Ran-D, more than a decade of absolute dedication to the Hardstyle scene. He started as a dedicated hardstyle fan and ended up playing at the biggest events of this scene. He is famous all around the world and has been a key major character in the history of Hardstyle. This man speaks little but acts and thinks like no other. Ran-D is also known as the second partner in crime with Adaro that form the Gangster Shock duo Gunz for Hire, responsible for so many legendary live acts at events like Qlimax, Hard Bass, Reverze, and unleashing chaos with No Mercy.
X-Qlusive Ran-D 2017 | Official Q-dance Aftermovie
If you look at all the tracks he has produced so far like Living for the Moment, Dimensions, My Way, I Am Legion, Firestarter, No Guts No Glory, SON of Torture and so on, you will find yourself travelling back in time, carried away by his perfectionist and hectic style, as this man takes his work very very seriously. There is no fucking around and every detail matters, every sound is battered to perfection, every single word in a lyric is self made. Today ladies and gentlemen, we have the uttermost honor to host the one and only Ran-D at the Mag!
Ran-D it is always a great pleasure to meet a Hardstyle Legend! How are you doing? How was X-Qlusive? Can you describe the feeling on stage?
It was a pretty rough road towards X-Qlusive, as I am a perfectionist, and perfectionists tend to give themselves a hard time ;-D hahaha. So a lot of hard work, sleepless nights, sweat, blood, etc. But when the day finally came, it was all worth it. I had the best night of my life. It felt like the crown on my work, and a celebration of my career together with all my friends. The crowd was just amazing and the energy in the AFAS was that night was really unique. All these moments – I had goosebumps all over my body. I’m truly proud of this night!!
This year you had your own X-Qlusive party and raised yourself to a Hardstyle Legend. Having your own X-Qlusive show is one of the highest honors a hardstyle artist can get. How do you feel about it? What could possible next goals look like?
Like I said, it feels like the crown on my work. I feel honored that Q-Dance selected me for an X-Qlusive. This night gave me a super good vibe in the studio, so I’m making a lot of new music lately! All of these tracks will be a part of my new musical project ‘‘We Rule The Night’, that will be released somewhere in the second half of 2017. At X-Qlusive I did a ‘We Rule The Night’ live act with a lot of new tracks to give my fans a preview of what’s coming.
At X-Qlusive you dropped a fantastic “throwback” set, packed with just the best classics of your discography. Do you think honoring the classics this way is better than putting single tracks in a normal set? How would you rate the importance of your own classics tracks for people?
At X-Qlusive you celebrate your career as a DJ/Producer. So ofcourse the people want to hear the old tracks as well! So for me it was clear from the start that I would do a dedicated classic set. But besides this I also dropped some oldies during the rest of the night. I’ve always been a DJ that likes to drop a classic in a set, it just brings back good memories. And besides that, so many good music has been made in the past, so why leave it in the dust.
Letting Phuture Noize, Clockartz and Act of Rage play at your exclusive does imply some based trust in them as artists. Why did you choose these three? What connection do all share with each other and should more young talents been giving the chance to present themselves at huge events?
For a scene to keep on growing and remain strong, and even evolve, you need new talent!! Besides these guys, I also had guys like D-Sturb and Sub Zero Project and Bass Chasers at X-Qlusive. I think they are all promising producers that can help build the scene for the future, and I love to play their tracks. Besides this, their all great guys, so I’ve already made collabs with Phuture Noize, Act of Rage and Clockartz. And I would love to make some bombs together with Bass Chaserz and Sub Zero Project as well.
Ran-D presents: We Rule The Night – any glimpse for the readers on what’s coming? Is it an album? If so, why does it say “We Rule The Night”, who is “we”?
Like I said it’s my new musical project. My fans can expect a lot of new music from me! Some of the new ones that will be a part of ‘We Rule The Night’ are: We Rule The Night ,Zombie, Band Of Brothers, Back to Life (with D-Sturb), Hell Ain’t ready, Eardamage, Suicidal Superstar (with Phuture Noize), Victorious (with Clockartz), Drugs (with Act Of Rage), Young Birds (with Frequencerz), MDMA (with Endymion). A few of them are still in the making, and more is still to come, so keep an eye out for previews on my media.
To answer your question of ‘who is we?’, I’m referring to the dedicated people in our scene. The guys who are always there to give all their energy and know every single track. Together WE RULE THE NIGHT. It also refers to one of the lines of one of my classics Living For The Moment (we used to rule the night). The rest remains a secret for now 😉
You got new Gunz 4 Hire shows planned in 2017, will you take the visitor on a new journey with a new story? What do you change about the act, to keep it so special after all these years?
Of course we are making a lot of new tracks for our new show that we will launch at Intents Mainstage this Summer. Some of the new tracks are ‘Armed And Dangerous’, ‘Sicknezz’, ‘Welcome To Death Row’ and ‘Stick and Move’. And more new weapons are in the making!
The ‘No Mercy’ tour was a real success, and we were overwhelmed by all the great feedback from the crowd. So now it’s time exceed our fans’ expectations. We’ve got a brand new visual show that will rock your mind, and besides this we’ve got some other new visual tricks up our sleeve ;-). We’ve always been pioneers, so our goal is to give our fans a new experience that will exceed all their expectations. So be prepared!
If we look upon your legacy, all the masterpieces you have released throughout your career and let’s not forget all the crazy anthems you have produced for parties like Defqon.1, Decibel, Rebirth, Q-Base, Reverze, Qlimax (as Gunz for Hire) and so on, we can say without taking much risk that you have had a tremendous career so far. If you had to remember two precious moments of it, what would they be?
I would say closing Defqon 1 in 2015 when I made the anthem ‘No Guts, No Glory’. When I dropped the anthem, the whole mainstage was roaring DEF-QON-1, and then screamed along with the whole melody. Man, what an intense moment!
Another moment I really cherish is our first gig as Gunz For Hire back in 2011 at Decibel Outdoor. We really didn’t know what to expect, but the experience was so sick!!!
Can you give a glimpse on the future of Roughstate? What can fans expect this year?
Our goal is to bring the people high quality and diverse raw Hardstyle. Besides our own tracks, we’re also doing some guest releases. At the moment we’re all really productive in the studio, so the people can expect loads of new releases on Roughstate this year. And ofcourse we might do some hostings as well where we showcase the sound of Roughstate, so keep an eye out for that.
You also introduced another very interesting act called ‘Ran-D presents the Future’ at X-Qlusive; a show with young talents like the heavy Italian squad Clockartz, the furious Phuture Noize and the frenzy Act of Rage. On the social medias, we have seen them all praising on their new collabs with you but also after they took part in X-Qlusive Ran-D. Can we expect more talents to join ‘The Future’ this year?
‘Ran-D presents The Future’ was just a title to present these talented guys that I see a lot of potential in. So it’s not going to be a concept. I will however always support new talent. And I think it’s fun to be in the studio with young talented guys and exchange views on Hardstyle and music production.
Now, I have two last questions for you Ran-D. We have seen a lot of Hardstyle artist doing a little bit of Psytrance lately, and I’m sure you know what I’m going to ask next: Are you going to take on the challenge too?
I’m always open to new influences, but I don’t think this will be a real game changer in Hardstyle. To be honest, I think the use of a psytrance kick and bass will result in really similar drops. But well, you never know, I might just give it a try once for the fun of it.
I do like the energy and drive it has!!
I would love to hear an edit of Firestarter with a nasty psytrance edit, seriously that would be sick. Though, some people say it’s just a trend and that people will get bored soon. What is your opinion?
Like I said, it’s always nice to have some new influences in Hardstyle to keep on evolving the style and keep it interesting. But I prefer a good raw Hardstyle kick to the Psytrance kick and bass. Otherwise I would have become a Psytrance producer 😛
Questions from the community
Many people are asking for a collaboration with E-Force. Can you give a hint if this is happening? Can you please the wishes of your fans?
I really like E-Force his tracks, their produced really well and he has a lot of energy and powerful kicks in his tracks. I think a collab with E-Force would be a great match, so why not! We spoke about it before, but somehow it’s not yet happened.
When do you release Gunz 4 Hire Military? Is a release planned or do you keep it exclusive?
It will be a free give away sometime soon.
Could you imagine not to have a bald head?
Of course! There was a time when I actually had hair ;-D But I’m happy with my bald head, I’m really used to it and I think it doesn’t look that bad ;-P
At which point of your career you realized “Ran-D” is something bigger you ever imagined as well as from this point you can achieve something big? When did you reach the point of no return
When I was just visiting big events such as Qlimax, Defqon, Hard Bass and Decibel I always wanted to be behind the decks. From the moment I started DJ’ing with vinyl and producing tracks, it’s always been my goal to play my own tracks for a big audience. I’ve always had a big drive to achieve this dream!
When I finally got the chance to play at Qountdown back in 2008 – 2009 toghether with Alpha2 and B-Front, this really felt like a dream come true. This was also the first big party where I played ‘Living For The Moment’, which really was a big boost for my career. That’s when I first got the taste of the adrenalin, and that special feeling of playing at a big Hardstyle event. It’s really addictive! I really love it!!! So I won’t be stopping any time soon 😉
Ran-D, you are an incredible artist and one of pillars of Hardstyle. You can stand up proud for all you have done for the scene. Your legacy is unmatched and we all can’t wait to see what you have planned for us in the future. Congratulations again to be this year X-Qlusive Legend, our whole Hardstyle Mag crew wishes you the absolute best for your what awaits you in the future!
Thank you guys, it was great talking with you! And thanks for the great questions from the community. I just wanna say thanks to all the people that support my music, I wouldn’t be where I am right now without all my great fans. See you all this summer at one of events I’m performing at.