Dardenne Session 4000
For our last interview in this series we gladly took our time to sit down with Damien Dardenne (aka Session4000, aka Dardenne): rather fresh in the city of Ghent, but an established value in the scene. He is a DJ with a tour schedule that reads like a travel brochure (Stockholm, Marseille, Tbilisi, …), a producer of many groovy tracks that resonate with artists like Anthea, Sugar Free and Sunju Hargun, but most of all an utterly cheerful appearance: from Brussels to Ghent, with love.
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Samoth
We meet Samoth (Thomas Haelterman) mere days after the media-hyped teknival in Brustem, Belgium. As one of the free party scene’s backbones here in Belgium, we’re eager to hear what he makes of the past media frenzy. While the free party scene remains shrouded in mystery, it’s abundantly clear it embodies strong, human-centered core values that started to seep in the regular club scene as well.
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Timmerman
Timmerman juggles with a job in the communications team of Horst Arts & Music, being the co-promoter of Supergay and, of course, his own DJ-career. Spanning over eight years and becoming ever more refined, the latter covers the biggest chunk of what you’re about to read. We will also discuss the death of presale, ever-faster-paced music and Call of Duty.
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Godero
Hailing from Landen, Godero started to make waves a while back - despite his young age. After landing his first gig at local festival Rock Landen at the age of 13, he dove deeper and deeper in the wondrous universe that is house music. Now, some seven years later, part of the things that make him happiest are: Funke, obscure movies and everlasting sets.
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Ampe
As we near the end of this interview series, we sit down with Ampe. Over the past years, few have left a bigger mark on the Ghentian scene than her. After an unequivocally and dashing conquest of all that is restless and unrelenting, before us stands an impressively calm and collected artist and Butternut co-founder and organizer who truly found her own voice.
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Corvus Ex
From background tunes in Nintendo games over IDM YouTube digs to sets that are marked by tribal, hypnotic and introspective grooves: it all flowed very naturally in Corvus Ex’s musical journey. Being part of a pivotal generation that is both in tune with the super young and somewhat less young, we couldn’t wait to hear about his perception of communities and the scene nowadays in Ghent.
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phrex
Juan Awile, aka phrex, aka Seduction, has been a pillar of the Swiss electronic music scene for many years. He’s heavily involved in concepts such as Dubtopia, Midilux and the Montsomnia Festival. From hometown club Kapitel Bollwerk to Ghent’s Funke seems only like a small stretch: “both of these places feel like a living room, where you’re surrounded by familiar faces”.
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Yentl.
Yentl is an enigmatic nightcrawler, to say the very least. On the one hand buoyant and exuberant - deep and sweltering on the other. There’s unmistakably two sides of the same medaillon. Walk with us as we lift a small tip of the veil that so carefully caresses Yentl’s endless universe.
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Emily Jeanne
While reminiscing and looking back in time are not among her favorite activities, words came easy. With only a handful of questions needed, this talk and interview unfolded pleasantly, touching upon a love for music, willpower, her heritage and an allergy to pigeonholing. Please take your time to meet Ghent’s very own Emily Jeanne.
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Menica
Performing as Menica and Sundae Sue, running Ojoo (which is an event series, a label - briefly an artist agency even), being a mother of a sixteen year old, working full time for Waking Life, and having a fun (yet very secret) project in the pipeline: Menica’s agenda is filled to the brim - to say the very least. “I want to discover all there is to know about the scene.”
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Adi
After having commuted between homebase Colombia and Europe for gigs on a regular basis, Adi made a more definitive move to this continent just last year. Settling in a new home can be intense, but the pieces of the puzzle are falling in place. “I put a lot of seeds in the ground the past couple of years, now I can slowly start harvesting.”
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Vers
Robin Verslype is an active member of the Belgian nightlife community. Combining a job as communications manager and assistant artistic director at Arty Farty Brussels (Nuits Sonores, Reset), an important role in DIY-collective Grid and as a DJ. “I will never abandon DJing, even if I don’t have any bookings.”
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Interviews + words by Hans Empereur