Ranked number 5 in the world at the moment by the infamous DJ Mag, having previously held the number 1 spot for 5 years straight – one of, if not the biggest name in Trance, Armin Van Buuren is coming to our shores again.

The man is an absolute staple in dance music culture, long since before EDM. With his latest release being the hugely successful Embrace album, this show is going to be nothing but enormous. Stoney Roads had the golden opportunity of talking to the dance music legend ahead of his 2017 tour.

Stoney Roads (HR): Hey Armin how’s it going! 

Armin Van Buuren (AB): Really well thanks, Henry! How are you going?

HR: Yeah really well, what have you been up to recently?

AB: Making a lot of music hahaha! What’s new!

HR: Haha yeah totally fair. What’s changed for you then in terms of making music? How does it differ from when you made Blue Fear to when you just released Another You? Has it changed for the better or for the worse, or has it even changed at all?

AB: Oh no definitely for the better! I mean, ‘m still learning a lot. There’s so many new techniques being born everyday, so many new plugins or new gear being developed, a lot of analog gear. Every tune I’ve ever produced in my career has had completely new sounds, so I’m constantly reinventing myself if you will, so that makes it exciting for me just to try new things all the time.

HR: Yeah definitely. So from someone who went from studying Law at Leden University to becoming an internationally recognised DJ, what was that transition like? And has music always underpinned everything you’ve done, or did it kind of just make its way through your life to this point?

AB: Well to be honest, I never really expected to make a success out of DJing, you know? There’s so many great DJs out there, why would they go for a Law school student hahaha. It’s the fact that that happened was just something I couldn’t even dream of. At that time when I was really into dance music, it was completely unthinkable to DJ anywhere outside of Holland you know. There simply wasn’t a scene. Back then I think the art of DJing was really looked down upon – it wasn’t being taken seriously by the press or the media, and the public opinion about DJs wasn’t very good either, so… But yeah when DJs became popular it all changed you know. Especially in 2008 when American radio stations would play dance music records in daily rotation like David Guetta and all that sort of stuff, all of a sudden dance music was part of popular modern day music – and I still don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing – I guess it has good and bad sides. But the fact that it happened, you know?

HR: What was that like for you then when dance music did become popular? Was that strange coming from somewhere where it was almost frowned upon in media and people didn’t think of you very highly and for it to just explode into mainstream? What did that feel like?

AB: Well, to be honest, I really didn’t care. I was never in the music for recognition or to be famous or for money. I mean of course it was great, all of a sudden you went from having 800 people to 80,000 people standing in front of you, that was great – and you’re just like, “Hello” haha. But there are also some downsides to it I think: all of a sudden you had social media with people being negative about it, everybody all of a sudden had an opinion, then all of a sudden I had a team of 5 people around me carrying my USB stick you know? It just made it all bigger, but the feeling for me never really changed to be honest. So that’s something. And I can honestly say with a hand on my heart that the love for the music is still there and is still the most important – that hasn’t changed. It’s just everything around it changed, there was just this panic hahaha. I remember doing State of Trance on a local station in Amsterdam – a lot of the Dutch people weren’t able to listen to it because it was only on cable radio haha, and then all of a sudden there was this panic like “Oh my God State of Trance!”, and I was like, “Oh really? You like what I’m doing?” hahaha. For me, one of the things I’m most proud of in my career is that the formula and essence of State of Trance hasn’t really changed – playing the latest in Trance and Progressive in a one hour non-stop mix, and that’s still what it is, so it hasn’t really changed to be honest.

HR: So what was that like then back in 2001 when you first entered the DJ Mag at number 27? And like you said the love of the music is still there, but how does that compare with being voted number 1 five times in a row? Like what do you make of the whole ranking thing?

AB: Well there’s good and bad sides to that, I’ve always said that when I was number 1 and I’ll say that now, and I said it at the beginning. What is great about being number 1 is just the fact that so many people, like your fans, really appreciate what you’re doing. What they’re saying to you is “We love your music, we love what you do on stage”, and I mean that’s a great recognition right? When you’re an artist and you get great recognition from your fans – that’s the best thing about it.

HR: Yeah for sure.

AB: But the not-so-good thing about it is all of a sudden you have these people that don’t really care about who you really are, and they just have this image of you, and they come to see your shows just because you’re number 1. They don’t care about your music, or your history, or what you’re about, they’re coming to see you because you’re number 1. Which I always found a bit odd. And then the whole thing about campaigning for yourself, it feels like the god damn Presidential Election! hahaha.

HR: Hahaha exactly. 

AB: And I’ve always said; “How can you compare The Beatles to The Rolling Stones?” – you can’t. I mean, you know, if anything you can’t compare Avicii to Carl Cox they’re both legendary but in their completely different way. It’s comparing apples to oranges you know, they’re both fruit but they’re completely different.

HR: Yeah that’s interesting actually.

AB: Yeah, that’s what I’ve always felt.

HR: So, of course you have your two children Fenna and Remy, and as well as your wife Ericka.

AB: Uh-huh.

HR: What’s it like juggling family life with DJing and touring and producing, as well as just maintaining a public image? As you said there’s 5 people carrying your USB sticks and all that kind of stuff.

AB: I’m not gonna lie, it’s pretty tough. Being away from home and having children definitely changes a few things in your life, as any Mum or Dad will tell you. What I love about it is it’s not about me anymore – I come home and it sort of balances my life, which is a good thing about it. I also DJ less than I used to because I want to be home more, you know? I want to be with my family. But then again, this love for music is so strong. A lot of the time every week still, a lot of tracks just surprise me, and the only thing you want to do is just to play it out loud to people. So you know, I could never stop this life, I guess I’m too addicted to it, which has good and bad sides to it as well. I hate the traveling, I hate the jet lag, I mean I’m not gonna lie about that. But at the end of the day when you stand in front of a crowd and see everybody going nuts, it’s all worth it, trust me hahaha. It’s all worth it.

HR: In future then, what can you tell us about the Embrace Tour? What can we expect from it, and how will it vary from your other tours that we’ve seen?

AB: Well it’s a completely new album, a completely new project, it’s the biggest thing I’ve ever done. And also one of the things because Intense was so successful I made sure I told the team, “I want a completely different show”. So everything has to be different – the stage, all the artists are different, you won’t hear any music from the Intense show apart from maybe one or two exceptions. There won’t be a Ping-Pong moment, there won’t be an Intense intro, that’s all in the past. As proud as I am of that album, this is a completely new show. So it’s all based around the Embrace album, and the two spin-off albums – Club Embrace and Old Skool. And of course, it’s not a pre-programmed set, I will stress that. Of course some of the live moments we rehearse, but you know, I’ll play the music that’s hot at the time around the show to make sure every Embrace show is different. It’s just the live moments they have click tracks and they have a time code and everything running, but the free sound tracks in between will be completely different. So, that’s what I love about the concept of Armin Only, is that it’s a different show every time.

HR: So I just have one more question – I’d love for you to tell me a little bit more about your Old Skool album as well. What was the inspiration behind that?

AB: The inspiration was purely made for the Embrace show, it’s not a style change, I’m purely a Trance DJ until I die. It’s just like Club Embrace, which has more of a progressive, deep house kind of approach to my own music. One of the original tracks on the album is called Old Skool which is sort of a hint to when I first started listening to dance music, a long time ago, and I love the enthusiasm about it. I love the fact that when dance music was first born, it was so fresh, there were no rules, and I wanted to create a moment during the show to dedicate to the first house music and when it was born. And I started to listen to the original tracks and it sounded great but so dated, especially when compared to the sound of now, you know? So that’s why I decided to completely update it and the guy I was working with said “We should try to approach the original owners, master owners, of these tracks and just release it as an album!” And I said, “Well, if you think it’ll sell, why not!” And if fans care about it then sure. You should see it as a dedication to my early start as a DJ, and it’s just a fun little project, not meant as a style change or anything like that. It’s just a fun thing from the show.

HR: Well thank you so much for your time man, I really appreciate it.

AB: No problem, have a good evening!

HR: Will do, make sure you get some rest, and we’ll see you when you get over here. 

AB: Awesome, thank you, take care!

Armin Van Buuren will be coming down south this January in 2017, bringing his brand new Embrace show along with him. Tickets are on sale now via Moshtix, and with the pre-sale already being sold out, you’d want to hop on these immediately to guarantee your spot. You can purchase them here.