Interview with D.I.M.

So I went to a party Blast Your Ghetto the 25th of january. Andy (D.I.M.) was performing his first live act in Belgium. I’m proud to say that Phase02 had an exclusive interview with him. Also I want to welcome Nicolas a.k.a. Fierce. He helped me with putting this interview into text and he has a great interest in music as well, so he joined us.

Phase02: when did you start producing?
D.I.M.: Pretty early.. It depends on how you want to judge it. My father was a musician, he also worked with computers and machines. My first machine was the Linndrum and that was by the age of 14 so then I started to get into it. But professionally, so I can really live from it, it started around the age of 21. My music career didn’t really start with producing. I started more as a sound engineer and had my own studio. It wasn’t because I wanted to, but because I had to, I had to make money, and it’s not so easy to make money out of producing.

Phase02: Did you start with the same rough hardcore electro sound like u produce now?
D.I.M.: No. not at all. Around the age 20 I did a lot of hip hop stuff. I had a project going on with Alex (Boys Noize), who is one of my closest friends, which called Kid Alex. He was 16 at that time and we did this project where Alex was singing. We had a club hit called ‘Young Love’ and all of the sudden we had a major record deal. So Kid Alex was a lot different from what I produce now. It was more clean hip hop/ electro stuff. A while after that, Alex created the Boys Noize label, and we kind of split up, because we didn’t know who was doing what. Alex went on with the Boys Noize label and I started to think what I could do. That’s why I created D.I.M. around 2004, and that’s when I started to make this hardcore electro sound.

Phase02: At the moment you are again working together with Alex from Boys Noize. The co-operation is called Puzique. Could you tell us something about it?
D.I.M.: Puzique is just the same thing as Kid Alex basically, but then ten years later. He is now living in Berlin and I still live in Hamburg, so we meet up in the studio once in a while and we produce some Puzique stuff. It’s a new fresh name where we can do what we want. It’s not like Boys Noize sound or D.I.M. sound, it’s just the Puzique sound. We just say f*ck off and do what we want, like we did with Kid Alex. It’s really fun.

Phase02: Do u have other side projects going on?
D.I.M.: No, not anymore. D.I.M. is very time consuming so I don’t have time for other projects. I’ve been making so many remixes and for the moment I’m travelling to perform live. The whole year is almost planned so I don’t have much spare time left.

Phase02: Did you like performing in Belgium for the first time?
D.I.M.: Yes, it was amazing. It’s an amazing club and all the people are giving it. No one was just sitting or standing around, the club was really moving!

Phase02: What DJ’s/producers do you like?
D.I.M.: Well I don’t know too many good DJs. I would have to say Alex. I don’t know how he does it, but he’s amazing. It’s weird, we play the same tracks, but he just adds something magical about it. Secondly I would say Justice, as a DJ’s show.

Phase02: What kind of music do you like off the stage?
D.I.M.: Motown! A lot of Motown stuff. I do like Marvin Gaye a lot. But basically I like all music that has been made with the heart and the soul. You have to feel and hear that the music is made with passion.

Phase02: As a final question, what is your favorite remix?
D.I.M.: I’m really proud of the Junkie XL one. The track called My People from The Presets is also a track that I am proud of. And of course Jape because the rhythm, the lyrics, the guy… They’re all amazing!

[audio:/0208/Jape_floating_dimremix.mp3]
Jape – Floating (D.I.M. Remix)