Partyraiser sheds light on Hardcore’s progression, being a ‘gabber’ & high BPM’s!

Partyraiser is an example of one of the long-standing pioneers who has been heavily involved in the growth of Hardcore and its movement. The man behind the act Wesley van Swol has successfully been releasing music for over two decade as he successfully innovates the scene, one track at a time. Not only a figurehead for Hardcore music, but this legend is also well-known amongst the general Hard Dance population; his relentless productions push the tempo to all new extremes, making them a sure-fire favourite for listeners around the globe. 

The past couple of years have been immensely busy for Partyraiser; most recently in conjunction with BKJN Events, he had the honour to host his own festival and not to mention, has scored himself places on the most exquisite stages such as the Decibel Outdoor Mainstage. With an array of new productions in the works, we figured that it was time to catch up with this Hardcore legend to chat about how Hardcore has progressed over the years, the good ole’ ‘gabber days’ and some recent milestones!

– Hi Wesley, thanks for chatting with me today! First of all, how has 2016 been for you so far?
It’s been crazy already, I’ve had many amazing gigs and also signed some new and exciting contracts.
2015 was huge and 2016 is shaping up to be even bigger!

– Let’s take a little trip back in time! Can you tell me about your very first experience with Hardcore music and about the very first party you visited?
My very first party I visited was in 1992 – Euro Rave ’92 at the Slufterbeach in Rotterdam. My father was a touring car/bus driver along the way we met the parents of George Russeler (Rige Entertainment) act: Rotterdam Terror Corps and they asked me to help with promoting their son’s parties in my town. So they invited me to the event and at 14 years of age I went to the party with my father.

At the time I was already listening to Hardcore through some local ‘illegal’ gabber radio stations; I loved it from the very start and began buying CD compilations like ‘Move The House,’ and ‘House Party,’ which were in store way before the Thunderdome CD’s. I can safely say that I’ve been a ‘gabber’ since day one!

– How did you get into DJ’ing and producing after that?
I liked Hardcore so much that I visited almost every event, however my attention was always focussed on the artist on stage. At that time, guys like Buzz Fuzz, Gijs and Paul Elstak were ruling the decks and I knew that I wanted to do the same! Soon after, a friend of mine gave me my first turntables and Partyraiser was born!

My mum saw that I was becoming serious about spinning, so one day she called me to go upstairs. As I entered the room I was in complete shock – she brought me a complete studio as a birthday gift! 2 Technics SL 1210 MK 2 were standing there with a Numark mixer, a pioneer headphone, 8 slipmats and 40 vinyl records. I was in tears of joy – this was the real start of my career! Thank you so much mum, it was the best gift ever!

– What is the meaning behind the name ‘Partyraiser’ and how did you come up with it?
The first Hardcore track I made was with Protracker (4 channels) and around that time I was watching a lot of Hellraiser movies. Raiser was a cool name and I also I loved the word party, because I went to many parties, so I combined the two and my first track was called Party Raiser. Later on when I started a career in DJing, I loved the name so much that I chose it as my artist name. For me, PartyRaiser was based on the idea of ‘raising’ the party up and after 23 years I’m still using the name worldwide :-).

– Can you tell me about the earlier days in the Hardcore scene and how your music was received by fans?
The early days were great and I really loved the ‘Early Rave’ partied. The ‘gabber’ movement in Holland was something so special; it was a completely underground sub-culture that was growing rapidly.

My first serious release was “Kick Da Ballistics;” I made this track with Distroyer (not The Destroyer), who was a friend of mine in the 90’s and later became known under the alias Endymion (Bart). We then signed a contract with Megarave in 1997 and our first release was “A New World Order,” which was a huge six-track EP. The biggest hit of the EP was “Kick Da Ballistics” which was received greatly by artists such as Lady Dana and Paul Elstak; this made me so proud and it also opened a lot of doors for me to play twice in the Magic Energiehal in Rotterdam. It was the main place for gabbers, and also for me.

The early days was a lot of hard work, but it paid off!

– What are some comparisons that you can make about the Hardcore scene in the 90’s and early 2000’s to today’s scene?
All eras in Hardcore have been so different and have had their charms, however through my eyes as an artist I prefer the modern times. The music is great with a lot of fresh sounds, the fans are amazing and the gigs are amazing! Every event has beautiful stages, fireworks, decorations and there’s also a lot of great equipment too.

However, the shitty part of it is that everybody wants to be a DJ these days. As a DJ I began spinning with vinyl and sometimes it’s a shame to see how much things have changed; the ‘real’ DJ feeling where you had to learn beat matching and mixing in quarters is gone. And sure, it’s a new era, but DJing is so much more than putting your hands in the air and smiling! In this sense, I like the earlier days more where artists had to work so much harder to get into the industry without the internet.

Through the visitor’s eyes, I don’t think that much has changed, although in the 90’s I think that it was a little more aggressive. I can’t pinpoint why, but I feel like today there’s a little more harmony within the party-people.

– What has been your most cherished Hardcore memory?
I have so many amazing memories! It sounds cliché, but I can’t answer this because something beautiful is happening every week!

– Not only have you performed at the most exclusive Hardcore events, but you also closed down Qlimax, which is predominantly a Hardstyle event. Can you tell me how it felt to see and experience the entire GelreDome going absolutely wild to your music?
I will never forget this – Qlimax was huge! Just WOW! Seeing as most of the crowd were Hardstyle fans, it was such an honour to see that the area was packed and people were waiting for my set. I played until 8:00AM and the GelreDome remained packed until the very end! To close such a colossal stage like that with over 30,000 party people and gaining the organisations trust is such a crown on my career. I also had the same feeling when I closed Tomorrowland twice – how crazy is that?! 🙂

But I keep saying; it doesn’t matter if I play in front of 30,000 or 30 people, it’s pure love for the music and the crowd. We are all coming for the same reason – to have a great time!

– This year in August, you have the honour to close down the Decibel Mainstage; what’s your excitement for this colossal event?
I can’t really describe it, but I’ll try. It’s a big ‘YEAAAAAH FUCK YEAAAAH’ feeling. Enough said…? 😉 Man, it’s absolutely crazy! I’m playing on one of the biggest stages and it’s a dream to close it down with my Hardcore beats! I’ve performed at Decibel many times in the past at many different stages, but now it’s time to go wild on the biggest stage of them all in front of 40,000 party peepz! I can’t wait!

– You recently did a huge trip throughout the USA; can you tell me more about the trip and some of your favourite places you visited?
The USA is my favourite country by far – I’ve been there 54 times and my goal is to live there within the next 15 years! *blush* Yes, I know it’s absurd that I’m counting, ha-ha, but I feel so free there. I love the people, the space and most of all, the nature is so gorgeous! My favourite state is Texas as most of my friends are actually from Houston and in my opinion, the most beautiful states are Utah and Arizona – there are beautiful sights such as Monument Valley, Arches National Park, Horseshow Bend and Grand Canyon. The wildest state is California, but the greatest and best city by far is VEGAS – I need to visit at least twice a year!

 – Do you have any opinions about the Hardcore scene in the USA?
It’s small and was actually very good back around 2002-2004. I really wish that it was bigger so that I could travel more often and perform in my favourite country, but in some way most of the Americans aren’t into the harder beats. Of course there are very devoted die-hard fans there who love the scene and I love to play for them, but like I said, I wish I could help grow the scene. With that being said, I know that Arizona is doing just fine! 🙂

– At the end of March, you performed as a part of your alter ego ‘Scarphase’ for the very first time! Were you nervous beforehand? And how was this first performance?
Oh man, I was crazy nervous ha-ha! I mean, we did so much work up front and we had to prepare for something totally new. This is our new live-act, so we had to buy all new equipment to make it happen and we also had to buy all kinds of stuff to bring the stage act to life. And of course, the most important thing – we had to create a lot of cool new music! I think we pulled it off really well, seeing as the place was packed, the atmosphere was badass and we received so many positive responses after the show! Scarphase is born, we are here and are not leaving any time soon!

– What does the future hold for Scarphase?
Scarphase is doing great already and we’re very happy with the act. Aside from working hard in the studio on new music , we’ve got nine confirmed bookings and twelve options. We’re closing down the outdoor mainstage at my own festival, so you can expect it to end with a bang! Another Scarphase gig we’re looking forward to is playing on the Dominator mainstage – how awesome is that?!

– As one of the most-booked Hardcore artists, your touring schedule is as hectic as ever! Do you feel that constant touring takes a toll on you?
Touring used to take a toll on me; I had lost a lot of weight and was fighting against chronic crohn’s disease. However, I’m stable at the moment and am doing a lot better – I’m almost 39 but I feel as though I’m 25, hehe! I try to take good care of myself; I travel to my gigs by car (which makes a huge difference) and I also work out at the gym four times per week. The schedule is hectic but I love every second of it.

– Late last year, your track with Destructive Tendencies “Sound Becomes One” was voted the #1 Hardcore track of 2015. How does it feel to know that your music has such a huge impact on your fans?
This was the most beautiful thing to happen in my career, period! We never anticipated that it would become to #1 Hardcore track, so I’m incredibly thankful for that.

The track meant a lot to me and was dedicated to my dad who passed away three and a half years ago. We tried to bring this same feeling to the crowd and despite it being a very sad story, there is always a moment in life when things start to get better and you find yourself thankful for all the great people around you. When I play this track at a party I can feel the vibe shifting; people start crying, smiling, whistling and showing real emotion. This is the result I’d hoped for when we created the track.

Thank you all and rest in peace dear Dad.

– For those who are familiar with the Partyraiser sound, they can vouch that it’s not for the faint-hearted! What’s your choice to work with higher BPM’s rather than produce ‘traditional’ or mainstream Hardcore?
I’ve always been playing faster Hardcore beats. I just want to throw out all of my feelings, dance hard and move crazily – which is what I do to higher BPM’s! In the beginning some haters were laughing at me and other internet warriors thought that it was too hard, or not music. During that time I noticed that Hardcore music was slowing down to 150BPM and for me, this didn’t represent the high BPM energetic gabber beats that you could go completely wild to. I have nothing against slower beats or ‘mainstream Hardcore,’ I have a lot of respect for the greatly skilled producers, however I feel that the crowd also needs faster music to kick the energy into overdrive.

Fans waited for me to close a gig with faster BPM’s, so I started my own label and invited new producers so show their skills. Slowly the crowds started accepting the new producers and DJ’s and today, most parties book artists who play faster Hardcore! I’m not saying I did this alone, there were many others who had the same feeling about it and many great producers who really deserved to show the crowd what they had!

All in all, I’m so happy to see that the faster beats came back; I feel as though the enthusiastic vibe is back and I love how it’s developing.

– So, what has Partyraiser been up to in the studio lately?
I’m currently working on two new solo tracks, four collabs and am also spending a lot of time producing Scarphase tracks!

– Finally, what did you eat for breakfast today?
I ate Kwark with fresh fruits (kwark is thick, healthy yoghurt), a coffee and a glass of water.

Peace dear folks, hope to see you soon somewhere! Like an animal!

We’d like to thank Partyraiser for this awesome interview; it was an honour to catch up with you and we wish you the very best with all of your bookings throughout the 2016 summer festival season! For those who want to keep updated on the latest concerning Partyraiser, be sure to follow at the links below.

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