ORItheV

ORItheV is a new trance DJ who lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

I was brought up with classical piano. I learned classical piano from the age of about five until I was sixteen. And I find trance music probably is as close to classical music is any genre there is around. It's very layered. It's got a lot of melody. I love the vocals. Some of the vocals are just stunning. But it's the complexity. That's the word. It’s the complexity of trance as opposed to some other genres, especially other electronic music as well.

What are your favorite trance tracks?

My all time favorite trance track is a track by Finnish DJ Orkidea. The track’s called “Beautiful,” but it's the Brian Kearney rework. It's a bootleg rework. I’ve asked Brian Kearney if he'll ever get a chance to release it, and he's been turned down several times. Whoever, you know, Orkidea or his music company has turned him down. But yeah, that's probably my all time favorite. Second would be another another Brian Kearney track called “Te Amo,” which I just absolutely love, and Cold Blue, the German DJ. His real name is Tobias Schur. He's just made a remix of it which is about to be released on Bryan Kearney's Kearnage record label. So, basically, two Brian Kearney tracks, one a bootleg, and the other his own track and a remix of his own track.

What challenges are involved with organizing trance gigs?

Getting people in the door, getting people to come, getting new people to come to trance gigs. Even the one we had on Friday night with Solarstone, it was probably the most disappointing aspect of it, which there was only just one small bit of disappointment, is the fact that even on last Friday with an international DJ like Solarstone and his interviews and hot mix, we still get couldn't get, you know, those mid-to-early twenties people through the door. So, yeah, it's it's getting people through the door is the biggest difficulty.

How many people regularly show up to trance gigs in Auckland?

Just for the local DJs, we would probably sell anywhere between 120 and 150 tickets, but what we try to do is we try to organize them in quite small venues, so they do look packed. We got I think in the end for Mothership in Auckland, which has got a capacity of 370, we got to 245 to 250 through the door, which was good. We were really stoked.

What would help increase the popularity of trance in New Zealand?

I think just getting a few of these twenty-somethings interested in it. I mean, the music is great, and, you know, people come along for the first time, and I've seen people come along to a trance gig and go, “Where is this music? Why haven't I ever heard of this stuff before? It's amazing.” And if we could just get every gig, if we could get five or ten of those people through the door, and they tell five or ten of their mates, next minute, it's back in like in the early 2000s. In the early 2000s they were selling out venues of two and a half thousand for the likes of Ferry Corsten and Armin van Buuren and local DJs as well. They were getting huge crowds. We’d just love to get back to that.

What would you say the main challenges of being a DJ are?

Because all just all the DJs in New Zealand work full time, they are all amateur part times, and their biggest challenge I think for them is one getting the gigs, and two, having the time to put in the work, because DJing is either in the short time that I've been playing around, one of the things it takes, it just takes practice, practice, practice, practice, and to get good but you know, when you've got a full time job and the phone's ringing and laptop's beeping to answer emails, it's always difficult to get that practice time.

What do you love about performing live?

Oh, it's just the only couple of times I've done it. It's just the reaction from the people. You know, you play a great song, and people just yell and love it and respond to it. When I'm in the crowd with my friends DJing they look up and they can see that they've played a track that I really love, and it's a buzz for them. So, yeah, it is what drives you. But it's the music too. It's also the music, you know, it's if you love the music, you love to play it, and even just playing it in the car and playing it in your ears on the couch in front of TV or something. It's the music that you love. You wouldn't do it otherwise.

Do you use or like any specific DJing techniques?

No. As I'm learning what I like, what I'm doing is I'm learning and I do listen to a lot of sets. And sometimes it's good, but sometimes it's bad, because I think "Oh gosh, I really want to do it that way," and I can't do it that way. I'm not that good. So, then it drives me a bit nuts, but again, you know, it takes time; it takes practice.

Do you have any specific goals regarding DJing? Or are you just out to ensure everyone enjoys themselves?

Yeah, I just want to get as good as I can at it. And if I do get offered a a gig, I just want people to have a good time. Have fun, you know, and the thing is, I'm enjoying it and I'm loving the music that I'm playing and people are loving it. Well, it's just everybody's happy.

Do you drink and DJ?

I drink very little. Three beers, and I'm just about done for the night. So, usually I can go two months without having a drop of alcohol and not even know the difference. Like I sometimes forget the last time I've had a beer or or a glass of wine. So, I'm not, I've never been a drinker. I was a serious athlete when I was younger, so I didn't get into that. You know, 18, 19, 20 sort of binge drinking thing that a lot of people did, I was too busy running. There were a lot of guys of the same age got into it. So yeah, I've just never been a drinker.

As an attendee of trance gigs, what have been some of your best experiences overseas?

Probably my best one would be Luminosity. The early arm and only gigs they were really good. You know, I went to Armin only in Rotterdam in 2006. That was amazing. I went to a State of Trance in Den Bosch, there was a State of Trance 500 in 2013 maybe? Something like that. You know, I lose track. But there's been a lot of you know, in Australia Transmission Dreamstate Group therapy with Above & Beyond, they're all great subculture; they're all great events, and I've been to several - I love the open to close you know what Solarstone did on Friday. I saw him do that in Sydney about six or eight years ago. I also went to an open and close with Brian Kearney in Sydney a few years ago. So, the open and close ones are really cool, because the DJ take takes you on the journey that he wants to. It's not, you know, the 58 minute set, and it's all done.

My favorite festival without doubt is Luminosity in the Netherlands. It's a four day trance music event. 100% trance, nothing else, four days on the beach in Zandvoort. Usually, it's beautiful weather. It's the most awe inspiring four days of my life. You know, I went in 2018, and I'm going again this year as well. But yeah, the subculture events I've been to subculture in Australia and Thailand. The sub cultural events are always great events. Great. DJs, great production. Yeah, they are really amazing. I try never to miss a subculture in Australia.

If someone came to you and said, I have the skills, how do I get started with performing at trance gigs, what would you say?

Just, you know, just practice. I mean, the internet is really quite good, because if you start doing Twitch or you know, online stuff, people start to pick it up, and people start to hear it. And it's the same if we hear anybody new that's starting to put a few good trance sets out on their own, you know, in their - as bedroom DJs, or spare room DJs or whatever, we soon pick up on that, because the internet, you know, Facebook and Twitch and those sorts of things, if you've been listening to trance sets, they sooner or later start sending you stuff as well. So, yeah, just practice them and go out and attend trance gigs and say to people, "I do a bit of mixing. Here's the link to my last session I did," and sooner or later we'll hear about it.

Do you have any funny rave stories as a DJ?

Every gig I don't go to, because I'm 66 years old. So, I stick out like a sore thumb. So, I've always got people coming up and saying, "Oh, how old are you?" The popular one is, "Oh, I wish you were my dad." Because, you know, they'd love to go raving with their dad, but the dad wouldn't. At Dreamstate a couple of years ago, I was dancing and Rank 1 was playing, and he's sort of a little bit older. And we're not you know, quickly, we're not unalike. But everybody just bailed me up on the floor. You know, "great set" and I'm going, "No, I'm not him." I'm just a silly [unintelligible] out to have a good time. Yeah, and I've been mistaken for - he's named from Above & Beyond as well. Oh, I can't think of his name now. Yeah, but I've been mistaken for him as well. But I think they just look up and see, you know, an older guy behind the decks and look, here's another old guy out here and immediately - and yeah, of course probably half of them are pissed or can see straight anyways.

Where can people follow you?

I've got a Facebook page. It's called Trance New Zealand. So, join up on and follow us and everything that's going on New Zealand. You know, trance-wise, everything that's going on in New Zealand will come up on the Trance New Zealand Facebook page. It is probably the best place to find out what's going on. And this is not just in Auckland; that's in Wellington, in Christchurch, anything. I just publish anything. Everybody sends stuff to me now, and I just immediately put it up on Trance New Zealand. And there's a couple of others, Trance Auckland is quite a good one. Yeah, there's a few others as well, but the Trance New Zealand one is probably the one that well, it's my one anyway. And I don't care; I'll put I even put some overseas stuff on as well. So, it's not just anything - I try to do, you know, some content every couple of days at the least. So, you know, so there's always something going on.