Muzikxpress vlog reached a great milestone by passing 25 000 subscribers on Youtube lately. The creative mind and power force behind this quite popular nostalgia project is a dutch music enthusiast Twan van Loon, who delivers quality content on a weekly basis for the greatest pleasure of music lovers.
His face-to-face interviews with well known artists are huge gap fillers, as no other channels can be found which consistently releasing “creation of a classic track” type of stories like this. He already sat down with emblematic faces of the electronic music scene like the late Maxi Jazz, Jean-Michel Jarre, Rolf Ellmer aka Jam El Mar, Adamski, BT, Dj Scot Project, Armin Van Buuren, Sander Kleinenberg, Dune, Airwave, Kai Tracid, Jaydee, Thomas P. Heckmann, Maria Nayler, Nick Muir, Yves Deruyter, Mauro Picotto just to name a few. On this special occasion we had time to chat with Twan about his favourite moments, early hard steps and future plans as well.
Primate.hu: First of all congratulations to you for reaching 25 000 followers on Youtube with your channel in a 5 years span. When did you first came up with the idea of making interviews with scene veterans about their classics?
Twan: Thank you very much! I’ve always been interested in music facts and the stories behind tracks. In The Netherlands we have a really good music journalist called Leo Blokhuis. He also does video interviews with all kind of famous artists, such as Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Donna Summer, Benny Andersson from ABBA and many others. I love watching those and find out more about the songs I used to listen to when I grew up. I did realize there wasn’t really something like that for a lot of dance related tracks, so that’s why I thought it would be a cool idea to start a music vlog on YouTube. So about 95% of the interviews on my channel are dance tracks.
Primate.hu: If I remember well the very first interview you did with Felix about Don’t You Want Me in Los Angeles. How hard was it to take this first step?
Twan: That’s correct, that was the first interview I did for Muzikxpress! I was going to visit some friends in Los Angeles and when I was there I wanted to visit some music landmarks. Such as the place where Janis Joplin died, the Sound City Studio’s, the grave of Marilyn Monroe and the place where Michael Jackson is laid to rest and things like that. A few weeks before my trip I found out that Felix moved from the UK to Los Angeles. I found the email of his manager and a day after I did send out my interview request, I got an email back from Felix himself! I had zero experience with recording video interviews, I had a cheap camera and just 1 microphone, I didn’t even have lights haha! I was very nervous, but he was super nice and we’re still in touch. Still very happy I got to interview him since it is still the only video interview with him that’s available on YouTube!
Primate.hu: Which is the most memorable episode do you remember?
Twan: I find it hard to pick just one, I want to mention Jean-Michel Jarre, Armin van Buuren, Ray Slijngaard from 2 Unlimited and some others. But if I have to pick one, it will be the interview I did 5 years ago with Maxi Jazz from Faithless. I have been a fan of Faithless since the very beginning and when I found out that Maxi Jazz had a DJ gig in a town nearby, I did email him to ask him for an interview. Back then I had like 1000 subscribers only, so I didn’t even expect him to reply. But …. He did reply! I remember how nice and humble he was and I really enjoyed listening to his stories. The interview was about the Faithless classic “God Is A DJ”, which did turn 20 in the month I posted it. In December 2022 Maxi Jazz sadly passed away, which was really a shock. Around that time the interview was already my most popular interview, with over 100.000 views. Right now it almost has 170.000 views.
Primate.hu: Who was the most inspiring person you’ve met during these interviews and why?
Twan: Another difficult question haha! I think BT. I did meet him before in the past, but now I had the chance to sit down with him and ask him everything about his 1997 classic “Flaming June”. This track sounds so good and fresh still these days, incredible! Plus I was very surprised that he has such a great memory! Sometimes when I ask people about certain things, they forgot a lot of what did happen back in the day. But BT could answer every question I did ask him, he knew exactly which equipment was used for the track, how he came up with the title etc. Very impressive!
Primate.hu: What kind of equipment do you use for the recording and additional video editing?
Twan: The main camera I’m using is a Canon EOS M50 Mark II with a Sigma 16 mm lens. I also have my “old” Canon EOS M6 camera which I use for the extra shots, plus my iPhone is often set up as extra camera and every once in a while I use an old GoPro as well. The microphone I’m using is a Rode Videomic Rycote and for the editing I use Adobe Premiere Pro 2023.
Primate.hu: As an enthusiast you are spending more money on the creation of these episodes, than YT revenues can provide. Do you think it can become a daily job of yours if sponsors or donators cover the costs for you to reach more artist?
Twan: I would love that, but it is not why I did start the channel. It is a hobby for me since I’m a huge music nerd. I love the stories from the people and find out more about my favorite tracks from back in the day. I’m very glad there are people who are donating money every once in a while, since Muzikxpress is not a cheap hobby! Especially the last few months, prices of fuel etc went up like crazy. I live in the south of The Netherlands and if I would drive to Amsterdam or Rotterdam for example, park there for 2 hours and then drive back, I would need to have at least 25.000 views for that interview, in order to cover all the costs. If it wasn’t for the donations, I would not be able to keep doing this anymore. So I don’t think it would ever become a daily job, unless I get millions of views per month maybe, but I’m being realistic, I don’t see that happen anytime soon haha.
Primate.hu: If it’s not a secret what’s in the pipeline for the vlog in the forthcoming months?
Twan: The Amsterdam Dance Event is coming up and I’ve been talking to Jody Wisternoff from Way Out West for one or 2 interviews when he’s in Amsterdam. There’s a chance that Maria Nayler will visit The Netherlands again in a few months, so hopefully we can do another interview together. Plus if all goes well I will visit Londen later this year or early 2024 and I hope to do some interviews with Simon Berry there, who you might know from Platipus Records and the Art Of Trance project. Nothing confirmed yet, but …. Who knows!
Primate.hu: Who are on your most wanted list for Muzikxpress who you hadn’t reached after several tries?
Twan: I have Benno de Goeij from Rank 1 on my wish list for a very long time already, same with Oliver Lieb and Marco V & Benjamin Bates. I’ve been talking to all of them for a while already, but so far no luck. I did reach out to techno legend Joey Beltram a few times as well, but also no luck…. Maybe one day!
Five fun facts about Twan
1. Worked for Ferry Corsten’s management for more than 15 years.
2. He owns a huge vinyl/CD collection, estimated of 22 000 pcs (50/50).
3. He’s a big fan of the band U2.
4. He was writer of the famous trance.nu site. He contributed party reviews, news-items and did a lot of interviews as well.
5. He works as event organizer for Luminosity Events nowdays
Muzikxpress Youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/@muzikxpress/
Teaser for the next Muzikxpress vlog episode, which will be about Dune’s megahit ‘Can’t Stop Raving’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYtAcOvNzFc
Photos source: Twan Van Loon’s personal colletion
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