Interview By Muzik
Mr Spencer gets in-depth with one of Africa’s most prolific DJ/producers of the trance and hard dance scene. Yes, it’s Pierre Pienaar and he's back to rock E.S.P yet again for another legendary Slippery and Wet and this is what he had to say…

Pierre, you’re definitely no stranger when you come down to visit us here in SA, how are you doing and are you happy to be back?
Yes over the last year or so I’ve had around 10 gigs at leading clubs, venues and events like H2O, Truth and Traxx. It’s always great to play to the South African crowd as they’re always up for it due to the fact that they’re not as spoilt as many of the overseas markets who get to see international DJ’s perform every other night.

You’ve got your first album done and dusted, released numerous tracks and remixes and your currently head of the Nukleuz Green label. It all started back in the day when you and Alf Bamford aka Technikal released your first track together. Tell us how it came about?
Alf, Guy Mearns (Guyver), Gaz West (Dark by Design) and myself were all part of an online production community back in the day when we were aspiring producers. So we’d send each other clips of our latest tracks and give feedback and help to each other. Then Alf and I decided it would be interesting and a learning curve for us both to work on a track together. One of us would start on a melody idea and then send the working file to the other one who’d add a few ideas and we’d just send it across to one another until the track was done. The first project we did together was a bootleg of Signum’s “Coming on Strong” which got a great reception and we started gaining a bit of a cult following after that. It was about a half year later that we signed our first single to a label.

Its one thing to breaking into the scene in your own home town but to make a name for yourself overseas and getting noticed by the big players surely takes a lot of hard work and dedication. How difficult was it to get recognized on the global stage?
Funnily enough it was easier to break the international scene than it was breaking the local scene. The problem over here is that people still look down on “local acts” in Africa and don’t always realize how we measure up on an international level. I played all over the world before I actually got booked to play South Africa for the first time and by then I already had a single which entered the top 10 of the national UK dance charts!

Pierre you’ve shown that you don’t need to stay abroad if you want to make it in the music industry but saying that, even after everything you’ve accomplish, don’t you think it will certainly make things a bit easier if you do decide to go abroad?
Yes it most definitely will. It’ll mean more gigs, shorter travel distances etc etc. But for me it’s all about balancing priorities in life. When I’m in London it’s so easy to get caught up in a lifestyle where you’re just at full throttle the whole time. Back here I can set my own pace and live a clean, healthy lifestyle with family all around me. We’ve got it good here in Africa, most of us just don’t realize it!

What’s the dance scene like in Namibia at the moment?
It pretty much died out a few years ago but it’s starting to build up again from scratch. Promotions like Wackazoo and Brainwash do good events and really go all out to bring quality events to the public. However you’ll be hard pressed to find dance music in any of the clubs nowadays but you can’t blame the club owners, after all the population is so small over here and you can’t really cater for a niche market if you’re trying to run a business. (Which a club is after all)

Jetting off to locations such as London and Australia is fantastic as a DJ but there’s a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scene from a marketing and administration perspective and not to forget running a label at the same time. How essential is it to have the right team behind you to handle these sorts of things?
I’d go as far as to say that it’s the most critical element of all. If you don’t have the right people around you then it makes things a thousand times harder. I’ve recently signed with Pure DJ’s, who also manages Mark Sherry, Darren Tate, Robbie Riviera, Bob Sinclar, Dave Pearce and many others and between them, myself and Nukleuz we try to integrate as much as possible. Keeping everyone up to date and constantly throwing ideas around on what we can do next. As soon as there’s a bad chain in any link things can go horribly wrong. With an international tour there’s so many aspects that needs to be organized that people don’t always think of like entertainer / working visas, travel to and from gigs / airports / hotels / sound checks / merchandise to sell etc etc.

Pierre you’ve got quite a few aliases and one that springs to mind is P.H.A.T.T. What other aliases do you go by and why do you use them?
The beauty of using aliases is that you can do different styles of music and keep your creative side going but still maintain your loyal following. IT would be awkward if I do a hard trance track under P.H.A.T.T. now and then a funky house track on the next release.

P.H.A.T.T. is for the harder side of things and I also used to work under the ReBirth alias which was fast and furious hard house. My Melodia alias is a hybrid of styles but is usually a lot slower and more groove based. Under my own name “Pierre Pienaar” I do more uplifting and vocal trance and of course “Pienaar & Bamford” is the collaboration between myself and Alf Bamford (Technikal). I’m also busy with another project called JXS but for now I’m keep the details on it hush…

Which other DJ/producers from the Nukleuz label should we be keeping an eye out for?
Nukleuz is part of a Media Records Ltd which also houses labels like SW Recordings, UMM and Big in Ibiza. Guys like Fonzerelli and Chris MiMo are simply massive at the moment, doing well commercially as well as on the dance floor. Jason van Wyk, TFT and Daniel Loubscher are all great up-and coming names and we’ve released a few of their tracks. DJ Choose, JamX (from DuMonde), Lost Witness and S.H.O.K.K. are all old hands that we’ve signed track of lately, bringing Nukleuz right back to the top.

Your tracks have been showcased on BBC Radio 1, Ministry of Sound Radio as well as DI FM and you’ve been featured on guest mix slots for Tiesto, Judge Jules and Trevor Reilley’s “Underground Sessions” to name but a few. You’ve gone on to host your own weekly radio show called Euphoric Sessions. Where can one tune in to listen to your show?
You can go to www.euphoricsessions.com and just follow the links there. The show is signed to quite a few leading radio stations including Slinky.fm and South Africa’s own Web Radio run by Derek TheBandit.

For somebody new to your work, where's the best place for them to get hold of your music and where can they catch you in action?
My radio show is a good place to listen to what’s currently rocking in my DJ box. IF you go to my official page at www.pierre-pienaar.com there’ll always be sound clips to my latest work.

Is there any new tracks or albums on the way in the near future?
Yes the new Melodia track called “Over You” will be out this week alongside a remix from Daniel Loubscher. I’m also working on a new compilation album called Trance Adrenaline vol.2 which will be a double disc and we’re licensing a few fantastic tracks for the album from a lot of big names and labels. It will feature exclusive new tracks and remixes from myself as well.

What can the clubbers expect from you set at E.S.P?
If you like your music uplifting then you shouldn’t miss this one…Epic melodies, huge build-ups and driving basslines is what it’s all about!

Check out the Slippery 'n Wet details here.