Saturday 1st August we visited Dance Boulevard at Bergen op Zoom. The local Festival attracts about 4500 visitors & consists of 4 areas amongst which a Freestyle stage. Shortly before his set we arranged to meet up with Dr Phunk for an interview. Dr Phunk has had a good year so far & we were curious about his future plans. Check it out!
Hi Dr Phunk, thanks for giving us the chance to interview you! Could you please introduce yourself to our readers, how has this year been for you so far?
Hi! Sure, my name is Jordy and I’m producing and DJ’ing under the alias Dr Phunk. I’m 25 years old & so far this year has been good to me.
Okay thanks! Alright, right now we’re at Dance Boulevard, soon you’ll be taking over the decks. What are your expectations? Have you played at this festival before?
Yeah I’ve played here last year also at the Freestyle stage! It’s relatively quiet at the beginning of the afternoon here but I like it because it’s basically a home-match for me. I live about 15 minutes away from the Festival terrain. I love that it’s an intimate/local festival, which gives you a good connection with the crowd & people in the audience know each other.
Oh yes we can imagine that it’s awesome to have such a connection with the crowd. Let’s go back in time for a bit; when did it all begin for you? Which artist inspired you to start playing & how did that develop itself?
Good question, I’ve started about 7 years ago so that would be in 2008. As far what inspired me it would be the Jumpstyle that was really popular back then. If I would have to mention an artist it would be the old Headhunterz. When I went to parties I liked usually one part of a track and didn’t really like another part of it. I wanted to try to make edits of tracks because of that so I actually started producing before I had ever DJ’ed. When ‘Asslezz Bitch’ became a hit people started requesting me for bookings and I had to anticipate to that my learning quickly how to DJ properly.
That’s an awesome story! We hardly ever hear that someone produced before he ever DJ’ed! To go back to the present day, at the moment you’ve released some tracks at Foolish (the new Freestyle label, a collective of Paul Elstak, The Viper, The Prophet, The Darkraver & Neophyte). How were you approached by those legends?
Well as you probably know I’ve had 2 collaborations with Paul Elstak in the past. We’re quite close still. Foolish is a platform that needed to be created in my view. It’s a label that doesn’t think in specific genres, you can release anything that sounds great & I love that view.
Great, yeah we agree that Foolish really is something unique. Recently your Funky Sounds EP came out on Foolish (ft. vocalist Elize). If we look at your tracks it’s striking you’ve made a Freestyle edit of quite some EDM/hip-hop tracks (Secrets, Drank & Drugs). What’s it like to make such an edit & how does the crowd respond to it?
Yeah it’s true I’ve made quite some edits. ‘Drank & Drugs’ is actually an official remix & has a nice story to it. Lil Kleine attended Defqon. 1 and asked me there to make the official remix. That was awesome of course. How the crowd reacts to such tracks is usually good because of the fact the lyrics are recognized.
Very cool! We’ve already mentioned ‘Freestyle’ which is the name of your genre. We would like to make it clear for our readers what it is. So how would you define ‘Freestyle’?
Basically if your genre is ‘Freestyle’ it means that you can both play and produce everything. What I like about is that you have a lot of creative freedom despite the fact that it must be a ‘hard’ track. It’s also great when you mix in a known track a people sing along to it.
That’s clear. We just mentioned your most recent release but we assume you’ve got a lot coming up. Could you say something about that?
Yeah, I’ve a release coming up at Fusion at the end of August and also I’m working on an official remix for The Partysquad.
Sounds good! We’ve discussed the past already but now let’s set foot in the future. You’ve already collaborated with the legend Paul Elstak but besides that, with whom would you love to make a track with and why?
As I’ve already mentioned Headhunterz as my inspiration I would obviously love to make with him. Despite that fact he has switched genres I still have a lot of respect for him. His productions skills are amazing. Next to that something with a member of Yellow Claw’s Barong Family label would be cool. Finally, Deorro is also someone I look up to, a collab with him would be also really cool.
Nice choices! Considering events, at the moment we’re at Dance Boulevard, of course you’ve got a lot more bookings. Which one are you especially looking forward to?
Decibel at the Pussy Lounge stage! I love the atmosphere there!
We can easily imagine that! Alright thanks very much for this interview and good luck with your set!
No problem and thanks!
Follow Dr Phunk!
https://www.facebook.com/drphunkmusic
https://instagram.com/drphunkmusic
https://twitter.com/drphunkmusic
https://soundcloud.com/officialdrphunk
© Festivalling.com
Interviewer: Alexander Bouten