WORLD´s ELECTRONIC MUSIC LEAGUE IN INTERVIEW:

Iman Gerowgan: Hi Ferry, where are you at the moment and how are you feeling?

 

Ferry Corsten: Currently I am in an airplane with my laptop, answering this interview! I am actually feeling quite well, but a little bit tired. Luckily I can relax here!

Iman Gerowgan: You just released your 4th full length artist album “WKND”. First of all tell us,why “WKND“ ?

 

Ferry Corsten: For this album I was mostly inspired by the weekend. The whole week you are busy working, and you are looking forward to the weekend. When it is finally there, you are happy and relieved and you’ve got time for yourselves and family. That is the typical feeling I would like to express with this artist album.

 
Iman gerowgan: How does a normal weekend in the world of Ferry Corsten looks like? Are there days, you´re thinking “If I just had a normal life – a regular job, working from Monday till Fridayand two days off, doing just nothing or whatever”?

 

Ferry Corsten: I really love what I do. My work gives me energy and it makes me feel good. Sometimes, I wish I had more time to spend with friends and family, but not many people get to have a job that I really love and enjoy. Everything comes with a price. I do spend as much time with them as I can.

 
Iman Gerowgan: With "WKND" you´re celebrating your twentieth anniversary as a producer of world class electronic dance music. Has it always been your dream to become a Superstar DJ? Which other dreams did you have in your life? Did you have a plan B besides your musical carrier?

 

Ferry Corsten: I’ve always loved music, even when I was about 5-6 years old. I started producing around the age of 15. When I was 16 years old, I released my first single. Since then, it has only evolved very quickly until I decided to do it on a professional level. I am proud of how far I have come until now.

 
Iman Gerowgan: Your album contains 14 tracks plus an iTunes bonus track. How long did youwork on your album? What was the biggest challenge for you? …and which emotions drove youthe most while working on it?

 

Ferry Corsten: It took me little over a year to produce and finalize the album. I created each track individually and with passion. They all had to be perfect. The collaborations with the other artists went surprisingly good! The results are even better than we expected.

 
By creating the album I was mostly driven by the emotion of relief. Relief of the spare-time weekend can grant you. Almost everyone has that feeling, and that’s what the album has to offer. I am really proud of the outcome and I hope all the fans are going to love it too.

 
Iman Gerowgan: “A painter paints his pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.” (Leopold Stokowski) Do you think or sometimes hope, people see or feel the same as you do while listening to your “pictures”?

 

Ferry Corsten: It’s a great quote I think! It is a compliment for us artists when people tell us music feels like a piece of art. It’s very true that everyone who makes music would like to bring a certain message or emotion with it as well. Just like art, everyone interprets the work in a different way. So I can try to bring a message with a track, but I’ll never know if that message will be received just like I intended.

 
Iman Gerowgan: Which track of the album has a special meaning for you? What do you associate with this track?

 

Ferry Corsten: Every track brings a different emotion to me. I cannot choose which track from WKND is my favorite. It’s like a mother having to choose which of her children she loves most. Honestly!

 

Iman Gerowgan: In how far does the emotional world of Ferry Corsten, ups & downs, affect youin your productivity as well as your shows? ..how about global tragedies, war, crime, etc.?

 

Ferry Corsten: I think these events work in the background inside my head, in my subconscious. I notice stress just as being calm about things definitely play into how I make my productions.

 
Iman Gerowgan: “Music can change the world, because music can change people.” (Bono, U2)What do you think?

 

Ferry Corsten: Definitely. It’s amazing how music can change your disposition not necessarily on its words but even just on its melodies, it’s sounds.

 
Iman Gerowgan: Since last year you´re flying green. You have been active for the dutch department of the World Wildlife Fund. Please tell us more about it.

 

Ferry Corsten: By supporting WWF I contribute to the fight against climate change, and to make people more aware of how beautiful the world really is. We must become more provident with our planet. Besides, I want my daughter to grow up in the most safe and clean world possible.

 
Iman Gerowgan: Some of your tracks on the album, such as “Feel it”, “Ain´t no stopping ft. Ben Hague” or “Check it out” are influenced by house music. What inspired you to give it a “housy touch”?

 

Ferry Corsten: House music has grown big since a couple of years. I wanted to slightly experiment with the style, to see how it would appeal to the fans. I wanted give it somekind of an edge. It turned out to be a good choice.

 
Iman Gerowgan: How would you characterize your sounds – the “Ferry Corsten Sygnature”?

 

Ferry Corsten: Trance music for a broad group of listeners, with elements of house and electro, sometimes with vocals and always with a typical Corsten sound! 

 
Iman Gerowgan: Many artists dreaming of a musical carrier. To be able doing their hobby - their passion to a profession and also making a living from it. In how far do artists have to, or should adapt oneself to the scenes & trends,…if they do not have the success with their sounds – their own style, in order to reach their goals/dreams?

 

Ferry Corsten: I always believe that you have to know what you want , be passionate about it, but more importantly be true to yourself. If It means changing yourself to something that you do not really believe in…it will be difficult for you, no matter what to succeed.

 
Iman Gerowgan: Talking about the music scene, what makes you worry about nowadays? Whatkind of revolution, do you think, the electronic music scene would need at all? Where could or should we begin?

 

Ferry Corsten: Thing I don’t like is the lack of patience that people have nowadays. The attention span of building a record has gone completely which is a shame because that was the beauty of it all.

 
Iman Gerowgan: "There are two primary choices in life; to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them." (Benjamin Franklin) How do you assess the influence of the world´s leading top labels, top acts and top promoters towards todays electronic music scene? How do you assess their responsibility?

 

Ferry Corsten: Like in every industry, people in the music industry follow the leaders. Top artists are either trendsetters or trend followers, but will not get popular by solely focusing on what they want to create themselves. I believe it is necessary as an artist to take this matter into account. The amount of responsibility differs among everyone within the music industry. One has more to say than someone else.

Iman Gerowgan: We see your busy world touring schedule with dates in USA, UK, Israel,Moldova, Netherlands, Germany, France, Scotland, etc. Say, how many shows do you already have on your back in the last 20 years?

 

Ferry Corsten: Wow that is a good question… I’d definitely be in the thousands for sure.

 
Iman Gerowgan: Is someone like you still nervous before a show sometimes? Do you have some kind of personal “rituals” before entering the DJ booth?

 

Ferry Corsten: If a relaxing dinner can be seen as a ritual, then yes! But there is nothing special I do before I perform. Every few minutes before I start playing, I just can’t wait to begin. Oh yes, my hair. My hair always needs to be decent enough!

 
Iman Gerowgan: Few words to your fans.

 

Ferry Corsten: Thank you all for all your support! I would never have been where I am now,without your help. You will hear much more from me and I hope I can entertain you for along time to come!

 
Iman Gerowgan: Anything you would like to add to his interview.

 

Ferry Corsten: For more info, do not hesitate to visit www.ferrycorsten.com and my brandnew website www.fullonferry.com 

 
Iman Gerowgan: Thank you very much for your time and the insight in the world of FerryCorsten!

 

Ferry Corsten: Thanks for the interview!