Man Without A Clue Interview & Mix

He's the man without a masterplan, at least that's what he would have you believe. Having worked with Roger Sanchez, Kenny Dope, Todd Terry and most recently Sandy Rivera, you have to wonder if the Dutchman knows a little bit about what he's doing. After hooking his caravan to the likes of DFTD and Suara, in 2015 he also launched his own Clueless label, now over ten releases deep.

Joining Tough Love for their Get Twisted party on Friday March 31st alongside Leon Lour, Litek, N:Fostell and Blaise, we caught up with the Dutch DJ. Listen below too to this exclusive mix that he recorded for Data Transmission.

What was it like growing up in Holland in terms of the music and club scene and were you a hardcore clubber?

I grew up in a small town where we had a few local bars and one club I used to go to every weekend. The music style was mainly r&b/hip-hop and we used to party until late with the whole crew. I never considered myself a hardcore clubber; sometimes during the weekend I would actually stay in and make music! But I did have my fair share of parties across Holland and many hangover Sundays.

What sparked your interest in house music and who were your early musical inspirations and do you have any memories that still give you goose bumps?

My musical inspiration ranged from Dr.Dre, Wu-Tang and A Tribe Called Quest all the way up to Gary Moore, Eric Clapton and Joe Satriani, plus bands such as AC/DC and Dire Straits – all of these guys were my early musical inspiration. I was always interested in more up-tempo music and I remember for my 12th or 13th birthday my parents gave me a CD-voucher and I bought a dance album called 'Dance Imperium'. The song ‘Go’ by Moby was on there and I loved it, it was on repeat for a very long time. It wasn’t until about the age of 20 that I really got into dance/house music production. Before that I mainly produced hip-hop beats.

One of your break through tracks was 'When I Play This Record' on DFTD, name checked as one of the ‘biggest underground record of Ibiza 2014’. Did you know when you were making it how big it was going to blow up?

I didn’t have a clue that 'When I Play This Record' would open so many doors for me. I created that track without any intention of releasing it. To be honest, at that point in my life I didn’t know where my life was going anyway and I just produced music I liked. I met so many people through that song who I am still close to today. Because of that song, I met Kenny Dope and got in touch with Defected Records who wanted to release it.

Being a US house music lover, can you tell us how you felt getting to work with New York's godfathers of house music:Todd Terry, Kenny Dope and Roger Sanchez? Were you nervous at first?

Roger was the first one who brought me out to play at his party in Ibiza after I sent him a bunch of MWAC records. I already knew Roger for a while, I sent him records for years for his radio show. Once I arrived in Ibiza and was about to go on, that was pretty nerve wrecking! Working with Kenny in New York was amazing. The chemistry was there and I was totally comfortable doing my thing in the studio. We created loads of tunes and you can only do that when you feel 100% comfortable with the person you’re working with. I do have to say that the first time we met up in Amsterdam, I was a little bit nervous ha ha! But once we sat down and started talking about stuff, it felt like I'd known the guy my whole life. With Todd it’s the same story. We met when I tagged along with Kenny to one of his gigs in Amsterdam. These guys played a big part in my career and they still do. I am very happy to call them my friends.

Where did you come up with the concept Man Without A Clue?

About three or four years ago, I didn’t know where life was going to take me, both musically and personally. At that point, after doing loads of releases under various monikers, I felt like nothing was really working, probably because I was just trying too hard to make the right records. I was literally without a clue. After all that frustration – the best way to describe it - I took a few steps back and decided to just create the music that I liked. I stopped giving too much thought about what people would like to hear and really created music that I enjoyed. That was the moment where things kinda started shifting.

With releases on Dopewax, Skream’s Of Unsound Mind label, Suara, Guesthouse, Love & Other and Lowsteppa, do have any favourite tracks?

Every release has something special to it. I loved working with all the guys and from every release you learn new things or meet new people. I think for me 'When I Play This Record' is my favourite release because for me; it all started with that record and I still play it out today

You launched your own Clueless label last year, How’s it been so far?

Clueless came about because I had records I wanted to put out myself. It’s given me a good platform to release my own stuff and build up a small roster of DJ/producers I really respect. Traxsource really got behind us, which is amazing. I basically only sign tracks to the label that I would play myself and this has ended up with a Clueless roster of amazing producers. I really love 'Sexual' from Curtis Gabriel and 'The Beat' from Dephlex. Both are very well produced records and work great on the floor. We also had our debut event at Amsterdam Dance Event last year with Kenny Dope & Mr. V headlining, which was amazing.

What one record never leaves you box and why?

Harry Romero -'Tania S'

Such a biiiiig tune, when I hear that line coming in my heart rate goes up!

Which other DJ/Producers around the globe are rocking it for you?

Lowsteppa, Dario D Attis, Gene Farris, S.Chu, Weiss, Dephlex and Curtis Gabriel.

And what should we be listening to before we head out to see you at Egg London ?

The Tough Love Get Twisted night at Egg is going to be mental, so I would suggest, listen to some easy going stuff, get yourself into a good vibe, because we gonna get crazy up in there!