My interest in electronical music began during my time at elementary school, around the mid-90’s. Back then I listened to all kinds of euro dance, with 2 Unlimited as the most obvious example (don’t bash me for this, kids loved it ;)). By the time I went to high school, happy hardcore became very popular and I too got hooked on it. All this died after a few years and my interest went towards casual club music. I became a frequent listener of Van Diepen’s Dance Department on the Dutch radio station 538, which was the usual timeslot for DJ’s like Kross and Emjay. From here, I was introduced to the ‘vinyl sound’ and figured out this was a whole different scene than the commercial stuff I’ve always heard before.
Around the end of 1998, my personal taste went towards trance. Artists like Ferry Corsten (System F), Armin van Buuren and Tiësto made me want to hear more and more in that genre. I started buying compilations with extended versions of tracks that I wanted to fit into some homemade mixes. Before I got my first mixing equipment, I practised at my dad’s work, because they had CD players with a pitch control 😛 After those experiments, I bought my first mixer and turntables and became a loyal customer of the Magik Record Store in Breda (founded by Tiësto himself).
During my time at high school, I became good friends with Paul Moelands (still a familiar trance producer for those who are into the trance scene) and we both started promoting our mixes among classmates. Our first attempt to actually produce our own tracks was done with Magix Music Maker v2000. Soon we got sick of all the premade drumloops and melodies and started in Fruity Loops 2.7, so we could have all the freedom we wanted. Around 2001, the first decent tracks began to emerge and slowly people in the trance scene began to pick them up. Paul and me have spent a lot of time on the forum Trance.nu where we could promote our stuff and receive feedback from other users. During those years, we built up a list of important contacts.
In the summer of 2003, trance DJ’s like Misja Helsloot, Precision and Niklas Harding added my tracks to their playlists. Niklas even helped me getting my first record deal with the German label Afterglow. The tracks Lunica/Nemo ’03 were released in the spring of 2004. Since then, I’ve had several records deals with trance labels like Deepblue, Monster Tunes and Five AM. I released those tracks under the aliases Son of a Pitch, Yanave (trance) and Evanya (techtrance/techno), which got played by names like Armin van Buuren, Ferry Costen and Gareth Emery. To read more details about my releases, visit the Discography page.
That’s about the history about my productions. At the same point in time, I also kept playing DJ sets. In 2003 and 2004 I did some guestmixes for online radio stations like DI.FM, RiseFM and Trancesphere, now known as ETN.FM. In 2005 I got my own trance show on ETN.FM, called Retinal Insight. More about the radio show on the Radio page.
By the end of 2007, I took a sabbatical, production wise, to focus on my new job as a software programmer. I continued with my radio show though, but a major turn of events occured. My taste in electronical music began to shift towards techno and electro house, two genres that already had slowly made their way into my trance show. So, I decided to stop the trance show and create two seperate shows for techno and electro house. These shows (Tech Selection and House Selection) now air on DI.FM and ETN.FM. I’ve picked up the production work again and will have to make my way into these new scenes for now. To be continued… 🙂
I’ve been listening to NO MERCY! since it started, it is by far my favorite podcast. I get really excited each month when a new episode is released.
YOU ROCK JAN WATERMAN!!!!!!
NO MERCY RULES!!!
Me too : i just discover your incredible pure techno sound. I ‘ll be there every time to listen you, man !! You’ve got a new fan in Switzerland ! WE LOVE TECHNO LIKE THAT !!! (even if i’ve listenning 2 unlimited too !! That was so….light. Flat. No relief. No power from inside, but i remember they give me energy ! It was the beginning of a new sound… Hahahaha : no no no no no no no no ther’s no liiimiiiiiit !!!” I was Infected by the virus and he don’t let me : after 20 years, he’s still there !! GOOO Jan !!! PEACE.
Heard your Tech Selection Mix (#043) for the first time last week on DI.fm and was completely blown away by your style, sounds awesome!
You got yourself a new fan Jan!
Greetings from Gorinchem, Nederland 😉
I heard 1 of your mixes the first time on DI.FM. Since now 2 years i m listening all of your mixes, especially the Tech Selections which matches my favorite style of techno.
Keep on Jan, you re one of my favorites Djs *Thumb up* 😉
I captured a mix from di.fm a while ago, this is my favourite sort ot techno. And now your mix is on di.fm again, so I thought, let’s google Jan Waterman!!
Keep up da good work!!!!
besids sorry for my funny English, ik ben een Nederlander 🙂
Greetz,
The Bassgun
Been listening to your mixes for quite a while now. Got quite a few others listening to your stuff all the way over here in TEXAS. Keep up the great work Jan.