Posted by Cat Martin

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Catching Up With First State

Sander van Dien is one of the trance scene’s most in-demand producers. Countless remixes, a ferocious gigging schedule and taking care of his own sublabel of Blackhole Recordings (First State Music) means that he is quite a hard man to pin down. But I caught up with Sander to get the low-down on his latest mix compilation, ‘The Whole Nine Yards’ and to find out about his up and coming productions and gigs.

www.firststatemusic.com

Cat: Sander, thanks for taking the time to talk to us here at Beatsmedia. Where in the world are you at the minute?

Sander: Hey, thanks! I’m currently in the studio, where I’ve spent a large part of the summer, working hard on so much stuff. I put together a new mix compilation that has just been released, it includes my newest single “Maze”. I’ve also been working on a lot of new productions, and my signature blend of mashups (I call them BASHUPS). And to top it off, I’ve been planning the 100^th Episode celebration tour of my radio show, Crossroads.

Cat: We like producers to dish the dirt on what studio gear they’re rocking – is there any particular hardware or software that you couldn’t be without?

Sander: Ableton Live and my favorite toy, the MiniMoog Voyager!

Cat: You’ve just announced released your new compilation, ‘The Whole Nine Yards’; tell us a bit about the compilation and are there any tracks that you are particularly excited about?

Sander: The CD is a compilation of tracks that I’ve tried and tested in my sets and radio shows. Unlike so many other mix-compilations out there, I wasn’t bothered about new/exclusive tracks, but instead I wanted to compile something that was current, popular and that worked without fail, and what better way to do that than to compile a CD with the biggest and most fan-requested tracks from my Crossroads radio show. To check out the tracklist and place your order, you can head over to www.firststatemusic.com for all the information.

Cat: You’ve now worked on quite a few tunes with Sarah Howells, what do you think makes these collaborations work so well?

Sander: Sarah’s got an amazing voice, she’s an easy vocalist to work with and most importantly, the tracks that I’ve worked on were the tracks that I felt I could definitely put some First State magic on, that I had chosen from a few vocal demos or songs from her Indie-Rock band “Paper Aeroplanes”.

Quick Fire Questions

Proudest moment so far: Being the first Electronic artist to perform at a sold-out O2 arena ahead of Tiësto.

Best gig: Debut performance at SPACE in Ibiza.

Artist you would love to work with: David Grohl from the Foo Fighters.

Song you wish you had produced: Coldplay’s “Clocks”.

Cat: Your latest album ‘Changing Lanes’ has been out for a while, are you now putting together the follow-up?

Sander: I’ll be spending the remainder of the year conceptualizing the new album, and start work on it early in 2012

Cat: Finally, what else can we expect from you in the remainder of 2011?

Sander: Coming up for the rest of 2011 – my Crossroads 100 celebration tour followed by “The Whole Nine Yards” CD launch tour, and more gigs. Check out the gig diary on my website or Facebook page for the most up to date info on gigs, news, releases, remixes … the whole nine yards! Check out www.facebook.com/FirstState.Artist or follow me on Twitter @FirstStateMusic