What’s the “Orgue Electronique” name come from?

Well... Me and Legowelt were going to a Unit Moebius performance and I wanted him to give a demo to Guy from Bunker Records. Danny would only give a demo if I'd give a demo to. I didn't have a name, so we thought up something quick: the name came from a toy keyboard manual. I always thought it was a stupid name, but I didn't think anything would be released at all. I was wrong, and by then I was also too late.

How did Orgue Electronique get started to make music?

As a kid I already dreamed of making electronic music, but I started to make music rather late: it wasn't untill I met Legowelt that I got to make some music. Danny and I where involved in some project that involved Amiga computers and he sold me one. With it he gave me some music software and that's how I got started. The project never got finished, I only made music since.

We know Legowelt is a big influence for lots of musicians. What’s the musical meaning of Danny Wolfers for you?

Well he got me started making music, that's a big influence. Before I met him I only listened music, I never made it. And besides that, he also influenced me the way friends influence eachother: you sit at eachothers houses and listen to music. Especially in the beginning his choice of music was of influence to me, I hadn't followed electronic music for some period. Legowelt introduced me to 'new' stuff that I didn't know. And last but not least, working together on some records has also been of influence. You can't work with somebody and not learn from the other person. There has been a point that he and I made completely different music, but I think we are getting more and more in the same kinda style lately. I think it's time we hook up with eachother again and make something together again.

I read about your influence about Yazoo. Can you explain what had Yazoo changed in your musical way?

Ha. Haha. Erm yeah... Well, it was what I listend as a kid. As a child I was already in surrounded with synthesizer sounds (stuff like Jean Michelle Jarre, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, etc) because my parents played it. When I first heard Yazoo I was kinda delighted in a way only an 8 year old can be delighted. It was the first time I heard such catchy, poppy, delightfull happy synthesizers. Everything just fell in it's place after that, synthesizers became more and more a frequent sound in pop-music. Even my friends in school got more interested in electronic music, especially breakdance music. Where I lived there was an American army base nearby who broadcasted music for their soldiers, and since electro was popular back then they played a lot of that stuff. All the kids in my school taped music from those shows and we exchanged those tapes with eachother.

Can you describe VPRO radio’s old days? What did you find with this radio and what had changed until today?

VPRO was a big influence to me. As a kid I lived in a small village and the concept of buying records was totally strange to me: there where no good recordstores where I lived and I didn't have money to buy records anyway. But, fortunatly, untill you're twelve years of age you get wednesday afternoons off from school. Wednesday was the day VPRO broadcasted and they played a lot of good music starting in the afternoon. Not just electronic music, but all kinds of stuff. When I got home from school I'd run to my room, turn on my stereo and start recording music from their broadcast. I learned to appreciate a lot of different music thanks to them.

Lately however, VPRO radio isn't all that. They do good stuff on their 2voor12 website, but the radio turned too much to the obvious, hardly any surprises there. Or maybe it's me... as a kid I was perhaps more easy to surprise...

What kind of equipments do you use in your live performance? (Any special equipment? – This can be a t-shirt that you always wear in your concerts or something like that)

I always bring a Garfield beach towel to wrap my gear in, it kind of became a token. As for gear, I never bring alot. My studio only contains big synthesizers which I can't bring when I travel. For the gig in Turkey I plan to bring a Boss DR660, a Roland TR505, a Nord Rack and a Yamaha TX7. I think I'll sequence with either my laptop or my Amiga. It's hard to bring gear when you travel, it weighs a lot and it can raise many questions at the border.

Some DJs don’t play their tracks at the live performance. They are DJing and so playing some other songs.. So, we are listening Dj’s favorite tracks. It’s little weird way of music i think. People go to concerts to listen their favorite DJ’s tracks but they meet with very different sound. What do you think about it?

Well, I can imagine it's dissapointing if a DJ that you admire as a producer only spins records you don't like. I never play my own tracks when I dj, when I dj I like to play the tracks that influenced me. So if all goes well, you as an audience will hear where I get my inspiration from. And it works the other way around too I guess: if I play live, you can hear what kind of records I listen at home. If a dj or live act plays only hit songs, I always feel it's kinda shallow. When I visit a show, I want to hear new influences combined with the old. I want to be surprised and entertainent, and perhaps gain new influences.

Why is The Hague/Den Haag called "the murder capital"? So many murders?

I always take shortcuts when I travel there. You never know what might be around the next corner.

Living in Den Haag is the advantage for you and your music?

I live in a ghetto in the south of holland, I'd wish I'd live in the Hague. It's a nice city: it's got grandeur and at the same time it's kinda grimm. I like the people that live there. Atleast, most of the people I know and like to hang out with live in the Hague. So yeah, in that way, the city does have a musical influence: most of the people that I considder good, influential musicians live there.

Can you tell us about Den Haag electronic music scene?

There's not much happening. Everybody is on their own, making music at their own houses. Sometimes we meet at the rare parties that take place in the city, and that's good fun. But in general I like to sit at home.

I talked with people from Bunker Team and your team called of their music style is mixing of Chicago house and Detroit techno. What’s is your music genre? Spooky disco or Italo disco?

I like a nice mix of chicago, italo, detroit techno and older electro. As long as the music is sexy I'll play it; sexy music makes the girls dance. And if the girls like it, the guys have no other option then to like it aswell: otherwise the girls will be dancing with eachother and the guys will be going home alone at the end of the night.

In old times, rich people are going to very conceptic clubs to listen Italo disco. White clubs with weird elevator includes DJ cabin. Futuristic architectural places. What’s you favorite place? Futuristic or natural?

I like the kind of place that draws a good audience. An audience that knows why they are there, not the kind of audience that doesn't give shit about music. My experience is that smaller, natural clubs attract a nicer audience because those clubs feel more intimate, but in general it's the people and the music that make the atmosphere, not the club.

Do you like horror movies and which one is your favorite?

I like horror movies, but I prefer the ones that are more set-up like a good thriller. One of my alltime favs is Tenebre.

I heard about John Carpenter and his way of music is an important point of influnce for Legowelt and some disco sound Djs. Have you influenced by great composer John Carpenter and his style?

Yeah, in a way. He did very simple basic sounding stuff that is haunting like hell. That is very inspiring, I hope my music can become like that one day. Heck, I hope I can do soundtracks one day, preferably to my own movies, just like Carpenter did.

What’s your future plans? Who do yu want to play with more?

I will be the manufacturor of handbuild higly exclusive handbuild consumer- and racing yachts, both sailing yachts and powered boats. I can't tell you much yet (competition is always lookign over our shoulder) but our goal is to present a totally new concept line at the 2008 Voiles de Saint Tropez.
I'm also gonna produce a tv show on a dutch television network. It will be a show where children talk about cinema premieres.
And I'll continue doing music. I started to work together with TLR and I'd like to hook up with Kassen. Fortunatly there's plenty of time to do all sorts of things.

Do you have an obssesion of analog synths? ( I think it’s the best obsessions)

Obsession... Not really. I like older records and I think I like them partly because of the specific sound they have. And since I like that sound, I figured if I'd try to do things the way those guys did it back then, I might get closer to that sound. So yeah, analog equipment (not just synths, but the entire route, from synth to recording device) is rather important to me. But I wouldn't say I'm obsessed with it. Every synth can have it's charm, I also like my Yamaha DX and my Casio CZ and even my newer Clavia's and my Novation. All are digital synths. I'm convinced that a synth tells you what to do with it. If you have a synth that sounds thin and eerie, you don't try to make bombastic music. You make something thin and eerie. I like to adapt my music to the equipment I use, instead of adapting my equipment to the music I want to make. I buy a synth, make some sounds and start working on a song to which I think those sounds fit. I think it's part of the way I grew up listening to music: to me it didn't matter much what style of music I was listening, I just loved the synthesizer sounds.

You are performing with Legowelt. How is working with him? Is he agrassive or relaxed about music? Can you describe your interactions with when playing live or making music at his studio?

He's very aggressive. Throwing ands breaking things when music bores him or when he gets angry about shitty music. Playing with him is fun, we never really have dull moments, everything always feels fine. When we make music together it's not really planned. We visit eachother, we talk about music and then it starts to ich, so we go into the studio and start making music. Most of the time we take turns: he does a bassline, I do some rhythms, he does some melodies, I adjust what he did, he adjusts what I did. We make suggestions, etc, etc. It's a very natural way of working I think. We never really have a plan. However we always have a concept, every record we made together has an idea behind it. Most of the time it's little stories we try to tell. Silly stories perhaps, but atleast it's some guideline.

What do you want to leave behind, a big fame or music of a good quality?

Fame doesn't lead to good music without conessions, but good music without conessions can lead to fame. I'll focus on trying to make good music, and see what happens. I don't care.
What do you think about future of electronic music scene?
I hope there is one. We'll see what happens. I'll just continue to contribute to that big pile of music, hopefully what I add will turn out to be refreshing enough to make the music evolve a tiny bit. If all musicians try to add something new and refreshing the music will have a bright future.

What do you want to say to narrow minded club music listeners as a Dj making his music in a different sound?

Listen, Learn, Lead. Or a simple 'fuck you' would do.

How is your weirdest live performance?

There have been many. We played at a place that went up in fire, we played at a place that was about to collapse because of a water drainage problem, we had near death experiences traveling to gigs, we ended up in places we didn't want to be, we ended up at places we didn't want to leave... Right now I couldn't tell what gig was the weirdest really. I guess right now I'd have to say the gig where Sami (Bangkok Impact) dislocated his knee whilst dancing and we had to go to the hospital. Maybe it sounds silly considdering the incident appeared later to be not so dramatic, but it was a very unsure moment to us all. One of those moments that you don't care about silly, unimportant stuff like music. At those moments you're concerned about eachother's well being.

What do you thik about pure electro and computer based music?

A lot of music is made for dancefloors, it's focussed on making people move, there's no deeper thoughts involved. Music made to consume, giving you a satisfied yet blown-up feeling, as if you ate a lot of potatoes without anything on the side. Your stumach is full, but it wasn't a meal you enjoyed. I prefer a nice sauce to go with my potatoes, some well baked meat and perhaps a glass of wine. A musician is a cook that can either cook up a simple written recipe with all the standard ingredients, or can start to experiment with many ingredients and cook up something that is his own, that stands out because it has a unique flavor.

I don't like music that is pure, that are exact copies of a previous record, a copy of something that has been. Influences are good, ofcourse, it tells something about a persons taste, but exact copies... I don't like that. I know Drexciya made great music, but making an exact copy of that music is not very original. It's like seeing a guy wearing a purple jacket that scores all the girls and you think: 'wow, if I had a purple jacket, I could also score girls, just like him'. It doesn't work that way. If I listen to music, I don't want to hear a musician trying to please me with what I know, I want to hear what moves that person, I want to hear some of his or her personality in the music, I want to hear a personal view on music, within the music.

Do you think to go to TLR’s island based for Bunker Team members?

Yes we have been talking about that. Something about an armada fleet protecting an island he bought. Actually, in the near future the island might also give room to the for the yacht company I'm currently setting up.

Thank you Elif for having this interview with me, and hooking me up with the scans and the english transcripts!