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We met backstage on a beautiful summer festival day at Dockyard Festival in Zaandam. Since then, we always have a laugh and a good chat when we see each other. In this edition of MY FIRST GIG, we feature Portuguese DJ and producer Marco Ramos. “Am I good enough?”
“My mother is Mozambican, and my father is Portuguese. For the first five years of my life, I grew up in Mozambique with my brother and two sisters. There was always music playing in our house. My father had a large vinyl collection and a stereo system. His taste ranged from rock to disco, while my mother preferred pop.”
Trying to Scratch
“That stereo and all those records had a huge appeal to me. I often heard Run DMC’s “Can You Rock It Like This” on the radio, and I was fascinated by the scratching in that song. ‘What is this?!’ I thought. I knew it was something new. So one day, when my father was at work, I sneaked into the room with the stereo. I started trying to scratch with his vinyl collection. I was only four, so of course, it was a disaster. When my father came home, he was obviously not amused that I had pretty much destroyed his entire record collection.” (laughs)
Repetitive Music
“When I was five, the political situation in Mozambique worsened, and we moved to Faro, in the Algarve, southern Portugal. Around the age of ten, I started taking guitar lessons. My guitar teacher once told me I had a real ear for music, and soon, I formed a hard rock band. When I was sixteen, my friends started listening to electronic music. I didn’t like it at all. I couldn’t understand what they found so great about that repetitive sound – I was only used to rock. My friends started going to raves more often and kept telling me to come along. I resisted. But eventually, I decided to give the music a fair chance – on one condition: it had to be a really good party.”
A Shift in Perception
“That’s how I ended up at the Algarve 98/Locomia event, where artists like Plastikman, Dave Angel, DJ Hell, and Erick Morillo were on the lineup. Of course, the vibe immediately felt special, but what struck me the most was that these artists were performing alone. In bands, you always have issues – someone has to look after their kids, another has to take care of their sick mother, you name it. But these DJs only had to deal with themselves. Combined with the unique atmosphere, my perception of electronic music changed, but more importantly, I realized that you don’t need others to make music.”
No Skipping Needle
“At the time, I had a simple stereo with a turntable and was still trying to scratch – but now in a controlled way, without the needle slipping or the record skipping. And, of course, without destroying the vinyl!” (laughs) “Around the age of seventeen, I finally managed to buy my first Technics turntables and a mixer. I had saved some money myself, and for my birthday, my parents, sisters, and brother chipped in for the rest. I immediately started building a record collection and visited local record stores in Faro every week. My father didn’t understand it at all. Everyone was using CDs by then. He literally said: ‘Now that no one listens to vinyl anymore, you’re investing in it?!’ (laughs) Luckily, I was able to explain it to him in the end.”
A Full Record Case
“I got my first vinyl in a rather special way – I bought an entire record case from a DJ friend. My first dance vinyl was Joey Beltram’s ‘Forklift’. But at that time, I had no idea I was supposed to mix the records.” (laughs)
Basic Skills
“My neighbor at the time owned a bar. I wanted to play there and told him I’d bring a big group of friends if he gave me a chance. He agreed, so one evening, I was behind the decks in his bar. You could call it my first gig. I just played one record after another, stopping the previous one whenever I felt it was the right moment. Then the bar owner’s son – my neighbor – said: ‘Mate, why aren’t you mixing? You have to mix!’ He showed me how to use the pitch, explained beatmatching, and the importance of the first beats. You know, the basics. Thankfully, I have a good ear for music, so after a ten-minute lesson, I just went with it. But of course, I felt pretty stupid for never realizing that mixing was a thing before!”
Forest Raves
“In the following months, I practiced a lot. Sometimes I got discouraged and took breaks, but I always picked it up again. One day, I finally managed to mix two records properly. Once I got the hang of it, I wanted to play at a party. But at the time, techno wasn’t the kind of music people wanted to hear in bars, so I started organizing my own events with a friend – raves in the forest. More and more people started showing up, and eventually, bar owners took notice. That’s how, at eighteen, I was invited to DJ at a bar.”
Immense Pressure
“I was super nervous for my first official gig at a bar called Double. Almost all my friends were coming, but so were regular bar-goers who might not even like techno. I felt immense pressure to please everyone. Was I good enough? The owner had asked me not to play anything too heavy.”
Hyper-Focused
“When I started playing, my hands were shaking badly, and I didn’t want anyone to see. Every time I put on a record, I held my breath to keep from shaking. Only after placing the needle on the vinyl would I exhale. I was hyper-focused. In the end, I don’t think I made a single mistake. Everyone loved my set, and the owner was full of praise. What he didn’t know was that I did play techno – just at 128/130 BPM instead of 140.” (laughs) “At that time, I was really popular as a DJ in Faro.”
Reggaeton Invasion
“While studying Social Communications at university, I knew I’d never be a journalist or work in communications. I wanted to make a living as a DJ. But I still completed my degree. During my student years in Coimbra, I organized several parties and played at my student association. After university, I DJed across Portugal and in various Spanish cities – until techno became less popular, and reggaeton took over everywhere.”
Club Winston
“My mother had already been living in the Netherlands for some time, and I had visited often. She kept asking if I wanted to move there. In 2010, I finally did. I didn’t know many people in the Dutch dance scene, so I started working as a bartender to ‘infiltrate’ a club. That was Club Winston in Amsterdam’s Red Light District. Soon, I ran into some people I knew from Portugal, and things took off. Since then, I’ve played in many Amsterdam clubs, including Paradiso and Sugar Factory, and appeared on online radio shows like Amsterdam Most Wanted.”
Goosebumps
“Last week, I had my first gig since the COVID period, and I think that’s worth mentioning. I performed at Ground Luxembourg in the capital of Luxembourg. The lineup included Chich, Unklar, and the rising Portuguese star Temudo. The latter is incredibly talented and will 100% become a superstar! It was amazing to finally play in front of an audience again after almost two years. Every gig is unique, but in this case, it was also the first major event the crowd could attend. So, you can imagine the atmosphere was fantastic. I had to play for an hour and a half, and I danced non-stop for the whole set. I was drenched in sweat, but oh, it was incredible! In this club, you’re practically on the same level as the audience; you can touch them, shake their hands—it was special. The response from the dancing crowd was insane, the energy we shared! Their hands went up in the air, and I got goosebumps!”
“During the COVID period, I also worked on several upcoming releases. I wasn’t completely satisfied with some of them, but I received fantastic feedback from fellow producers, so now all I need to do is fine-tune them. There’s a lot of exciting stuff coming up. Recently, I also did a show with Sous Dubois a.k.a. Marco Aurelio on techno-club.net. I was invited by Cisco Ferreira, a.k.a. The Advent, for that. It went really well, and he even offered me the opportunity to host a night on this techno channel, which I’m definitely going to do. I plan to share the night with people I believe deserve the spotlight. Who? Well, for example, Dave Mech and Cool Tiger. So, you’ll be hearing a lot more from me!”
This interview with Marco Ramos was originally published in September 2021 on This Is Our House.
Who is Marco Ramos?
Marco Ramos is a Portuguese bohemian DJ/producer, art, music and nightlife lover, based in Amsterdam. His distinctive mixing style and eclectic sets make him a very versatile DJ mixing from techno to electro. As a DJ Marco Ramos played in key clubs and on music festivals in Portugal, Spain, The Netherlands and Germany, e.g. Nature One Festival, Kadoc, Attika Disco, Domus, Indústria, Lenox Club, Sugar Factory, Paradiso Amsterdam, Reset Club Zaragoza, The Crane Faralda Hotel, Coimbra Dance Event. Marco Ramos also shared the stage with international artists as: Alexi Delano, A.Paul, Ben Long, Billy Nasty, Carl Craig, Dextro and many others.
As a producer, Marco Ramos recently started his adventure by releasing a track “Walking Life” part of the V.A compilation released on the Spanish label VS and a 10-track LP, “Voyager” on the established Subsist Records. Being supported by artists such as Audio Injection, A Thousand Details, Drum Complex, DVS1, Elyas, Gotshell, Jeroen Search, Laurent Garnier, Pacou, and Oliver Rosemann, Marco Ramos gets a clear sign that he´s on the right track.
Currently, Marco Ramos continues to work on his own productions and collaborating with several Amsterdam techno movements.
More Marco Ramos?
More First Gigs? Check them all here!
