Esteemed Trance and overall dance artist Dash Berlin is set to grace Australia with his presence March 7th in Sydney and March 8th in Melbourne for Ultra Australia.
Dash Berlin returns to Australia, not visiting since April 2017. After the whole Dash Berlin/Jeffrey Sutorius debacle, he is back in the drivers seat, ready to return to the world and perform his outstanding and energetic performances.
Don’t miss out on Dash Berlin, as well as DJ Snake, Afrojack, Eric Prydz, Zedd, Cirez D, Luciano, Deborah De Luca, Gammer, Markus Schulz and many more at Ultra Australia. Get your tickets today!
Coming up you have Ultra South Africa, Ultra Abu Dhabi and then Ultra Australia back to back, 5 events in the space of about a week – what’s your tips for jumping between time zones?
It’s going to be very challenging, I’m not going to lie. But there is so much excitement and so much anticipation and enthusiasm around these events, the adrenaline of all that will keep me grounded and alert. At the same time, I’ve known for quite a while that this is going to be the one and that means I have to be fit for it, getting good sleep, eating healthy, going to the gym to make sure I survive this run in good shape.
On that note, do you have any other travel life hacks?
One of my practices is that I don’t travel with a watch on so I’m never connected with time. I only go by the time zone I am landing in. The plane is a neutral zone for me, not taking into account what time zone I am flying through, it’s when I’m landing, if it is dark I’ve got to sleep, if it’s light I’ll be alive! It’s how I’ve been doing it for 10 years now. I would say 97%-98% of the time it works for me!
You’ve been out to Australia many times before, do you have a favourite city and any recommendations for sights for future travelers?
I’ve definitely been to Australia quite a few times and I think every city has its own charm. For me as a Dutch guy, Australia is pretty far off the map. I think for a lot of people, Australia is a beautiful place, off the map. You just have to see it all around to grasp all of it. When it comes to beautiful cities, I think it was Melbourne voted a couple times as the top spot in the world. I would assume that is probably not for nothing. I do like Melbourne a lot, also Sydney but I also enjoy Adelaide and Brisbane but I think every city has its charm.
You’ve been performing as Jeffrey Sutorius and Dash Berlin. Now that you’ve got both names is there a plan to keep touring as these separately for the long term?
The plan was definitely there but it would make things too complicated, although I really wanted to go for it! I definitely saw a way in, a different artistic approach between Jeffrey and Dash. But I wanted to continue with Dash and not make it too complicated for everyone. Obviously Dash Berlin has a 10 year legacy so it would be weird to have that fade away while focusing on something else artistically. So that is why I decided to focus on Dash Berlin solely and go for that. That is what I’ve been going for for the last ten years and that is what I want to continue with.
As Dash Berlin you have had a number of different takes of trance over the years, from a harder sound to a more melodic progressive approach – do you have a personal favourite?
I really enjoy the 4AM sound that we used to do, that is definitely something I want to re-introduce in a different artistic way production wise. I want to bring the 4AM style back for sure but in a nowadays jacket. We haven’t been doing a lot of 4AM approaches for quite a while, so the 4AM mixes that are there are really cool but a little bit outdated. So I do want to bring it back in a nowadays jacket and see how the people react to it.
You’ve had some musical past with your father, have you always been involved with music?
I love sports and music and that’s basically it! I started playing soccer when I was really young, so obviously before being truly active in music. Then when I was around 8/9 years old my Dad got me a drum kit for my birthday and that’s where I started practising the 4/4 beat, drumming along with music I really liked at that time. I basically taught myself a little bit how to drum. That drum then became electronic when in The Netherlands, the trance sounds came in through the late 80’s into the 90’s. I was injected with that electronic dance music virus at that time and I am still loving it!
Many artists embrace the Ultra brand, is it special to you also?
Especially Ultra! Ultra is one for an artist, you can see that as one of the holy grails in the year. Those shows have a lot of exposure. They have a lot of strong brand representation. If you are a part of that, you are a part of that family, it is not only a brand it’s also family! You can see why, over the years why I keep doing the Ultras! It’s a team who is always hungry and is willing to put out an amazing show for the people and it’s really great to be a part of. I am very lucky and fortunate that I can be a part of the Ultra family.
What music do you listen to personally, away from gigs?
I definitely listen to almost everything out of the dance music spectrum, from A to Z. That could be really down tempo to extremely up tempo, to almost not being able to follow it! This they call IDM – intelligent dance music. As far as I can grasp, basically everything I listen to is electronic dance music.
What can we expect from your set? Any classics?
I get that question a lot, especially over social media. “Do we get some classics?” For people that know Dash Berlin and have been following my sets, they know that I always keep that in mind. I actually don’t know my set time yet, so I will have to look into it. I will also take into account that the Aussies like it a bit harder, a little bit rougher. I want to make people happy, that’s what I am there for – that’s my main goal. I will try my best to please everybody as much as possible!
Do you have any upcoming music or projects you could tease?
Recently I released two remixes, one for Laidback Luke and Marc Benjamin ‘We’re Forever’ on Mixmash Records. And also a remix of Marco V’s ‘Come Back Home’ on his In Charge label. I am still working on a lot of new Dash Berlin material. One of the new singles is going to be ‘Wild At Heart’ which we have been teasing here and there and seeing how people react to it on social media. It’s been in my sets as an ID for quite a while now. After road testing it we’ve had some great reactions. I’ve had quite a lot of questions about when it will be released. We’re working on that – as soon as possible! I also have some great collaborations coming up with amazing vocalists as well. 2020 is going to be a super busy year music wise. I’ve been working a lot in the studio and I’m really excited to share that with everybody.
