The much-loved electronic dance music festival at Goa, the Sunburn festival, is drawing closer. This time it will have the architect of tech-trance, DJ Marco V spinning records. DJ Marco V, born Marco Verkuijlen, is yet another Dutch trance expert (a la Armin van Buuren) with four albums —“Con:Fusion”, “‘200V'” and “Propaganda” (Volumes 1 & 2), not to mention compilations like “Combin:Nations”.
“For me, DJing is all about having a good time and getting people to have good time. At the end of the day, DJs play for people and sometimes, they forget that,” says Marco, who has played in almost all the continents in the world. Ask him to name a few and he says: “I could name the countries where I haven't played.”
It's hard to disagree knowing that he has played in venues like Trance Energy, Sensation, Creamfields, Nature One, Love Parade, Dance Valley, Global Gathering and Monster Massive.
Marco started DJing when he was 14 (in 1980) and by 1996, he was the resident DJ of one of Netherlands's famous clubs. “Like most DJs, I started DJing because I liked music and I wanted to play for an audience. I took part in some mixing championships and soon I was the resident DJ of DansSalon at Eindhoven. One of my favourite moments was playing at a party in Amsterdam for 20,000 people. Mixing live was a big breakthrough for me.”
Marco now has many labels under his belt, like “In Charge” which has had over 70 releases and “Be Yourself Music” that produces “trancy” music. One of his latest ventures is “T.A.O”. “T.A.O. is my own label and my own production. My albums are a blend of everything. They're a mix of trance, techno, progressive and house. I started off playing popular trance, but I slowly began moving toward progressive, techno and house and now I include the other three. Ten years ago, it was all about trance, but now every DJ plays almost every kind of music.”
Marco himself loves electronic music. “But I don't want to listen to it all the time. Sometimes I listen to rock music. I love bands like ‘Coldplay' and ‘The Muse',” says Marco, who gets his inspiration from “everywhere”. “Yet I would say that I've been influenced a lot by Ben Liebrand, one of the first DJ's in Holland. He was one of the people who brought me into DJing. When I began DJing, I wanted to be like him.”
Marco plans to take his music forward by collaborating with other artists. “I'm just starting collaborations with other DJs and one with a popular Dutch band. Hopefully, I would be able to work with big bands like ‘The Muse' and ‘The Killers'.” According to Marco, electronic music will have a significant role to play in the music industry.
“If you observe the music in the American Billboard charts, you will find an increasing dose of electronic music. Even hip-hop is beginning to have strains of house in it. Electronic music is global. It doesn't matter where I am, the music is the same everywhere. It makes people smile and dance.”
Marco feels that the DJing scene in India has good potential. “I think the Indian DJs are very talented. They feel the crowd and play good music. They have a bright future. The dance scene is also quite good here, there is a good vibe. Everywhere I see in India, even on television, there is music and dance.”
