Interview with Marcel Woods

We caught up with Marcel Woods yesterday to have a talk about the straight-jackets, half-masked Jokers, and let the crazy out. We also found out that Marcel is becoming a father at the end of May. This is the story.

Interview with Marcel Woods Photo by Marcel Woods

How did you come up with the Musical Madness idea?
Originally Musical Madness stood for all the madness that goes around in the whole international dance scene. I still think it’s madness that I’m asked to play some records at the other side of the world, drink a few beers and get paid! So that’s the madness I think, and it’s also insane that people sometimes think you travel everyday by helicopter or private jet. It’s just a weird world…!

For the uninitiated tell us what components go to make up Musical Madness the style and Musical Madness the label.
It’s a big mixture of music, I like all types of music but I would like to see it in one big blended genre, for me Musical Madness was a way to put a genre to my sound. Just so that people stop tagging me into just one genre. And the same goes with Musical Madness the label.

It’s certainly very different; do you find its much commented on?
Since the end of 2010 it seems that finally most DJs are starting to spin a wider range of music and this reflects my struggle for years in this scene to cut down those barriers between genres. So with part 3 it feels more that I reach my point of success of no more genres but just good music!

Did you need any persuading to don the ‘half-mask’ for the second album or the straight-jacket for the third? Or was it a case of you needing to persuade others?!
Ha ha… no, this is an easy one as it comes with the name and the Madness beyond the concept! It works very well for both me and my fans!

You’re ‘pairing’ artist’s tracks a fair bit on the album, with two tracks back-to-back from Ellez Marianni, Wippenberg and Chris Seed. Any particular reason for that or is it just that they worked so well together?
It just worked very well together, and I would like to make a statement with it that these guys are definitely on the right track. Mostly on CD’s they will separate the same names on disc 1 and 2, but that wasn’t possible with 1 disc. So I liked them enough to use them, so why not use them combined.

On the album, which track do you consider to be the most...
House: Marcel Woods with Questionary?
Trance: Marcel Woods with Champagne Dreams
Techno: Baggi Begovic with Sumo

Will there be a Musical Madness 3 tour and if so where do you hope it’ll take you?
I’m on tour for 7 years already and it seems it will never stop?! So I hope it continues me taking around the world for 7 more years.

Do you feel the urge to ‘let the crazy out’ when you’re behind a pair of CDJs?!
Mwoah…! I’m not the crazy kind of DJ behind the decks, but I try to speak and react through my music. And the big mixture of genre’s so it makes the floor go crazy. And that’s more then enough for me… ?

What’s the maddest thing you’ve ever seen whilst standing behind the decks?
I guess that’s some sexual handling's in front of me! That was pretty weird. But in a weird way I always forget these! Believe me it’s a frequently asked question, and I just can’t remember one memorable one.

What are your feelings on the concept of Trouse? Would you be happy to fall under that term?
To be honest I always tried to knock down walls, and some years ago I was in the front line of the whole tech trance movement. I built that genre together with guys as Marco V… To be clear I didn’t like trance that much, so I mixed it up with other sounds. Before you knew it you are typecast into that genre and you can’t escape anymore. So at this point I feel like a fish in the water with trouse and I think I was one of the artists that started to use this term first together with Tiesto. If you listened to some of my older tracks such as “Don’t tar me With The Same Brush” the track and the title will speak for them self.

What would you say is the one key ingredient that confirms a track as ‘Trouse’?
It has to fit in a HOUSE set and a trance set, but you use it in the house set as last track and in a trance set as a track to build your set on. And the beats have to be different. I think if you run to my catalogue and check tracks such as The Bottle you know what I mean.

Who do you see as the primary artists that are successfully bridging the house/trance divide?
That’s Marco V, Tiesto, Sander van Doorn and me….

In 2011 what’s the first aspect of a track you listen out for in a track that makes you think ‘I’d play/sign/compile onto an album?
The quality of the production has to be solid, then comes the groove/beat and later the synth/stabs. It’s on this line of thoughts I decide on.

How did ‘Don’t Ditch’, your collaboration with Tiesto come about? Who sought who out!?
Ha ha… MR T. tweeted me and the ball start rolling when we met in Ibiza. It took some time in both our hectic lives for us to get down together in the studio. So the first files where done on the road and we send each other ideas. In January we recorded it here in Holland in my studio.

In terms of vibe and feel did it turn out as you expected?
Yes it was an honour to work with him, he certainly knows his way around and he know what he wants in a track and what he doesn’t want.

When’s it coming out?
It’s already out there and it entered the top 10 in the progressive house chart on Beatport... so happy days there

Thanks Marcel! Anything else you’d like to say?
Yes...? I will become a daddy for the very first time at the end of May, so if my eyes start looking a bit tired, you know why... :-)

Mathias Haegglund Code Collector, Globetrotter, and Occasional Gamer.