Inside the Mind of a Trance Icon: An Interview with Jeffrey Sutorius

(conducted, transcribed, written and edited by Daphne Blakborn)

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with renowned Dutch DJ and producer, Jeffrey Sutorius. Best known as the former frontman of Dash Berlin, Jeffrey has made a name for himself in the electronic music scene with his high-energy sets and chart-topping releases. Since departing from Dash Berlin, he has continued to push the boundaries of Trance with his solo career and label, BODYWRMR. During the course of our conversation, we discuss some of the highlights of his career, his view on the importance of mental health in the industry, and his plans for the future.  

Daphne: First of all, how are you? 

Jeffrey: I’m doing very well, thanks for asking! 

You recently performed at Transmission Sydney, how was that? 

Yeah! It was emotional actually! It’s hard to put into words, but.. I think it goes for a lot of artists… that for a long time you want to be back on a big and packed stage again. Plus, everybody in Sydney was waiting for something like this to happen, because this was really the first big event after COVID, so you could feel their anticipation. You could feel that vibe… the people were really intense. I think for the people to go out again in that magnitude, and for the people on stage and the people working in production to be on tour again… Yeah, it was fantastic. Definitely good emotional..  also a lot of energy actually… and that’s just great, to see what trance does nowadays… Because it’s just expanding. It was great. 

What are your thoughts on the trance scene here in Houston, or in the USA in general? 

I think it’s been pretty stable. But I would say over the 2-3 last years you could definitely see a spike in popularity of bass music, Dubstep, that kind of stuff… It kind of got formed here in America, with Skrillex, and Excision.. And it seems like people from America feel like this is the style from America, which, maybe it kind of is. So that was just waiting to rise in popularity when the whole EDM bubble exploded. I think it’s also really good for the American scene, for American artists to have huge platforms, because, of course, America is a huge place to be, and that’s very positive. But that being said, I think the new wave is… Trance, in whatever form it’s going to be. After Techno happening and still being very big at this moment, in a form where we couldn’t really foresee happening…  because Techno grew on becoming melodic, and becoming influenced with vocals, and Techno was never like that. So it just got under the style of Techno, being, in my opinion, Progressive Trance. So now it’s just waiting for the moment where people are going to accept Trance for what it is, for as big of a style as it is. And it’s been a big style since day one, because when you have melodies, progressive sounds, and different variations in tempo… Then that goes under the moniker of Trance, and I’ve been saying that since day one. So what you heard in Transmission Sydney, and also heard on A State of Trance just a few weeks ago, is that Trance as a style is making grasps towards other styles, saying like, “hey, you can join us, our people will like it!” And it’s true! So as an example, you have Ben Nicky, who does his Emotional Havoc, but he also has his like… more Hardstyle sets, and people accept that. You have Will Atkinson who’s really energetic, sometimes Hardstyle, you see Vini Vici playing Hardstyle, you see Armin van Buuren playing Hardstyle, and even Techno, real Techno, playing on A State of Trance… So this development seems very interesting and very, very fruitful for a new wave of Trance, hitting worldwide. 

What do you prefer: big festivals, or more intimate shows at venues like Stereo Live? 

Both have their upsides. There’s nothing more powerful than being in front of 50,000 people and seeing a whole wave of energy going through the crowd when they’re dancing. It gives an incredible, empowering feeling that you can control so many people at the same time… and of course, you’re working with the whole production team, a whole visual team, and a pyrotechnics team, but it’s still very hard to describe. You just have to be on the stage to actually see what we usually see to experience that… and the small shows are really cool because they’re very intimate. I just had that last week in San Francisco… people were literally in front of the DJ booth and I could see them, tearing up, singing along, and that’s just… You know, so close that you can almost touch each other, and that makes the vibe even stronger. So, for smaller show, I find it interesting that you can feel the atmosphere, the connection… or the lack of a connection. So then you have to do something, you know, you have to shape-shift, or you have to make changes to see how you can get the crowd going. If you do not have that with a super large crowd, then you’re toast, done for, and you have a big problem…. but with small shows, that’s actually where a real DJ is needed. On one hand, for educational purposes, to let people get in contact with new or unreleased music and see what that does on the dashboard… And on the other hand, to give the people a little bit of what they want, what they’re coming for, or what you think they’re coming for… So, very large answer, but I really like both.

One of the coolest shows that I ever played was a very badly promoted show in Panama. I think between 5 – 10 people showed up. Really. Including the owner. We had no clue, no expectancy, we just went there like “Oh my God, I get to do a show in Panama, I’ve never been there, what’s going to happen?” We went inside with the owner, and yeah, the club was practically empty… But the vibe that those people brought, they were the truest hardcore fans…. and they were jumping up and down, almost literally bouncing from ceiling to ceiling, and even the owner of the club got so energized that he wanted to DJ with me in the booth! My tour manager was there, and he had to physically pull him out of the DJ booth, saying “hey, I’m not standing here, you cannot stand here, this is for him!” But it was great, you know, and that showed that you really don’t need a huge crowd to have a fantastic party. 

My next question was actually going to be what one of your most memorable shows was? 

That show was a big memorable one, because it’s so out of the ordinary… But a more ordinary example is definitely the concert I did in Ciudad de Mexico for the Azteca community. We had a donation concert, where people, without knowing until the moment of the concert where I literally explain to them with a translated paper in Spanish, that every ticket they bought was supporting local families in Mexico, and it was sold out show for about 14,000 people… a 4 hour show, together with Emma Hewitt, Christina Novelli, and Jonathan Mendelsohn. That was just one big highlight from start to finish. You cannot do that nowadays, just like that, with that vibe, you know? With the Mexican style, when you see that gate open, people rush in, running to the front because they want to have the good spot… Yeah, that was definitely one of the highlights. We used a lot of the video material that we collected from that concert in the music video for “Jar of Hearts”, so you can see what that night was like. Yeah, it was really special. 

What have you been listening to lately? Maybe one artist or song that you have on repeat? 

Oh my gosh. Who’s on repeat? I really have to crack my brain for this, you know. Because there is an abundance nowadays. I heard the other day from a music lawyer or somebody who’s really deeply influential in the industry of EDM that, per week, 100,000 new tracks are released worldwide. I do my due diligence with a few hundred to 1000 or 1500 new tracks per week, but that’s my limit… and the cool thing for me is that with all that listening to new music, you can sometimes slightly feel a new style or new genre developing… and at the same time, you have a good way of scouting new talent, if they are not already knocking at your door. I’m currently running my own label, BODYWRMR, that goes under the wings of Revealed, and this year we are already celebrating our 50th release in three years’ time, so it’s going really well. I’m supporting talent from all over the world, from Japan to Mexico, from Hungary to Ukraine even… Fantastic talent. There’s so much talent, it’s fantastic. And regarding the label, what I’ve been listening to most… because those guys, they have been really active, are NORII and Daisuke. They’re both on my label and they’re from Japan, and they’re doing really well. They developed their own style, which is a little bit EDM influenced, but at the same time, a little bit old school-ish/HouseTech-House-y… it’s a mixture of things, which is super interesting, and you can go many ways with that in a set. A Tech-House DJ can use it, a Trance DJ can use it, a House DJ can use it… If you produce music like that, just from the heart, I think it’s really impressive. So yeah, if I have to name somebody, that’s NORII and Daisuke. Japan, representing! 

On the topic of favorite artists, who’s your favorite artist that you’ve worked with on a track, or DJ’d alongside? 

Oh my gosh, these questions! I don’t really have favorites to DJ along with, because I always kind of adapt myself to who I’m DJing after or infront of, so I’m always making myself subordinate to them. So within lineups, I make myself submissive/subordinate to a certain extent, to form a good place in the lineup. But production wise, I would say HALIENE, Christina Novelli, and definitely Jonathan Mendelsohn… He has been supporting me since day one, and we’ve become really close and personal. He wrote “Nothing Hurts Like Love” just after the breakup with my old partners, which was super emotional, and we just continued, you know, from there. And yeah, he’s a super great guy, super talented vocalist, great writer, and also a great DJ too. He even produces a bit… He’s quite multi-talented, I would say. 

Let’s get into some deeper questions. You’ve talked about the evolution of Trance, how you’ve seen it changing and evolving… What’s something that you would still like to see develop in the Trance community? 

Oof, um… It’s very difficult to say. I think that in terms of development of talent, it’s decent and quite stable, but at the same time it’s very difficult to stick out. It’s difficult, if you’re not already settled, to find your way into what’s already been established for all these years, because the majority of all the artists are still active…. I don’t know, really, I mean… I think when you have huge lineups, I would love to see the biggest artists from the Trance scene actually on one stage. I don’t see that enough. And that would kind of give a signal to everybody in the Trance family, saying, like, “we’re still here, we’re still active, and we’re still relevant… and we can rock stage with many of our (almost) competitors at the same level, so… I mean, how cool would it be if you have an Anjunabeats, where Armin Van Buuren plays, or where you can see ATB on the lineup, or Paul Van Dyk, or Tiesto going in, and all of that together… because what you’ve seen over the last 15 years or so, maybe longer, is that things have become… segregated a little bit. Everybody has their own fortress… and, don’t get me wrong, they’re doing great. They’re helping other artists, they’re building communities, and that’s wonderful, but that 2.0, or 3.0, Trance family, that needs to involve everybody… So that’s what I would love to see as a change… that if you have big events such as Anjuna, or Trance Energy, or Transmission, or A State of Trance… that the biggest stage (or most important stage) is for the artists that have done the most for the music over the years… and that where you can form a lineup that people can follow, so you don’t go from high energy to downtempo, and then from progressive to vocal because then, everybody’s losing track. But that’s something I’ve been pitching for the last four years, that making lineups is really important for programming nowadays for parties. So… that, combined with huge names, with combinations that you don’t see coming… I mean, in the early 2000’s, when Sensation started in Amsterdam, Carl Cox played alongside Sven Vath, which was totally accepted, was normal. It worked! And why wouldn’t it? You can do that in Trance as well, so… I would love to see a Back to Back between Armin and Tiesto… Or, Ferry Corsten and Above & Beyond… and then some. Everybody developed their own fan base and their own style, but at the end of the day, the majority of those artists are still playing and producing trance. So bring it together! Let’s make it a family! 

Your latest album is titled #aparttogether, could that be a reference to what you’re talking about? 

Yeah, that could be a good phrasing for that connection, yeah. “#aparttogether Festival” hahaha. 

Let’s talk about mental health. I know it’s important to you.  

Yes! It’s an ongoing process. I’m in a HUGE WhatsApp group, initiated by Armin, and basically the whole industry got involved in that group, and we all see the importance of mental health. So everyone in there is supporting each other, spilling their guts, you know, laying out their pains, their doubts, their treatments, and this is a big thing! But it’s super underestimated at this time, as well. Why? Because we had COVID. The electronic music scene, and really the whole entertainment industry, has taken the biggest blow. There was no compensation, you know, and some people even had to get normal jobs again to support their families… Then, after everything stopped with COVID, and everything started up again, it was almost like, from 0 to 6, like, full throttle… and it’s like, what the hell, you know. And, because of what I said earlier, you know, with the amounts of records coming out, new talent coming out…. If you don’t stay up to date, and you don’t stay relevant, you’re out. You’re toast, you know, then you worked all those years for nothing. So it was already challenging and very competitive, and I think it became even MORE so. So reflecting that to mental health, that that brings even more pressure and stress to deal with…  where you think, OK, I’m going to play my music, and have fun entertaining people… ah ah ah, nope! First things first, you have to take care of yourself.  

So in the behind the scenes/management side of the music industry, is that something that’s being taken more seriously now? 

Not at all, no. Because management also needs to eat, wants to eat, and so their priority interest is getting you as many shows as they can, because they’re profiting from it. I’ve made the comparison with professional soccer players, where you need professional guidance that is actually focused on you. Not on your potential, not on your earning potential, not on the rate of success… on YOU. Your character, who you are and what you represent, how you’ve been brought up, and so on… something that is almost at like a psychiatry level, where you have to know, like, OK, this artist is his at his best, if he tours like 4 shows a month, every other month. And for the rest, if he wants to stay with his family, or wants to grow a family, or wants to do another job with it, or he wants to make music or not… its like clockwork, actually.. It’s very personal… and there’s nothing in the industry that is facilitating that. Everybody has to kind of figure it out for himself… and herself, too, because women are very in demand right now as DJ’s, and they’re dealing with this as well. So that’s something that I’d like to see change, but it’s difficult.  

The Netherlands is known as one of the happiest countries in the world… 

That’s what people say… 

Do you agree? 

No, not per se. We’re really nice, we’re really international, and we’re really hospitable towards other people… We really like to connect with other people who are not Dutch… But when it comes to Dutch-to-Dutch, we’re not the nicest people, not towards each other, unfortunately. But that’s what it is. You cannot have it all. So we’re nice to other cultures because we’re interested in other cultures, maybe because we’re such a small country, and we have trade in our forefathers’ history, so maybe it comes from that… But, you know, towards each other in the Netherlands, we can be way nicer… we have a thing or two to learn, I find. 

It’s interesting that you say that, because my next question was going to be “what can the rest of the world learn from the Netherlands?” 

Well, to be nice to other people you know, especially when you’re not from the same culture. That’s what you can learn, is being open, being respectful towards somebody’s language, trying to pick up new things or habits or customs… that’s what people definitely can learn… Water Works, that’s what people DEFINITELY can learn from Dutch people.. and they listen to us, thank God, haha… but yeah, toward towards each other, Dutch people can be a lot nicer. 

So maybe everybody’s got a little bit to learn from everybody? 

Yeah, definitely. You’re never too old to learn, and you never stop learning. That’s a catchphrase, but it’s true. 

I think you’ve said in a previous interview that you don’t want to do a MasterClass or anything like that, because you don’t consider yourself a master, correct?

True, I don’t. Not even a DJ class, I’m not going to do it. I’ll leave that up to other people who feel like doing that, but not me. With DJing, although there is a big learning curve, you can learn DJing pretty quickly, but like, there’s no new technology making you a new DJ, or helping you DJ in a new way or style or whatever… So that would be really easy to do, but on the production side, the developments go so quick… For me, as a traveling artist, I’m not able to keep up with everything that’s going on… and it really goes fast. I’m almost to the point where I’m saying that I’m happy that Artificial Intelligence is coming out, because it can actually support me and take over some of that work. I mean, how cool would it be, that if I have an idea, that I could just tell a computer what I want, and boom, I got it? I think for me, that would really help, instead of learning DAW’s and how to work with music, and then finally, when you’ve learned all that, you have tons of new plugins to learn which do basically the same thing, but in a different way. I mean, what gives?  

I’m a big fan of AI as well. I think it’s going to enable people to have more time to relax. 

Yeah, yeah, and I see this as plus. I’m actually highly involved with this Swiss company who’s going to be the 2.0 version of what AI is now in the production world. It’s making small steps, but they’re getting a little bit further, and I’m very closely connected with them in beta testing and giving my feedback, and being supportive to what they are doing for future generations of producers. 

Lastly, are there any upcoming projects that you want to talk about? I know very soon you’ll be playing Ultra… 

Yeah, Ultra is huge, and I’m very excited to be in Miami again! And yeah, I’m just really happy with the label and with the new talent…. I have quite some new music coming out, definitely going to play new single, maybe 2 new singles tonight here in Houston, to see how that reflects to the people. One of them is coming out on the 14th of April, the other a bit later… I’m also going to release some really cool collaborations soon, I’m working on one or two REALLY big vocal collaborations that I’m super excited about, really excited… And I’m working towards a little bit of a new sound for next year already, so I’m also kind of road testing that while I’m playing my sets. So yeah, that’s what I’m up to at the moment, actually. I’m excited! 

After the interview, Jeffrey Sutorius delivered an energetic and upbeat performance that left a lasting impression on the audience. Following his set, he spent nearly an hour with his fans, who eagerly lined up to take pictures, receive autographs, and express their gratitude for an unforgettable evening.

It was incredible to see first-hand that he is a passionate and dedicated artist, who continues to evolve his sound and career. He places great value on connecting with his fans and creating meaningful experiences through his music. Despite his success, he remains humble and focused on his craft, always striving to learn and grow as an artist. With new music and collaborations on the horizon, he is poised to continue making an impact in the dance music world for years to come.

Keep up with Jeffrey on social media to catch his next release!