** De Man Zonder Schaduw // The Man without a Shadow // Der Mann Ohne Schatten **
De Man Zonder Schaduw is the resident DJ and front man of the Amsterdam based organization GZG, which has been giving the Dutch scene a wake up call lately with their wild parties and refreshing sounds. From day one, De Man Zonder Schaduw has influenced the extravagant subculture with his music and his holistic approach to raving culture. A process that evolved him into a DJ-purist and a performer who’s at his best behind the decks and in control over the night.
Before GZG took off in 2004, De Man Zonder Schaduw already had a long relationship with house music and it’s culture. He was only eleven years old when he visited his first rave (Rave the City, Den Haag 1992) and kept track of all sorts of sounds and scenes throughout the years. House, Gabber, Trance, and Techno have all had his interest, but it was the universal spirit of raving culture that fascinated him most. As a person and as a DJ, he therefore never limited himself to just one of the scenes and, eventually, started a scene himself: the GZG scene.
What distinguishes GZG most is that they’ve built a complete scene from scratch, with it’s own locations, it’s own heroes, it’s own sound and their completely own vision on the scene that can be found in every single detail at their parties. Five years after starting in a camper, GZG has created a 360 degrees program of scene-activity by doing techno raves (Club GZG), after parties (Maandag Bestaat Niet), camping weekends (Familieweekend), sunday afternoon get-togethers (Matinee), a new-year party (Wappie New Year) and so on. Their mission is to bring the pure and universal spirit of house culture back into the scene, and to get the Party at priority number one again. Something which is summarized in their slogan ‘Wat een leven!â€, a Dutch expression for Joie de Vivre.
As a DJ, this GZG-background has made him develop a completely own style. Musically, his style can be best described as diverse, positive and played to party, playing techno, house, minimal and classics altogether in a pumping 4-to-the flour fashion. But it’s his approach to deejaying that really makes him unique these days. De Man Zonder Schaduw is what is called a DJ-DJ: a deejay purist who checks more than 100 releases a week, always working on his collection and always working towards the perfect set. Preferably a long one, as he loves playing long sets. His marathon performances are legendary, of which the 8 hour outburst at Studio 80 (February 2008) has gotten cult-status in the Amsterdam scene.
His diversity and purist-approach have resulted in a well-filled and diverse agenda. After performing for the first time in 2004, 2008 was a true rollercoaster year. That year he did the ‘summer of madness’ with GZG, doing stages on festivals like Mystery Land, Free Your Mind, Rockit, and the Loveparade. Besides this he had more performances than ever before, and he also took the next step internationally, doing a 4-gig tour in Berlin (Tresor, Golden Gate, Centrum, SO36) and playing for Sensation in Copenhagen (Denmark), Madrid (ES) and Dusseldorf (D). Right now (2009) things keep looking good. January started off with a big deal of new GZG dates and a residency for Sunday Spirit in Studio 80, a monthly club night on which he plays a 4-hour set. Besides this, he’s got national residencies for Club Stalker, Voidd, and Rekorder and an international residency for Sensation, where he will play at the VIP-decks on a great deal of their world tour this year. Altogether, it keeps being carnival for De Man Zonder Schaduw weekly. And that’s a good thing, because if someone’s at his place behind the decks it’s him!
