Fre4knc and The Great Wall of China
Story of a Dutchman DJing at YinYang Festival and a Radiohead / Rammstein mash-up?
Fre4knc (pronounced ‘Frequency’) has been making waves in the Drum N Bass scene since forever. The most iconic releases namely on Noisia Invisible, Dispatch Recordings and Critical Music. We caught up with him after he came back from YinYang festival in China to have a chat about his set, new releases and some things in-between.
You’ve had a pretty packed and mental 2019, let’s start with your incredible Great Wall of China sets with Swift MC where you played on the main stage, what’s the juice?
I’ve done quite some tours already, but this was the first time with Swift MC. We shared many stages in the Netherlands and Belgium together, and it’s always a vibe when we collab. He can really feel how I’m mixing and what’s coming up next. That’s quite a talent.
This year I took him with me on my China tour. We played indeed in front of the Great Wall of China, the main stage. The festival is named YinYang. They have mainly techno, house and some drum&bass there. We played after a French house/EDM artist and before a live minimal act dressed in a panda suit. Quite a switch, but it worked. It’s always special to play near or on top of the Great Wall of course.
What kind of set did you play?
I always play my own stuff and style, no matter where I am or how late I play. People book me because of my music, so that’s what I play.
If I go to a Radiohead concert, I don’t want them to play Rammstein tunes. Well, on second thought, that would be quite sick actually, hmmm… But, I bet you understand what I’m trying to make clear here.
As the festival is so diverse I’m sure some Techno/EDM people might think it’s weird music what I played. All in all, I think it worked out really good, and in the end, people got more and more into it. Swift MC helped for the interaction as well of course, so big ups to him.
When I started DJ-ing years ago I would have played more on safe here. Nowadays I just go for my own sound. After all the years I learned that most people won’t walk away, as the music isn’t bad. For me, face it’s more a goal to introduce them to a sound they’ve never heard before. Playing on safe is just boring for me, and you don’t really distinguish yourself.
You’ve released a new track Anaïs on Vandal Records, what’s your history with Vandal?
I met Julien (SKS), who is the owner of Vandal, during Outlook 2015 and he asked me to do a remix for Detail — FX. Later he booked me for a gig in Bikini, Toulouse and that weekend was great. Later we did a Vandal Records night in Groningen which was one for in the books, so we have quite a history together. I respect him and the label a lot, so when he asked me to do a tune for his 15 years of Vandal LP, I couldn’t refuse and wrote Anaïs for him.
You remixed Geometry by Kyrist, she’s been killing it for a while but what specifically about Kyrist do you appreciate about her DJ/ production style?
She’s a solid DJ with a great selection, and she’s liking the darker stuff as I do as well.
Give me some hype about your upcoming releases, how come you have 2 out on Flexout
I’ve done a track with Klinical which will be a solo release. First, the idea was to put it on my EP, but as it’s a collab and quite a special one, I think Flexout preferred to release it as a 1 track tune. I’m looking forward to show it to people.
My goal is to finish my EP for Flexout this week. I’m almost there, just a couple of mixdown issues and extra sounds. Three tunes will be drum & bass and one will be Techno. My first techno bit which will be released!
