Sander Kleinenberg interview

Sander Kleinenberg now feels that he’s in a position where he can release an album that truly represents his tastes and influences without any confusion, Dance, pop and crossover the key words here. There’s no better example than Remember When, a pop crossover record of the highest order. The combination of Jamie’s deeply soulful vocals with Sander’s lucid, electro-tinged production really stands out and the result is something of genuine quality.

Why did you wait 15 years to bring out this album 5K?

Well first of all because of my career of what I do as DJ, I’m always on the road so rarely in one place for long amount of time, secondly musically and mentally this was the right time for me. This album show’s where I am at now in my life and my career. It’s a showcase of my style of music, the music I tend to listen to and it represents who I am at this stage in my life. It makes sense if you listen to the whole album and understand the meanings of the tracks and lyrics. You might say to yourself ‘oh not all of this is appealing to me’ because we all have different tastes in music, but hopefully you will understand the journey put into it as a whole. The album contains elements I’ve enjoyed over the last 10 years and really manifests who I truly am now, and my personal journey over time.

In what way does this album exactly represent you?

It’s really showing a personal side of me, it shows from the inside what kind of guy I am. It’s using music I generally like to listen to and some lyrics are quite personal, which makes it all a bit scary because people will also be judging me and not only the album when listening to it. I’m bearing all in this album.

The first single on your album 5k is “Remember when” featuring Jamie Callum, why did you make this choice, as it’s not what you’d usually expect for a dance album?

It’s been a couple of years since Jamie and I have talked about working together.  I always wanted to do a pop record with him because firstly he’s a musical genius and I knew that what I wanted to do would suit his voice really well. The single allows me to tell a story of coming of age, of how I grew up and how long it took me to become an adult. Becoming an adult is obviously the theme of the track and the album is itself is more mature from what I may have done in the past, and that’s how we worked together. We went back and forth and he picked this one up, enjoying what I wrote. It’s a track that means a lot to me.

What’s your personal meaning behind the track “Remember when”?

Well “Remember when” is definitely an opinion of how you are in your 20s, where you just party and at some point you kind of stop and think; well maybe I should take life a bit more by the horns rather than letting it pass by, and try and give it a bit more depth. I guess, that’s the general theme and meaning behind this track. Its’ about growing up, about when I decided to grow up and take life a little bit more seriously and that’s what I wanted to get across in this album.

Do you now consider yourself to be a grown up then?

No not at all (laughs), well yes of course I am, I’ve grown up musically and I hope I’ve grown up as a human being. 

Do you agree with 5K album being mentioned as your first “proper “artist album?

Well yes, I did an album about ten years ago on a French label which was called NELK and I tried doing something bigger than what I was capable of at the time. Looking back I think that album sounds a bit pompous. I believe that I’ve now developed enough maturity to put myself in a position where i can produce an album again but be more adult about it, give it more depth and collaborate with people efficiently and those that I really want to collaborate and work with. A lot of things that I’ve been trying to do over the last 10 years have really resulted in this album.

You wrote on Twitter once that you’d like to collaborate with Nora Jones, can you explain this choice of artist?

That’s correct. I love her voice and there’s sort of a really chilled feeling about her and how she sings. I haven’t heard anything from her in a while and that a shame because she’s such a beautiful artist and that’s why I’d love to work with her. You can always go for more obvious angles as a DJ, but I like to choose people that I like to take out of their comfort zone, put them in a different environment and make it more challenging for both of us. She’s one of the people that I’d really like to work with because of her talent and genre.

Have you ever considered doing your own artist live show event?

Possibly, it all depends on the reaction to this album and where people think I stand. I think first though, I need to further develop what I’m trying to do before doing it on stage. Maybe once I have more material and fresh material but it’s not something I have in mind just yet.

Do you live in Amsterdam?

Yes I do, near the zoo it’s in the centre. It’s a lovely area of Amsterdam.

Which club night would you recommend in Amsterdam?

Club Air does some really interesting stuff and for the more alternative music lover TROUW is a good place to go to. Melkweg is a great venue for live pop events. Amsterdam is a really vibrant and cultural city there’s many options to choose from. I think a great night in Amsterdam is the one you don’t expect. You can go clubbing in a really cool modern venue and then you might unexpectedly end up in an old brown cafe where they play Dutch music. There are just so many options in Amsterdam and you can get anywhere within just a couple of minutes.

You share your life between Amsterdam and Ibiza in the summer, so how do you compare the two dance scenes?

Well Ibiza is obviously very orientated towards dance music and most areas in Ibiza are purely catered for clubbing and hosting DJs in the summer.  In Holland it’s more about the big festivals and the big dance events all year round.

What are your favourite events/festivals in Holland?

I love lowlands which of course isn’t only dance music orientated, it has rock bands, pop and dance music stages, it’s massive. But in Holland there are quite few Dance festivals to choose from and what strikes me the most in Holland with festivals, is the design and whole effort put into the look and feel of the event, rather than just relying on the music and the sound system to create an atmosphere.  In Holland the organisation is quite important they put a lot into the decoration of the event. It’s always something that I admire in Holland.

You seem to share with Fedde le Grand a fetish for funny t-shirts, so have you two ever thought of hooking up to compare who has the best t-shirt?

That could be an idea! I’m actually into non print t-shirts at the moment; I just think if you’re looking at the DJ you might as well smile!

How do you manage family life when being an international DJ?

It’s not easy to marry those two, I have a beautiful 5 year old daughter and my priority is to make sure she’s happy. Of course I’m aware that my career takes a chunk out of this commitment. I always say to myself that I could have a job where I’m stuck in traffic every morning, and where I see her only a few hours during the week after my day job, but for me it’s different. When I’m home I’m with her as much as possible and I take my child everywhere, she even comes with me to the studio.  Of course I don’t try to over compensate and spoil her too much, but when I’m home, I commit myself a 100% to my role as a father. When I’m away, there are so many ways to stay in contact these days with Skype for instance. I never really thought back in the day, about what having a weekend job would mean to my family life. It means missing out on certain important family moments, and that hurts sometimes, but then again my career is not something I can just take for granted I’m getting paid for doing my hobby and there’s always a compromise to bear in mind.

Does your daughter understand what you do for a living?

I try to take her out of that side of things. The single i did with Jamie gets quite a bit of attention because it gets played on the radio but we try to get her to understand that it’s just a job, no more or less important than any other job in the world. We try to guide her through the importance of simple but important values and my wife is great for that too.

I also heard that your wife is a great cook?

She is indeed! I really miss home cooked food when on the road. I love walking in to the house to the smell of homemade beef stew.

On twitter you once mentioned that Yves Saint-Laurent was your favourite shoe brand?

I know what you’re thinking! No I didn’t mean the stilettos! Hey, they make great sneakers and I love them!

How do you protect your ears when playing?

I try to make sure that I am protected most of the time, but to be honest, when behind the decks I love loud noise it gives me a shoot of adrenaline.

Well as they say in Dutch “Success for 2011!”

Thanks!!

(Interview EB / Holland Clubbing)