RS: In your DJ sets, in addition to your own music, what style of music and what records are you playing?
Wim: It depends a bit on where you play. Mark and I have been DJing for something like eighteen or
twenty years or something, but it could be funky breakbeat, some hip-hop, a little electro, but also the harder
breakbeat stuff, as long as it has a funky vibe to it.
RS: What does the name Kraak and Smaak actually mean?
Wim: It's Dutch, it comes from Dutch proverb which means crunchy and tasty. The actual proverb is kraak
noch smaak, which means if something has neither crunch nor taste, it's like it's nothing. But I changed that around
and made it sound more positive. It has a nice ring to it, but we really didn't think about it, that people in the UK
or the US would pronounce it as crack and smack, actually.
RS: You also have a record store at home. How do you keep that going when you're on the road so much?
Wim: The record store is Mark's, and sometimes I work there. It's not a standalone record store, but a
vinyl section in a CD store, though we sell a lot of stuff from collectors, new kinds of dance music, also alternative
guitar music and that kind of thing. It is difficult to keep it up, yes, I must say.
RS: What's the name of the store?
Wim: It's called Zelda's, located in Lynden.
RS: You're also working on a film score right now, how are you reacting to doing a film score as opposed
to your own original music?
Wim: We finished that film score and it's really nice to notice that your music gets used in a different
kind of way. It's really funny that it works and it sort of makes you proud as well. It's something that we would
like to do more often, making scores for movies or documentaries.
RS: What movie is it going to be in?
Wim: Let me see, how can I translate that? In English, it would be I Embrace You With A Thousand Arms.
RS: When you're in a studio working on music, what instrumentation are you using?
Wim: All kinds of things. For a sequencer, we're still using a really old Atari computer from the early
90s, it only uses a very old version of Cubase but we also use a mixing desk and we use keyboards, vintage ones and
also modern ones, a combination of old stuff and new stuff. For example, we use a Rhodes piano and a Cracking Net,
but
also Moogs, that sort of thing. We also more modern things like a North Lead and all kinds of effects, and of course
then tables to get those simple things.
RS: How did you hook up with Sharam Jey?
Wim: Actually, it was our record company that came up with it. I think it's really important, at least
in our style of music, to have an English label onboard because it sets you up more easily than if we had to do it on
our own. So that's a really positive thing for us, the same way we got asked back to do a remix.
RS: I see you guys are headlining the Amsterdam Dance Event, what effect do you think the ADE has had on
the Dutch dance scene?
Wim: It's difficult to say, a lot of Dutch people are performing there, which is a good thing. I think on
the whole, though, the Amsterdam Dance Event is more of an international thing than really a Dutch thing because the
lineup also has a lot of international DJs and producers. Though I think it really has influence to get acts and DJs
more gigs or record deals in other countries, and I think it's a really good thing to have such a seminar and the
whole program, with all the concerts, DJ gigs, and such every year in Holland. It brings a lot of attention and that's
a good thing. It works.
RS: What would you like to say to all your fans out there?
Wim: Hopefully we will see you all around when we come to play in the US, and then maybe again in the
future.
