DJs. 10 years ago a DJ would be at a party to support a rock band or popstars. These days the DJ is the headliner and its all about his or her music. The DJ has become the popstar and its great to see all these big crowds coming to the parties for us.
Tell us about Laidback Luke, and where and how he spotted you. We’re eager to know that story.
We met at a party were I had to DJ after Luke. He stayed during my entire set and just seeing him watch made me nervous. After my set he came to me and told me he really liked my music and had a great time. He told me to stay in contact, and thats how it started. That’s still one of my best days in my life.
How would you describe your sound?
For me it wasn’t really a choice, I always follow my instinct and gut feelings. I make music which I like and that resulted in a certain style in my livesets which you call the Quintino sound. Each music genre has its own charm, for me its electro/progressive house. But I don’t like to be labelled to a specific music genre, as I said before I play music which I like, so sometimes I play various kind of music genre during my livesets.
Let’s talk about influences. Who or what has been your biggest influence, musically?
One of my biggest inspirations is DJ Tiesto. When I saw him playing at the Olympic games in 2004, I was so impressed. Last year one of my dreams actually came out and I did several gigs with Tiesto on his college tour in the United Stated. Thats was really amazing.
The best and the worst experience of your career till date.
One of the best experiences up to today is my performance at EDC Las Vegas. It was a couple of years ago and I had to play one of the smaller stages. Five minutes before I had to start the area was still completely empty, but when I started the area was packed, it was so busy that nobody was allowed to enter the area. That was an amazing feeling, all those pure fans coming out especially for me, the atmosphere and energy was amazing. That’s why that’s still one of the best and most fun gigs I have had.
Can you tell us more about your song writing process?
I always get my inspiration during my performances and experience during my gigs. I take that inspiration back to the studio and give it my own spin which results in specific music style.
Genres of music you enjoy listening, other than electronic. What’s on your ipod right now?
I love to listen to Drake, at the moment I’m traveling a lot and it’s good music for on the road. I seriously like almost all kinds of music, depending on my state of mind I can listen music genres from reggae to R&B or from dance to even classical music. As I said earlier every music genre has its own charm.
Your favourite drink. Why?
Grey goose! Never a headache and always a good time
How does the future look to you?
I want to be become bigger and better, and play all around the world. I like to inspire people and I give people energy and happiness. Last couple of years everything is going really well, and I’m looking forward to the future.
Here are the venues for Quintino’s 3 city tour:
Thursday, 8th May: Royalty, Mumbai
Friday, 9th May: Pangaea, New Delhi
Saturday, 10th May: UB City,Bangalore
You can buy tickets for the Mumbai gig HERE, and for Bangalore click HERE. The Sherp will keep you updated on the status of New Delhi ticket availability soon.
Quintino’s India tour will be brought to us by WMS.
Mumbai Partners – Submerge