FOLD Invites Bas Mooy
Bas Mooy is a powerhouse not just in the Netherlands, but on an international level, too. Describing his musical career as something that seemed to initially “happen to him” rather than being an active pursuit from an early age, his ensuing entrenchment within the scene was an organic, steady evolution. The initial seeds of his passions were planted in his hometown, Rotterdam, where electronic music had not yet touched him until he experienced the local ‘Strictly Techno’ parties; these events exposed him to the very genre he now dominates both with his own productions and record sharing - from his Audio Assault days all the way to his now-legendary Mord imprint.
This quietly pivotal time back in the late-90s was the springboard upon which he gradually formed his vocation; during a brief foray into academia, a life-changing car accident triggered him to rethink his goals, and around the millennium he began working for Triple Vision Record Distribution, simultaneously launching his first record labels, Audio Assault, and Arms, with close friend Radial. With several projects to focus on and refine over the coming years, Bas’s understanding of electronic music flourished, and in 2013 - after around 9 years of Audio Assault - Mord emerged and took over his full attention.
Now, in 2020, the label reliably delivers some of the most resilient, nail-biting techno in the world, and Bas himself is renowned as both a tastemaker and enduring presence both in the booth and on the shelves of record stores. We spoke to Bas about life in lockdown, why he’s narrowed his focus, and how life’s learning curve is a necessary path for any aspiring artist.
Your last appearance with us was at our Mord Extended party back in February. Tell us more about the relationships you have with those you invite to your showcases - what have you found is the common ground with yourself and these artists?
We try to keep it interesting by bringing new names to the table on a regular basis, both in the release schedule and the Mord nights. For me, it’s important to keep inviting new faces, - to support new artists and also to keep the label interesting and diverse. Of course, there’s some artists that have been with me from the start who play many of the events.
Over the years I’ve become friends with many of the artists on board and some of them were also friends before; for example, there’s several names around from the Audio Assault and Triple Vision days. The common ground is obviously our love for techno, but with many of them I share similar interests outside of that. Alongside playing nights together we also travel together, have dinner, hang out at parties, so many of us became friends – then family. The Mord extended parties at FOLD or Berghain, for example, gave us room to experiment a bit too, so it’s nice to program names that usually won’t be at a label night with only a few artists.
What were the reasons you launched Mord initially, and how come you made this decision whilst still running Audio Assault, which was around for many years longer?
I launched Mord because Radial and I (who I ran Audio Assault and Arms with) had different ideas on the direction of the label; it was slowly getting harder to find music we both agreed on which fitted. By starting a new label on my own I created much more room for myself - both in the musical direction and also with the artwork. We’ve been thinking about restarting Audio Assault, but sometimes it’s perhaps better to leave things the way they are - we quit for a reason after all.
I have great memories about the label and the times we were running it, though, and I still feel proud when I look back at the catalogue we built. Many of the releases still seem relevant. I think Mord is always developing - mainly because I just follow my taste and try not to think too much about a style or direction. To be honest, I just follow my gut feeling; if I like it, I like it.
You've been present in the scene for more than some time now. What what you tell the younger version of yourself if you could speak to him when he was freshly entering the industry?
Maybe it would be good advice to be a bit more careful trusting people, since I’ve had my share of disappointments over the years. But in all honesty, I also think it’s part of the learning process; sometimes you just need to make mistakes to get stronger and wiser. I would probably tell myself not to worry too much, especially since those years I’ve been through a lot of stress about things that just didn’t matter that much. I think the moment my daughter was born was when I realised some things are not worth worrying about. Becoming a father really put my life and my career in perspective.
Sometimes you need to make decisions that make others unhappy or even pissed off. I understand now that you can’t keep everybody happy. This also goes for the producer side of things. It’s also far more rewarding to make music for yourself and people that will appreciate it, instead of trying to convince those that will never appreciate you anyway – it’s such a waste of time.
How have you been dealing with the lockdown?
For the first six weeks I mainly focused on my family, since both my kids [12 and 7] were at home - so I was homeschooling them and spending as much time as possible with them, since it has been a very weird time for us all, obviously. My mind wasn’t really with the music to be honest. I saw many people posting about being super creative in the studio and streaming sets on a daily basis, but for me it was not something I felt like doing at that point. It was pretty tough to see the whole schedule of gigs being cleared one by one.
After more than half a year of not playing I do realise how much I miss dj-ing, but on the other hand I also found out how unhealthy all the traveling was for me. I feel pretty balanced at the moment, so I also try to find some positive elements in dealing with not touring right now. I haven’t been tired for the first time in 15 years, been running on a daily basis and it does feel good to be home in the weekend. I do worry a lot about how we can get back on our feet again and how long it will take before I will be back behind the decks. I wouldn’t feel comfortable traveling for gigs while we are in this situation, so I haven’t been playing since the lockdown in March.
What do you think the industry/local communities can do to help each other during this time?
I think everybody is trying to play their own part and handling it their own way. On the music side of things for me I’m basically trying to keep the label alive and make sure I release music by our artists. For others it’s playing live streams, creating podcasts, workshops or sharing stories. It’s hard to see so many people struggle right now - losing their jobs, companies going bankrupt - in all parts of society. I think the cultural community has been hit hard and we’ll be taking some more heavy hits over the next months and year and probably even longer, so we need to be creative and find new ways to make it through.
Usually these crisis situations stimulate new creative ideas, and some people get extra inspired to come up with something new, but we can’t deny it all looks pretty bad right now. I think there’s already quite a lot of nice initiatives out there and we are all willing to help, but I’m also a bit clueless on what to do and what part to play myself. These times seem to bring out a lot of good qualities in people when you look around in your neighborhood or watch the news - but it also can bring the ugly side of people out.
Do you think the industry will change at all once lockdowns are lifted?
I hope people realise that we need to make some changes in our scene, but this also goes for the world in general, since things were getting out of hand in so many ways. You kind of hope people learn and there will be some resets, since we were waiting on the bubble to burst for a while already. After lockdown, I’m expecting scenes to start up more locally again - maybe a bit like how it started for many of us in the early nineties, but it’s hard to predict. For now, we need to wait patiently; that’s all we can do.
What are you most looking forward to once this is all over? Is there a specific image in your head that arises?
It all seems so far away right now, hard to imagine. I guess I’m looking forward to just being out there again, hanging out with people, playing loud music and being close to others. It feels weird even to think about shaking someone’s hand right now. I can’t imagine how thankful people will be to be able to party again without any restrictions; the first parties will probably be mental. I guess many people taken going to raves for granted at some point – I’m pretty sure that feeling will be different once things are back to normal.
What can we expect to come from yourself and your projects over the coming months?
I was thinking about what to do with the label when this all started, but I decided pretty fast that I’d like to try and keep running it the same way as before. I had a new release from myself in June on Mord and there have been releases after that by Pfirter and Tensal. We got a new Paul Birken release out last month. It took me way too long to get this US legend back on board, but that makes it extra special. I also started a new project on Mord, which is out since the end of November: https://mord.bandcamp.com/album/bareknuckle-boxing-volume-1 .
I think it’s important to keep the label in motion, even though the music won’t be heard in clubs right now. Mord will release 2 more EPs this year; there have been massive delays at the pressing plant. There will also be a V/A for the Herdersmat series - probably early next year. I’m working on some new music too, but the situation we’re in hasn’t had a very productive effect on me so far. I’m just trying to keep things alive and I can’t wait for the day to announce the first Mord night after this is all over.