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|  Wysłany: 05-05-2012, 22:34 [ENG]Tuneboy wywiad dla partyflock | #1 
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| http://partyflock.nl/inte...00_Tuneboy.html
The new generation of hardstyle lovers might only know him since a few years. After seeing him perform at festivals such as Tomorrowland, Decibel, Dance Valley and Q-BASE. Because tracks like 'Re-Generate It' and 'Hear This' rocked many dance floors to the core. Or as half of the duo TNT aka Technoboy 'N' Tuneboy. Those who are in the hardstyle scene for a longer time will know Tuneboy from far before 2008, when he wasn't on stage yet. Many big hits, which are now considered ultimate hardstyle classics, were created under this alias. An early party without tracks as Housesensation, Sexbusters and Just A Detail wouldn't be complete.
Just considering his Tuneboy releases, we're already dealing with an artist who should be taken account of. But when getting to know the man behind this project, it really shows Antonio Donà is a musical genius who had and still has a huge impact on the hardstyle scene. Dozens of aliases, hundreds of tracks, mixes and CDs, active in the dance scene since 1996, one of the pioneers of what we nowadays call hardstyle and jointly responsible for the success of one of the world's largest record labels: The Saifam Group. For years he was hiding in a small dark studio, fully concentrated on producing his music. In 2008 he decided to give a name and face to that music. As Tuneboy he discovered he's not only a producer to the bone, but also a DJ. And this year he finally allows his fans to have a closer look into his world, starting with a two-hour in-depth Skype interview. Meet Antonio Donà aka Tuneboy.
First up in this interview is the well-known question about how it all started. Donà replies: "That's due or owing to, decide that for yourselves, my father: a classically trained musician who played piano and double bass. He also had a great passion for electronic music and built a small home studio with a computer, a sampler and a mixer. When I was about 14 years old, he told me I could mess around with his machines and so I did." It wasn't the classical side of his father's music that caught Antonio's attention. "In the early 90s I fell in love with hardcore and techno (which in Italy was a collective name for various types of electronic music, ed.). Once I was old enough, I went clubbing in Bologna, Rimini and Riccione every Saturday night. I loved the music they played there and yeah, this is the familiar story of many producers: I wanted to be able to create that stuff myself. So whenever I had time off, I was in my father's studio. My father didn't mind at all, even when I was producing hardcore and playing it out loud he'd rather vibrate on the couch than having me hang around outside and cause trouble. He's very open-minded about our music, I still regularly ask him for feedback when we finish a track."
The turnover from 'messing around' to 'the real deal' happened in 1995. "My tracks started sounding more professional and I sent around some demos. A friend of mine, Daniele (Fraboni, red) was also producing for a while already. As 'Wide World' we made the song 'Integrated', sent a promo to some record companies and then I received that call from Paolino Nobile, who worked at Saifam Records." Donà remembers those words very well. "You guys made a good track. DJ Cirillo had a listen and thinks it's ace. We wanna make it the first release on our new label Spectra Records. What went through my head then is indescribable. Cirillo was THE dj here in Italy. That man was my idol, I was always impressed watching him spin in the weekends and now I heard he considered our track off the hook. I was truly the happiest person on the planet. Also because this gave me the confirmation I was good in what I was doing."
Despite that confirmation, it took Donà another few years before he fully choose to have a musical career. "Daniele and I accepted Paolino's offer and then released some tracks on Spectra Records. In 1998 we parted ways: I had to join the army. That meant a year of order and rhythm, so the switch to a 'normal' job after my military service was obvious. I became a technician in the airconditioning and heating industry. I sometimes worked on my music in the evenings, released a few tracks but that was it. Just as a hobby, which I thought was better." Yet that appeared to be a struggle between heart and mind. "In 2001 I got another call from Paolino Nobile. He asked me if I wanted to work as a technician for Alternative Sound Planet (one of Saifam Records' six recording studios, ed.) in Bologna. That was a difficult choice for me because I really liked my job. I was good at what I did and made good money. The music business was uncertain and so would be my salary. But music was my greatest passion since childhood and I felt my heart beating faster when I received that offer. I was still young, in my twenties, so I said: 'I'll try this for a year, let's see what happens.' That answer may be clear by now: I never left Alternative Sound Planet anymore."
That's where the great adventure that we nowadays call 'hardstyle' began. And he didn't experience that adventure alone: "When I started my job at Alternative Sound Planet, I met Cristiano Giusberti aka Technoboy and Luca Antolini who were already working there. It was quite crowded in the studio those first years, always six or more people around. Musically though, we were the Three Musketeers. The rest of the guys were responsible for administrational and organizational matters, while the three of us did what we loved doing most: creating music." Donà smiles when he thinks back to those days."The title of one of our tracks from 2003, 'Speedwave – The Hardstyle Factory ', referred to our way of producing. Our standard was releasing at least one track per week. Therefore we had many different aliases. A hard job? On the contrary. Especially those first years we had an inspiration overflow. And every DJ played our tracks."
Cristiano and Luca experienced the rise of hardstyle in a different way than Antonio did. "They were DJing already many years before they started working at Alternative Sound Planet, while I only had one gig on my resume. That was certainly not a minor one by the way: in 1996 Daniele and I were booked to perform a live act in Cocoricò, THE Italian discotheque. I spent almost all my free Saturday nights in that club to dance and go insane and suddenly we were on the other side of the DJ booth." It took Antonio another ten years before he returned on stage. "My focus was producing. I really lost count of how many tracks my discography contains. Close to a thousand, that's for sure. Cristiano though was traveling the whole world, became one of the most famous hardstyle DJ's. His stories made me curious about the DJ's life. In 2006, Q-dance arranged a performance at In Qontrol for both of us as 'Hardstyle Masterz', one of our many aliases. I was flabbergasted! That was a turning point for sure. Cris also let me play on his Technoboy solo party at the SilverDome."
Yet again, Antonio didn't directly jump into the deep end but made a well-considered choice to combine producing and DJing a few years later. "That's just my character. I balance everything well and I really want to make sure I'm able to do things perfectly, I want to give 100%. DJing and producing are two completely different dimensions. My talent for producing was very clear: every DJ played our tracks and we sold an enormous amount of vinyl and MP3s. But managing to keep 10.000 people dancing for two hours is a different story. I wanted to prepare myself well. Besides that, Cristiano and I were busier in the studio without Luca Antolini, who left in 2005 to follow a different musical path: trance and progressive. We're still very good friends though and he regularly stops by for a coffee. It's always fun when he's around." And then there was Q-BASE 2008... "When I think back to that night I get goosebumps again. I was asked to do an early set and I was so happy about that. Finally I could play the tracks that were dear to me and that I worked on with so much love and passion. And it went off!"
Dozens of aliases and Donà picked Tuneboy. "Tuneboy has always been my favorite alias. It wasn't even a choice, it was an established fact. I am 100% Tuneboy and that's how I wanted to be on stage." And then the pioneer of a scene enters a stage he has to share with other pioneers who have been playing for years already and newcomers who are more popular amongst the younger generation... "Indeed. You really have to present yourself and adopt a high profile. The DJ profession has anyway changed enormously. When hardstyle just came up, everyone was spinning each other's records. Nowadays, a DJ set is more like a concert. You see producers on stage now, people who want to share the music they created with a crowd they can actually see respond to it. And vice versa: hardstyle lovers come to see a DJ because they wanna hear their music. Only good producers stay in or will reach the hardstyle top. And the definition of 'good' constantly changes, because the hardstyle scene itself often changes and it has a relatively young crowd. Hardstyle artists have a much shorter sell-by date than artists in other scenes. It's hard work to keep yourself at the highest level possible."
The hardstyle scene is constantly changing and Antonio says every new period brings more labels, more rules and less freedom. "In order to play this game, you get to follow the rules to the game." That doesn't mean Antonio Donà stopped following his heart. "Certainly not! You can't make music when it doesn't come from your heart, or at least: I wouldn't be able. But the other way around: sometimes your heart tells you things you can't create. It's quite complicated being a pioneer in this scene: on one side our old fans are lashing out against us about our latest productions, as if they don't understand music needs to evolve and so do we. But if we create something more retro or with an oldschool flavor, the new generation thinks we've lost our minds."
His fans often ask him about his old aliases. "Why we don't release Builder and The Hose tracks anymore, you know. The answer is quite simple: we're too damn busy. Nowadays, it's Just Me and Cristiano working at Alternative Sound Planet. When Luca left, we already were responsible for 85% of the music division; since last year we have to do everything by ourselves. After many years at Alternative, Paolino was in the need for a new challenge. So now we also handle all organizational and administrative tasks together. As a result, we have Less time to spend purely on music and therefore we just don't have the possibility to work on our old aliases. Our main focus is Technoboy, Tuneboy and our project TNT aka Technoboy 'N' Tuneboy." All this doesn't mean the old aliases are forever gone. "Ansolutely not! We didn't forget about our old fans. I Am and will always remain a big fan of early hardstyle, so: who knows..."
Cristiano wrote on his Facebook he doesn't want to play early hardstyle sets anymore. "That's one of many things we think differently and disagree about. I will not quit my early hardstyle performances at all! Those who've watched the Youtube video of our days with Audiofreq maybe thought we were joking but believe me, we often act like a married couple. We are both very stubborn. I think I'm always right, even when I'm wrong! Same goes for Cristiano. Things can get quite intense, but hey, don't forget we're Italians! Ultimately, we know that we're both only satisfied with the very best and this attitude benefits our music."
The last year, both Technoboy and Tuneboy have been pretty active on their social media channels. "Always having my main focus on producing, social media was a complete new territory for me. It took a while before I jumped the band wagon. I understand now that it's not the music that does the talking, but that your fans want to know who YOU are." Good question, actually! "When people asked me before 'what do you do in life', I replied: 'I'm in the music business'. But now the answer is: 'I have a beautiful daughter and I'm in the music business'. Almost a year ago I became a first-time daddy and although the nights are short, it's true what they say: once you hold that kiddo in your arms, the rest of the world doesn't matter anymore." Besides his work and family life, some other activities are important to Antonio. "I like to work out. Every morning at 8am I go running or swimming for at least one hour. That's really a moment all to myself, in which I can think or clear my mind. I'm probably the owner of a huge six pack working out that often, but because I also love to eat and drink it's hiding somewhere! Although I don't have much leisure hours, I try to spend time with my friends whenever I can. We're all in our late 30's, but in our hearts we're still six crazy pals thinking we're 18. We love to make merry, have fun, drink beers in the pub. If you'd ask them to describe me, I think they would say I have a good sense of humor, that I always fully commit to whatever I'm doing, that I am stubborn and that I'm a good listener."
After a Skype conversation of over two hours, Antonio concludes that his first in-depth interview went well. "I'm just not used to talk (in English!) about myself that much. Still, my goal for 2012 is to show more of myself. I recently gave away a free track, 'Tuneboy '100%', a mash-up of two of my biggest hits. In addition, I started with 'I Loud Sound on Sound Cloud' and I want to continue that on a regular basis. Maybe present my sets like a podcast, providing information about my musical work. I also want to upload sets that I play at parties to my SoundCloud account. My mind is really overflowing with ideas. I'm thinking about Youtube tutorials for newcomers for instance, video reports, contests and more. I have been there since the very first beginning and I'm not at all planning to quit. Better said: I've only just begun!"
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| | Cristiano wrote on his Facebook he doesn't want to play early hardstyle sets anymore. "That's one of many things we think differently and disagree about. I will not quit my early hardstyle performances at all! |
 | | Ostatnio zmieniony przez SchizeQ 05-05-2012, 22:38, w całości zmieniany 2 razy | |
