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In the spring of 2014 I had a chat with Edgarito. “With a huge smile I played a slowdance track and left the DJ booth to dance with a girl.”
“My very first DJ-set was during a drive-in show. The event was birthday that was celebrated in a garden. In those days DJing mainly was a matter of restarting vinyl instead of mixing tracks together. So, I with a huge smile I played a slow track and simply left the DJ booth to dance with a girl. was fourteen. The evening was a huge success! And since it was 1982, we listened to Top 40 music and disco.”
Import vinyl for Mallorca
“In the following years I continued to buy vinyl and follow all dance-oriented music trends, from disco to new wave, space, hip house and new beat to acid house. In 1986 I started to sell import vinyl on Majorca to friends who played in various discos. A funny story from that time is that I had five Steve Pointdexter vinyls with me, with the track Work that Motherfucker. My DJ friends used that record as a tune in a wet T-shirt contest. That track was just a week old and only in 1987 did it become a cult underground tune.”
Release party Fierce Ruling Diva
“In 1988 for me the house era started. My first real house gig was at the release party of Fierce Ruling Diva’s biggest hit, Rub It In, in de Amsterdam club Planet E. A girlfriend had sung the vocal for the sample. During the set, that lasted five (!) hours, Jeroen repeatedly had to warn me that half of the room had no sound. A broken cable from one of the turntables was the cause. I just fiddled a bit with the RCA connector until Jeroen raised his thumb and cheerfully continued playing.”
Eddy De Clercq’s sound
“My own style of playing at the time was inspired by Eddy De Clercq‘s sound in the Roxy. On a regular basis he gave me tips. We became close friends at that time and I went on tour with him. He recorded the sets and broadcasted them via the AFM radio studio above café De Kroon at the Rembrandtplein in Amsterdam.”
European premiere
“In 1990 I was responsible for the recordings in Café Anvers, when Eddy played during the European premiere of Carl Craig, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. At one point, Eddy had a booking in Rimini, Italy. Afterwards he immediately put the tapes that I had recorded for him in the mailbox. That way I could take over his radio program and showcase fragments of that evening in combination with the Blackbeat Top 50 that was present in the AFM radio studio.”
Fantastic time
“That was a fantastic time! I remember that I took white labels of Eric Nouhan and Dimitri to the show. Sometimes I played those tracks three times in two hours. The phone wouldn’t stop ringing. Everyone wanted to know the titles of those cool tracks.”
“In 1991 I started working at Outland Records in Amsterdam. For over nine years I was responsible for sales and supplies. I loved that job. In those nine years I performed all over the world. Nowadays I play about twice a month, purely for fun, as Edgarito or Edgar Outland.”
This interview with Edgarito was originally published on DJMag.nl on Monday, June 16th 2014.