024 - Bonzai All Stars
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Following Anderson NoiseEPM now brings you a label mix from the founders of the Hard Trance sound, we welcome Belgium’s infamous Bonzai Records, with a mix of some of their classics by the Bonzai All Stars.Bonzai All Stars is the only true Bonzai experience containing music from all the years of its ongoing label history. The setup consists of label founder Fly and his partner Marnik, who will be bringing you a smashing mash up of the best music that Bonzai has brought to you over the past 20 years.
You can expect some of their all time ultimate classics such as Push ‘Universal Nation’, Yves Deruyter ‘The Rebel’, Cherrymoon Trax ‘The House Of House’ to name just a few, shooting you straight back into time to the early 90s when the Hard Trance sound was defined by the Antwerp based label.
DJ Fly, Yves Deruyter and Franky Jones started the label in the back of record shop called The Blitz (Belgium) in 1992 as a sublabel to Lightning Records. Fly is the founder of and mentor behind all the different Bonzai labels - and was during many years one of the most popular DJ’s in Belgium and far beyond.
Yves Deruyter was resident DJ in the Cherrymoon club in Lokeren, Belgium. Those were magical times and the immense success led to the launch of Bonzai records in 1994. The label released uncountable big hits and the famous Bonzai sound got known over the whole world.
Fly became a regular guest at prestigious festivals as Mayday (3x), Love Parade (6x), Street Parade (Zurich), Mysteryland, Dance Valley, Tribal Gathering...
In March 2003 Bonzai was subsequently replaced by the Banshee Worx label. Since its renewal in 2003, the label has released records under "Bonzai Music", however the 'Bonzai Records' catalog numbering continues.
Bonzai have also hosted several stages at events such as Tomorowland and the Sportpaleis in Antwerp:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p74xKsm46k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy9fEB4xa50
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIrjqsDcRmQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMpMkTTd6IY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-_bd-6HNVk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z4FTZTzniE
And this weekend they will host a stage at the Supersonic Festival
This week sees the digital release of the Bonzai All Stars Ultimate Megamix album. The CD version was released on CNR Belgium/Mostiko.
BONZAI LINKS TO CHECK:
http://www.bonzaiprogressive.com/
EPM Podcast 24 – BONZAI ALL STARS TRACKLIST
1° Yves Deruyter - The Rebel (Original Mix)
2° DJ Looney Tune - Workstation (M.I.K.E's Energized Remix)
3° Yves Deruyter - Calling Earth (Original Mix)
4° DJ Looney Tune - Jumpin' & Pumpin' (Original Mix)
5° Joyrider - The Deadline (N.Y. Mix)
6° Groove Park - Carrousel (Original Mix)
7° Yves Deruyter - On The Move (Club Mix)
8° Push - Universal Nation (DJ JamX & de Leon's Dumonde Remix)
9° Quadran featuring Tasha - Unlovable (M.I.K.E. Remix)
10° Cherrymoon Trax - Let There Be House (Original Mix)
11° Phrenetic System - Wayfarer (Original Mix)
12° Cherrymoon Trax - The House Of House (Original Mix)
13° Blue Alphabet - Cybertrance (Original Mix)
14° Jones & Stephenson - The First Rebirth (Original Mix)
All tracks are distributed by EPM. www.epm-music.com. You can subscribe to all of EPM’s podcasts via itunes.
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Q&A with Bonzai All Stars
1. Please give us a quick walk through your selection. Why did you choose these tracks for the mix?
The mix is a selection from some of the biggest hits our label has had at the end of the 90's, unfortunately not all tracks could be put in there.
2. The origins of Bonzai go way back to 1992 when you set the label up in the Blitz Record shop in Belgium. Can you please give us an insight into the dance scene at the time?
The dance scene was totally different with many more clubs and real DJ's, everyone was supporting everyone because genres weren't so split up as they are today. It were great days and many people seem to want those days to come back.
3. What was your initial goal for the label? And what have been the biggest hits you have released?
In the beginning there was no real goal, it just all happened and we grow into a huge company resulting in global club hits like Push - Universal Nation, Yves Deruyter - The Rebel, but also tracks that we made big at the time like Da Hool - Meet Her At The Love Parade and Energye 52 - Café Del mar just to name a few.
4. Now nearly twenty years down the line what are your future plans for the label?
About a year ago we've decided to finally step away from the struggling trance scene and move forward into house/tech house and techno which is more the music we personally like. Beyond that we're building out our artist roster and develop further as a digital outlet for labels.
5. Bonzai is revered as THE label that put hard trance on the map. Would you agree?
What's in a name, once they called it the Bonzai sound, then they called it hard trance, now they call it hard dance, but yes you could say we were pioneers for trance music in general. If you listen to what's hot in trance today, all the basics were put down by our label end of the 90's and all these are ideas still come back today.
6. Who are the new Belgium producers that we should be looking out for?
Not necessarily Belgian producers, we got Dennis Franchi and Fab Code who have a lot of talent, but also foreigners such as Zas & Sanze aka Mindgamers, Chantola and others are people to look out for.
7. What would be the dream DJ line-up for the ‘Bonzai All Stars’ to headline?
Potentially with all the stars from our era with all of them doing a set with the sound from those days, names such as Marusha, Westbam, Yves Deruyter, Tiësto, … would be a good start for the ultimate retro line up.
8. Fly and Marnik, as the Bonzai All Stars DJ tag team, how do you approach a set and how do you split it between the pair of you?
The approach is simple, the set has to bring one hit after the other in a seamless powerful mix made by Fly, Marnik on the other hand takes care of the technical side of things + additional live keys and effects on top of the mix.
9. If Bonzai had to be remembered by only one record, what would it be?
That's a tuff one, we're going to have to put more than one here, Push - Universal Nation as our biggest hit from our own owned catalogue and from the top licenses back in the 90's we definitely have to add Energy 52 - Café Del Mar as well. Both tracks are still today timeless trance classics.
10. Please give us your top 5 Belgium clubs (old or new):
1° Extreme, 2° Cherrymoon, 3° La Rocca, 4° Café D'Anvers and 5° FUSE.