It’s not so much a value, but recognition of your work.  We’ve been at this a loooooong time now and great to get that appreciation from the wider scene and have other artists appreciate you at that level.

Does the fact that such a vote exists, means VJ-ing finally gets its recognition it deserves?

Yes, I think the more there is of these kind of things, it shows VJ-ing is certainly getting the wider recognition it deserves.  For too long VJ’s have been in the shadows and more or less the “poor cousin” of the DJ.

Friday you guys do a set at Extrema’s ADE-party. Do you have specific plans for that night?

Firstly to have a good time – this is the ADE!  But on Friday night, as well as from laptop, I’ll be mixing from Pioneer’s new DVJ-X1 decks - they’re DVD turntables.  This really is a step forward for VJ’s, or more particularly audiovisual artists like ourselves.  We usually perform audiovisually or play DJ:VJ sets, and Addictive TV being a DVD label as well, these decks are kinda like built for us..!  We’ve been working with Pioneer for a while now, and last year were testing a prototype – they’re the future.

Is friday the only VJ-ing you’ll be doing at the Amsterdam Dance Event?

Sadly yes.  But on Saturday night at 8.30pm we’re screening our new DVD album “Audiovisualize” at Bitterzoet [Spuistraat 2, Amsterdam] close to the Central Station. Also, on Saturday afternoon I’m sitting on a panel about VJ-ing along with artsists like Fabian Grobe from Bauhouse - a fantastic AV-act from Germany.  And great dutch VJ’s like Eboman and of course Holland’s

You’re considered one of best vj’s of the world. I certainly think so too. Do you now earn piles of money like the top-of-the-bill-dj’s do?

We certainly get booked a lot, and right now nearly every weekend we’re somewhere different on the planet but I wouldn’t quite say “piles of money like top-of the-bill-DJs”, if you know what I mean.

What is a VJ according to you?

Someone who mixes visuals, much in the same way as a DJ mixes records. But like any skill, VJ-ing is only one small part of it.  Most DJ’s are also producers and composers and similarly most good VJ’s are also editors, producers, motion graphics artists, video installation artists and so on.

Do you actually need musical skills for being a VJ?

It helps but it’s not necessary, they’re really two quite different disciplines.  But you certainly need rhythm to be a good VJ and have an understanding of how visuals work with music.

What do you need to have if you wanna start up with VJ-ing? Two recorders? How did you guys start? With what kinda equipment? Do the bigger (professional) VJ’s only use digital?

VJ-ing is no different to any thing else in this sense, if you want to be a DJ you need to buy records, if you want to be a rock climber you have to look into buying rock climbing equipment. 

The cheapest way to start VJ-ing is probably with two old VHS players and a cheap switcher.  But if you’re serious, then you need computers to edit on and equipment like cameras, a video mixer and a powerful laptop with VJ software and so on.  Back in the day when we started, everyone was using VHS and some were still using 16mm projectors.  Everyone used the same kit, so I used to carry a big bag of VHS tapes to gigs - in some ways it was much easier then!

How did Addictive TV break through?

Hard work and dedication!  We just do what we do and it’s great people like it.  In fact, back in 1999 many thought we were crazy to set up a VJ focused DVD label – I remember people actually saying “DVD will never catch on”!  But we see visuals as a natural extention to music and DVD as a future for all this...   and this was years before Pioneer developed the newly released DVJ-X1 DVD turntables...

I guess on the personal front, having a background in television has helped a lot too, I’ve been producing for over twelve years now and this massively helped convince commissioning editors to let us produce projects like Mixmasters, which is now in it’s 4th series.  In the UK at least, I don’t know of any other

For us, the big push with this scene into television was in 1996 when we pitch a VJ show to Channel 4 here in the UK.  It went on TV in 1998 and was the UK's first "ambient television" show ever and was called 'Transambient'.  The project was a fusion of music and visuals, no presenters, no graphics, just audiovisual mixes that could be watched and enjoyed in the same way people listen to music; with each viewer making up their own mind about what it was about.  And it's all grown from there...

Were the oil/wheel-projections in the 60’s the first steps of VJ-ing?

It's really difficult to put a date on where it all started though.  Psychedelic parties in the '60s and early 70's had screens and people used to project film loops and oil based images.   They had guys doing visuals at Woodstock - again based around film.   Warhol used images and music in his multi-media 'happenings' so plenty of people have been doing it a long time.  Video itself obviously came later, and rock bands and experimental groups used it in the eighties in their stage shows.  In parties itself, the underground rave culture in the 80's were definitely using video and film projections, so I guess, the first modern VJs began to emerge around then, with late 80's early 90's dance culture really providing the thrust.

VJ-art definitely isn’t there were it should be and, in my opinion, it doesn’t have even half of the recognition it should get here in Holland. In France people appreciate visuals more. But it’s definitely booming. How is it in the rest of the world? How about Japan?
 
VJ-ing is big in Japan and is very recognised.  We’ve played there several times – in clubs like Womb and Yellow and the new Tokyo superclub Ageha.  France too is a great place to play, the audiences are very receptive - infact earlier this month we performed our new live AV show at The Pompidou Centre, that was fantastic. [check out www.addictive.tv/pilot>>>].

Is there anything else you wanna tell the world?  

We’ve just released two new DVD albums - “Audiovisualize” and “Mixmasters – vol.1” – check ‘em out!

FOR MORE INFO:

www.addictive.tv/audiovisualize
www.addictive.tv/mixmasters

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