How's Life?: Guus Christian
It’s all a feeling. At the heart of Guus Christian’s work lies a deep love for music, the dancefloor, and club culture. As a genre-blending DJ, he brings soulful, uplifting energy to renowned clubs like Doka and Skatecafe, and festivals such as Down The Rabbit Hole and Drift. Guus is the driving force behind Blauwdruk, serving as both a promoter and resident DJ for the club nights while managing the label, Blauwdruk Records. With performances at festivals like ADE and iconic venues like Doornroosje and Ekko, Guus Christian continues to bring people together with his soulful approach to music.
Hi! Can you please introduce yourself to our readers? Hello, hello! My name is Guus, I’m from Nijmegen, the Netherlands. I deejay under the name Guus Christian. Christian is my second name, which I share with my grandfather. It is not my religion, although I do enjoy gospel-infused dance music. Next to deejaying, I collect records and together with my friends Joery and Stan, I run Blauwdruk. We organize soulful club nights (currently based at the club Mesh) and occasionally release records. Last year, we celebrated our tenth anniversary where Maurice Fulton played all night. I’m also a resident at Open Source Radio, hosting a bimonthly show called Dancing in the Key of Life. Outside of my musical life, I’m a college teacher and the father of a two-year-old girl. How did you get into music? Can you take us back to the beginning of your musical journey? My father was heavily into Frank Zappa and jazz music when he was younger, and my mother was a trained pianist with a love for classical music. When I was six, they suggested I should learn an instrument. I learned to play the accordion until I was 18 years and I, like so many others, got infected with the dance music virus. I started going to parties, collecting records, and visiting festivals, and fell deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole (still not sure how deep it goes). I went through different phases including blog/french house, techno, disco, house, and ambient. Now, I just follow my heart and look for music that moves me, physically and emotionally. Was there one album or artist your parents used to play that stuck with you? Did it influence your taste in music? My parents listened to a lot of FM radio at home which at the time was not that special. But when we went on holidays we had CDs in the car that would be on heavy rotation. I remember being around 12 years old, sitting next to my dad in the twilight hours before dawn while my mother and sister were still asleep in the back of the car. We were listening to a Pink Floyd CD and I was soaking up all the little sounds and being amazed how the different parts of Shine On You Crazy Diamond flowed from one to the next. I guess it didn’t influence my taste but it did trigger me to listen deeply and with intent.
What’s been your favorite gig to date, and what made it so special? I’m gonna cheat a little bit and name two here but for good reason as they both mean a lot. The first one is warming up for the mighty Mark Grusane back in 2018 at Brebl, the venue where we did Blauwdruk before it closed its nightlife operations. It’s still a jazz concert hall but they sadly lost their license for club nights. As is the norm with our Blauwdruk club nights, Mark and I both played for three hours where I opened and he closed. The energy was electric from the start, so much so that I played almost the entire (13-minute) version of Arthur Russels’ In The Light of The Miracle. That night also gave birth to our Blauwdruk Records label. Mark played one of his private edits that made everyone lose their minds and had people going crazy for the track name. Sometime later, we decided it had to be put on wax. The second one is playing b2b (as Shared Joy) with my good friend Sander Emil at the Down The Rabbit Hole festival last summer. It was the biggest crowd we played for, but strangely enough, I felt zero nerves and had a blast playing big vocal house favorites and more soulful tunes. It was a great honor to play on such a huge stage at a festival where I used to go as a visitor many times before. If you were hosting a stage, who would be on your dream line-up? My heart is forever lost to clubs, but I’m also a big fan of festivals with outdoor stages that go on long into the night, so that’s what I’m going for here. Starting the day most gently will be an ambient set by Tako. After everyone is fully awake, I would love to hear some organic, melodic, and funky sounds so I would love for Floating Points, Sassy J and Mr. Scruff to go b3b to play Brazilian music, jazz, boogie, and soul. As the sun is slowly setting, I would like to see some New York royalty send everyone to the moon and back so Danny Krivit, Francois K and Joe Claussell it is. The night part of the stage starts with Tama Sumo and Lakuti, who have given me so much joy on the dancefloor over the years. Followed by San Soda, who has probably influenced me more than any other deejay on this list. Closing the dancing part of the night would be Theo Parrish (who else right?) and since we’re still dreaming; I would have loved to see a visionary like David Mancuso play back in the day so I’m gonna opt for his famed Loft come down records to prepare everyone to re-enter the real world in harmony.
Where’s your favorite place to shop for records, and why? Rush Hour has been my steady supplier and instrumental to my musical education since I started buying records, so I obviously gotta give them a shout. Red Light Records too (shouts to DJ Kennedy!), there’s so much good second-hand stuff every time I go there. In my hometown Nijmegen I’m contractually obliged to go with Marini Records since I recently started to help out in the store. There are records there you probably didn’t know before you came in, but will stay with you a long time after you take them home. A nice bonus is that a lot of stuff from the store can be played directly after purchase on the Paak sound system (where Marini Records is based), so whenever I play there I try to do the DJ's job and put people onto new music. What’s your current favorite record to play in front of a crowd? When would you drop it in a set, and what makes it so good? Joe Claussell is one of my all-time favorite producers, there’s not a gig where there’s zero JC in my bag. Too many great tunes to choose from, but I’m gonna go for the epic With More Love (Dance Version). The melancholy, the message, the drums, everything's just wonderful. Drop it when everyone is locked in and ready to be lifted. Everyone has a guilty pleasure track — what’s yours? I’m a sucker for the 80s phase of Fleetwood Mac, specifically the Tango In The Night album. Everywhere, Little Lies are both great but I’m gonna go with Family Man. The 12” maxi even has the ultimate Balearic Extended Guitar Remix on it. What’s the number one thing on your bucket list (not related to DJing)? To surf in tropical waters again. Any advice for beginners looking to get into DJing? Take your time to study where the music came from. Not only does it help to appreciate the music more, but it also humbles you, and gives you a sense of perspective and appreciation for what a dancefloor can be. For starters, I would recommend anyone into dance music to read Tim Lawrence’s Love Saves The Day. Even if you’re not into 70s disco, the vision of David Mancuso is still key to how we dance today. Other than that, lose the ego, focus on building something together, and don’t be afraid to dream of a brighter future. The world is a cynical enough place as it is.
