The first time I came across Sander Kleinenberg I knew I was onto something special, even before hearing a note. Standing in a record store late in ’03, I was handed a CD called ‘Everybody’. It had a funky vibrant cover, with the DJ wearing a bright pink t-shirt and the words “le freak, chest chic”. Coooool! Then I cranked it up, and Sander Kleinenberg had me hooked! I’d never heard such an amazing mix of tracks, rollicking from one to the next so seamlessly, you’d swear they were composed this way. More so, Sanders’ vibe was unique. Deep, so it’s got street cred, but also beautiful melodies and lots and lots of funk. Something sorely missing in super-serious progressive music, or outrageously over sung, stupidly simplified house. The artwork just made the whole thing hang together… this Sander guy, he’s got real PERSONALITY!
Several years later a dream was fulfilled. Here I was, an unashamed fan, chatting to the man himself. Maybe I’ve got an overactive imagination (actually, make that definitely!), but I could swear Sander has been a great instigator for more recent headliners such as Desyn Masiello and Luke Fair. Maybe Desyn has even surpassed Sander, but he ain’t the guy that got the ball rolling. The most refreshing aspect of my chat was to discover that the journey is far from over; not that I ever doubted it was. Even after so much worldwide success, it’s obvious that Sander is genuinely humble and has a new lease on life, from which we’ll all benefit. Australia is next on his tour schedule, along with a new compilation early in 2007.
SD. Hi Sander, how are you going?
Yeah good, thank you. I’m currently in San Francisco.
SD. Tell us what we can expect from your Australia tour? Will you be bringing your visual display?
Firstly, I’m excited to be in Australia in the first place. It’s been quite some time and I feel I’m not there enough… the last time was before my baby girl was born 2 years ago. I will definitely be working with the DVJ1000 new Pioneer video players. I’ve been using them for 2 and a half years and this is the first time I’ll be bringing them to Australia. In terms of content, I make my own videos so if I find a track I like, I work with a video producer called Mark who also tours with me. We create an identity of what we want to get across, such as highlighting the lyrics in a track and make sure the video is in cue with the music. With a lot of stuff you can really visualise what music does. For example, the other day we found Daft Punk’s ‘Around The World’ clip, downloaded it and remixed the footage to suit the version of the track I wanted to play. It’s super easy, and in the DJ booth I do nothing different. It doesn’t define the order in which I play tracks either so it’s very flexible.
SD. Have you got a new compilation release on the way?
Yes I do, it’ll be out in March or April next year and called ‘This Is Sander Kleinenberg’. In Australia it’ll come out through Stomp. It will be a double disk, with some extra features hidden away [like] video content that you can take off as a CD-ROM. We haven’t completely made up our minds up yet. In terms of style, I always believe comps reflect what I like. Maybe not peak time, a bit more relaxed. I feel they should always be interesting to listen to, wherever you are. I’ve already started work on it and feel comfortable.
SD. On the Everybody’s sleeve notes you indicated Sasha rightly predicted it’d take longer to put the mix together than you had anticipated. Is this still the case?
Yeah, when I first started I though ‘how hard can it be just putting just 24 to 30 tracks’. But to do this, make it interesting, and reflect who you are is more difficult and increases the pressure a bit. It took a long time just because I wanted it to be as interesting and fresh as I could. Am I getting faster? No, not at all. Maybe even getting worse! I’ve learned a lot and raised the bar. I can’t get away with something rushed. I feel I owe it to the world to discover some new artist or something fresh and inspirational. Great tracks don’t just fall out of the sky. The tracks and sequencing has got to make some kind of sense. It has to be compact and work together. It’s all the little extras that you set yourself to make something special.
SD. I understand you’re now a father. How does this fit in with your work?
That first year of fatherhood is very shocking, just realising you’re not the most important person any more. It took me some time to settle into fatherhood. I was living such a hectic life pre-fatherhood, flying all over the world, loads and loads of different gigs. Then all of sudden, I was a dad. It really shook me up! Now, I’m coming to terms with it, understanding my role in it… really settling into becoming a biological father. I took some time off to really become a daddy. Now, it’s time again for a little more of me and my work. Before she was born, music to me was the most important thing. Then hang on now… I’m a dad! It’s OK now, I have to make some decisions and find a new life balance. I now have loads of energy and want to make my baby girl proud of me. Currently, doing the world tour, it’s tough. But in the back of my mind I feel I’m making my girl proud and I’ll have more time off when I get back.
SD. What new releases can we expect through your Little Mountain label in the future?
We’re focusing more on people’s careers instead of one offs. For example, there’s a guy called Rene Amesz who is fantastic working with and promoting, he warms up for me at gigs. So it’s a bunch of stuff more like artist development. It’s going really well. There will however still be some one-off releases.
SD. How do you feel when you discover a real gem of a new track? Is there a real attachment?
Absolutely, completely! I get loads of tracks and it’s hard to filter out the one’s I want. 90% of a DJs job is done at home listening and selecting. I have a girl in London, Joanna, who sends me records each month. There are loads of ways to source tracks. On i-chat I get tracks sent by a bunch of great producers that I’m in the fortunate position of calling friends.
SD. In terms of up and coming DJs and producers, who should we look out for in 2007?
In terms of producers, I really like Funk Agenda from England… really amazing stuff. MTV [Martijn Ten Velden], again from England, also makes great material. And Trent Cantrell from Los Angeles, whom I hope to be releasing a record by in ’07.
SD. Sasha’s Involver was seen as a real landmark, rebuilding songs from scratch, really fitting the album together. Would you consider doing a similar thing?
Yeah, I mean maybe I could… hmmm [drifts off thinking about the idea]. Maybe I don’t play the kind of music that’s really suitable for doing that. For example, I occasionally play like a real song, with a start and end. I guess I could see myself doing it. Yeah, why not? I could see myself getting more actively involved in making a comp. It’d be more of my own (artist) stuff, some remixes and some songs that I leave intact. Yeah I can see that!
SD. You’ve done some remixes for big name artists, like Justin Timberlake and Usher. In a perfect world, who’d be on your wish list?
Depeche Mode would be very high… I’d love to mix David Gahan’s voice. Either their new or old material, I would be very happy with.
SD. Silly question, if you had to push an elephant through a pinhole how would you approach it?
I think I’d put it on a diet first!
Get up close and personal with Sander Kleinenberg on his first Australian tour in over 2 years this month!
Thu Nov 23 – Monastery, Brisbane
Fri Nov 24 – Sublime, Sydney
Sat Nov 25 – Mischief?, Melbourne
