11. March 2016 | Artists | Carl
Talk-Zone #31 Interview with Woody van Eyden
Welcome Woody, You’re the mastermind with Alex M.O.R.P.H. behind HeavensGate since over a decade. Please explain our readers what’s behind the brand HeavensGate and which style does it represent?
HeavensGate is a radio and event brand and we are mostly moving within all Trance/Progressive genres. Our weekly 2 hour show broadcasts in 50 countries on 200 stations. I’ve started the show and the events together with Alex 12 years ago, but he started his own brand Universal Nation last year and we have a great lineup of HeavensGate residents with Corti Organ, Sun & Set, CARINA, Extravagance SL, Maria Healy, Neil Moore, Alison Spong and myself. Next to that we have started HeavensGate Deep a few years ago which focuses on the deeper side electronic dance music, like Techno, Deep House and others.
When you started in 2004 with HeavensGate, did you expect that HeavensGate will become such a worldwide success with the radio show and events one day?
Of course not! It was a fun project out of passion, and it’s amazing that we are still here and to see all the stuff we’ve been doing in the past. And now we are celebrating the 500th episode, wow!
HeavensGate has been celebrated at so many different places. At which place do you wish / could you imagine to create an Heavens Gate event in the future?
Maybe we will do HeavensGate live from Hawaii with a videostream of myself in shorts…Will talk to my team about that.
You’re celebrating an anniversary for the 500th radio show of HeavensGate. What could people expect on that event and when and where will it be celebrated?
Yes, we are celebrating the 500th show in the Karlson Club in Frankfurt with Gabriel & Dresden, Alex M.O.R.P.H., Corti Organ, Sun & Set and myself. This will take place on the 17th March and it will be a fantastic party for sure.
When it’s summertime soon the festival and Ibiza party season will begin again. Will there also be radio session live from Ibiza at Studio Mambo this year?
Yes, the whole team is already eagerly waiting for the summer season to begin, that’s always a highlight for all of us. There definitely will be live radio sessions again, but who knows from where ;) We have established our live shows at the Skybar on top of the Ocean Drive Hotel last year which is an amazing location, and of course we most probably will be back this year in addition to some planned side projects that I cannot talk about right now :-)
Where do you hope that HeavensGate will be in the next 5 or 10 years and which guests do you still want to have in your radio show?
Hmm that’s hard to tell…well, impossible to predict :-) We can only keep up working hard and we are looking forward to the trip that we’re gonna travel with the brand. I’m sure there will be great artists involved, newcomers and big names…just like in the past.
Which new releases could the HeavensGate fans expect next? Maybe a new HeavensGate compilation or new singles from you or Alex M.O.R.P.H.?
Right now we haven’t got a new HeavensGate compilation in the pipeline for this year, but outside of the HeavensGate box, there will be of course lots of new stuff by myself and Alex too, including a followup to our collab “I See You” with Tiff Lacey. Keep your ears prepared!
Which equipment are you actually using for your DJ-sets? Do you also use software systems like Serato or Traktor, or are you only playing CDs?
I always work with the „Club standard“ if you want to call it like that, 2x CDJs and one DJM which are feeded with USB Sticks and CDs. I recently got my hands on a Pioneer controller system, but it didn’t make as much sense to me like the club standard setup does, I’ve worked with it for so many years now that it just feels natural. I guess you could say „never change a running system“ :)
Now you’ve got the chance to tell our readers something that you always wanted to tell them.
What kind of fans don’t already know all my secrets? hahaha :-P
I can only say thank you for all the support, not only since HeavensGate exists. Many people know and support me from way back in the ‘90s. I really appreciate this.
Thanks for taking time to this interview.
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