Paul van Dyk - Biography
By Marcus Kagler
As other electronic DJ’s come and go with the passing of each short lived trend, producer/DJ Paul van Dyk has successfully maintained an ever evolving presence within the Trance genre. Born in 1971 behind the iron curtain in Eisenhuttenstadt, East Germany, Van Dyk became enthralled with electronic music at an early age by listening to the banned RIAS (Radio in the American Sector) broadcasts when not trading illegal West German mixtapes with his school chums. After the fall of the Berlin Wall the aspiring house mixer began playing regular DJ gigs at the infamous club Tresor in 1991, before making regular DJ appearances for Dubmission parties at the Turbine club, where he met resident spinner DJ Paul Kid. The duo quickly formed a partnership and began performing shows as Paul vs. Paul before releasing singles under the moniker The Visions of Shiva for the Berlin indie label MFS (Masterminded for Success). The Visions of Shiva released their final single, “How Much Can You Take?” in 1993, with Van Dyk releasing his debut solo EP, The Green Valley (MFS) in 1994. Van Dyke began to branch out from the Berlin club scene later that year when he was asked by the electronic pioneers New Order to re-mix their latest single “Spooky” before releasing his debut full length, 45 RPM (1994 MFS), which spawned the European trance hit, “For An Angel”.
The follow up full length, Seven Ways (1996 MFS) put Van Dyk on the global stage as Trance’s brightest star on the strength of the club phenomenon “Words”. Two years later 45 RPM was re-released in the UK and the U.S. where it became a hit within the club scene with Van Dyk relocating the Sheffield, England as the resident DJ for Gatecrasher. Around this time Van Dyk became an anti-drug activist and began printing T-shirts with the logo “No E, Pure PvD”. Out There And Back (2000 Mute) featured a collaboration with Saint Etienne for another hit single, “Tell Me Why (Riddle)” with the double disc mix album The Politics of Dancing (2001 Ministry of Sound) following a year later. Van Dyke’s next project found him dabbling in film scoring for the Mexican indie Zurdo (2003 Universal International). A trip to India inspired the follow up album, Reflections (2003 Mute), which featured his most melodic songs to date and spawned the single, “Nothing But You”, a collaboration with Hemmstock & Jennings. Reflections also garnered Van Dyk his first Grammy nomination for Best Electronic Album. Van Dyk’s second mix volume, The Politics of Dancing Vol. 2 (2005 Mute) spawned another club hit with “The Other Side”, a track dedicated to the victims of the disastrous 2004 tsunami. His fifth full length, In Between (2007 Mute) was over three years in the making and featured numerous guest artists ranging from David Byrne to Jessica Sutton of the Pussycat Dolls amongst others. Van Dyke currently hosts the German radio show Radio Fritz every Wednesday night.