Dimitri Van Elsen is an electronic musician from Antwerp who was mainly active from the early to mid-1990s. With his brother Stefan he formed Brain Pilot, S.U.B., Proton Core, Indian Nation, and Trans-4m. After a sabbatical, they returned as Phluff, a more jazz oriented trio with saxophonist Gert Wijninckx.
skug: You started playing music at 15. What made you want to start making music yourself? What was your motivation?
Dimitri Van Elsen: When I was 9, I wanted to go to music school to learn the flute. But at home they thought it was a whim and wouldn’t let me. Music fascinated me from a young age. My brother bought a Korg MS10 synthesizer, and I was completely blown away. Later, he also bought a Tascam 4-track cassette recorder. That’s what I started experimenting with. It’s actually mainly because of my brother, that I started playing music.
What music influenced you to start making music yourself?
All music, actually. My mother is a painter (Mietje Boonen) and always had music playing while she was working and also in the car. She played all styles, from classical to jazz and music from the 1960s, etc. My first great love was The Police after seeing them on Dutch TV in the program »Top Pop«. Later in life, Brian Eno had a huge influence on me. When I heard »Music for Airports«, a whole new world opened up. But there’s too much to list. I’ve been influenced by almost every style of music.
You chose electronic music back then. Why? What attracted you to it?
In the late 1970s, early 1980s, the rise of the synthesizer. That sound was so different from all other sounds in music. Human League, Gary Newman – there were bands that started making music solely with synthesizers. The first time I heard Kraftwerk (I was 12 at the time), I was completely hooked. »Trans Europe Express« was the album, and I’m still a huge Kraftwerk fan. Not that I didn’t listen to other music, of course. The early 1980s also saw new wave and the whole aftermath of punk, but the synthesizer was also omnipresent in pop music. I tried playing guitar. When I was 16, I bought a bass. But unfortunately, I found the guitar especially difficult to play. Keyboards turned out to be my better fit.
Later, you started studying jazz. Why jazz?
After we had made several albums in the 1990s, I felt it was time to delve into music theory. We had mainly made maxi singles, house and dance records. The first Trans-4m album was already out, but I still felt I had little to no technical knowledge of music. Up until then, I hadn’t had any formal training. Not that I didn’t know jazz; my mother listened to it too. But it was mainly Miles Davis’s records »Kind of Blue« and »Tutu« that drew me into jazz. The improvisation aspect also really appealed to me. Ultimately, that’s what I’d been doing up until then: improvising.
You often made music with your brother Stefan. Why?
I think that’s obvious. Because of him, I started trying things out on my own. But we also complement each other very well. He’s more rhythmic and has a good sense of groove. I’m more harmonious, melodic. It was also out of necessity. We didn’t have much money, and all that music-making equipment was expensive. We had to share to have more options.
At some point, you took a sabbatical. Were you done with music?
That was mainly out of necessity. Music is very difficult to survive on, and you had to put food on the table.
Why did you pick up the thread again with Phluff after that?
The urge to make music never goes away, and I also wanted to create something that incorporated my jazz experience.
What role does music play in your life today?
It still plays a major role, but unfortunately, I haven’t had time to make music for the past ten years. Work and the extensive renovation of my house take up all my time. Meanwhile, the new home studio is finished. So, who knows, maybe a new album will follow in the future. The urge hasn’t disappeared yet.
