| Artist of the Week - 2007-04-17 - Bergen |
Bergen read the full interview here This time we have here the artist of the latest FOEM/Crèma release. I think quite a lot people asked themself who this guy was that came out of the nothing on the new FOEM/Crèma. So we place an insight microscope to watch the inside of the thoughts of this fresh housy producer. Ladies and Gentlemen: Bergen!
Interview: FOEM/Julien: Goodday Bergen! So, where does your artistname come from? Bergen in dutch means mountains, to let the readers understand a little bit why you also chosed mountains for the pictures. Or is there another meaning behind the name? Bergen: Hi Julien, it comes from my name, BERt van der GENugten :) As you said, Bergen is a dutch word for mountains, and i love mountains, we should have them here in The Netherlands ;-) FOEM/Julien: At least we have the sea, I love the sea as well. But indeed, some more mountains would be welcome! How did you came in touch with music and has it anything to do with the style of music your making now? Bergen: Well I never really played an instrument but at a very early age I was already much into music, especially house music. When I was about 12 I was “dj”-ing every week at a local place for kids :) there I met a well known DJ who gave me an album (In order to dance 4). This was the first time I heard more deep/underground house music and I fell in love with it. Since then I started making music, first with only tracker software in DOS (fasttracker) and later I bought a keyboard. These days I mainly use Reason in combination with a keyboard and a MIDI controller. FOEM/Julien: So, you said that you are also a DJ? Is it the same style as what your producing? Bergen: I just started really (except the children disco, you couldn’t really call that DJ’ing), I bought a mixer and two table top cd players. Just for fun, It’s not really my goal to become a serious DJ. The style I play is a bit more uplifting/uptempo, a bit like Jody Wisternoff, I love his sets :) FOEM/Julien: Just like me, I never used my two cdplayers and mixer. What about live-acts? Do you make them also? Bergen: Just at home sometimes, I use my Behringer BCR2000 (MIDI controller) for it. But it’s not really worth recording (yet) FOEM/Julien: It's a lot of excercising, the Behringer is a really great MIDI controller, I would recommend it to everyone considering to buy a MIDI controller! About the other producers around here. Do you also work together with them? Remixing? Bergen: Not really yet, I’m a bit of an einselganger when it comes to producing :) I tried to remix tracks from other producers I know but it never comes to something. I did remix a track of Zuco103 for a contest. FOEM/Julien: Hehe, yeah, sometimes it's good to make music without too many influences, you can get really original results. But that depends also a little bit of how many people you know on boards. Are you active on certain boards? Bergen: I’m not active on any boards, this is the einselganger part of me again I think ;) A while ago I did visit a board (forum.clubcharts.nl) from time to time but not anymore. I do want to visit the forum of FOEM more. FOEM/Julien: That's quite nice, I must say I check a lot in the FOEM/Forum. The depth of spam is really low and mostly posting makes a lot of sense. But that's my personal expierence with it. But there must be some way how you get to FOEM, otherwise you wouldn't be on the new FOEM/Crèma release! Bergen: That’s thanks to Jaron (Noraj Cue), I know him for a few years now. We got in contact at a forum ("the one I mentioned above :)") and we stayed in contact by MSN. He liked my tracks and he introduced me to FOEM with them. I like FOEM especially because of the opportunities they provide to starting producers. They give them a chance to come to the attention of many listeners also when the music is more controversial or underground. FOEM/Julien: Ah, Noraj Cue. For the readers that doesn't know him, he has some releases on the EYcompilations, a previous Crema release and also a "Artist of the week" interview. The interested people can check in the archive for some more information! I would like to go more in depth about FOEM, do you think it's a working concept? How do you see the future of FOEM? What should we change? What should we keep? Bergen: As I said, I’m fairly new to FOEM so I can’t really say too much about it :) But what I like is the fact that they give anyone a chance to let their music be heard to lots of people. This definitely should stay this way I think. FOEM/Julien: Those words are definetely true. Do you have a special message for the listener? Bergen: Hehe, no, not really, I always try my best to create a sort of dreamy atmosphere for the listener to relax. But there isn’t a special message hidden in the music really. FOEM/Julien: That's a message as well, not? What about making making music your fulltime job? Bergen: No, I do it just for fun. Some people like to play video games, I like to produce a track and let people listen to it :) I would like to release music from time to time but not to make a living out of it. FOEM/Julien: And that's the way it is, I remember some days ago that a guy on the boards was desperate to get pressed, because it was his dream. I believe that it is a good thing, but the main thing should be that you have fun with making it yourself. When you sent your last promo to a label, was was their reaction? Which label was it? Bergen:I didn’t really try hard but the last time I sent a promo was to Bonzai I think. And they just didn’t react :) I think the style is too different. FOEM/Julien: There was some experiment done by a very well known producer. He send some demo's under a pseudonym to some labels, and they still didn't react, what means that you really got to be lucky to get pressed anyway...just like all the music on the radio nowadays. What do you think about that? Bergen: I never listen to it, I never watch MTV or other music channels neither. I worked at an internet company a while ago where a radio station was on all day. And it drove me crazy, they played about 5 popular songs for weeks and weeks at a row. But it could have been just that station. Sometimes I listen to a jazz station, they play a lot of different songs without many breaks. FOEM/Julien: That's nice, to be honest, I never listen to the radio as well...what's one thing you're a fan of that people might not expect? Bergen: I think people might not expect I like jazz music. Sometimes I like classical music too, for about a month or so I only listen to it and then I get bored with it again :) FOEM/Julien: Is there something next to jazz or classical what you have read or seem that surprised you? Bergen: I just finished a book about a jew during WOII who fled all around Europe for 7 years. The stuff he sees happening around him especially really got to me. FOEM/Julien: Any sports or other activities besides making music? Bergen: I work out at a sportclub three times a week. The rest is just work/school or going out with friends :) FOEM/Julien: Hehe okay then, and now the last question. How the world would look like if there were no music at all? Bergen: Haha, I think the world would be a sad place. I think people would simply stop to reproduce and humanity would seize to exist. Animals don’t care about music, or do they? This question really makes me think about stuff I’d normally never think about :) FOEM/Julien: Great, this answer makes me want to make a cup of coffee now. FOEM wishes you the best in the future! Bergen: Thanks! |
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