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Every DJ experiences that first time differently. This week: Michel Tromp a.k.a. DJ Duane about his debut. “I fell in love with house and still am to this day.”
“Music… It all started in my cousin’s room, sometime in the late ’70s in Haarlem. That’s where my love for music was born. I was only seven or eight. My cousin had two record players with a mixer and owned a large collection of party disco 12-inches. I was curious and played around with records too. Back then, we just played them one after the other. Mixing wasn’t a thing yet.”
Pirate Radio Stations
“In the early ’80s, my love for danceable music grew, partly because I listened to a lot of pirate radio stations that focused on electronic (dance) music. I recorded all the songs I liked on cassette tapes so I could listen to them over and over again, without commercial jingles.”
‘That sounded amazing!’
“In the mid-’80s, I started going out, first to the local club in Heerhugowaard, De Heer van Jericho. They mostly played disco, hip-hop, and new wave. But that changed when the resident DJ, Dimitri Kneppers, introduced a new style of music. He carefully mixed a few house tracks between the hip-hop and disco. It made my heart race. It sounded amazing! Dimitri even dared to put on a midweek night featuring only acid/house with dancers from England. I’ll never forget it. I stood by the emergency exit, watching and listening, and felt my body say, ‘This is my thing.’ I fell in love with house music and still am today.”
Mini Dancefloor
“At that time, I also started spinning house myself. I bought vinyl and some cheap turntables and started practicing at home. After a while, my first gig came up. It must have been around 1988 at the Sands nightclub in Castricum. There was an acid house party going on, and I got to play alongside a good friend. He had more experience spinning hip-hop but was also leaning more towards house. Sands was a small bar/dance venue with a mini dancefloor. The crowd ranged from older regulars to younger people. It wasn’t very busy, perhaps because house was still in its infancy and few people knew what kind of music it was.”
Powerraving
“This definitely left me wanting more. I knew I wanted to continue as a DJ with this style of music. Around that time, more and more house parties were being organized, which I attended with a group of friends. But once you’ve had a taste of DJing, you’d rather be in the booth than on the dancefloor. So my friends and I came up with the idea to start organizing our own parties. In 1991, the Powerraving organization was born.”
So cool!
“Our events were a huge success, and over time more followed in the Heerhugowaard region. I was often very nervous before playing at these events, but once I was behind the booth, the nerves quickly disappeared, and I could enjoy it. I loved doing my thing and performing in front of 800 to 1,000 people. So cool! Unfortunately, this successful adventure came to an end within two years.”
“In 1995 and 1996, I continued DJing on Friday nights at The Drome nightclub (formerly De Heer van Jericho). Those nights were specifically focused on dance music. I also performed at the Mixstream Festival in 2006 and at De Waerdse Tempel, both in Heerhugowaard. Nowadays, I mainly make online mixes for Attic Vibes Radio, Mixcloud, Soundcloud, and Hearthis. I do this as DJ Duane. My ambitions are to keep DJing and making music.”
This interview with DJ Duane is originally published on This Is Our House in May 2019.
Who is DJ Duane?
Michel Tromp, a.k.a. DJ Duane, mainly plays deep house, deep tech, disco, funky house, house, house classics, melodic house, progressive house, tech house, and techno. DJ Duane took his first steps in the Heer van Jericho in Heerhugowaard, where he was introduced to house through Dimitri.
Soon after, DJ Duane started playing himself and organizing parties. Today, DJ Duane is mainly active online, among others for House Fusion Radio, Pro Technive and Waves Radio.
More DJ Duane?
More First Gigs? Check them all here!
