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My favorite spot in town during Amsterdam Dance Event is always In Deep’n’Dance Records. That’s where I met techno-queens Daniela Haverbeck and Paula Cazenave. Daniela and I often saw each other again at my other favorite place in town, the artist village Ruigoord. She's such a radiant woman! In 2016 Chilian DJ/producer Daniela Haverbeck a.k.a. Rapunzel told me the story of her first gig(s). One in Chili and one in The Netherlands, where she’s been living for quite a few years now. “It was a 30-minute set, so I simply played both sides of every vinyl."
“My first gig was in 2002, in Santiago de Chile. The event was an underground party called Encuentro de DJs (Meeting of DJs). In those days I played hardcore. Because I went to this party before, I knew everybody. The scene was pretty small back then, so all faces were familiar. Ik was 23 at that point.”
Underground
“I was extremely nervous that night! It was that bad that I had a hard time placing the needle on the vinyl. The crowd on the dance floor existed mostly of young urbans. In those days, electronic music was still underground in Chile, so the audience it was a special mix of all kinds of alternative people, mostly ravers.”
Only four records
“For sure, I prepared my set. I owned only four hardcore records though. It was a 30-minute set, so I simply played both sides of every vinyl. Every vinyl contained three or four tracks, so I made it.” (laughs)” I had just learned how to mix, so I had to prepare the set to feel confident. Also, because every track differed a lot in BPM and I wasn’t able to mix that fast yet.”
Mother
“I’m grateful that I got lots of support. Really from everybody! I must admit that my mom had to suffer quite a lot under all the practicing in mixing at home. Sometimes she said: ‘Your music sounds like a neighbor is hammering the wall’.” (laughs) “I think she would have preferred house or minimal, but I was simply crazy about hardcore. My love for hardcore led to me deciding to become a DJ.”
Patience
“I was dating a guy who was drum&bass DJ. Hij was like a mentor to me and taught me how to mix. Obviously, he had a lot of patience!” (laughs) “In addition I knew this hardcore DJ named Hans Noise. He kept inviting me to parties. In those days, he was the only hardcore dj. I found an ally in hem.”
Thunderdome
“One day another friend came up to me and insisted: ‘You have to listen to this CD! Dit is truly horrible!’ It appeared to be a Thunderdome-compilation and I loved it! The enormous energy in the tracks – I couldn’t believe it! That’s when I knew for sure that becoming a DJ is what I wanted! Because I needed to let the Chileans get acquainted with this style.”
Impress
“My family weren’t into this kind of music, so none of them were present at my debut. Nor was a special boy present who I wanted to impress. I wanted to make a good impression on everyone. It was my first time, so I was mostly super excited!”
Crossfacer
“Looking back on it, my debut went well. Admittedly, at that point my mixing skill were a little basic. I only moved the crossfader from one channel to the other.” (laughs) “Overall, the beatmatching went fine. So yeah, I was quite happy. I couldn’t really enjoy my set myself, because I was too nervous and concentrated, but I could read from the faces around me that everyone was having a blast.”
Completely stopped
“I didn’t make any terrible mistakes that night. On my unofficial debut though, at someone’s birthday party, I did. I had learned to mix on two Sony turntables, both with a different pitch. At that party, for the first time I had to work with Technics. It was so different…! When I was making my first mix, I touched the vinyl to speed it up a bit and the music stopped completely…”
The real deal
“After this experience, I borrowed two Technics turntables to lear the real deal as fast as I could. As soon as I could, I bought my own set. I practiced for hours every day. Needless to say, that a mistake like this one that birthday never happened again.”
Crap
“In 2004, my next logical step was to start producing music with Reason-software. In no time I finishes a few tracks that sounded like crap.” (laughs) “In the end, I liked producing that much that I couldn’t stop and kept on making new music.”
Schranz
“In 2006 I released my first schranz vinyl on a sublabel of SCHUBfaktor. I remember sending demo CDs to many labels. In the end, I contacted DJ Promo. He actually replied with a lot of music production tips. He’s super cool!”
Third Movement
“This is the reason why I was able to play at one of the Third Movement’s famous events, named after DJ Promo’s label Club r_AW. This was in 2006 (picture above). One year before, in 2005, I came to Holland for the first time and played at some parties. My first gig in The Netherlands was at the party of nowadays good friend and colleague Mike Drama, called Industry of Techno.”
Rapunzel
“Besides harcore and schranz I also play techno, trance and drum&bass. In 2009 I started to produce techno as well, but for that I created a new alias: Rapunzel. I released tracks on Naked Lunch Records, Adult Records, Gobsmacked, Sub Cult and a few others. I also released one track on a ‘Various Artist’s’ vinyl of the Mastertraxx label.”
“Today I’m still active with all of the above. The past two years, together with Candy Cox I’m also in a project called No Dolls. On top of that, there’s another techno project in which I operate under a secret name. With this one I already released 2 EPs on renownded labels.”
This interview is originally published in November 2016 on DJMag.nl.
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