Over the years, you’ve written and remixed many tracks. How old were you when you first started making music and which track is your personal favourite? Erm ! When did I start making music?...Since I was born..Ha! No really, I guess I was about 10 years old, but I’ve been making music professionally with R + S Records since I was 17. My favourite remix would have to be the Orbital Remixes. It was good Techno mix. I’m pleased that I did. On the producing side, my favourite would have to be “Horsepower”

So when did you first decide to start DJing ? That would have been two years ago. I don’t really class myself as a DJ really. I have all the equipment and buy all the tunes, but with spending so much time in the studio I have no time practice.

So why do you DJ then? I don’t Know. I was getting so many calls at home from promoters wanting me to DJ for them, that I thought f**k it man, lets do it! Anyway, the money’s good which gives me an incentive.

You don’t class yourself as a DJ, but how many times do you play out in a week? Three. Three times a week every week all over Europe.

Do you ever pissed off with all the travelling? Yes! I drive nearly everywhere because I don’t like flying. So, you can probably imagine how many miles I do.

Which is the best English club that you have played at? The orbit is defiantly at the top of the list., it’s wicked man! The orbit is by far the most happening club in England.

How does the scene differ form Europe? In Europe? It’s Huge, Huge, massive. Switzerland, Sweden ,Norway and Denmark are really happening at the moment. Belgium is really getting back into it.

Out of all the European DJ’s, who would you sat stands out? DJ Fly from Bonzi Records, DJ Frankie from Bonzi, Frankie Jones from Bonzi. I’m not trying to promote Bonzi Records, but these are good DJ’s. Other good DJ’s include DJ Deg, DJD-Jex, Laurent Garnier and Marco Zaffarano. Erm, who else? Oh yer, Robert Liner is a wicked DJ. I played at a party in Sweden and he played for 6 hours. A 6 hour set and he didn’t lose it once. He’s one of the best I’ve ever heard.

Going back to your music making, have you ever made any records with your sister Sian-Louise? Yeah! She sang on “Camargue”. She’s got a really good voice man. The problem is though, I can’t write songs.

Finally, are you pleased with your career then? Yes, I really love what I do and at the same time I’m earring a living. I couldn’t wish for more.

THANKS FOR YOUR TIME CJ BOLLAND, GOOD LUCK FOR THE FUTURE AND ALL THE BEST…

Official CJ Bolland Biography

Although invariably associated with Belgium, CJ Bolland was, in fact, born in the UK - Yorkshire to be precise - in 1971. And it was England that provided his first musical influence. "It was when I was 2 and I fell in love with the Dr Who theme tune. I just loved the fat electronic sounds," says CJ. But the Bolland family moved to Antwerp, Belgium when CJ was 3, and it was the Belgian new wave and 'body music' scenes that had the greatest impact on CJ's career. "In the '80s the Belgian underground scene revolved round new wave, electro and body music (Front 242, Neon Judgement, The Klinik), and I followed it religiously."

This love of electronic music was to strongly colour CJ's production career, which began in the mid-'80s. His early efforts were aired on Belgium's Liasons Dangereuses radio show: "I was featured every week with my home demo tracks. We had chats on air with the public on the progress of the music. It was great; direct feedback and my music going out to thousands when I was a spotty kid."

It was, however, when someone sent a tape to Ghent-based techno imprint R&S that things really started to happen for CJ. "Someone sent R&S a tape recorded from a radio show I did. They liked it and invited me to check out the R&S lab. The first day I was there I spent 32 hours in the studio jamming with the big don himself, Renaat. The fact that I was not gonna leave without him kicking me out impressed him somewhat and he signed me up. The best day of my life! The next five years where the most pleasurable and productive ones of my career."

The first release on R&S was 'Do That Dance' in 1989 and the subsequent five years were certainly productive with CJ recording a string of singles as The Project, Pulse, Sonic Solution, Ravesignal, Space Opera, Schism and of course CJ Bolland. It was during this period that CJ recorded the best-known records of his career, the turbo charged rave anthem 'Horsepower' on '91's 'Ravesignal III' EP and '92's 'Fourth Sign' LP which included the hypnotic 'Camargue' and the galloping 'Night Breed'. CJ was also DJing regularly in the UK alongside some of the biggest names on the techno scene: "At the time I was so busy banging out tracks that I didn't look back. I knew by playing them out that they were liked and enjoyed on the dancefloor; naturally that feels pretty good and makes you want to work even harder. I was playing the UK approximately three times a week and was very influenced by the UK's finest - Dave Angel, Cisco Fereirra, Luke Slater." Influenced he may have been but tracks like 'Horsepower' were to prove as influential as other benchmark early '90s' R&S releases like Joey Beltram's 'Energy Flash', Human Resource's 'Dominator', or Outlander's 'The Vamp'.

A second album for R&S was to follow - '95's 'Electronic Highway' - but by late 1994, CJ had already left R&S to sign an exclusive 5-album deal with Internal/Polygram. The first of these LPs was '96's 'The Analogue Theatre' but it was a single from the same year that catapulted CJ into the stratosphere. That record was 'Sugar Is Sweeter' which reached number one in the US and number 11 in the UK. But CJ sees this as having a negative effect on his career: "Things got really confusing when I left R&S records, especially when I had a number one in the USA with 'Sugar Is Sweeter'. It affected my career drastically and mostly in a negative way.

The crossover potential had been made apparent and it became harder and harder for me to make the music I wanted because of record company pressure. I could have easily cashed in and made a few follow-ups but it went against all my feelings to do so. The result was that my following two albums never got released due to the lack of a crossover track. I spent nearly four years producing what I consider to be some of my best shit to date and it never got fucking released. It almost destroyed me, but I wasn't gonna let that happen!"
It is, however, during this time that CJ performed some of his most high profile remixes including reworks for Depeche Mode, Moby, acid house pioneers Phuture, Orbital, Sven Väth, The Prodigy's 'No Good', and Tori Amos amongst others.

Differences with his record company is what led CJ to set up his own label, Mole: "I felt it was time I took a more hands on approach to what happens with my music. I got sick of hoping stuff would get released. Now I truly can be free in my music and can decide when and what goes out there," he says adding "the only thing I can be certain of is that it brings freedom and that freedom allows me to be creative again. It's that same frame of mind that the first five years at R&S allowed me to have when there were no trends or trains to spot because we were still inventing them. Now I can start inventing all over again and don't have to answer to anybody."