The WA hailing Dr Willis has been a fixture on Australia’s trance and hard dance scene for quite a while now, but in 2009 he’s definitely been taking things up a notch. The one responsible for bringing both the Slinky and Gatecrasher brands back to Australia, with the tours kicking off early in July and August respectively, as well as heading off shortly for an international tour that will see him playing the likes of Dance Valley in Holland, he’s got another project in particular that’s keeping him busy…

Dr Willis’s Freefall record label has been over a year in the making, and it’s all about the tunes on the more melodic side. It’s most recent release has been racking up the accolades, with Freefall 002 earning an appearance on one of Armada’s next compilations, plays on Radio 1 and more. Dr Willis has big plans for 2009, ITM finds out about them all.

Tell us a little more about “Freefall”. From what I understand it’s bringing the focus back onto the more melodic side of Dr Willis?

Freefall is more than just a record label and club night in the making, it’s a concept I have been working on for quite some time and is starting to evolve out of the computer and spread its wings beyond rumour and gossip. Our fan base for all things Freefall is growing at an alarming ratem with people like *Markus Shultz8 and the likes already signing our releases to their compilations. The club night has already hosted arenas at Trance Energy and two sell out shows in Bali last year, and the next chapter in its evolution is the Australia wide clubbing experience that has upcoming shows in Melbourne and Perth to date, with many of the other cities already showing interest in joining the team.

We have a great amount of talent under the banner for both the label and events that include Jochen Miller, Paul Webster, Fabio Stein, David Forbes, Re-Ward and Pascal Feliz to name a short few. So in a nutshell melodic would definitely be a term that would be closely related with freefall as its all things melodic or quite simply progressive house to tech trance and all things in between!.

You have had a pretty incredible music career so far, playing at some of the biggest festivals and events out there such as Dance Valley and Kiddstock. Is there any one event or country that stands out as being a mark above the rest?

Well the Dutch definitely know what they are doing, there is no denying that! ID&T and the Dance Valley crew don’t do things in halves, and the turn outs at the Dutch gigs are always large. The Scottish take the most vocal award without a doubt, if they are having a good time on the dancefloor you sure do know about it, but Australia is up there and above many of the places I have visited in different aspects including keeping up with what is hot and what is not, more so then some of the countries that you would expect like the UK for example!

You have the Gatecrasher Australian tour coming up in August. What should we prepare ourselves for?

Gatecrasher Super Sci Fi Australia 2009 is shaping up to be a great tour. It;s a brand thats on the rise again worldwide, and in places like Eastern Europe it’s one of the bigger ones. Its great to be involved with Crasher and the international lineup for this tour truly does reflect what is going on right now in the trance/ tech trance scene. Both Re-Ward and David Forbes are on fire right now, every release they do gets massive support from all the big guys like Tiesto, Armin etc and there music tops Beatport every time, which is the be all and end all of DJ charts and what they are buying and playing! It’s the one stop shop for what is selling and what is getting played, hands down. The tour will take in superclubs Family and Home, plus great gigs in Melbourne and Cairns so it’s going to be a good all round chance to get to the entire east coast top to bottom and a great experience with the clubbers of Australia. Be prepared for some killer tunes that are purpose built to rock the place.

You’re on the biggest hard dance music lineup to hit Australia, the Defqon.1 Festival. Are you excited?

Yeah it truly is an honour to be the only interstate guest at one of the major stages, and be a part of the whole experience in Australia for the first time. I have played at Defqon1 in Holland and it was amazing, so I’m sure the almighty Q have something special planned for downunder as all the gigs they have done so far that I have played for them have been nothing short of spectacular.

This year is shaping up to be a very epic year for you with tours in Europe, Indonesia and Malaysia. Is there an OS destination you’d like to play?

I guess the Americas is one of the frontiers I would like to conquer next, being either North America including Canada or South America, they are both very big places with so many different territories, states and cities so there is whole lot of places to play and visit. It seems to be happening to up there for both the trance sounds and the rave scene so it does interest me a lot.

Your single with Junkyard Dog featuring Antonia Lucas Freefall 002 has hit the stores. How is the feedback going, given it’s so different to your usual “dirty underground” sounds?

I have always played right across the board and doing a more vocal based tune is something I have always wanted to do as a producer, because working with vocal can be both challenging and fun at the same time. To have someone like Antonia to lay them down is truly an opportunity that you cannot deny or knockback. The feedback has been nothing short of surprising, everyone is playing and supporting the tune. Marcus Shultz has just put it on his next compilation for Armada, it’s been giving an 8 out of 8 review in M8 magazine in the UK, Sied Van Riel, Ernesto & Bastian, Mr Sam, Tydi and many more are all playlisting and supporting it to so it’s building great momentum towards hitting anthem status!

With 16 upcoming releases, one gets the impression it’s all work no play for you? Do you ever get to kick back and relax?

I am defiantly dedicated and a workaholic at the same time, I want to write as much music as i can and collaborate with as many artists as possible as you learn more and more! When I go over to Europe I’m in the studio all week and pretty much I always set 2 days aside for studio at home a week so that I’m always being productive. Then for one month a year I always have my holidays over in Indonesia where I will do a few gigs, but it’s all about relaxing and surfing at out of the way exotic locations so that’s my little bit of my time every year!

Any words of wisdom or encouragement for upcoming DJs trying to get out there and be recognised?

Embrace the technology out there, don’t fight it! Its there to be used and if you don’t you simply will be left behind. The internet is also the best promotional tool, use it to its full capability.

Five things you can’t live without?

My posse at home; that’s my girl, dogs and cat! They keep my sanity. My spaceship I live in being my studio, four computers, gadgets, blackberry and kickass studio monitors. Central heating cause I’m from WA and this winter so far in Melbounre has
been freezing. My snowboarding and surfing trips, that’s my escape from the spaceship internet, I’m logged in every second I’m awake!

Catch the freefalling Dr Willis in between his international gallivanting at the following gigs in the leadup to summer…

Fri 26th Jun – 3D, Melbourne
Sat 4th Jul – Slinky, Melbourne
Fri 14th Aug – Gatecrasher, Sydney
Sat 15th Aug – Gatecrasher, Cairns
Fri 21st Aug – Gatecrasher, Brisbane
Sat 22nd Aug – Gatecrasher, Melbourne
Sat 19th Sep -Defqon.1 Festival, Sydney