Run by the invisible hand that is fist pumping in the town of Boom, Tomorrowland is the boisterous mecca of techno, where satisfaction is measured in beats-per-minute (bpm). Tickets sell out in seconds, and members of the crowd are wrapped up in national flags of their homeland, all the while dancing with the stamina of a horse. The World Cup of dance music, if you will.
The past few years have seen DJ heavyweights such as Dave Clarke and Armin van Buuren grace the Tomorrowland stages, spinning hit after hit in arguably the biggest global music festival. The former spared us at Popspoken his time in an interview to talk about the early years, Tomorrowland and a certain BBC radio presenter John Peel.
Clarke is certainly no stranger to the Belgian music festival having hosted the second largest stage in both the 2012 and 2013 editions. Despite being a veteran of the techno and electronica scene, Clarke believes that “a more diverse lineup that covered a wider range of underground music” was Tomorrowland 2014’s top selling point.
With a weekly radio show, countless albums and enough headlining gigs to outnumber your fingers, Dave Clarke’s influence in the techno scene is unquestionable. However, the Brighton veteran doesn’t aim to rub shoulders with established figures in the techno scene, and this anarchist attitude towards DJing is exactly what makes Clarke stand out from the rest.
And it certainly didn’t hurt that he got an early head start.
“I started getting into music around the age of 8, and also technology around that time, in a way there was no alternative but to go professional,” Clarke enthuses.
With so much time and dedication on his hands to hone his skills as the DJ, Dave Clarke later became a producer and as the famous saying goes – the rest is history. As such, there is little wonder why he was one of the early DJ’s who embraced the digital revolution.
“The level of technology at our fingertips is also amazing, it is a shame that not everyone uses this technology,” Clarke
Dubbed “The Baron of Techno” by deceased BBC radio presenter John Peel, Dave Clarke definitely sends his love back, adding that “radio would be so much better with him (Peel)”. And while Clarke thinks that Peel is one of the best in the broadcasting business, at this rate we wouldn’t be surprised if Clarke goes down as one of the best in his own.
