This post is also available in: Nederlands (Dutch)
This week in the series MY FIRST GIG: Dutch DJ/producer Johanna Mercker. She grew up in a small village but move to Haarlem for her studies. There she met Michael van Lierop a.k.a. Ille Bitch, who took her under his wing. "Ille wrote online that I was 'his muse.'"
“I grew up in Giethoorn, Overijssel. My father is German and my mother is Norwegian, so I was raised trilingual. By now, of course, I also speak fluent English. Although Giethoorn is not the most vibrant place in the Netherlands, I started organizing hardcore parties from there when I was sixteen. However, my first love lies with trance à la Johan Gielen. The very first trance event I attended at age fifteen was Trance Energy in Thialf, Heerenveen. I started hosting those hardcore parties at the De Buze Cultural Center in Steenwijk. At that time, DJing myself was not on the agenda at all.”
Media & Entertainment
“At eighteen, I moved to Haarlem to study Media & Entertainment at the Inholland University of Applied Sciences. Naturally, I wanted to focus on event management. Besides organizing events myself, I had also attended virtually all hardcore events over the previous years, including Thunderdome, Nature One, and Masters of Hardcore.”
Hanging around at Trancentral
“In Haarlem, I soon found myself in a new scene. The events were different, and through Awakenings and venues like Het Patronaat, I came into contact with techno. In that scene, I met Mike Ravelli, Ruben a.k.a. Man with No Shadow, and Ille Bitch. I also often hung out at Alexander Koning‘s record store, Trancentral. That’s where I kept bumping into the man who eventually became my mentor: Ille Bitch. He introduced me to the Haarlem scene. Soon, we were close friends, and he took me to every event. My network expanded in no time.”
Feeling
“At the same time, I found the music increasingly interesting. Ille said I had a feel for it and thought that, if I wanted to, I should try DJing myself. At that time, there were few extensive tutorials available online, so it was hard to learn on my own. When I mentioned this to Ille, he asked two questions: ‘What kind of music will you play?’ and ‘Vinyl or CD?’ I absolutely wanted to start at the basics. So, I started buying records from Alexander Koning. My first records were bought there and at Outland Records in Amsterdam. Over time, I bought more and more vinyl. I even worked at Alexander’s store for a while and got paid in records.” (laughs) “Fun fact: Trancentral was next to a sex shop. The owner seemed to like me and was an old flirt who would often come by with new ‘toys’ in pink or purple. Too funny! I threw them all out recently.” (laughs)
Reloops MK2s
“Anyway, I needed turntables. I told my dad I really wanted to start DJing and asked if he would finance a set for my birthday. He replied, ‘On the condition that you finish your studies.’ That ultimately didn’t happen, but Ille and I did buy two turntables. I still have them; come with me to the hall to see. As you can see, they’re Reloops MK2s. Rock solid. Despite minor issues, they still work just fine. These were what I learned to DJ on. Nowadays, I have a Technics set, of course.”
B2B with Ille Bitch
“From that moment in December 2006, I started practicing with Ille every Monday afternoon after school, sometimes for four or five hours straight. After a few weeks, Ille thought I needed club experience. ‘You can practice at home for years, but it’s better to be on the spot,’ he said. ‘Take this opportunity; not many people get this chance.’ And so it happened. I did a back-to-back set with him at Club Stalkers in Haarlem. He stood beside me, and we usually played two-for-one: he’d play two tracks, and I’d play one. I had my own records with me, ranging from James Holden and Alex Under to labels like Kompakt and Defected Records. I had about forty records in my case, Ille had two hundred. We played for five hours straight, so when I ran out, I just started on the B-sides. He let me go solo for the last fifteen minutes.”
Muse
“For the next six months, he let me close each of his gigs for the last fifteen minutes. He even wrote online that I was ‘his muse.’ Naturally, this created a buzz: ‘Who is that?’ Ille gave me an enormous push for the future. I’m forever grateful for that. He boosted my confidence and told me I had a lot of talent and feel for the music. That meant a lot to me. After six months, he said it was time to stand on my own two feet. ‘Now it’s your turn!’ That also meant I had to arrange my own gigs.”
S.M.E.R.I.G.
“My first solo gig came about because I apparently caught someone’s attention. The organizer loved that I only played vinyl. So, I went solo without Ille in March 2007 to the S.M.E.R.I.G. event at Pand 48 in Groningen. I was somewhat familiar with the city because my sister had studied and lived there for a while. I was the closer that night, playing from 1 to 3 a.m. I arrived early and was pretty nervous. Luckily, my sister was there, along with her ex and some of her friends from Groningen. It felt very familiar.”
Tiny collection
“I didn’t prepare the entire set at home. I planned to but never got around to it. Besides, my collection was tiny. I think I planned the first two tracks and the last one to have a sense of direction and create a calm start in my head. Then, you can build on the crowd’s reaction. My style, which I call my ‘signature,’ has always been about mixing it up. I play tracks I like, from breakbeat to house to techno.”
High-fives
“In my nerves, I made a few mistakes, of course. I remember accidentally switching the channels wrong at one point, which caused a brief silence. I may have played a track twice as well. But I felt like I really rocked it. Once I started, my confidence took over immediately. That gig was just amazing. The thrill, the crowd interaction, the high-fives I got during my set! I felt euphoric and stayed for an hour afterward to soak it all in. It wasn’t about minor mistakes but the feeling: ‘This is it for me!’ I was so happy! It was intensely amazing!”
Fish in water
“As the momentum grew, I was naturally less present at school. I managed to get my propaedeutic diploma, but that was it. I felt completely at home in the dance scene. Nowadays, it’s a bit different. Sometimes, I feel a bit disconnected. There’s an overload of things to keep up with: events, organizers, DJs, producers, social media. Plus, many people from back then are now busy with kids or other things. Scenes evolve, and that’s okay. You decide whether you go along with it or not.”
“I learned a lot from that solo debut. You keep learning with every gig. What I’d tell upcoming talent is to enjoy what you do and be aware of it. Savor every moment. It sometimes seems like having more gigs means enjoying it less. Shame, isn’t it? As for my own future, I say: ‘Always stay tuned; a new release could drop at any time.’ For now, I have a private booking in Malta in May, and you can regularly find me at the turntables at Club NL in Amsterdam. The exact dates are on my Facebook page.”
This interview with Johanna Mercker was originally published in March 2020 on This Is Our House.
Who is Johanna Mercker?
At the tender age of six, the parents of Johanna Mercker inspired her to take piano lessons. After years of classical training Johanna Mercker discovered that electronic music, and especially house, captured her attention more than the weekly hours of piano study.
Johanna Mercker went on an expedition to discover this music to the fullest: trance, hardstyle, hardcore and techno. When Johanna Mercker went to Haarlem for her studies she started building an extensive network in the dance scene. That’s how she got friends with the DJ-hero from Haarlem: Michael ‘Ille Bitch’ von L.
After accompanying him on countless DJ-gigs throughout the Netherlands, Johanna Mercker realized that it was time to learn how to mix and DJ herself. Ille Bitch became her mentor and within a few weeks she had her first gig in club Stalker.
After that Johanna Mercker’s career took off and it started pouring booking-requests. Within the year she played at clubs like Doornroosje, Club Rembrandt, M.S. Stubnitz, Studio 80, Club Poema and many more.
Besides mixing Johanna Mercker took on the noble art of music production. Her style can be best described as warm, deep and groovy techno, with clear house-elements. Johanna Mercker’s incentive in music is not only to release a swing in the crowd but also to put down a sparkling performance which is a pleasure for the ears and eyes.
These days Johanna Mercker is also the loving mother of son Milo.
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