Rotterdam – A City which Bounces Back

When Serge Verschuur, founder of Clone Records, began DJing in the early ‘90s, there were basically only two genres of dance music in the city: “mellow and Gabber/Hardstyle”, he tells me when I caught up with him for a few words. The ‘mellow’ music covering everything House and Trance orientated whilst “everything in between didn’t really exist” unless it could be played by big DJs such as Carl Craig.

“All of the good Techno, Acid and Electro” was never played at events which meant that everything was “pretty much underground” which gave a lot of room to experiment as all of these genres were considered a ‘niche.’

“These were the years of the first Underground Resistance releases, A.R.T., B12, Aphex Twin, Seventh City, Plus8, Axis, Drexciya, Mike Dearborn, Djax records, Hotsound Records, Armando & Robert Armani etc…and obviously the harder techno releases influenced Gabber in ’91 but after that it was all different scenes”, Serge explains.

Things started to progress and towards the mid to late 90’s and “trance and techno became big and Gabber was too commercial and Mellow were main stream club music”

And this was when “a lot of underground acid and techno parties popped up and all the good clubs had a regular techno night”.

This seems to be when underground music really started to thrive within the city right up until this day.

Another Rotterdam based label, Pinkman Records, just celebrated its 10th birthday with a series of parties all around Europe. I sat down with label head Patrick Marsman for a chat about what the city means to the label.

Patrick moved to Rotterdam 12 years ago during a particular creative flourish in the city. Having moved from the East of The Netherlands with not a lot going on, he was happy to come to a place where there were “lots of new initiatives going on” and people playing music. A sound at the time that was popular amongst the underground scene, and still is to this day, is the “West Coast Sound” (The West Coast of Holland – Rotterdam and The Hague and the surrounding areas) which had roots in ‘80s Italo Disco and Electro, with the sound’s main initiators being Intergalactic FM (and it’s owner, music producer I-F).

Promoters at clubs such as Perron and BAR were running parties from this particular genre and it was these which were Marsman’s inspiration behind starting Pinkman.

“There were a lot of organisations running parties and artists producing this kind of music” so I got really inspired by that”, says Marsman. Patrick describes this sound as a bit “moodier and melancholic” than the sound of a city like Amsterdam for example. The city’s industrial landscape, filled with cranes and shipping containers might have something to do with it, as it’s far removed from the narrow canal-side streets of Amsterdam.

The first time I met Patrick was when I was starting to consider moving here from London, he spoke about how the city always goes through peaks as well as troughs but always returns to greatness after a particularly low point. I asked him about why he thinks that is explaining that the closures are usually to do with the city’s municipality as they’re not the biggest fans of nightlife. However the city does always seem to bounce back after such closures.

“I feel the municipality don’t value nightlife and don’t see it as culture or art. For example they could be way easier with permits. In recent news, Time Is The New Space is closing because of this. It’s not forced, they just have to wait on the right permit which takes at least 6 months which is not financially viable for a business. There’s been moments where it’s been booming and even international music magazines are calling it the ‘new Berlin’ and then it totally collapses again but that’s also what makes it crazy because then you really enjoy the moments where nightlife is booming again and you get inspired by that.”

It seems that, just like Serge with Clone, Marsman was also inspired by the fact that the music he wanted to play wasn’t available on vinyl at that point.

The idea of filling a gap for something that isn’t there yet is really a source of inspiration, which also lead to the co-founded Operator Radio alongside fellow local selectors Ofra, Jorn de Vries, Jeff van Hoek and Osman Bas.

Before Operator “everybody was on their own island” and “we didn’t have a central point where people from different scenes could come together and have one mutual interest.”

Ofra Beenen is another co-founder behind the station. Ofra has been living and working in Rotterdam as a tutor, promoter, DJ, label manager and curator for quite some time. We first begin talking about what makes Rotterdam such an inspiring and creative place. Ofra believes that it’s really the people that keep the city going.

“The city’s creatives exhibit a remarkable commitment to cultivating diverse musical experiences, contributing to a dynamic and ever-evolving cultural landscape.”

With regards to the attitude of the city’s creatives she believes there’s a “no-nonsense, do-it-yourself (DIY) mentality, where actions speak louder than words.”

This DIY mentality has also inspired many artists and DJs to set up their own labels upon which she reflects that the reason that so many people have been inspired to start their own label and club nights here in the city is due to its “diverse and thriving music scene coupled with an open-minded and welcoming atmosphere that creates a supportive backdrop for a record label.”

She also believes similarly that the main reason that cultural establishments sometimes struggle to remain is the lack of support from the city’s municipality.

“This constant cycle of openings and closures underscores the need for more comprehensive support and collaboration between the music community and local authorities to ensure the long-term sustainability and growth of Rotterdam’s vibrant music scene.”

In terms of the city’s future Ofra remains full of hope. She believes that while challenges exist “the potential for a vibrant and evolving nightlife scene remains high and that the people who take care of this city will never let this city’s nightlife die.”

Gamma Intel is a Rotterdam based producer and co-founder of Nerve Collect (the label he runs with Identified Patient).

He said that the city offers a “certain form of cohesion that’s unlike any other city in The Netherlands” adding that there is a greater sense of “collaboration, rather than competitiveness.”

Alberta Balsam (real name Aniek de Rooij) is another DJ/producer making waves in the Rotterdam scene, with recent releases on Clone and DJ and live performances at Dekmantel and ADE. When Aniek first moved here, Rotterdam was a poor city with little happening other than an underground squat party scene.

There were a lot of vacant buildings which lead to more possibilities for people to organise things for themselves. However, it was also around this time that hooliganism was burgeoning across the country, with politicians and law enforcement associating the cultures similarly without discretion or rationale. Aniek dissects this:

“They seem to see nightlife as unimportant and prone to causing problems and lack the understanding that there should be diversity in the types of venues and types of audiences that they attract too. Rotterdam is very small and still very poor so it’s pretty hard to make it profitable in comparison to Amsterdam. There are a lot of people here that have a lot of origins in organising parties themselves and there’s a lot of creators here. The percentage of producers compared to how many people there are here in Rotterdam is extremely high so there’s something in the water I guess. Also, besides club culture there’s also a lot of other things going on that are inspiring like nice museums and restaurants. There’s a lot of things happening in the art field so I think that’s an inspiring part of living in this city I guess.”

After chatting with multiple key figures within the music scene in Rotterdam, it’s safe to say that what sets Rotterdam apart from every other city in The Netherlands is that it’s a city that’s run by its people.

It has a DIY attitude, where, if there’s something missing, someone will fill the gap, that’s if they are allowed to.

Photography courtesy of Eli Hooper, Leroy Verbeet and Celie Lucienne.