Angger Dimas: Politicking Behind the Decks

By Alif Omar Mahfix  •  in Interview
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Cosigned by Steve Aoki himself, Dim Mak’s Angger Dimas is a true blue EDM superstar from Indonesia. And as his geographical neighbour and proud Asian ourselves, JUICE is as proud of him as we are of our local heroes. Recently the genre defying DJ headlined H-Artistry Kuala Lumpur alongside the Princess of EDM herself Eva Simons, displaying his playlist ethos of whatever-goes-will-go. We got to speak with the man one on one and discovered his political aspirations, how big of a Blink fan he is, and his frustration with how early our party ends.

Angger… how do you pronounce that? Sounds like ‘anger’…
(Laughs) That’s funny, it’s actually the opposite in Javanese, it means love.

So how is Malaysia treating you? Since this is your 5th time already.
Malaysia is always treating me really great! I think Malaysia is one of the best dance country in the world, especially in Asia, Indonesia as well because we’re neighbours. But it’s too bad, the party here is over at 2am, 3am!

(Laughs) When does the party end at Indonesia?
In Indonesia, the party goes on 24-7, man.

(Laughs) Okay. We read that you were named the number 1 DJ in Indonesia. What does that feel like to be called no. 1?
I think number doesn’t matter. I do all my stuff basically for my music, for my passion. I don’t give a sh!t about the number. Just do music man! Numbers don’t matter to me. Just do your stuff, make songs about peace, love, with no politics. For me politics never works. Just do your passion, and my passion is music so I don’t give a sh!t about the numbers.

We read that you, at 7 you learn guitar, so you’re always been musical?
I grew up in a musical family. My grandfather was very a good guitar player in Yogyakarta, and my father can play the guitar similarly good. My father taught me how to play guitar, but then I was a smartass, I’m like a bookworm bitch, I’m reading all the books, about politics, economic stuff, and then when I got into the music industry, I left everything, music is my life now.

Are you pretty much an educated person who reads a lot? Or have you not read anything since you gone into music?
Well it’s hard to tell man because my life is still on-going, I don’t know, maybe in 5 years I’ll stop doing music, but music will still be my passion. Besides doing music, I’d like to learn more about other stuff, like political stuff – I love politics, but not bad politics like Mafioso or gangster sh!t. I love how the controlling works, I love the idea of directing the people to progression. I’d like to be a politican. I’m starting as a DJ and I already have followers, when I become a politician they already know me. “Oh this f*cking DJ is in the race? Is Angger going to be the President of Indonesia?” “Yeah, no government, just party!” (Laughs)

We would like to live in that country! Before dance, have you been into other genres or have you always been into dance all the while?
I’ve been exploring other genres. I started playing swing kinda music like Sinatra, Tony Bennett, all the oldies. And then I explored metal like Metallica and Sepultura, And pop music. Have you ever heard of Sheila on 7? I love Sheila on 7. I love all kinds of music, because I hate being segmented. I don’t want to hear “oh, you’re an electronic guy, you don’t belong here”-kinda BS. I want to have diversity in music.

Is that why your set is usually very diverse?
Yes, I play drum and bass, I play dubstep, I play electro, I play progressive, I play pop stuff, and I play reggae, I play moombahton, everything! I just want people to know that there is nothing different in music, the only difference is the bpm. Today I’m listening to jazz, tomorrow I will listen to dangdut, to keroncong.

We read that you learn DJ-ing from YouTube?
It’s true. I never had a mentor except for Laidback Luke. From the technical side, Luke is the number 1 DJ. And you know what? The DJ mentor of Laidback Luke is Indonesian; DJ Setiono. He taught Luke how to scratch, mix, everything. I met him at Tomorrowland and was stoked to find out he was a fellow Indonesian. Then he told me he taught Luke, and I was so excited to find out that our region has an underrated talent who taught one of the biggest EDM stars now.

You’re international now. Who do you see from Malaysia who could go as big as you?
I want to talk about Blink, he’s a very good f*cking producer and he just got released on Mixmash, Laidback Luke’s label, which I think is great for Malaysians. Blink is going to go big, he is going to be the number one DJ in Malaysia. Every time I go to his show, there’s always good ambience, good crowd in Malaysia, because I know Malaysians know how to party man, like party hard! But still, why does the party stops at 2am, why?!

(Laughs) Beats us.

H-Artistry Kuala Lumpur went down on Saturday 8 September 2012 at KWC KL. Find more on their future events at www.h-artistry.com.my. Check out Angger Dimas at anggerdimas.com.