When it comes to throwing down a deadly live set at some of Sydney’s biggest trance events the only name that pops into people’s head is our very own Liquid M (aka Marlo Hoogstraten). He can transport his studio trickery onto the dance floor, delivering an astounding live set, a very rare experience indeed and an opportunity not to be missed. Liquid M’s been in the scene for some time now, and is well recognised as a talented producer delivering you the wonderful songs “Dream Machine” and “Destination” and great remixes like “Falling In” by Amanda Easton, which received high rotation radio plays on commercial station Nova 96.9fm. But wait, of course there’s more! Liquid M’s effort in the studio and in the clubs has him recognised him as one of top trance identities, playing at venues such as Gas and Sound On Sunday.
In the past years you have been working together with Mike to produce some of Liquid M’s great tunes. However you have recently been pushing the live set by yourself, will this be a permanent thing?
It’s permanent… at the moment. It’s all very flexible, at the moment Mike has other commitments and thus cant give 100% to Liquid M. So for the time being, and that time being permanent for now, Liquid M is just me.
You have recently returned from travelling around the world and DJing in Amsterdam. What were the crowds like overseas?
They were great! Very open to me trying something a bit different and new, I played a 5 hour set crossing many styles from electro, techno, trance and hard trance. And whatever you’d try people were more curious and interested.
From your travelling experiences, what’s the trance scene like in comparison to Australia and Sydney especially?
I think the trance scene is very alive and vibrant in Sydney! In Amsterdam electro, house and hip hop are really big at the moment, and Thailand is almost only hip hop. I think the whole “urban” genre is really big at the moment around the world. I think it’s great that there’s still lots of weekly trance nights in Sydney. because there’s none in Amsterdam… just really big events every couple of months. In Amsterdam 40,000 people will come out every 2 months or so and party to trance, house and techno all night, but on a weekly basis there’s not that much… whereas Sydney could never fill a 40,000 person venue, but week after week people go out to party!
Incorporating vocals to trance music can give great chills and shivers down the spine, such as your own remix “Falling In” by Amanda Easton. Do you like working with vocals?
The “Falling In” song was great exposure for me, it was on high rotation Nova 96.9… that was almost 3 years ago now though. It’s a great way to gain exposure to a wider audience, the general public that don’t go to trance clubs. I haven’t really recorded a vocalist since working with Amanda 3 years ago, I’ve been very busy doing other remix work and non vocal original productions. However I’m pretty keen to work with a vocalist again in the near future.
There have been numerous great tracks you have done, such as “Sound Of Arena” by K System and “Without You” by Hurley. Will we be expecting more of your remixes soon?
Yes definitely. I’ve just done a remix of Tiesto’s “Lethal Industry” and Cory Lee’s “Naughty” – which is probably my favourite remix work so far. I’d also love to collaborate more with other Australian producers.
Being a producer, a DJ and a live performer all at the same time - what are the pros and cons?
Well being a producer is really kinda nerdy… it’s like the opposite of DJing. Producing is sitting in front of a computer screen staring at the same pattern for hours till it sounds right, fiddling with knobs on the keyboard and listening carefully… it’s similar to playing a game like Sim City or Command & Conquer, it’s like you build and create for hours and hours until you build the track that you had in mind. The DJ lifestyle is much “flashier”, you get to perform to a crowd, it’s dark, lasers and lights and big speakers. The pros of producing is that it’s your own music, they’re your ideas and once you know how to use your equipment you’re only limited to your own creativity. The cons would be that it’s many, many, many hours of unpaid work in the hope of getting something released or that people like it. If I was to get paid $5 per hour that I’ve worked on producing I’d be a very rich man! But I love producing, it’s something I hope I’ll do till I die. The pros of DJing are the response of the crowd, being able to display your musical tastes as a whole. The cons are probably the exposure to high levels of noise whilst DJing, it will damage your ears in the long term… and it would be pretty impossible to produce if your deaf!
For many DJs a goal is to be able to produce their own work. With you being one of Australia’s finest producers, what tips can you give to upcoming producers?
Be prepared to spend a LOT of time staring at a screen, whether it’s a synth, LCD or computer screen! Try to create your own sounds and avoid using presets if you can. Try to create a sound that is your own, don’t try to sound just like Ferry or just like Dumonde, try to sound like you. Learn how to use either Cubase or Logic, the results will astound you. Be really critical on yourself and welcome negative comments, they’re usually true.
If you had the choice, which number 1 producer would you like to work with?
Hmmm good question… I’d love to work with Dumonde because they have a great way of making things sound BIG! Timo Maas because I love how he makes his songs sound so textured and give it a real “groove” without going down any predictable path. Ferry Corsten because he’s great at making melodies and creating a party vibe in his songs. Aphex Twin because he takes a very different approach to sound manipulation. There are many many people I’d love to collaborate with.
Liquid M’s trademark are your great live trance sets, which is quite rare in Sydney. How hard is it to prepare a live set?
It’s much harder than walking in with a record box, that’s for sure! It means preparing all the songs, practising playing them, building a stage, etc. It’s also less forgiving, but more rewarding at the same time. Basically your playing songs that to many people are new and they haven’t heard before… It’s not like you can drop a track that everyone knows like you can in a DJ set. You have to hope that the crowd likes the music you have made.
From your point of view, what are the advantages of playing live?
It feels a lot more personal, you’re playing songs that you have created after many hours of work, and to play them live is a great opportunity to showcase all your own work. Sure you can play your own tracks in a DJ set, but the crowd might not pick up on that… Whereas when your playing live everyone knows that you’re playing your own stuff. I think people like hearing one of their local artists playing all their own songs, not only the latest tracks from Holland or Germany – as good as they are!
Your DJ set tends to be much darker and harder, like the sound of Marco V, Mauro Picotto and JamX DeLeon. Have your influences changed over the years?
I think my influences have changed a bit, I think I really like the more techy edges of Mauro Picotto and Marco V. It depends on which crowd your playing to though… If the crowd is pretty up for anything and open minded then I like to experiment a bit in my DJ sets, whereas if they’re more of a straight up trance crowd I play “trancier”. It’s hard, because different people like different things, but I try to make my DJ sets varied enough to keep it interesting for everyone the whole way through.
You have played with some of the world’s top trance DJs such as Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren, Dumonde and Yves Deruyter. Did you ever imagine yourself playing along with some of these DJs when you first started your career?
Without trying to sound arrogant… yes I did! “I imagined”, but reality – that’s something different! It’s absolutely mindblowing to look back at the experiences I’ve had, it still freaks me out seeing my pic in 3DWorld or thinking about acts I’ve played with. It’s really exciting and a real honour to be booked right next to some of the most respected artists in the industry, both locally and internationally.
What has been the most highlight of your music career, from when you started till now?
Hmmmm, it’s hard to say what was the best, there’s been lots of amazing times! Probably hanging with Tiesto, then playing straight after him in Canberra… or maybe playing mainstage at Transmission. Or in the early days playing at our old Halcyon and Altitude parties. I’ve also had some absolutely amazing nights at Sounds On Sunday and at Gas, there’s really too many great nights to pick one highlight. But just generally the highlight would be to be doing something I absolutely love.
Give punters like me a bit of a tease of what we can expect at Transmission?
Hands in the air, and big smiles!
You can catch Liquid M performing live on the main stage at Transmission this Saturday September 3rd.
