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In 2015 I met and had a chat with Erik Sterk a.k.a. Enrico Fuerte, these days also knows as Dark SenSe. “Do the people want harder? They will get harder. No problem.”
“At the time of my first gig I was 26, so I’m somewhat of a late bloomer. The gig came my way through a message on Partyflock, in which an organization was looking for a techno DJ who played all types of techno.”
Hardcore and trance
“I had been playing at home as my own ‘main act’ for a year or two. I mainly played hardcore and trance on vinyl. I’d bought my first CD-Js (the 400 series) about two weeks before I saw that message. So, I took my chances and mailed them a set. After a few hours I already received a reply that this was exactly the sound they were looking for.”
Nervous
“Finally, the day was almost there; it was five days before my first gig. I was so worried about anything and everything and was so nervous, that I could barely sleep during those last five nights.”
Youth center
“After a two and a half hour drive from Eindhoven to Emmen, we arrived at the party. There were four of us: myself, two of my cousins and a friend. We ended up in a youth center with an area that was quite allright for a first gig.”
Surprise
“The area filled up quickly. When I started my set, a few people had already come over to me, telling me that they were looking forward to hearing my sound. I never prepare a set so what I am going to play is always just as much a surprise for me as for the audience.”
Speakers
“My set came along nicely when a problem arose. One that I was unable to fix, because I had no experience with the situation at hand. What was the issue? The organization had placed the room speakers on the same table as the CD-Js. Every time the volume increased, the CD-Js skipped. Fortunately, a fellow DJ had a bag that we could put under the CD-Js. Problem solved. Afterwards I got lots of good reactions to my sound, which I have since expanded considerably.”
YouTube
“I taught myself playing with vinyl and producing with Ableton three years later by watching a lot of YouTube videos and applying those tips to my own records. When I started DJing, I didn’t know anyone in the scene. Therefore, I had to learn everything by myself, without tips from friends or anyone else.”
Harder?
“Once, after a gig, someone tipped me to completely prepare my sets. I did this once, which resulted in a – in my opinion – terrible set. It leaves no room left for improvisation or connecting with the crowd. Ever since, I always play by feeling and follow the flow of the crowd. Do the people want harder? They will get harder. No problem.”
Lady Aïda
“There’s not really a person that I look up to or idolize. There are plenty of good artists, but my personal experience is that the unknown names often play better and more surprising than established names. If I have to mention a name though, then it’s Lady Aïda. She’s also from Eindhoven.” (laughs)
“I always like the build-up in my own sets: a dark, rising line. I miss that in nine of the ten other sets that I hear – it goes up and down. Lots of people like that, but it doesn’t work for me. My hardcore history probably plays a role here. That is why the end of my set, if the crowd is up for it, often consists of industrial hardcore at 130 BPM. I only do this when I am the closing DJ and the whole place wants to go completely mad.”
This interview with Enrico Fuerte is originally published on DJMag.nl in November 2015.
Who is Enrico Fuerte?
As a young kid Enrico Fuerte was always busy with all sorts of music, played by his father on tapes in the car or at home. After he heard the well-known track ‘Oxygene‘ by Jean Michel Jarre he was sold on electronic music. Recording radio shows with electronic music, or putting all the tracks together in one mix on his tape player, became a hobby at an early age.
Years later Enrico Fuerte decided to play the tracks he liked the most, and these became his first recordings. Shopping for vinyl in and outside of Europe through the internet or in record stores was how he frequently spent his time to find the right tracks for his DJ sets. As Enrico Fuerte’s music evolved the sound became more and more techno related, especially the dark and explosive kind of techno.
Sending some demo’s to a few party organisations was an initiative that worked out very well. Enrico Fuerte got a few good gigs alongside a couple of very big names in the industry and played in some big clubs, like Escape in Amsterdam and Café d’Anvers in Antwerp, Belgium. Creating a performance is all about emotion on the stage for Enrico Fuerte. Interacting with the crowd, feeling the mood and energy they send to the stage, make them want more, and keep them dancing – that is what an Enrico Fuerte performance is all about.
Early in 2012 Enrico Fuerte wanted to expand his musical boundaries, so is he became a producer as well as a DJ. With no production experience at all, Enrico Fuerte puts his skill and knowledge of all the kinds of music he likes to play into the tracks he produces, and still creates his own personal Techno sound. Within the first year of producing he has had releases on albums and 3 EP’s on a couple of labels he liked and supported when he was a DJ. As Enrico Fuerte gains more knowledge and experience in producing music, his tracks are getting more and more support and feedback from many well-known DJ’s.