So, what’s going on musically in Friesland? Apart from traditional folk and heavy metal music, there is somewhat of an electronic scene. It’s not big, but there are quite a few producers from the area that have records out on big labels and some also had international breakthroughs. For parties, it’s not the most vibrant place anymore. This in contrast to the 90s. The first Thunderdome party, the infamous gabber/hardcore madness, was held in my hometown Heerenveen. A town of about 25.000 citizens got flooded with 25.000 ravers.
Over the years many raves were organized in Thialf, an ice skating ring. Hardcore and gabber were huge in the 90s in The Netherlands and so it was in Friesland. More Thunderdomes and other raves followed and everyone was a gabber, dressed in track suits and Air Maxes, of course. By the age of 15, I was finally allowed to enter one of these raves and that’s where I got in touch with techno. It must have been some loopy Italian stuff I heard, but I was hooked instantly and so the musical journey started and I moved to Leeuwarden, the capital of Friesland.
I met more likeminded people and all of a sudden we had a small but dedicated group of producers and DJs. Guys like Mohlao (aka VC-118A), Conforce and Area Forty_One to name a few. We organized small parties, played in bars, did studio sessions together and spent too many a night in the local bars if there was any open. Over the years we all somehow spread our wings and started living in other countries.
