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In 2014 I interviewed my friend Daniel Englisch a.k.a.Diablo about his DJ debut. Diablo is also half of the producers duo Zweistein. About his first gig: "There was no turning back."
“In 1990 a number of friends and I for the first time gave a party in Het Rothaanhuis in Amsterdam. This happened under the name Nightbreed. Until that moment, in the Rotaanhuis, only bingos and similar events were held.”
Pale
“At that time, the house scene was still the drain of society. So, we told the owners at the time, that it was a birthday party where a few house tracks might be played from time to time. The couple turned quite pale as they saw that Audio Amsterdam drove in two meters high bass cabinets from EAW (the delicious BH800 system) through the back entrance.”
No turning back
“But then there was no turning back. After all, the room was paid for. During the party, a large canvas of 4 by 9 m2 was painted. The DJ towered from above. That evening I played with, among others, Bas aka DJ Wizz, my soulmate and mentor at the time. I chose bold tracks from Quazar, The Hypnotist, GTO, Armando, etc..”
Legendary attic
“In the past, we mainly played with ten peope in Bas’ legendary attic, which was equipped with stroboscopes and smoke machines. The noise at this real gig was overwhelming, but flawless. Without those annoying limiters that are now present in every pub and club. That evening at the Rothaanhuis was great! It was a wonderful experience to see the crowd dance to my music. At that point I knew: this was my destination.”
This interview with Diablo was originally published on DJMag.nl on Wednesday February 19th, 2014.
Who is Diablo?
Daniel Englisch (1974) a.k.a. Diablo was born and raised in Amsterdam. He comes from a very musical family. Diablo was drawn from a young age to new musical styles and art in general. It started in the early eighties with the introduction of electric boogie, break dance, hip hop, graffiti and the making of cut and paste mix tapes. In 1987 he got in touch with house music trough pirate Radio 100 and was sold for live as it seems.
In 1990 Diablo bought his first turntables, learned the fine arts of spinning from his soul mate Bas Wissink aka dj Wizz and started playing house and techno under the name Diablo. He played at many clubs like club Mazzo, Paradiso, Time, Melkweg, Lichtfabriek, Fun Factory, Graan Silo, the Catacombs, AMP studio’s, Trance Buddha, festivals like New Frontier, Hellraiser, Dance Valley, Wooferland, several radio stations and in countries like France, Yugoslavia, China and Israel.
Diablo also played drum & bass for some time under the name of dj Deadly D. He followed a studio course at the National Audio Institute in 1990 to gain some knowledge for his own music production, but it was only until early ’99 that he would bring this knowledge to serious use with Solid Fundamental, an electronic live act consisting of four friends: Bas Wissink, Joera Mulders and Karel Eggerding a.k.a. Rustig.
While working in the famous Groove Connection Record store, run by JP, Joost Bleeker (RIP) and later Vince (RIP), Diablo met Ziv Avriel from Israel who moved to Amsterdam at the time and offered him a spot in club Trance Buddha. Surprised by his skills and his great personality it did not take long for them to create their own techno organization. They called it Underground Heaven, with a residency in club Mazzo & Time and one off parties at Hempoint (illegal ware house party), Hotel Arena, Lichtfabriek etc. They played alongside artists like Steve Rachmad, Thomas Schumacher, Kazu Kimura, Estroe, T-Quest, Misjah, Bart Skills, JP, Shinedoe and many more.
In the end of 2003 Diablo and one of his old band members, Karel from Solid Fundamental, formed the live act Eclectric, with influences from techno, break beats & hip hop. They did a few live sets at parties and had their first vinyl release together with Solid Fundamental.
In 2005 Diablo went solo with his productions. Since then he played live at parties for Switch Music, Vaaghuyzen, Paradiso, Pand 14, Cue Bar, de Effenaar etc. From the beginning of 2009, Ziv Avriel and Diablo started their own techno label called Defuse Records which is still going strong. As Diablo’s musical choice was not only techno but house as well, he was looking for a new medium for his trax on the deeper shade of dance music. That’s where Willem de Poorter a.k.a. Adjust came in. Willem invited Diablo for a live set on a festival in Eindhoven. Shortly after they went into the studio and decided to create the label Cosmic Disco Records. The main styles are deep house and tech house. Daniel and Willem also formed the new live house duo Zweistein. The label, Zweistein and their featured artists received support from artists like Francois K., Paco Osuna, Robert Owens, Michel de Hey, Maor Levi, Sunshine Jones, Guy J, Alexander Robotnick, X-Press 2 and many more.
More Diablo?
This interview with Diablo was originally published on DJMag.nl on Wednesday February 19th, 2014