Finland’s most notable musical export – Proteus talks about how it all began, his club nights Sade & Inferno in Finland, all those awards and accolades, and DJing New Years Eve at the infamous UK Torture Garden club. He also tells us why he likes to wear those famous S&M clothes and make-up, what audio equipment he’s been using to make tracks, who he’s going to be collaborating with in the future, what goes on in the dungeons of the Hellfire Club & Tuska, and who he finds inspiring.

How did you become Finland’s most known hard dance DJ?

It all began around 1995-1996 when I started to play NRG/hard dance sound. I was one of the first DJs in Finland who played the hard dance sound. My reputation and career got stronger every year when the hard dance sound was getting more and more popular in Finland. I think one of the reasons that the sound [became] more popular was that my friends and I organised a lot of underground raves and parties in those days. My style of playing was very energetic with a little bit of a show, that’s what made me different to other DJs. I have always been the same with special costumes and make up. I was also the first Finnish hard dance DJ who played in foreign countries. Basically it has all been really long and hard work to get this point.

Tell me about your club night called Sade in Helsinki?

Sade is a club for harder styles of dance music and the atmosphere at the club is very old school rave, with strong strobe lights and cyber decorations. I run it with my four DJ friends and our Sade organisation is now about 7-8 years old. We used to have club nights once a month but now we are doing it about six times in a year. The capacity at the venue is around 600-700 people and we have had artists like Lab-4, Kevin Energy, Gary D, Hellraiser, Alek Szahala, Carbon Based and Pain On Creation to name few. We usually like to have different harder music styles each club night. We have in addition to normal NRG sounds, stuff like industrial, freeform, hardcore, hard trance and drum & bass. Also the people who come to our club usually dress up in cyber or fetish wear, which is a really good thing for the club’s atmosphere.

How does Inferno your industrial night differ from Sade?

Inferno is only for Industrial, EBM, gothic and metal music. It’s more like my hobby and I don’t run it so regularly. I’m a really big fan of industrial and gothic metal music, that’s the kind of sound I listen to at home.

In 2004 you were voted number 90 in DJ Mag Top 100 DJ list, plus Mixmag rated you in the number 3 in the Top Hardest DJs. How hard did you work at your DJing that year?

Well I think I worked as hard as always and I was very lucky to have great people working with me. 2004 was probably the year that made me better known in the world, I had really huge gigs like Dance Valley and many important gigs in UK and my first Australian tour, it had a big influence on my career.

You played at Torture Garden NYE 2001, the world’s biggest and most famous fetish and kinky club. How important was this gig for you, and what goes on at Torture Garden?

It was really important gig for me personally and something that I had always dreamed off when I was younger. I always hold fetish and cyber stuff very close to my heart and that was one of the highlights in my life and career. Torture Garden is the most well known fetish and kinky club in the world and visiting it is definitely a great experience for everyone who likes hard music and very hardcore cyber and fetish atmospheres in a party. Torture Garden as a club is more about the people and fetish culture than just the music.

Did this experience inspire your DJ show or have you always dressed up in fetish gear? And what did you wear that night?

I have always had fetish and very dark and gothic cyber gear when I’m DJing, from my first Proteus gig to this date. I used to work together with the official Finnish Kinky Club before I played at Torture Garden and I organised my own underground fetish parties here in Helsinki many years ago. If I remember right, I had my old silver mask a long black cloak with leather and PVC!

What goes on at your underground fetish clubs at Tuska & Hellfire Club?

They are strictly invitation and member only clubs. Tuska, which is a Finnish word meaning “Pain”, is more underground, kinky and fetish event with a strict dress code, dungeons and dark rooms, where people can do their thing. Hellfire Club is more about the dark and hard music and for people who really likes those kind of sounds. I organise Hellfire Club more regularly than Tuska.

Your second tune, ‘Metal’ on HQ, and third track ‘Venla’ on Teflon Bullet, are both your own releases. Are there going to be any more joint efforts on future tracks or are you concentrating on solo releases?

Most of the future releases will be solo tracks and some remixes made by me, but a while ago. I made a track called ‘Heavy Fusion’ with Carbon Based and it will be released soon from Finnish FINRG label.

What audio equipment did you use to make those tracks?

I usually use Logic as my software but I have also tried Cubase, Abelton Live and Reason. In tracks like Venla, Metal and London Helsinki Underground, I used Logic. Nowadays computers and software are so good that you can do miracles with them. I have also used equipment like Virus and Novation.

What are the future plans of DJ Proteus on the next couple of years?

I will try to work as hard as possible and continue to play hard and travel as much as possible, it’s not time for retiring yet!

What advice would you give to aspiring DJs/producers?

Always keep your feet on the ground and never let go of your dreams, work hard and long and you will get your goal. Nothing happens in a one night!

What artists inspire you at the moment?

I have to say that same artists who inspired me in the past still inspire me most today, and they are Lab-4! Without them I wouldn’t have started to play the style I play or probably even used name Proteus. Their first single release “Transformation” in 1996 really changed my eyes on dance, [after it] I started to play hard and dark music! After that they have become my really good friends and they have supported me so much during these years.

DJ Proteus continues his Australian tour this weekend:

Fri May 26th – Hellfire @ Earth, Adelaide
Sat May 27th – Transmission @ State Sports Centre, Sydney (BUY TICKETS)