On the historic day of the 29th of March in the year 2010 Bas Bijleveld decided to do a very unique interview, at 22:00 (Dutch Time GMT+1) he interviewed his own DJ persona DJ Axefield live through Twitter! We (B&X) have made the interview available for you in this post.
For those unfamiliar with Twitter, the interview writings are short messages on Twitter, called ‘tweets’ going front and back between user accounts @BasBijleveld and @djaxefield creating an interview as if between two different people. RT means ‘retweet’ which means the original message is included behind the answer. It must be read as following: @BasBijleveld at the start of the sentence or after RT means ‘directed towards’ @BasBijleveld and thus ‘from @djaxefield‘ You’ll get used to it quite fast, this is how communication at Twitter goes…
Disclaimer; messages are not edited in content but may have had corrections on grammar and spelling and messages that belong together are merged in one for easier reading.
B&X would like to give special thanks to the main participants and supporters of the interview, if we missed anyone we humbly apologize, these are their user names on Twitter: @cocos030 @MarcelvanDriel @babetterumt @RomanRobroek @jamescloack @francishage @ThisSaskia @enthousiasmeur @caitlinstarr @patricia4u And an extra special thanks to big supporter @jenniferdelano who couldn’t be there because she was sick in bed. We will surely #FFNL you!
The interview:
Hell Yeah, Bring it on! RT @BasBijleveld @djaxefield Alright! 22:00 Dutch time, the long awaited interview is kicking of right now. You ready?
@djaxefield First and obvious question, how long have you been DJ-ing?
@BasBijleveld Well, I’m not really sure of the year per say, but it was somewhere halfway the 90s… damn I sound old!
@djaxefield Halfway the 90s you say, 1,5 decade already, impressive. Rich yet?
@BasBijleveld Not really, have spend thousand of Guldens and Euros more than I’ve made I tell you!
@djaxefield Yeah, Guldens, remember them so well, young kids these days don’t even know what they are, guess we are getting old.. But enough with the depressing memories of currencies of good old times where we still had some form of identity left… Well, it’s in the line of my previous question, @ThisSaskia wants to know at which age you started getting interested in DJ-ing…
@basbijleveld Well, in the 90s I started playing with records but any serious desire to become a DJ, that started in my early twenties…
@djaxefield So, what records did you used to buy at first? Was there a specific genre?
@BasBijleveld My first stereo tower at the age of 13 had a record player on top and so I HAD to buy some records! Bought some stuff of a flee-market somewhere, don’t remember all but there was Bad Michael and his hot sister’s Rhythm Nation and some other stuff.
@djaxefield Hey, @RomanRobroek is asking how you motivate yourself to keep going!
@BasBijleveld Well for starters, it’s just damn fun! I have a vinyl addiction anyway, may just as well try to go pro. But there’s more to it. It’s a way out. See, I’m not very good in being an employee, so may as well be on my own, more satisfying and also I love doing it, so it makes sense to keep going on no matter what!
@djaxefield Well, that’s not really answering the question, it says why you want to but what keeps you going is the real thing, wanna go deep.
@BasBijleveld If you wanna go deep you need length 
there are some good churgeries for that shit these days!
@djaxefield I still want answers wiseguy!
@BasBijleveld Ok, ok, I believe in applying basic maths to life, the far majority are quitters, some months, some years… at one point after the majority has quit, I’m still up and running! I believe that success is primarily a matter of endurance.
@djaxefield Nice. So you had 1 record player and some 80s pop music, what happened next?
@BasBijleveld When my stepfather lost his job, accident,we had to rent out the top floor (my former room) one of the rentees (hot chick btw) when she left, she gave me a Technics record player! Than I mixed (without mixer) between the stereo tower and the other on amp.
@djaxefield Cool! What kind of Technics record player was that? Got pics?
Nice! RT @djaxefield: @BasBijleveld Still have the damn thing, just made a pic >> http://tweetphoto.com/16231893
@basbijleveld But to come back to your question, didn’t exactly continue with disco music… had a very angry puberty and don’t like guitars and since bouncers didn’t let me into normal clubs the only thing left where everybody was accepted where gabber parties.
@djaxefield No shit but gabber, wasn’t that something racist?
@BasBijleveld No it wasn’t, on the contrary, EVERYBODY was allowed in, they don’t care if you come without a hot chick or wear cheap clothes. It was a protest music, fast and rough, helped me get rid of my aggression. Funny thing, never saw a fight on those parties. While in ‘normal’ whenever I did get in I always saw aggression, hated that nonsense. Things started to change when I heard Osdorp Posse, first time I heard Hip Hop with actual content and it struck me deep! When I reached my twenties I calmed down and started listening and enjoying all kinds of music, the fire became manageable.
@djaxefield What fire? Why so angry?
@BasBijleveld Well, to start with school, teachers telling me lies and bullshit, next to that I always have been a misfit in society and I was also from the so called economic underclass already was a seriously messed up kid so altogether my blood was boiling.
@djaxefield Ok, clear, men you surely are one messed up individual! lol So @cocos030 wants to know which DJs inspired you.
@BasBijleveld First inspiration was a colleague Rene van Bemmel (not the house DJ but the Acid DJ from 030) just loved the style and parties! But more recently I really dig (DJ wise) Fatboy Slim, 2ManyDJs, Dr.Lektroluv and Simian Mobile Disco! But apart from DJs I am also inspired by the artists of which I turn records like The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, Moby, Moloko, Faithless, Cassius, Justice, Jamiroquai, Mr. Oizo, Underworld, Green Velvet, Felix Da Housecat and many more & Madonna.
@djaxefield Let’s skip to the present! You are one busy guy, just typed your name into Google WTF MAN!! 292.000 HITS!!!
(editorial note, at the time that was the exact number, since then Google upgraded it’s search engines leaving out double and redundant information resulting in the current number around two thousand)
@BasBijleveld That’s why I call myself DJ 2.0 like in my upcoming Social Media Series! (starting this April)
@djaxefield WTF do you mean with a Social Media Series???
@BasBijleveld Sure you know what a TV Series is and what Social Media is, well it’s a merge, I’m starting online and going for Cross-Media!
Thanks man! RT @BasBijleveld: @djaxefield Well good luck with that, I sure hope you succeed and get stinking rich!
@djaxefield So when I Google your ass I see an American radio station… what’s up with that?
@BasBijleveld Check it here http://bit.ly/8Xj45p – 1st mix there you can listen here http://www.mobypicture.com/user/djaxefield/view/6191203
@BasBijleveld But hey, I’m getting tired, maybe we can continue some other time alright? Was cool talking to ya!
And this people, was the very first B&X interview. So first make sure you check this weekly radio show on the American webradio station Colts Digital and tune in to the next interview because Bas will follow Axe throughout his career weather DJ Axefield will fall or rise, Bas will always be there!
In the next interview you will hear more about his other webradio show, his upcoming performances, the music project and his PR Agent @jenniferdelano and you will hear about his Social Media Series DJ 2.0 which is one major experiment to look out for!
