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DJ Arjuna was quite inventive playing vinyl at his first gig. In 2018 he told me his secret. He simply used the lifter to hide his trembling hands.
“I was twenty and had just gotten my own living space. By maintaining a sophisticated diet of a lot of cheap junk food, I managed to save enough money to weekly visit the record store to score vinyl. One day two good friends told me they were planning a party.”
Crème de la crème
“Soon the plan came up to introduce me as a DJ during that event and give my career a boost. To make the party a success, the crème de la crème of the Dutch hardcore scene was invited and I was asked who I would like to see on the line-up.”
E-one
“When I started visiting house parties a few years earlier, hardcore didn’t exist. I personally had been a fan of the harder styles for a while though, and following the advice of some friends one day I went to the Palace in Zaandam (NL). Erik Eerdhuizen aka E-one was playing, a DJ who played exactly the type of music that was so close to my heart. At first, I had no idea who he was and I wondered: “What is that guy doing there?” The concept of a DJ in a club was still unknown to me at that point.”
Mixing from a to b
“The nex two years I literally looked over E-one’s shoulder. I bought my own turntables, and, as I said, because of a skimpy diet I was able to buy vinyl. And who knew? I actually appeared to have some talent. Soon I controlled beatmatching. After practicing for many hours in my attic, mixing started to take shape and I did not only manage to mix from a to b, but also to get a structure in the music that I played.”
Stones under the turntables
“I didn’t have any money for Technics turntables yet, but I got my hands on a few tables that weren’t performing that bad at all – albeit with a few small adjustments. To give you an example: I had removed the bottom because the tables bounced so heavily that the needle skipped constantly. This allowed me to push the bottom up and put a few stones underneath. Done! They were just as stable as a pair of SL 1200s.”
No decibel limit
“But well, back to my debut. Because I had a say in who would appear on the line-up, my greatest inspiration from that time, E-one, was added. Unfortunately, The Prophet was otherwise engaged and was replaced by The Darkraver. When judgement day came closer, my heartbeat also increased. Especially when it was decided that the equipment of discotheque Bubbles in Lelystad wouldn’t suffice and additional load of speakers was ordered. At that time there was no decibel limit, so the motto was: the more noise, the better! That was, however, a huge difference with the sound in my attic room – which boosted my heart rate even more.”
Ten times to the toilet
“On the night itself, I must have gone to the toilet at least ten times, where, out of nerves, I pissed more next to than in the bowl. When my debut was due, my hands trembled so badly that I couldn’t get the needle on the record. However, I found a solution: raising the needle with the lifter and, trembling, trying to get the needle above the record, then lowering the lifter and consequently turning the track back to the beginning as fast as possible. Fortunately, my mixing was still pretty good in the end and later I heard that one of the other DJs thought that I was playing so neat because I had used that lifter. Now, 25 years later, with great pleasure and wonder I look back on that first time playing, and the two subsequent editions have definitely been the boost for the rest of my DJ career.”
Producing turned out to be quite lucrative
“This all happened just after my father passed away. Because of this I inherited some money. My mother asked me what I wanted to do with it. I told her that I wanted to play as a DJ and wanted to produce music. Shortly after my DJ-start, therefore, I also started producing and that turned out to be quite lucrative. I’ve released tracks on Point 44, Hellraiser Records, Cenobite Records, BZRK Black Label and multiple tracks on the famous Thunderdome CDs.”
“To this day I am proud of what I have been able to do with the legacy of my father, because 25 years later I am still going strong and I am still producing with a lot of passion. And I am sure this will be the case in the 25 years that lay ahead.”
This interview with DJ Arjuna is originally published on July 27th 2018 on This Is Our House.
Who is DJ Arjuna?
DJ / producer Arjuna a.k.a. Michiel Greuter started as a DJ in 1994 At the Rude violence Parties. DJ Arjuna produced music for Thunderdome / BZRK / Cenobite. DJ ARJUNA played at many party’s like Hellraiser & Digital overdose Pandamonium and worked for several dutch record labels. DJ Arjuna produced the tracks “Totally Lost It” “Rough is the Texture” & “The Source” for Cenobite 8 E.P. ARJUNA. Together with BEYONDER he made the tracks “Shoot that Motherfuck” & “Rock on till the break of dawn” on the Cenobite 4 E.P. DJ-ARJUNA & BEYONDER. “Shoot that Motherfuck” is also released as a music video (3D animated).
DJ Arjuna performed on festivals and events like Hellraiser, Q-Base (Q-dance), The Maze (Toren Amsterdam), Hellbound, Together We are Hardcore Festival, Pandemonium, Paradox, Ground Zero Festival, Ruffneck versus Cenobite, Flashback ADE and 20 years Cenobite Records Club Panama.