Jetting in as part of Stereosonic’s 2011 trance troupe is Dutch DJ Jochen Miller. A semi-regular to our shores, Jochen (pronounced ‘Yock-en’) tells inthemix that he’s excited to be returning. “I’m just pumped to be a part of the biggest shows I’ve ever done so far in Australia” Miller says – and for once, it doesn’t come across as standard DJ marketing hype. You can actually hear the genuine enthusiasm in his voice.

Having not visited since Slinky and Freefall almost two years ago, Jochen is amped. “I just love the festival feeling. The people, the summer, the sound system, it’s going to be really special, both for me and for you.” Unbridled enthusiasm aside, I get straight down to details and ask how he tweaks his festival sets from his club gigs. Jochen’s response is surprising, his euro voice brimming, “It doesn’t matter for me whether I’m in a small club or at a festival; I simply want everyone to go nuts. That’s what is most important to me when I’m playing. My goal is to make everyone crazy and to see smiles on the faces.”

Jochen’s big- room mindset, in every setting, is his style – and he stamps this indelibly. “Playing my own tracks and keeping my own sound is also how it works for me. The festivals see so many acts in such a short time, and by using this approach, I can distinctly add my flavour really quickly,” he adds.

Jochen Miller’s artistic spark first fired in his father’s club back in the late 90s, not long before taking up his first residency at club Zino’s in the Netherlands. His future DJing was cemented when, a la Carl Cox, he deftly spun it up using three turntables at the ’99 Dance Valley Dutch mixing championships. Since then, it’s been DJ 101: another residency at Nijmegen’s The Matrixx, a 2003 ‘Surprise of the Year’ Dutch Dance Awards win, and track productions like Surround Me and 7th Heaven on label High Contrast.

Producing tracks, Jochen explains, is another mainstay. His latest number, Flashback is another big room number he’s dropping regularly. “I wanted to make something with a big house feeling that also had a great riff in it,” he says. “So I got together with Benno (from Rank 1) and with this direct goal in mind told him what I wanted. Flashback was the result.”

So collaborations are also a regular on the Jochen Miller menu, and the DJ often joins forces with the Rank 1 duo. “Yeah, I love working with those guys. The first one we did together was And Then, released in 2006, and the follow up was The Great Escape, released in 2010. We’re now currently working on a new one to be released early next year.”