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Ferry Corsten Talks His Other Aliases & Uniting Trance In iEDM Interview
Ferry Corsten is a favorite in the trance scene. This Dutch DJ/Producer has played festivals across the world including EDC and Tomorrowland. He has been awarded as the Best Trance DJ by the DJ Awards and Tune Of The Year from A State Of Trance.
Ferry has been a pioneer in the electronic music scene since the 90s producing under various aliases, including a duo with Tiesto called Gouryella. After a 13 year break, Ferry decided to release under Gouryella again. He recently teased his latest Gouryella track, "Surga." Sometimes he will perform as Ferry Corsten presents Gouryella as a live experience.
iEDM got the chance to chat with Ferry as he was getting ready for festival season 2019 and had Dreamstate Europe around the corner. Here is what this legendary artist had to say.
iEDM: You will be at Dreamstate Europe next weekend, what are you most excited about for that event?
Ferry Corsten: Well I’ll be playing a Gouryella set at Dreamstate. This will be an updated version of my previous Gouryella shows so I’m really excited for this. There are definitely a few exciting tweaks. Hope the crowd will notice this when I play ;)
iEDM: Then you will be in Brazil at Laroc Club which looks incredible. Have you played there before?
Ferry Corsten: Yes, I played there in 2017 and it is an amazing venue. I can’t wait to play there again soon.
iEDM: Also on your summer schedule is EDC LV, Tomorrowland, Creamfields.. What is your favorite festival experience?
Ferry Corsten: I love playing festivals, especially after a long winter. There is nothing like a sunny day of sounds and great people enjoying the day together.
iEDM: You have been involved in the dance music world since the 90s. What changes have been most significant to you?
Ferry Corsten: The experience will always remain the same despite generations coming and going, sounds obviously change throughout the years. Build ups have definitely changed and the attention span as well. Things have been quicker, then again so is time!
iEDM: You have played clubs across the world, what are some of your stand out clubs?
Ferry Corsten: Womb, Tokyo, Exchange in LA, and I still, after all these years, love Ministry of Sound.
iEDM: You have been called the King Of Crossover. Where did you find your inspiration?
Ferry Corsten: Have I been called that? Hahaha, that’s nice to hear. As an artist and a music producer, you have to keep yourself motivated. I usually get my inspiration from tapping into different genres, eras 80’s 90’s… It’s always good to move forward without forgetting about your history.
iEDM: You have so much discography under your belt, looking back on your career do you have a favorite album you’ve produced and why?
Ferry Corsten: It’s hard to select one favourite from all your darlings, but the most adventurous album I have ever done has to be blueprint.
iEDM: Your Unity project had a lot of great collaborations and connections. Tell me what inspired this project?
Ferry Corsten: I noticed how my scene, the trance scene, despite being a niche market is a fragmented market at that. There are groups that only will play 140bpm, another 128… yet all claim to be in the same scene. I thought at this point that it would be great to work on a number of collaborations with various artists in my genre and come up with a group concept unifying our sound regardless of bpm’s…and that is how Unity was born.
iEDM: What other plans do you have as you continue to build “Unity” in the community?
Ferry Corsten: I will definitely continue to work on collaborations with up and coming as well as established artists with the same views that I share.
iEDM: I love your Corsten Countdown series. Tell me about that?
Ferry Corsten: Thanks! Corsten’s Countdown is a weekly radio show where I share the latest releases and ask listeners to vote for their favourite tracks. It’s a great way to hear latest music coming out and of course support the tracks you like. You can listen to it on various stations around the world, you tube, or on Spotify!
iEDM: You also curate a playlist on Spotify, how do you go about selecting tracks?
Ferry Corsten: I have a few playlists on Spotify. Corsten’s Countdown which of course is a summary of music selected from weekly radio show. I also have Stillpoint which is my passion project and my recent love for neo classical/ambient/film score music. It’s perfect for chilling, studying, or just as wall paper at home.
iEDM: You had a fan recently tweet you their tattoo with you on it. When you see dedicated fans like that, how does is make you feel?
Ferry Corsten: Absolutely honoured. The fact that someone does something so permanent must only mean that my music has had an impact on their life. It makes me feel good and makes me want to carry on doing what I do.
iEDM: You do a lot of shows with Aly & Fila, tell me about your relationship?
Ferry Corsten: I’ve known Fadi for years. We have always been good friends. So, playing the stage together is always fun. He’s a great guy. Looking forward to the Laroc show with them!
iEDM: Your System F show is supposed to be the biggest one at Transmission. What can fans expect?
Ferry Corsten: System F is an alias that is close to my heart as it was the artist name that gave me my breakthrough in dance music. System F and its music were instrumental to the birth of trance music as we know it today. It has also been an inspiration to many artists and DJs. I hope the set I have put together will reflect that power it had then and how it translates to now.
iEDM: The one thing I have noticed about trance lovers is their passion for the genre and sometimes they don’t veer off to other styles of EDM as much. Why do you think that is?
Ferry Corsten: It’s fantastic for people to be loyal to their music and sound. I think loyalty speaks in every genre. It would be nice and great for the genre itself if the real trance purists would be a bit more open minded at times. I hope some of my productions allow them to do that.
iEDM: Do you have anything else you want to say to fans?
Ferry Corsten: Thanks so much for your continuing support. It means a lot to me. I hope to you see soon.
Thank you, Ferry to taking the time to chat with us! Get your tickets to Laroc Club w/ Ferry Corsten and Aly & Fila HERE and stay up to date with his other events via his Facebook HERE.
Are you a Trance Lover? Browse our specially curated Trance Collection HERE for all things TRANCE FAM.
Headed to EDCLV? Check out our list of 10 Outfit Essentials for EDC 2019 HERE or browse the EDC Collection HERE.
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