If you’re a fan of big room dance music and tribal beats, there’s a good chance you’ll have heard or seen the name Randy Katana in your travels. Originally from St. Maarten in the Caribbean, he’s been traveling the world with his records in tow since 1983. His mega-anthem “In Silence” was one of the standout tracks of 2004, and was voted “track of the year” by the well-known online trance community tranceaddict.com. He also keeps himself busy by heading up the label Jinx Records, and on the eve of his visit to Australian shores, he caught up with ITM to tell us the latest.
Knowing that he’s no stranger to Australian shores having visited here in late 2005, my first question to Randy asked him to comment on his previous visits and his opinion of Australia as a country, and was surprised to hear just how significant his first Australian experience was. “I can say that my first visit to Australia changed many aspects of my personal life,” he began. “It also inspired me in such a way that I totally changed the way I produce – a difference that you’ll be able to hear in comparing the previous productions I made to the ones I’m making now.” So how has Australia been to play in, then? “The dance music scene in Australia is very much up and coming, I think. It will take a bit longer than most countries because of the distance – people in Australia don’t get a daily exposure to all the different kinds of dance music available today, I don’t think – but I feel a great appreciation from the crowd for the music that I play when I’m there, and a real willingness to appreciate newer music.”
I ask Randy about his particular style of dance music – hard to pigeonhole yet easy to identify, with complex tribal rhythms and emotive, energetic melodies. “Crazy enough, it seems many people want to categorise my music as trance. It’s not. Everyone should be able to play my music, whether they’re into trance, techno, tribal, groove or you name it. If you’re a DJ and you like my music you should be able to play it. I also feel very strongly that it won’t be long before people realise that these predefined music categories are something from the past.”
So where does Randy’s musical style come from, then? “I come from the Caribbean, where I grew up with these tribal rhythms. I think that dance music has to be sexy. If it’s sexy, it attracts the ladies, and if the ladies are in the house feeling sexy, then you have a successful party.” I ask Randy about his experience as a DJ in the Caribbean. “Living in the Caribbean as a DJ, its like a party that lasts the whole week. I actually moved to Europe to produce music. I never thought I would become a professional DJ!”
Next, I ask Randy if he’s willing to let any secrets slip regarding upcoming studio projects or collaborations. “I’m working on many different things at the moment, ” he says. “The most important thing for me is to build a repertoire. I’m finding it very difficult to find good music at the moment, so the only option I have in order to play an interesting two hour set right now is to make the music myself. Almost every track I buy, I re-edit in a certain way, a way that you would be able to recognise as my style. Other than that, I’m trying hard to release an album this year – if my DJing schedule allows it!”
Noting that Randy’s last trip through Australia gave him a chance to play a number of diverse parties, I ask if he has a specific type of event that he prefers, and what sort of event he’d consider his ideal party and line up. “Wow, what an interesting question,” he says with a pause, and it’s obvious that I’ve struck a nerve. “To start, whether the party is in my honour or not my first concern would be the crowd. Therefore, I would book some friends, and some new interesting big names to offer new sounds and a new vibe to the crowd. I would start by choosing a nice sunny day on a wide spread of beach here in the Netherlands. Capacity would be ten thousand, dress code minimal. I’d fly in fresh coconut trees with coconuts on them to create a Hawaiian vibe. I’d rent one of Bill Gats’ yachts and anchor it close to the beach, and use it as the VIP lounge. I’d try to get Hugh Hefner to come with some of his girlfriends, so that I could invite some Hollywood big stars and get some international publicity. There would be a helicopter flying in the DJs and guests directly from the airport, so that when you see the helicopter approaching you’d know someone famous is arriving. I’d have scantily dressed go-go dancers drop down by parachute on to the beach, like D-Day!” He laughs. “How far do you want me to go?”
And the line-up? “Abel Ramos, Steve Lawler, Hernan Cattaneo, Carl Cox… myself of course, and to end it I would like to hear a progressive set from Tiesto. Sounds crazy, but this is what I like about the Netherlands, there are no rules concerning these kinds of parties – everything goes, and the crazier, the better!” I ask Randy if he has any suggestions regarding an up-and-comer on the global scene that the dance music community should be paying more attention to. “Abel Ramos,” he says. “He’s one of the best DJs I know. He’s a best friend, and a great artist, and while he’s the number one DJ in Spain I feel he should get more international recognition. He’s brilliant.”
The next category of questioning is a personal favourite – bald-headed superstar DJs. Recalling Dave Seaman once telling me his penchant for getting mistaken for Billy Corgan by wayward Smashing Pumpkin fans, I ask Randy if he’s had a similar sort of problems regarding being mistaken for another bald-headed celebrity. “You might think that people could mistake me for Marco V,” Randy concedes. “But to be honest, it’s never happened. I think my glasses are doing their job well – they make me unique.”
For my next question, I ask Randy where he sees his area of dance music moving in the next few years. “More rhythm, and less euphoric,” he tells me. “The new generation of dance music fans is more of a mix of different cultures than was previously the case. This creates a need for more Latin influence in dance music, which personally I love – because it’s me!”
We talk next of genres and genre categorisations. “I would like to change the whole categorisation mentality. Dance music is universal. It’s unacceptable that, in Germany for instance, a ten-thousand-plus capacity party with a minimum of four separate areas all with different styles of music – trance, R&B, hard house and commercial dance. This is the reason Sensation flopped in Germany. People should enjoy house music as one. I was in Morocco, a predominantly Muslim country. There, the new generation doesn’t care about politics or religion; to them dance music is what it’s all about. Dance music can bring cultures together – so let us experience and enjoy it as one.”
Randy Katana plays Sydney and Melbourne this weekend for Transmission: Magic City:
Fri May 25 – Transmission @ The Metro, Melbourne (BUY TICKETS)
Sat May 26 – Transmission @ State Sports Centre, Sydney (BUY TICKETS)
