DJ and producer Erick E has spent over a decade at the pinnacle of Dutch House music. Since landing the Saturday-residency in Amsterdam’s legendary house temple RoXY back in ’95, Erick E has well and truly established himself as a force to be reckoned with. Aside from his energetic and danceable mix of grooves, the reason for his immense popularity is most probably attributed to his enthusiasm and charisma behind the decks. Erick E truly interacts with his audience and certainly lives up to his reputation as a party-starter!
Today he is one of Holland’s best-loved DJs and more popular than ever, owed in part to his unmissable presence at the very successful Sneakerz parties, which is one of his current residencies. He’s also one half of HouseQuake, a hugely successful back 2 back collaboration with DJ Roog, with whom he launched the very first HouseQuake Festival in 2009. In the same year ‘Shed my Skin’ became HousQuake’s debut release.
Erick is still strongly linked to Sneakerz Muzik, a platform he set up in 2004 to introduce a new generation of dj/producers to a larger audience. Sneakerz Muzik has quickly become a much loved club night, record label, festival and in some ways a complete way of life. Together with Franky Rizardo, Erick E compiled and mixed the Sneakerz 11 compilation album (released feb 2010), which is the perfect example of the Sneakerz philosophy: an established artist collaborating with young blood.
In 2010 Erick revealed his newest creation: E5H – a sidestep in a slightly different direction and a venture into the darker realms of house & tech-house. E5H is Erick E in his element – a 5 hour ‘all night long’ set. It premiered in the intimate setting of Amsterdam’s Sugar Factory, which couldn’t be more further removed from Erick’s international Sensation residency. Yet it is evident that Erick E feels just as at home in this kind of arena, once again proving himself to be one of the most versatile DJs of his generation.
His DJ-career initially kicked off in ’86, when he started making a name for himself in Amsterdam as hip-hop DJ. In ’89 he won the Dutch DMC Championship, and later that year he represented Holland in the World Finals at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
In the years that followed, his style of music changed, but his star kept on rising.
In ’95 he landed the Saturday-residency in Amsterdam’s house temple; the legendary RoXY. His weekly ‘SWET’ nights were a huge success, until ’98, when a slightly over-exuberant celebration of the death of one of RoXY’s founders ended in the fiery demise of Holland’s most famous nightclub ever. Being out of his steady job, didn’t exactly leave Erick out of work. His reputation as a party-starter earned him bookings in every corner of Holland, from mainstream to underground parties. He’s turned the tables on the main stage of Dance Valley and Sensation in the Amsterdam Arena for a crowd of 40,000, but has also remained a presence at smaller clubs like Panama in Amsterdam.