HousePlanet.DJ - Your House Music News Portal - HousePlanet Distribution

Hey everyone!
I've been planning this for quite some time, so the transition has been rather smooth for me, but i understand it might strike some of you as a strange move, so i thought it was wise to put my thoughts up on this blog...
As of today, i will no longer be available for deejay sets as 'Benjamin Bates'. Here's why:
When Marco and i were in the studio, finishing my first album 'neverletanythingkillthepleasure' back in 2002, we knew there was a big chance our strange mix of 80s pop and electronica would be hard to sell to the saturday-night clubbers. I must admit i hardly ever played any tracks off that album when i was deejaying myself those days. That's why, as early as the release of 'Locked Up!', we've always added a 'BATES45' mix to the release to satisfy deejays who wanted to play my stuff out at their gigs.
Without realising it in the beginning, this has pushed my deejay sets in the direction of those BATES45 mixes and farther away from the original material. This resulted in some awkward situations when deejaying; people were expecting me to play much more of my own material, or a different sound in general. This only got more complicated with the release of my second album 'Recyclomania' where club beats were pushed even further to the back, and the overall atmosphere and the intention of the songs was more important than anything to me. I did release three EP's before Recyclomania, and looking back, i think those should have been labelled BATES45 as well as all 6 tracks were created solely with the dance-floor in mind...
In secret, we've been developing plans for a 'Benjamin Bates Live' tour for the past three years, and although the plans were solid and everyone was excited about everything, the lack of attention surrounding the three singles taken from Recyclomania (and the album in general) has forced us to put those plans in the fridge for now. For me, starting the live tour had always been something i looked forward to as the perfect way to explain the difference between my regular music and my BATES45 project, but with the live tour on hold, i feel there is no other way to start making sense again then to fully focus on the BATES45 project at the moment when it comes to deejaying.
This not only gives me the freedom to make my upcoming artist album even more alternative and experimental, it also gives me the air i need when i'm deejaying or producing BATES45 material.
I must say, it has been very exciting for me, this whole switch. I've had many talks about it with my family, friends, the people at the record company and my agency. It's great to see everyone's full of energy again and the first few releases and remixes i've done have had some superb feedback.
I will make sure to keep you updated on both projects. With the amount of inspiration i feel at the moment, i trust my new album will not take too long :o) But at the moment, expect some fierce electronica from 'BATES45'!

See you out there soon,
Benjamin.