ROB BOSKAMP. FOTO MARCEL ANTONISSE/

BIOGRAPHY: 

DJ Rob Boskamp is probably one of the most well-known names in Dutch DJ-history. He has played every single festival and every single club in Holland and is also a regular in most clubs at the isles of Curacao and Bonaire.

His DJ-styles range from soulful, latin, groovy-house stuff to the more banging Dutch style. His uplifting real and tech-house sounds creates that hands in the air reaction every time he gets his hands on the wheels of steel.  But he is also very well-known for his amazing disco, dance and house-classics sets (70/80/90s/00’s) and his extremely energetic eclectic sets (from house to urban, from pop to top40 from dance-classics to salsa). Since the start of 2016, he also integrated video-clips into his sets, which makes it even more an experience you don’t want to miss.

He’s holding residencies in clubs like Soho / Amsterdam, Players / Amsterdam, Panama / Amsterdam, Cafe Lely / Amsterdam, Porto / Loosdrecht, Three Sisters / Amsterdam and Queen’s Head / Amsterdam. He is also the resident for the successful party-concept’s ‘Legendary’, ‘The Play-Ground’, ‘Latino Grooves’, ‘Supertramp’, ‘LatinXperience’, ‘Nasty 90’s & Super 00’s’, ‘Hippie’, and ‘S.M.A.S.H’ (Soulful Music And Sexy House).

Furthermore he owns labels like Instant Groove Records, Big Boss Records, Urban Sound of Amsterdam, Queer label RGLRS Rcrds and S.M.A.S.H Records.

As a producer he’s is known for his bootleg “Get Your Ass Up” and his singles ‘In the Evening,” “It’s All in the Mind” and “Position”, which all went into the Dutch sales charts.

He also remixed artists like Snoop Dogg, Nick Corline, Kadoc, Da Hool, T-Spoon and Moony, Chaka Khan, Diana Ross amongst others.

Rob did over 200 gigs in 2022 and also a dozen releases.

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With ADE just three weeks away, My House Radio is especially fortunate to have had an opportunity to interview Rob Boskamp:

Please tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? Where do you currently live? 

I am born and raised in Amsterdam (The Netherlands), still live there as well.

 

How long have you been in the music industry?

Pretty long, started working at an import record shop called Attalos in Amsterdam around 1984/85, but was a customer there way before already.

 

How did you get your start in the music industry? What have you done and what would you still like to do? 

As said in the previous question, I started working at a record shop. Through the record shop, I started to meet people from record companies that wanted their vinyl sold in the shop. Then I met a guy named Peter Boertje from independent record-company IMC. He was getting involved with an exclusive DJ record company called DMC (Disco Mix Club). They were releasing special monthly packages of vinyl with exclusive remixes by big producers/remixers back then. There were only 100 packages available per country and I was asked to take care of this and find out who were the main players in The Netherlands. One thing lead to another and pretty soon I was doing radio promotion for DMC (dance radio shows for the DMC mixes, etc) but also for the releases of IMC itself. Within a couple of months, I knew everybody in the business. (This was all around 1986.)

I started organising tours to the Disco Mix Championships in the UK, as we had our own contestants as well, and by 1988 we officially organised our own Dance Music Convention in Amsterdam. This was what a couple of years later became Amsterdam Dance Event. 

 

Tell me about being a producer DJ and label owner. Which is your favorite and why?

First and foremost i am a DJ. This is what I live and breathe. The labels (around 30 labels by now) and producing are things that followed, but which I love as well. Back in the day, you were either a DJ or producer or label-owner. By now you have to be everything 😊

 

Why did you want to work as a DJ?

I loved music from the day I was born. When I was 14 years old, my father took me to the club of his best friend. When I saw the mirror ball, the lights in the dancefloor, the black light (popular back then) and heard the music blasting out of the speakers, I was sold. A couple of weeks after this visit, my father got a call that the resident DJ was ill and he needed an instant replacement for that night. My father took me there had a drink at the bar and I had the night of my life behind the DJ booth.

 

What skills do you think a DJ needs to be successful?

For large festivals, just the right tunes (nobody leaves at a festival); for all other parties, you need to be able to read the crowd, that is the most important skill.  

 

You’ve been in the industry for so long and you are so capable of playing diverse styles: How do you keep up with music trends?

I am busy with my music day in and day out. I follow the playlists, listen to DJ sets, listen to what other people like, what is written etc.. but by now it is a second nature i guess.

 

What is most rewarding part of being a DJ?

The happy faces on the floor and compliments you get after you are finished and being able to do the thing you love most and thats being able to DJ.

 

What do you think makes a great DJ?

A DJ that is there to make other people happy and not just working through a playlist.

 

What are the biggest challenges you have faced as a DJ?

Getting in time for my gigs hahaha, no just kidding. I don’t think in challenges but in possibilities. When we changed from CD to mp3 in the past, I was one of the first to switch, same when we went from vinyl to CDs. The same counts for finding new gigs. Figure out how things work, how people think and play with that. Keep an open mind and don’t think that when something goes wrong it is the end of the world. If you don’t try, you don’t know!

 

What are some of your favorite places to play?

I travelled to a lot of countries and played an enormous amount of festivals, but some places just make an impression of a lifetime. The isle of Curacao is the one on the top of my list. But also Prague, Calabria (Italy), Miami are amongst the places I loved the most when playing/visiting.

 

 

In which cities or countries have you had the most fun?

Again Curacao, but also Ibiza, UK, Spain

 

Where would you like to play that you have never played before?

I would love to visit/play in Australia/New Zealand, but also would love to see more from the US apart from NY and Miami

 

Who are your influences? 

I fell in love with Motown from the moment i could walk, talk and understand. When music became more and more a part of my career i have to say that the first producer that really got my attention was Patrick Cowley, he was in my opinion the start of where electronic music was heading in the decades following.

On a personal level… the holy trinity… Barry White, Luther Vandross, Isaac Hayes

 

What is your favorite place to listen to and experience dance music?

Crazy enough behind my computer

 

Who are some of your favorite DJs?

At the moment i am blown away by the skills of James Hype, also love his basshouse style of music. I am always looking to hear innovative DJs, but in all honesty there aren’t that many that really stand out at the moment. It is one of the older cats, but I heard Carl Craig a few times lately and his sets are great!

 

Who are some of your favorite producers?

No one in particular, music just has to feel good. But on the groovy side of things, Vega, Spen, Dave Lee, on the techno side Orlando Voorn, Cajmere, Catz n Dogz, Koen Groeneveld.

 

Who has been your greatest mentor?

On a personal level, my parents; music wise Ilias the owner of Attalos Records. He was a couple of years older and so much more mature as I was when I met him first in like around 1976. He was my older brother (from another mother).

 

What inspires you?

The What is more a who…. My daughter Laura and my wife Renata… they support me everyday / always!

 

Who are you currently listening to?

Moodymann

 

Are you excited for this year’s ADE?

ADE is a special event that from when we started it back in the eighties untill today is the biggest event of the year for me. So yes very excited!

 

Are you part of ADE? What is your role?

After selling our Dance Music Convention to Buma Stemra (Dutch Music Rights Organisation) who changed the name to ADE, i stayed on as advisor for years. After that i became sort of a broker for lots of smaller venues that wanted to be part of the official ADE. I still plan/manage several locations every year.

 

How are you getting ready for ADE?

By working realllly hard 😊 

 

Do you have any new releases coming out?

Yes i have 3 new tracks coming out in the coming period. I will be promoting/servicing them during the ADE week to all labels and DJs 

 

Will we hear them at ADE?

And I will of course play them any chance that I get !

 

What’s next for Rob Boskamp? 

You never know where the future is taking you, but as long as it feels right, I am happy. There are so many new plans and ideas that I can fill another decade.

 

Where do you see yourself in the future?

I still have a good couple of years of DJing ahead of me as DJ Rob Boskamp, but also got a great new alias/moniker ready to launch called Toby Ala, it will be showing my tech house/techno side only and the first bookings are already in!

The future is always bright!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR TIME, ROB – SEE YOU AT ADE!!!