1. Hi there, what have you been up to lately ?
Artento Divini: Hi all! Haha a better question would be "what haven't I been up to lately", because my life is a complete madhouse at the moment. I've been working on lots of new tracks and remixes lately, which have turned out pretty well. My newest single "Griffin" is dominating many dance floors, which of course makes me really proud, and it was even voted "Tune Of The Week" in Armin van Buuren's show "A State Of Trance". Next to being locked up in my studio almost every day, I travel a lot around the world to play my sets. Over the last couple of months I visited countries like Poland and Brazil, so you understand this takes up a lot of time. And of course there's my bi-weekly radio show "Front Of My Bag" in which I present one hour worth of quality Trance and Progressive.
2. How would you actually come to be known as Artento Divini ? What's the meaning behind the name ?
Artento Divini: Well there's not really a meaning to it. My real name is Art, and the Italian word for 'pay attention' is 'attento', so I kind of combined these two and 'Artento' became the result. 'Divini' was taken from the word 'divine'. This all started as a joke, I just needed a stage name at some point and I've never changed it since.
3. Tell me less about You as an artist, and more about You as a person. Who Ard Schilderink really is.
Artento Divini: I'm actually pretty much a normal guy who was born in the East of The Netherlands in a town called Doetinchem, thirty-two years ago. From the age of seven till the age of nineteen I was mainly focusing on sports. We're quite the sports liking family, my twenty-eight year old sister runs a gym nowadays. I mainly practiced swimming and cycling, I was on the national mountain biking team for four years. When I turned nineteen, I got interested in dance music more and more and so my DJ career took off. I started producing about four years ago, when me and my girlfriend bought our own place where I had room for some studio equipment. I lead a quite disciplined life, in the morning I wake up at seven and it usually takes half an hour to actually get up. Around 7:30 I take my dogs out for a walk, after which I go to the gym to work out for approximately an hour. Once I'm all refreshed, I start working in the studio around 10:30 and I often don't stop working till 6 pm. I present or co-host seven radio shows a month, which also takes up some time. My own show "Front Of My Bag" is aired on several stations every two weeks and I also co-host my good friend Fausto's radio show on Q-Dance radio every week on Thursday, 8 pm CET. Both "Front Of My Bag" and Fausto's "Crossover" are available through iTunes as a Podcast, subscriptions are free.
4. Production-wise, Your new track "Griffin", the official Pleasure Island 2010 anthem is out now, right ?
Artento Divini: That's true, "Pleasure Island" was great even though the weather was a little disappointing during the festival. On the 24th of July Pleasure Island will go abroad for the very first time, in Czech Republic to be more precisely, and "Griffin" will also be the anthem to that edition. To create this track took A LOT of time, but in the end it was totally worth the effort and I'm very pleased with the result. Almost every big name in the game plays "Griffin", which is the best recognition a producer can get.
5. What's the whole new vibe with this new track of Yours nowadays ? What can fans expect ?
Artento Divini: My sound isn't that different from what I used to produce, there may be some small differences to my older productions, but that's mainly because I truly found the sound I want to produce. For what the fans can expect: there's a lot of new stuff up my sleeve. I just finished a new track containing vocals from the same singer as in "Biding My Time". I created an experimental remix to go along with this release, I think it will surprise a lot of people. I'm also working on a new one which has top notch female vocals to it, can't say too much about it yet but it's going to be big. And of course I'm working on some new remixes, also very exciting.
6. Your fourth installment on the High Contrast label, "Who's Next" got Yourself supported already by major names within EDM spectrum. Any major compilations too ?
Artento Divini: Yeah it was used on several compilations, such as Rank1's "EnTrance" compilation and Sander van Doorn used it on his official "Trance Energy 2010" CD.
7. What should we expect from You for this year and the next year to come ?
Artento Divini: New tracks, new remixes, a couple of bootlegs and there may be a compilation in the pipeline later on this year. For next year I'm planning some tours abroad, so I hope to visit a lot of new countries and clubs, festivals and events.
8. Whose music were and still are You a big fan of ? Who exactly influenced Your style and still does nowadays ?
Artento Divini: I listen to almost any kind of music, from R&B to Dance to Pop to Rock. Whenever I'm on my way to the studio (it's not situated at my home anymore), I tend to listen to the radio for a bit and then start listening to the track I'm working on at that moment, this gets me in the right flow before entering the studio. I can get my inspiration practically anywhere, sometimes by listening to a track or watching TV, sometimes I just wake up and the ideas pop right into my head already. But if I have to name producers who inspire me the most, I would have to say Rank1 and Marco V.
9. You are not a new face within the EDM scene, fair enough, so far so good, but what are Your plans for attaining success in this floundering industry ?
Artento Divini: I try to create high quality tracks over and over again, the best isn't good enough. I also make sure I throw in 100% of effort, enthusiasm, love and energy into every set I play. Music tends to evolve constantly so I try to put my own remarkable hooks into every track I produce, so that everyone knows it is a true Divini-track. Not every track will shoot up the charts as high or as fast as others, but a track always has to correspond to the standards that I just named.
10. Have You got any future plans along Your partner-in-crime, Jochen Miller ?
Artento Divini: We tried to make an appointment on several occasions, but at the moment our agendas are just too full. Jochen is working on new stuff with Benno (Rank1) most of the time and I'm working on lots of new tracks too, so whenever we see a chance to get together for a new collaboration we will definitely rock the studio again.
11. You have released a variety of solo singles on prolific labels such as Reset Records and 2Play Records (Spinnin Records) and to mention Doorn Records as well, successfully run by Sander van Doorn. Any plans with these venues ?
Artento Divini: Not really for now. I'm signed to High Contrast and I have to say that they're the right label for me at this point, I'm very satisfied with how things are going. I'm not anxious to release stuff on other labels, I found my home and I'm sure I will stay there for quite some time.
12. Your debut solo album is due out when ? What is, or else will be the next single and video in the making ? And, are there any current plans to tour behind it ?
Artento Divini: I'm planning on starting for this project in 2011. Recently I've started realizing that I'm with the right label, got the right people around me when it comes to my agency, things are going right up my alley, so I think I'm in the right place to slowly start thinking of an album. But just as with the single releases it has to be 100% for me, no doubt about it. It's all or nothing.
13. Are there any specific tracks in the works to look out from You in the meantime ?
Artento Divini: My new single called "Sanctuary" and especially the remix which I named earlier will be very surprising. I've also done a remix of Marco V's "Automanual", which has reached the record label so I hope for that one to be released any time soon. Also look out for my new bootleg, it's a combination of my own "Who's Next" and a huge Prodigy hit, you will definitely hear this one in my sets over the summer.
14. Do You have (a)ny message(s) for our readers ? Especially the TranceSound.net portal community ?
Artento Divini: I would like to thank all of you for your support, love and feedback, hope to see you all soon at a dance floor around the globe. Peace!
Interview made by Cosmin Lukacs (TranceSound.net admin/founder)
Links:
Artento Divini official website
Artento Divini @ MySpace
Cosmin Lukacs official website
Cosmin Lukacs @ MySpace
Capitan official website
