Technoboy
Origin: None
When you randomly ask some Technoboy fans to describe their idol in one sentence, you can be sure the line “He is the King of hardstyle” will be spoken. That’s quite something, being compared to one of the biggest legends in the music industry. But the ones that have heard and seen Technoboy perform during the 10 years of his still-going-on-strong career will understand why. Maybe his clothing style is less extreme than how we know the King of rock ‘n’ roll; it’s also flamboyant, trendy and something that goes hand in hand with his personality. His enormous collection of Nikes in all shapes and colors will most probably contain some blue and suede ones. And although the hip shakes of Elvis will never be beaten, when the Italian hardstyle DJ is performing, he doesn’t stop moving behind his DJ booth. But the most important similarity is that both icons ARE their music. When you say hardstyle, you say Technoboy.
The story of Technoboy starts in Bologna, Italy, in the second half of the ‘80s, when a hard-working schoolboy named Cristiano Giusberti stepped into a local discotheque for the first time. What was nothing more to his peers than a night out without having to bother about books and teachers, appeared to be a life-changing event for Cristiano. It was like every fiber of his body soaked up the music, and he knew after that night what his destiny was: to be that guy on the podium, making people feel the same as he just experienced. Some years, much practicing, and a lot of money spent on dance records later, Cristiano became that guy.
In 1992, Cristiano’s musical career started. As DJ Gius, he was offered a residency in an Italian club, and in the following years many other clubs—like Pachito Club, Elixer Vitae, Escape, Station and East Side—were added to his curriculum. In 1992, Giusberti also started working as an A&R manager for Route 66 Music Market for DJs, and four years later, also for Arsenic Sound. That’s where a new chapter in Cristiano’s life emerged: next to playing music, he started producing it. Again, his musical talents didn’t stay unnoticed: In 1999, he achieved worldwide fame with his DJ Gius remix of the track “Kernkraft 400” by the German techno/electro project Zombie Nation. It was an important year for Giusberti: he also joined Alternative Sound Planet, part of one of the biggest record companies in the world, the SAIFAM Group. After finishing two tracks for the Titanic label in October, Cristiano needed a cool and catchy alias for his production work. In Italy, “techno” was a generic name for the different styles in dance music. It sounded good together with “boy”; Technoboy was born.
Technoboy gave a name and face to a musical style that took the dance scene by storm—hard, energetic and banging dance music, but always supplied with a touch of Italian class and style. There couldn’t be a better name for it than “hardstyle.” In 2001, after almost a decade of performing as DJ Gius, Cristiano stepped onto a plane to Holland, the dance capital of the world, where he played his first gig as DJ Technoboy. He injected his beats into the crowd and within a couple of years, the whole country was infected by the Italian hardstyle virus. And not only Holland: Technoboy made people in countries like Germany, France, Italy, South Africa and Australia shake their hips, stomp their feet and clap their hands. He was a headliner at every major hardstyle event on the globe. Famous Dutch parties like Mystery Land, (45,000 visitors), Hard Bass (12,000 visitors), Decibel Outdoor (20,000 visitors), Qlimax (25,000 visitors), Defqon.1 Festival (30,000 visitors) and Sensation Black (40.000), and parties like Tomorrowland (Belgium), Sonic (Switzerland), Planetlove (Ireland) and Airbeat One (Germany) are on his résumé. In 2009, X-Qlusive Technoboy was added to this list and this night, where everything revolved around Cristiano Giusberti and his music, was a crown on his career and a night he and his fans will never forget.
With more labels under his belt than any other hardstyle artist (Dance Pollution, Red Alert, Titanic Records, Bonzai Italy, Green Force and BLQ), Cristiano released an uncountable number of tracks under more than 30 different aliases, such as Pacific Link, the Hose, Giada, the KGB’s, Citizen, TNT, Hardstyle Masterz, Tuneboy, 2 Best Enemies and, of course, Technoboy. He did remixes for the biggest names in the hardstyle scene, mixed CDs, and has a discography that one easily could fill a book with.
Technoboy, the King of hardstyle—the comparison may be clear. And the good news is that Cristiano didn’t intend to leave the building yet; his main goal for the future is to spread his hardstyle word all over the planet and share his unconditional love for his music with as many people as possible!