Quintino: The Quintessential DJ

By Aizyl Azlee  •  in Interview
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Laidback Luke discovered him at the tender age of 18, and now Dutch DJ Quintino has a decade of experience under his belt. JUICE caught up with him just before he was to perform at The Pool, KL to talk about his Electric Daisy Carnival experience, and how European DJs like to penetrate.

You got discovered pretty young, but these days the DJs seem to be starting out younger and younger. Has that ever been considered an issue among DJs?
It’s a good thing because back in the day there was a lot of bands and a lot of rappers. Hip hop was a big thing and everyone was trying to be a rapper so there was a lot of focus on lyrics. Now you see there’s a revolution going on. Now everywhere you go you hear House music and everyone wants to be a DJ. It’s a healthy competition where everyone wants to be the best.

Do you ever get worried about the industry getting diluted with too many House producers and DJs?
There will certainly be a lot of DJs and parties, but each DJ will have their own fanbase. There can never be too many DJs. There will always be a lot of clubs and smaller venues for DJs to play. But whatever the case, those that play big venues with a big fanbase will always only be a few DJs.

How has the scene evolved over the years you’ve been a DJ?
I was telling the promoters in Asia two years ago that all the clubs were playing very little House music, and when I went on to play, it was pretty hard to please the fans. But this time around, for example at Zouk Singapore, they are really into the music. They know all the tracks and they know all my tracks, so House has definitely spread all over the world.

Many European DJs consider the US scene to be behind on trends, but secretly you know they still want to penetrate that market. What’s your opinion on that?
You go to America now, you’ll see that the hype has caught up with how it was in Holland back in the day. It’s good to be a part of that, but we have to look beyond the US. I see DJs going there all the time now. EDM in Europe has already going really big into mainstream now. I actually hope we can combine the underground with the mainstream to keep the parties going strong.

Is there any worry you can’t top ‘Epic’?
It’s always difficult. In Holland I made it to number one with a remix of ‘Rap Das Armas’ and I thought I wouldn’t top that. It started to become a joke because I sold so many records. But then I made ‘Epic’, which when big too. I’ve got a lot more new music coming up so eventually something big will be coming up as well for sure.

With ‘Epic’ Successfully breaking the mainstream, do you get worried that House will just get as diluted as hip hop like you mentioned earlier?
Hip hop became mainstream but there was a lot of anger in it but House music is really happy. My parents can listen to it, kids can listen to it, but older people would never listen to hip hop. I still would say it be best if the underground can mix with the mainstream.

What was your favourite gig in 2012?
That’s hard to say. I think EDC (Electric Daisy Carnival) in New York. For me it was one of the best. I closed down the show for the ‘Jacked’ stage. There was about 10,000 people and there was just so much energy. You’d think they would be tired after partying for 10 hours, so I had to work really hard but the energy just didn’t end.

Any upcoming collaborations that we should look out for?
I’ve got a lot. A lot of things are coming up but nothing’s really official. Just expect a lot of big names.

Currently what’s your favourite song to play at parties?
One track that I really like is by Sebastian Ingrosso and Tommy Trash. It’s called ‘Reload’, and the crowd will really like it. If you’ve been playing for a crowd for two hours, you need something to make them feel really happy and feel like they want to come back again. So this is one track that definitely makes me happy and it makes the crowd happy, so it’s a good combination.

How do you plan on making this night epic?
Well it’s a pool party, and  I’ve been to a lot of parties but my only other pool party was at Las Vegas. So how about I try and top that?

If you’d like to find out more on Quintino, you can check out his official website at www.djquintino.com. Or if you want to stalk him, go to his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/djquintino.