WYS!: Introducing Peter Van Hoesen

Peter Van Hoesen is a name that been engrained in the Belgian techno scene for a long time. Currently running the Time to Express label alongside being a resident at the Fuse club night, a monthly party that plots the best of techno for the people of Brussels, Van Hoesen also applies his musical passions outside of his own productions, designing sound solutions for theatre and contemporary dance troupes. Now a Berlin resident, he’ll be appearing in Room Two on Sunday for WetYourSelf’s Bank Holiday takeover so the WYS! trio took him to task on introducing himself ahead of the date. Peter, You’ve enjoyed a well deserved amount of praise for your work on both your music and your label Time to Express. How do you feel about your projects at the moment, can you give us an idea of what we’re to expect from you in the coming months? We have just released our fist label compilation to celebrate the label's three year anniversary. It's been fun compiling this album because it relates to the past, present and future of the label. Right now I have the feeling that Time To Express is ready to open up towards experimental sounds, towards a wider range of styles. This in turn is also reflected in my own music. I have a couple of techno releases which I'm working on at the moment, but there are also other projects in the pipeline. There's the Sendai album with Yves De Mey, this should be finished by the end of the year. Then there's an experimental EP I'm working on, this is also scheduled for the end of 2011. So you can expect a more varied output from me than in 2010. As well as being a DJ and producer, you also design sound for theatre productions and contemporary dance. Can you tell us a little bit more about your other projects, and what you’ve been doing outside of making techno? A lot of the work outside of techno is related to contemporary dance and theatre. The recent works have all focused on surround sound compositions. This is especially rewarding when you can present this in a theatre context, where you have a completely different setting than in a club environment. There's ample time to test things out properly, the audience is in a very receptive mode, so the impact of surround sound design can be quite intense. I'm actually in a theatre right now, preparing a surround sound setup with Zoo/Thomas Hauert, the dance company I've been working with for over four years. I usually don't perform with the company anymore as I have enough work to deal with producing and DJing, but I'm making an exception because we're playing in Brussels this week. It's always fun to present my work to the audience here. Can you tell us a little bit about your approach when making music? It's difficult for me to talk about the actual process of making music. A lot of it happens instinctively, it's strange to try and put it into words. What I can say is that it's a constant thing - there's always sounds forming inside my head, it's a non-stop thing. Sound is essential to me; it's about more than just music. You are from Brussels and are a resident at Fuse yet currently a Berlin resident, what are your feelings on each city, and how they relate to eachother musically? Right now I'm very happy with the move to Berlin. The reason for moving wasn't related to music, but to the two cities themselves. Brussels was getting a bit too close-up for me. It's a very lively city, to the extent where I didn't feel that relaxed anymore. Berlin has the opposite effect on me; I'm a lot calmer when I'm there. This said it's great to be able to go back about once a month to play at Fuse and to hang out with my friends and family. Brussels will always remain a special place for me. It's where I discovered techno. Its nineties scene had a great influence on what I'm doing right now. There was a big, healthy techno community here between '92 and '98. Things kind of calmed down later on, same goes for the rest of the Belgian scene. I guess a part of that energy and dynamic found its way to Germany later on. Right now Fuse is still flying the flag, and there's a string of smaller promoters doing their thing. Musically it's about as diverse as Berlin, but way smaller in terms of audience numbers and events. There aren't that many cities besides Berlin that have the same richness when it comes to electronic music. It never ceases to amaze me, the amount of events that the city has to offer every week. It's a very inspiring place to be at the moment. Catch Peter in Room Two this Sunday.