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In this edition of the MY FIRST GIG series, we feature the seasoned DJ Rob Boskamp. “Back in the day, if you played in a nightclub, you weren’t ‘the DJ’ - you were just part of the staff.”
“Am I from a musical family? Uh… no. My father worked in the steel industry, and my mother was a mannequin. So, music wasn’t really in the picture.” (laughs) “My father’s brother worked as a bartender at night in a venue on Amsterdam’s Leidseplein. One of their mutual friends owned a nightclub on the same square. One day, when I was fourteen, they took me to that club. I was blown away! The lights, the sound, the DJ in the booth, the dancing people – it felt like a revelation!”
A First-of-Its-Kind Club
“A few months later, I got to go again, this time to a club called Lucky Star, also on Leidseplein. It was the first club there with a TV screen in the display window, where you could see what was happening on the dance floor from outside. That was groundbreaking! This must have been around 1975. When my dad, his friend, and my uncle took me along that night, the DJ was sick. My dad’s friend immediately told the owner, ‘Well, I’ve got my buddy’s son with me. He’s crazy about music – let him play.’ From that moment on, things started moving fast.”
Carrying Beer Crates
“At that time, if you played in a club, you weren’t ‘the DJ’ – you were just another staff member. You arrived early, carried beer crates up and down, and squeezed oranges for fresh juice. Around 9 PM, you checked if the crowd had arrived and started playing. You played until 4 AM, then helped clean up and carry crates again.”
No Personal Vinyl Collection
“Musically, things were very different as well. It was all about ‘a track and some chat.’ You didn’t have your own record collection; you had to use the venue’s. One of the DJs received 100 guilders each week to buy new records. Eventually, I also got a hundred guilders every three weeks to get music. The focus was mainly on soul and disco. The equipment was nothing like today’s. I had no experience – I’d never used a mixer before. At first, I panicked, but I learned by trial and error. The turntables had belt drives and no pitch control.”
Cool Cat Mixtapes
“Meanwhile, I was still in high school and working at Cool Cat. I worked in the store but also made mixtapes for the chain – first for one store, then for all eighty. That must have been around 1976. Until 1985, I always had a job in the fashion industry alongside DJing. That background came from my mother. I worked at Lee Cooper and in a wholesale clothing company. But at the same time, I was DJing like crazy. When things picked up at Lucky Star, other venues started reaching out to me.”
WAPS Radio
“After leaving the fashion industry, I dealt with the unemployment office. They told me I could either start my own business or work at a radio station while keeping my benefits. I jumped at the opportunity and ended up at WAPS, the first officially licensed youth radio station in the Netherlands. This was my transition into house music. The station played all kinds of dance music, and we had plenty of airtime to fill. Besides the station, there was also WAPS Magazine, which I managed. So, I was fully immersed in it. I also played at venues like Bar Dancing La Bouteille, the Bistrotheque, and Cup Final in Amsterdam.”
Amsterdam Music Convention
“A year later, I started working at the record store Attalos, which led me to the record company IMC/DMC (Disco Mix Club). DMC produced exclusive remixes on vinyl, available only to members. They also organized DJ mix competitions worldwide. Later, together with Alex van Oostrom, I organized the DMC – DJ Music Convention, which eventually evolved into what became the Amsterdam Dance Event. That’s how you build a reputation, and soon, I had gigs everywhere. The belief was, ‘If you’re in distribution, you need to know your stuff.’ In the little spare time I had, I played six, seven, sometimes eight times a week.”
A Greenhouse Party
“My first house gig was probably around 1987. Before this interview, I called a friend who was there, and we think it was in a greenhouse in Aalsmeer, for about four hundred people. It was one of those magical locations you encountered back then – even if you were completely sober. Yeah, I never touched drugs. I enjoy a good drink, but never before playing; I need to stay sharp. Some people can handle it, but not me. DJing is quite a lonely job – you’re in the booth alone while the crowd in front of you goes wild. You miss a bit of that intense experience.”
Strobes and Smoke Machines
“Back then, I played an insane number of gigs at all kinds of places. One night it was groove, the next hip-hop, and I vividly remember a night at Prinsenhof in Zaandam with Erick E, where we blended the best uptempo disco with house. But I also played in barns surrounded by strobe lights and smoke machines – or on a beach for seven thousand people. Once house music took off, attendance at (often illegal) parties exploded.”
No Desire to Go Abroad
“No, I never pursued an international career. I didn’t see the need. Sometimes I got offers, like ‘Fly out Friday night, return Monday.’ I’d say, ‘Fine, but that’s three days, so I want three days’ worth of pay because I’d miss gigs here otherwise.’ When I mentioned my rate, they always backed out.” (laughs)
Running a Record Label
“I made a ton of money DJing in the Netherlands. By the time I met my wife in 1993, I had zero interest in going abroad. Now, we run our record label and booking agency together, and it’s going great. Since 1988, I’ve also been producing house music – it’s easier than other genres.” (laughs)
A Touching Gig
“Among the thousands of gigs I’ve played, one really stood out. A foundation invited me to DJ at Club Woodstock in Bloemendaal for teenagers (aged 14 to 23) with cystic fibrosis. At one point, I had about seven of them standing next to me when someone whispered in my ear, ‘Can you imagine that some of these kids might not live to see the end of the year?’ That hit me hard. I gave it my all because music is emotion. Watching those kids dance and lose themselves in the music was incredibly moving. It was a strange but special moment.”
Advice for Aspiring DJs
“Do I have tips for up-and-coming DJs? Absolutely. After more than forty years behind the decks, I’ve learned that technical skills aren’t everything. It’s all about track selection. Create a killer set with an outstanding selection.”
“Until COVID hit, I was still playing from Thursday to Sunday. The other two days were for catching up on everything else. My last gig was on March 15, 2020. After that, I took a month off to relax. Of course, I still have my monthly show on SLAM FM, so I never get bored. Unfortunately, I caught COVID myself and needed time to recover. Sometimes, fatigue still sneaks up on me. But thankfully, my wife and I are such a well-oiled team that she keeps our business running smoothly.”
This interview with Rob Boskamp is originally published on This Is Our House in November 2020.
Who is Rob Boskamp?
DJ Rob Boskamp is probably one of the most well-known names in Dutch DJ-history. He has played every single festival and every single club in The Netherlands and is also a regular in most clubs at the isles of Curacao and Bonaire.
His DJ-styles range from soulful, latin, groovy-house stuff to the more banging Dutch style. His uplifting real and tech-house sounds create those hands in the air reactions every time he gets his hands on the wheels of steel.
Rob Boskamp is also very well-known for his amazing disco, dance and house-classics sets (70/80/90s/00’s) and his extremely energetic eclectic sets (from house to urban, from pop to Top 40 from dance-classics to salsa). Since the start of 2016, Rob Boskamp also integrated video-clips into his sets, which makes it even more an experience you don’t want to miss.
Because of his lengthy DJ-career, Rob Boskamp is a walking encyclopedia and knows what good quality music is about. His sets with soul and funk, lounge and jazzy tracks combined with sweet, loungy house are also a pleasure to the ear.
Rob Boskamp is known for his long sets (3 to 6 hours and more), but is also experienced enough to bring it all down to a banging 2 hour set. His amazing capability to adjust to every crowd he stands in front of makes him unique in his own right.
Rob Boskamp is holding residencies in clubs like Soho / Amsterdam, Players / Amsterdam, Panama / Amsterdam, Cafe Lely / Amsterdam, Porto / Loosdrecht, Three Sisters / Amsterdam and Queen’s Head / Amsterdam. Rob Boskamp is also the resident for the successful party-concept’s ‘Legendary’, ‘The Play-Ground’, ‘Latino Grooves’, ‘Supertramp’, ‘LatinXperience’, ‘Nasty 90’s & Super 00’s’, ‘Hippie’, and ‘S.M.A.S.H’ (Soulful Music And Sexy House).
Furthermore, he owns labels like Instant Groove Records, Big Boss Records, Urban Sound of Amsterdam, Queer label RGLRS Rcrds and S.M.A.S.H Records. As a producer Rob Boskamp is known for his bootleg “Get Your Ass Up” and his singles “In The Evening”, “It’s All In The Mind” and “Position”, which all went into the Dutch sales charts. Rob Boskamp also remixed artists like Snoop Dogg, Nick Corline, Kadoc, Da Hool, T-Spoon and Moony, Chaka Khan, Diana Ross amongst others.
More Rob Boskamp?
More First Gigs? Check them all here!
