The Rise of Armand Van Helden, as Told by Armand Van Helden
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You may know Armand Van Helden only as half of the insanely (and inanely) catchy duo Duck Sauce, in which he plays alongside Brooklyn partner A-Trak. But the New York City DJ, whose army upbringing kept him moving around the world as a kid, first hit it big in the early ‘90s as a promoter and DJ at the Loft in Boston. This gig set the stage for his eventually becoming one of the world’s most revered house DJs.
The Loft’s vintage house soundtrack is celebrated on the first disc of Armand’s installment of Ministry of Sound’s Masterpiece series. The three-disc package also includes “Yacht Rock Don’t Stop” and “Freestyle Forever,” which pay homage to the ‘70s American bands Van Helden’s parents used to blast on their home stereo, as well as the Latin-influenced, electro-tinged dance music he fell in love with before converting to house.
At his peak, Armand scored UK chart number ones with “You Don’t Know Me” and his Ibiza-conquering remix of Tori Amos’ “Professional Widow.” “Bonkers,” a collaboration with Dizzee Rascal and yet another number one, was even played at the opening ceremony of London’s 2012 Olympic Games.
Van Helden is now declaring a state of semi-retirement: “Def Leppard said, ‘I’d rather burn out than fade away.’ I don’t agree; I think fading out is healthy!” So we thought it the perfect time to have him recount his rise through the East Coast house scene:
When I was 13, I got my first DJ gig. It was a Valentine’s Day dance at my school. There was another DJ, and he was a senior. He was a rock guy, and at the time (this was 1983—hip-hop was coming up), everybody was breakdancing and popping. I got booked because the soul and funk people wanted me; that was more my sound. I’m not saying I was great, but things were changing. He got phased out, and I ended up becoming the school DJ.
I got into house music in 1988. At that time, the phrase was “deep house”; it really set in around ‘89-‘90. People started to book me. I started a couple of nights that had some decent runs, nothing crazy; then I started the Loft. So, I was promoter as well. I think I was 21. I was given a Friday night. It was a unique club, as it could stay open till 6am. All the other venues closed at 2am. I did my thing, but I didn’t know it was going to become a thing! By the second week, I realized I couldn’t DJ the whole night; it was six hours. I can’t DJ and promote, so I needed to bring another DJ. By a month in, it was packed.
At the same time, I got introduced to rave. There was no deep house at raves in 1991. This friend of mine was a promoter; he’d been into house but had got more into the rave thing. I brought him in to the second floor, and chaos ensued; it went nuts. Now it’s a full-on rave on one floor, and house heads on another floor. Even people who came from New York said, There’s nothing like this in New York City!
I did it for three years, maybe; then I moved to New York. I didn’t want to be a club promoter all my life; I wanted to make music. Because of the success, financially, I could move. The place had no alcohol, so I made $150 a night, but I saved my pennies.
Boston had a store called Dance Music Plus, and that’s where I got a lot of records. I ended up interning for this remix service called Mega-Mix, which ended up being called X-Mix. They were above the record store, so that helped. When the store would get the records, this guy called DJ Bruno, who did the Loft with me, would be downstairs working. He would order the house music. I’d go down sometimes, and he’d have three promos from Strictly Rhythm. He’d go, “I don’t need the other two,” so he’d give them to me. I’d get them for free sometimes.
There was also a record pool. It was this thing where you’d pay monthly dues and get sent all these promos. They were next to the remix service. I’d be like, “What’s up? Can I snag one of those?” I didn’t really buy records. I didn’t have any money anyway, so it helped not to have to buy records! [Laughs]
I bought my first drum machine around the age of 14. Back then, it was like a magic trick. It was nothing like today. You’d be in a town with 10,000 people, and you’d be the one person who knew how to use it. It was the new era, MIDI, making a drum machine talk to a keyboard. That was crazy back then! I was that guy. I had a regular office job for a time back then. When I came home, I’d make music because I had to get out of that robotic life.
In ’91, my first record [Deep Creed’s “Stay on My Mind”] got signed with Nervous Records. At that time, I was still living in Boston. I’d developed a relationship with an A&R named Gladys Pizarro. She worked for Strictly Rhythm and for Nervous Records. For that first 12” I got $1,200. That was crazy to me! I’d never seen any kind of money like that.
There were all these other labels back then, so I thought I’d just move, become a label whore and just sell my stuff everywhere. That’s exactly what I did; that’s how that happened. I was very focused and had a relationship with Gladys Pizarro, who was basically the godmother of New York house music, and took it from there. I’m just fortunate the cards played out like they did.
When I moved to New York, nobody knew me as a DJ, let alone as producer. So I was starting over, in a sense. I was going out on the scene. One of the places was the Sound Factory Bar, and Little Louis Vega was the resident. He’d bring in all the big guests. I’d go there every Wednesday and be next to my idols, the people I looked up to: Todd Terry, Kenny Dope, Roger Sanchez, MK and Murk, and all these guys. I’d go home and make what I could relative to that.
After I made “Witch Doktor,” that was kinda my first hit. That was when, out of that camp, Roger Sanchez was the first guy to come up to me: “Are you that Armand guy?” OK, things are starting to happen. Then I met Todd and everybody. Nobody knew I was a DJ, though. Gladys asked me to go to Pop Com, but she said, “Can you DJ?” So that was my first gig overseas in Germany at Pop Com, or whatever that thing used to be.
Following that gig, I started to get offers. It was all industry people at that gig. They were like, “We love this ‘Witch Doktor’ song. He’s a DJ; we can book him.” Here’s the crazy bit: None of the bookings were in New York; none were in the States! Then eventually, after maybe a year and a half, I finally crossed back to the States, and I started getting, “We want to book this European guy Armand Van Helden.” They didn’t know I was from New York! Even Kenny Dope, when he met me, was like, “Yo, what’s up with that German name?”
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