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In 2017, Dutch artist Claudia Remmerswaal, who was then known as Miss-Behaviour but now goes by the name Claudia RÆMM, shared the story of her DJ debut with me. She had to overcome herself first. "'What have I gotten myself into? This isn't for me,' crossed my mind," she recalls.
“On my 21st birthday, I received my first Technics as a gift, an SL330 and an SL3210. They had belonged to a friend’s grandfather and still had a pitch control knob. I was passionate about music and loved spinning records in my attic room. I preferred doing it alone. I had severe stage fright and felt nervous even when there were a few friends around.”
Nature One
“Over the years, my self-confidence grew, and I occasionally played at birthday parties and at the well-known Nature One Festival’s camping grounds. However, performing for an audience, the real deal, was still something I left to others. I’d rather be on the dance floor myself.”
Rotterdam Underground Talent
“In 2010, my friends Justin Patti, Allard Drijfhout, and Rachid Prins started the ROT concept: Rotterdam Underground Talent. It was Justin who encouraged me to start performing too. He had heard me spin many times and believed I should just give it a shot. ‘Once you nail the first transition, the nerves will fade away,’ were his words.”
Bootleg
“On Saturday, January 29, 2011, the time had finally come: my first gig. I was scheduled to perform at Rotterdams Ondergronds Talent at Bootleg DJ-cafe Rotterdam. I was nervous. After all, I had just bought the new NI Traktor S4 and had only been practicing with it for two weeks. I hadn’t even figured out the workings of many functions yet, but I had a grasp of the basics.”
Not Meant for Me
“My girlfriend dropped me off because I had a heavy flight case for the S4. I arrived early, set up my gear in the booth, and had a beer to try to calm my nerves. It didn’t help much; I was still trembling with nerves. ‘What have I gotten myself into?’ ‘This isn’t for me,’ kept echoing in my head.”
Gigantic Energy
“Fifteen minutes before my set was to begin, I connected my gear and prepared my playlist. My hands were shaking so much that I struggled to operate the knobs. The first transition went well, the nerves persisted, but so did the second and third transitions, and people started dancing. Justin shouted, ‘Doing great, Clau!’ and the nerves disappeared. They were replaced by immense joy and energy.”
Late Hours
“The set wasn’t flawless. In the last fifteen minutes, I loaded a track onto the currently playing deck by mistake. I got startled, but I kept on going. Justin later taught me that you can set up Traktor to prevent that from happening. In the end, it was a fantastic night; we danced into the late hours.”
“After that night, I had a second gig at ROT during Queen’s Day. I also got booked by DNA (Rotterdam), and organizations from Amsterdam and Utrecht showed interest. In the years that followed, I played at various clubs in Rotterdam, from Bootleg and Vief&Vuig to Perron, Toffler, and Factory 010. Currently, I’m mainly focused on producing and my own Nachtzug concept. Additionally, I’m a resident DJ for Techchicks.”
This interview with Claudia RÆMM was originally published on DJMag.nl in September 2017.
Who is Claudia RÆMM?
As an artist Claudia RÆMM always tries to push herself to the next level. After learning the art of dj-ing on the Sl1200’s, she made the switch to the digital world in 2011.
“Going digital opened a whole new set of possibilities for me. It allowed me to put a lot more of my own creativity into my sets. Using my 4 deck mixing techniques, I sometimes surprise myself by ending up choosing a totally unexpected road, pushing myself to the max with ends in having a great journey together with the crowd.”
In 2016 Claudia RÆMM started producing and at the end of the year she dropped her own tracks for the first time in clubs. She’s also is the founder of ‘Nachtzug’; a Rotterdam based platform for the underground techno sound.