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In the past years our paths crossed here and there. In 2016 I interviewed Niels Schilder formerly known as DJ/producer Malbetrieb. These days he goes by the artist name Joannes. He told me about the gig he remembers most. “Every track was received with open arms, it was climax after climax!”
“I can’t really remember my first gig. I do remember that I organized a disco at my alimentary school. I can’t have been older than twelve. I had brought my disco lights, mixer, tape recorder and speakers and had secretly dragged my parents’ CD player along. As soon as, after a while, requests came in, for me the fun was over. I believe that a year earlier I was a contestant in a playback show where I did Vanilla Ice with Ice Ice Baby, but that’s a different story.”
Old shipyard
“Later, halfway through the nineties, me and some friends organized parties at an old shipyard. We mainly did this because we were still to young to be able to attend the large house parties, Club Mazzo or Club iT. Also, we wanted to play for a crow ourselves.”
Quite bizar
“Our parties, that were of course really illegal warehouse raves, were visited by an older audience. After a few editions, the police dropped by because it was all getting a little out of hand. As well as the noise pollution as the security was concerned.”
Make my own music
“Later we moved to a youth center and after that to a local disco. We organized a few parties there, but they weren’t as cool as those illegal shipyard events. That’s when I scaled back on my playing and started making my own music.”
Minimal trance
“During the following years I performed as the Nils & Tooms duo with one of my friends. Together with another friend I produced minimal trance under the alias Patrick Nilssen. My first vinyl release stems from this period.”
Nuno dos Santos
“Both projects stopped after a while, but by then I had developed a real taste for producing. One day I sent my first demos to Nuno dos Santos, after I had met him during ADE. Nuno was super enthusiastic! I couldn’t believe it! That demo ended up at Lennert Bezemer’s desk and my first solo release was on his Dualblock label. I came up with the name Malbetrieb last minute, when I had to send the tracks away for mastering purposes. Malbetrieb is derived from the German word for a painting company.”
Paradigm
“After this release I got in touch with Piter, one of the present owners of Paradigm in Groningen. He was setting up his own techno label, Klopfgeist. Together with Hessel, who’s the present programmer of Paradigm, Piter wanted to organize events under the name Arthouse. First in club Rock-it in Leeuwarden and later in sushi restaurant Doozo. We were able to get Bart Skills, Lauhaus, Kabale und Liebe but also Anja Schneider to Leeuwarden.”
Underground hit
“Soon Klopfgeist really took off. We scored a modest underground hit with a release of Zonderling named Sonderling. Also we were remixed on our label by the likes of Tale of Us and Shaun Reeves. Besides this, we organized label nights in Doornroosje in Nijmegen but also in Naples and twice in Berlin. During one of the Berlin nights, where we went with a touringcar full of fans, we ran into Paul, who was the manager of Pand48 in those days. Later the four of us – Paul, Piter, Hessel and me – started club Paradigm.”
Respect
“Now I’m no longer part of the organization. Neither is Hessel, who is programmer for Paradigm and organizes my bookings. I still have a lot of respect though for what those guys have reached and feel inextricable connected with those the club. I may have contributed a little to their success, but all the credits go to them.”
Kollektiv Turmstrasse
“The gig that I remember most was in Paradigm. It was about a year and a half ago on a Sunday (Sunday Afternoon Collective). Kollektiv Turmstrasse was the headliner and I was programmed before and after him. The place was just filling up when I started and after a few tracks everything seemed to fall into place. Playing in Paradigm to me always feels like coming home, but this time was extra special. Every track was received with open arms, it was climax after climax! The set lasted about two hours but it felt like a dream going on all night. Everything added up. Afterwards I received an applause that lasted bizar long. And at that point it was only midnight and Kollektive Turmstrasse had yet to begin. And I still had to do my closing set.”
Perform
“I took a moment and went up to the office to let everything sink in. On top of that, I felt a huge pressure to perform again later and try to do even better than the set I just did. In retrospective I can’t remember a thing from the moment I took over from Kollektiv Turmstrasse. It took a few tracks to find my vibe back. Then the same thing happened as a few hours earlier. It felt like one big rush.”
Hugging
“During my last track, which was also my third encore, Sailor & I with Turn Around (Âme remix) everyone was hugging each other and singing along. It was so beautiful…”
“A month later I was asked to play the complete Sunday solo. I played an almost nine hour long set that honestly, how cheesy this might sound, gave me the same kick as that evening with Kollektiv Turmstrasse. For me, these two gigs mark the beginning of a certain successful feeling as well as recognition for all those years of hard work. Something you have always secretely dreamt of as a little boy in a village in Friesland. This was the moment I realized: “Holy shit, I can do this!”
This interview with Joannes (then still Malbetrieb) is originally published on DJMag.nl in September 2016.
Who is Joannes?
Unusual choices and unusual sounds without losing reality. Joannes always plays with full passion, and continuously tries to challenge his own creativity, letting emotions be his guide.
Joannes, formerly known as Malbetrieb, and in real life known as Niels Schilder, is a DJ and producer based in the North of The Netherlands. His work can be described as deep melodic house and techno with a progressive flair, sometimes melancholic, always on point and with a unique style of its own.
As one of the original founders of the Klopfgeist label and club Paradigm in Groningen (Best Underground Club Benelux 2015/2016), Joannes is partly responsible for the up and coming scene in that area. Pushing his musical tastes, the Klopfgeist label featured music from artists like Tale of Us, Darko Esser and Nuno dos Santos, while his Paradigm residency (named ‘Parody’) featured artists like DJ Tennis, &Me and Mano le Tough to name just a few.
Joannes’s first connection to electronic music was a cassette tape of The Prodigy, given to him by a cousin. A few months later The Orb performed live on Ray Cokes’ MTV show and it all made sense to him: turning moods into music. His musical inspiration comes from early electronica, pop music and progressive house. Sasha, Aril Brikha and Nuno dos Santos, but also The Alan Parsons Project and The Prodigy were a huge influence on his musical taste, which you can still hear in his music today.
Starting off with a Soundcraft mixer, Korg MS20, 808 and a halting Siel synthesizer (all without MIDI) Joannes began creating productions in his parents’ basement. It wasn’t until later in the 90’s – when computers and MIDI made their entry in home studios – Joannes decided that trading-in the 808 for a Pentium 1 computer seemed like a good decision. Now, his setup is fully back to analog again, eliminating the visual aspects of arranging and producing and letting the ears and the mind do their work.
Joannes is an acclaimed producer, releasing music on labels such as Klopfgeist, SoHaSo, Chapter 24, Selador and Kontra-Musik. His music has been supported by the likes of Patrice Baumel, Nuno dos Santos, Kollektiv Turmstrasse, Eelke Kleijn, Robert Babicz, Frankey & Sandrino and many more. Sebastian Mullaert (a.k.a. Minilogue) remixed the title track of his first album ‘Life in the Clouds’, and in return Joannes remixed Sebastian’s ‘Movement’, accompanied by Voices from the Lake and Abdullah Rashim.
His performance is always energetic, melody-driven and pushing towards euphoria. With many years of experience Joannes has a keen eye for his audience, and plays all his records with full passion, taking crowds on a journey through sound that they will remember.
