Clubbing: ARMIN VAN BUUREN

by Andrew Pain, Evening Gazette

DESCRIBED by many as the greatest DJ on the planet, ARMIN VAN BUUREN probably doesn’t man the decks at birthday parties any more.

He will be tomorrow, though, as legendary club night Gatecrasher celebrates its 15th birthday at Club Tall Trees in Yarm with Van Buuren (pictured above) the star attraction.

Aged just 31, Armin Van Buuren has been named No 1 in the prestigious DJ Top 100 poll - voted for by more than 350,000 people across the world, and an indication of his prolific output over the 10 years he’s been DJing and producing.

Being the official World’s Best DJ is just one of his many achievements, but the driving force behind his success is an overriding passion for dance music.

Even a basic list of recent successes reads like a lifetime of work: Best Album for artist album Shivers at both the Dutch Release Dance Awards and the prestigious Edison Awards; Best Compilation for A State Of Trance, and Best Mix Radio Dutch Show at the Miami Winter Music Conference 2006 for radio show A State Of Trance - now broadcasting on a massive 40 FM stations as well as satellite and internet radio, with more than six million listeners a week

A fifth year residency in Ibiza at Amnesia; sell-out shows for Armin Only (12,500 people saw the 9½ hour Rotterdam live set and show and a world tour is planned); more than 50,000 downloads every week from podcasting high end chart-bothering positions all over the world for singles, albums and compilations, with single Rush Hour used as the theme tune to the UEFA European Youth Championship; a second DVD, Armin Only Ahoy 2006 - the landmarks just keep coming.

Born in Leiden in Holland to a musical family, Armin indulged his passion for music from a young age.

He spent all the money he earned with his paper round on records. His mum won a computer when he was ten, so “as a little nerdy kid I was writing my own basic programmes, and learnt about the technology from there,” he says.

Armin cites electronic pioneer Jean Michel Jarre as a major influence (famed for his awesome visuals as well as his groundbreaking synth sounds), as well as Dutch producer Ben Liebrand, who later mentored him in his mixing and producing.

Gatecrasher’s 15th Birthday feat ARMIN VAN BUUREN:

Club Tall Trees, Yarm Tomorrow night Entry: £20