Home 2011 Best of 2011 Interviews Interviews Best of 2011 Interview: Leon Bolier, creative studio mind and talented dj
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Best of 2011 Interview: Leon Bolier, creative studio mind and talented dj




Name: Leon Bolier
Location: Studio

A major force in second dawn of The Netherlands’ dance music, Leon Bolier is one of the most creative studio minds at work in the country today. Bolier has long since taken the music out of the studio and to the people. Playing hundreds of nights, and in front of hundreds of thousands of clubbers.



Interview is written and conducted by Dimitri Kechagias Radio/Club Dj/Music Journalist


Dimitri: Do you consider 2011 as a positive, negative or neutral year for the progress of the Electronic Dance Music scene?

Leon Bolier : Positive. Dance has gone even more global – dance music breaking into the US charts is a big step forward.


Dimitri: Do you believe that 2011 was a good , indifferent or bad year for the development of your personal career?

Leon Bolier : A good year (I wonder how many artists would say ‘a bad year’ by the way). I have chosen to go for an even more dance floor oriented approach with my tracks while those tracks can be played out by a more cross-over section of the DJs out there, things are starting to pay off.

Dimitri: THE A to Z of the Best of the Year 2011.

a) Best Full Release of the year(original & remixes)
Leon Bolier : Above & Beyond – Sun and Moon – loved the original, loved the Marcus Schossow remix and now there’s a great Bart Claessen remix as well.

b) Your personal Full release of the year
Leon Bolier: I am gonna name two: Cape Town and Vengeance Vengeance. Cape Town got massive support during Armin van Buuren’s A State Of Trance 500 world tour, and Vengeance Vengeance is the first track that has the above stated clubby crossover approach, and it has been picked up by a wide array of DJs.

 

                       

c) Best Single track of the year (only original versions)
Leon Bolier : Orjan Nilsen – Between The Rays. Orjan has been on fire this year, with this track he proves a beautiful melody doesn’t necessarily mean it isn’t suited for the dancefloors.


d) Your personal Best Single track of the year
Leon Bolier : the same with c)




e) Best Remix of the year
Leon Bolier : Green Velvet – Flash (Nicky Romero Remix) – Big room house that gets the trance crowds thrilled as well. Cross over the way I like it.


f) Best Remix on personal production that you released in 2011
Leon Bolier : Armin van Buuren – Desiderium 207 (my remix) – I took the intro of Armin’s Mirage album and reworked it into a bigroom monster. Really happy with the result and Armin loved it!

g) Best Producer of the year in your style that you play or any other that you may like
Leon Bolier : Orjan Nilsen, like I said, he’s on fire. Everything he sends me, rocks.

h) Best New Talent/Big hope for the coming years
Leon Bolier : Although he has been around for a while, lately Mark Sherry’s productions sound great production wise and his stuff starts to have the crossover potential I mentioned earlier on.


i) Best Remixer of the year on personal or others peoples tracks
Leon Bolier : Arty
j) Best Established Label of the year(not started in 2011)Leon Bolier : Spinnin records and Armada music. Both doing great in their game.
k) Best Newborn in 2011 label of the year
Leon Bolier : n/a

l) Best dance album and mixed compilation of the year in the style of music that you work with…
Leon Bolier : Not going to name my own, so I will say: Arnej – Musical Evolution.
m) Best Music Video of the year(this can be personal/you are involved with or from other artists)



Leon Bolier : Duck Sauce – Big Bad Wolf – it’s just mad crazy
Steve Aoki & Afrojack – No Beef – party mode for over 5 minutes!

n) Best social network of the year that has been amazing for the promotion of your work
Leon Bolier : I’ll stick with Twitter and Facebook.


o) Best new software or hardware that was introduced in this year and you recommended it to others.
Leon Bolier : FabFilter’s Pro Q Equalizer.


p) Best and worst djing or production experience that happened in 2011
Leon Bolier : DJing
Best: A State Of Trance 500 in South Africa and my name becoming a world wide trending topic on twitter
Worst: playing a gig badly jetlagged while having the flu.

Production
Best: realizing I knew how to diversify my style and the result being playable.
Worst: blue screen while saving a track.

q) Best country that you performed this year
Leon Bolier : Too many to mention. One of the most crazy crowds I saw this year was at Subculture, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

r) Best club or open air festival that you attended or you even performed this year
Leon Bolier : Electronic Family, ASOT500, Luminosity Beach. One of my fav clubs in the world is Circus Afterhours Montreal. I will be performing there again during New Year’s Eve.


s) Best hobby or other activity for 2011(game/movie/book/going to gym to keep fit or any other hobby )
Leon Bolier : Reading more books after I already bought a full book shelf last year.

t) Best radio show of the year and Best radio station that you always check out(fm or online)preferably that plays the kind of your music
Leon Bolier : A State of Trance, Dance Department, Identity by Sander van Doorn.

u) Best online or ordinary record shop that you used to get your music of the year
Leon Bolier : Beatport

v) Best CD player or any other equipment that you use for djing (this can include software for digital mixing)
Leon Bolier : Pioneer CDJ2000

w) Best vocalist in a dance track of the year
Leon Bolier : Richard Bedford, Nadia Ali


x) Best magazine or web site that you always check out for music related stuff
(to read reviews/interviews/ and learn about technical equipment)
Leon Bolier : Computer Music



y) Best fan of your music of the year or best crowd in your performance(perhaps you don’t know the name but you can describe when you met or why you consider this person as your best fan of the year)
Leon Bolier : I signed a ‘best fan’ certificate for a Dutch girl at a festival I played in Holland this summer, maybe that counts?


z) Best thing you have done this year in order to support any social movement, charities, or other people that may need your help.
 Leon Bolier : I have tried to help some up and coming artists, put a track for free download saying people can pay whatever they want but they have to pay it to the cancer foundation. Stop the bragging here.



Dimitri: Can you please let us know your plans for 2012 for your djing, productions or label?
Leon Bolier :  Bigger, better, bolder.


Dimitri: On the other side is it possible to tell us the track, album, artist/dj that you believe were the worst of the year and why?

Leon Bolier : No.. in the end it all boils down to personal taste and I am sure everyone puts blood, sweat and tears into the products they push out, so who am I to slag that off.

Dimitri: Please give us your wishes for 2012 and your small piece of advice for anyone that reads this interview and aspires to get into music production, djing, or music production in general.

Leon Bolier : For sure! All the best for 2012 and I hope to see you around on the global dancefloors! The best advice I can give to aspiring artists: be persistent in believing in yourself, that’s what helped me to become what I am.


Many thanks to Leon Bolier for replying in this interview. I hope he had fan replying to my questions.


Many thanks to 2-dutch agency for helping me to organize this interview. You can book Leon Bolier to rock your party at   www.2-dutch.nl 


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