Worldwide Dance: Hugo van Heijningen

Tell me about your musical upbringing. What were you listening growing up? Where does your love of music come from?

At home there was not so much music, but friends at school introduced me to Nirvana, Sepultura and Beastie Boys, like typical '90s alternative music. From there, I got deep into hardcore/punk and started playing in shitty bands when I turned 13.The punk shows I went to in Den Haag were organized by Guy Tavares of Motorwolf & Bunker Records, he blended the electro drum machines and loud guitars at the same nights at his squats. I’ve been jumping from the mosh pit to the rave dance floor ever since.

How did you get involved in music? What kind of music scene were you part of?

Never really been part of one scene. I’ve been going to huge metal festivals, quirky noise shows, big gabber raves and illegal druggy gatherings in the woods. I’ve always visited many squats and warehouse parties, but had a great time at huge festivals & events as well. In my teenage/twenties I’ve been most active in the punk/hardcore scene, touring with bands and organising shows, but always open to whatever felt good.

What were you doing before you began Red Light Radio?

Playing and touring in bands, but was not so much into carrying amps and drums in and out of vans and venues anymore. Missed the conversations and playing music on the road the most, so that was a big inspiration to start Red Light Radio. Listen and talk about music, without being on the highway to the next gig. Also I just finished my master degree at the university and thought I was ready for the adult life, but that didn’t really work out. So me and Orpheu (De Jong, my RLR partner) started to do a fun radio project instead.

What were some of your influences/inspirations that led you to start RLR?

In 2009, I was busy making a film documentary about a band, Backfire, and had a meeting in New York with Vinnie Stigma of Agnostic Front. We were supposed to meet at East Village Radio, but he never showed up. I have been waiting quite a bit at the station and was impressed with the variety of different shows/music they were hosting. The EVR studio was at a store front window on the busy 1st Ave. Every passerby could see and hear a glimpse of NYC’s underground music scene, just by walking past that window. I thought that was so amazing and with Amsterdam’s red light district changing and empty windows/brothels in the city center, I saw an opportunity.

We created a place for Amsterdam’s underground music taste-makers to come together to talk and play music and visitors of the red light district could get a glimpse of our underground scene. With both Orpheu and my backgrounds, we wanted to create a place for Metal heads to Disco diggers to play and say whatever they liked. RLR went on air in 2010 with daily shows, thanks to Stigma for not showing up at the interview.

How did you bring the idea to life? Tell me about the early days of RLR.

We started with just a few hours a day, inviting friends to play some records, then friends of friends came down, the word spread & our reach increased rapidly.

How did the radio evolve since those early days?

With social media just getting big in 2010, it was amazing how a new platform like RLR could grow so fast and get more and more favorite guests in the studio. After a few weeks, people from over 150 countries were able to find our Amsterdam studio online and now we are travelling to many of those countries and represent their local scene at Red Light Radio.

What are some of the obstacles of running a radio?

There’s too much music out there, too many people with amazing collections, we could be live more than 24 hours a day. Independent non-commercial radio like us does come with a lot of work & costs. Financially, we're in survival-mode constantly, but love our project so much, we always make it work. Being live all the time comes with stress. We can never wait, everyone takes their radio show serious and we take our makers serious, so when there’s something not working, it has to be fixed straight away. There's definitely an intensity with always being live.

What are some of the best parts of running RLR? What keeps you going?

People are so happy and dedicated to be part of the RLR community. Here in Amsterdam, but also with our projects abroad. I think RLR is unique and relevant for many music people & scenes. This is great and keeps us going. We get to travel a lot now and do beautiful projects with likeminded people all over the world. To contribute to these positive events is for me personally very satisfying in the one life I have.

Can you tell me a funny memory/incident from running RLR?

A lot of crazy and funny stories have been made around RLR, obviously off stream, haha. Never thought I would be smoking human blood in Texas, be part of a Roma gipsy fight in Romania or drink poppers in Finland.

Other than Amsterdam, can you tell me which cities RLR has been to?

We did broadcasts and parties all over the world. I think we make about 20-30 trips every year from the USA to China, India, Russia, Morocco, Colombia and all over Europe. We’re just like Boiler Room!

What’s special about the music community you’re part of?

All the artists in the Amsterdam music scene are so supportive towards each other. Amsterdam operates as a strong collective and with organizations like Rush Hour, Dekmantel & Red Light Radio, we have places where we join forces. On a bigger scale, RLR is definitely taking part in a like minded intercontinental community.

Why do you think radios are important? How did RLR contribute to Amsterdam's music community?

It’s very important to have a place like this. A place where all kinds of music people come together. With the record stores, listening basement and music studios in our buildings, we’re an important hub in the city. Of course the radio is very much contributing to show our talented local underground scene to the world.

Any future plans you’d like to share with us?

We are involved in a bar called Dynamic Range in the basement of a new cultural place called Het Hem. It's a former army ammunition factory, now giving room to a huge exhibition space and 2 restaurants. You can have a nice drink in the basement with music from our audiophile set-up; Macintosh amps, Klipsch speakers etcetera. Open from Thursday to Sunday with amazing RLR related DJs on rotation. It’s just outside Amsterdam, in Zaandam - a little boat trip away from Amsterdam’s central station. There will be a lot of nice things happening in the future.

Aside from running RLR, tell me about your other music projects such as Stallion’s Stud and DJ Soulseek.

I’m still recording, playing live and there’s quite some DJ action as well. With Identified Patient I do Stallion’s Stud, we just released a new EP on Pinkman. I sing in a punk band called White Slice, it’s great, but unfortunately we play very rarely. I was never really keen to play records for crowds until I got forced into it one time in Belgrade's Drugstore with Max Abysmal. Since that moment, we play together a lot as Cawd Slaydaz. Now I started to enjoy playing other peoples music more and solo as DJ Soulseek I do some gigs. It seems to work with no ambition, and it makes me smile to play Bad Brains in a place like Bassiani.

Interview by Alice Tilley