Radical Redemption reveals secrets

By Hard News 07 May 2014

Joey van Ingen is the man behind the brutal Hardstyle force called Radical Redemption. This man’s career has been exploding since 2011 and he’s not planning to stop anytime soon. We had the chance to ask him some questions. Be sure to read them all, because we guarantee you’ll read things you didn’t know about him before!

1. Can you tell us something about the birth of Radical Redemption? Did you have to sacrifice a lot to get where you are today?
How did it all start? I started by hosting small parties in our garage. I’d put up lasers, blacklights, everything was set-up. My friends would stop by on Friday to party and I would be spinning the decks the whole night.

After that I started performing at a local club called ‘Disco Tijs’ (which is now ‘Club Epic’). That’s where I met Crypsis who was performing there as Crucifier (his Hardcore alias). We started talking about producing (which I just started) and we kept in contact. It turned out we lived in the same village which is Denekamp! One thing became certain; when the time came, we would do a collab!

Did I have to sacrifice a lot? That depends what you call sacrifice. From the moment I decided that this is really what I wanted, I sat in the studio 12 – 14 hours a day. Eventually you reach a point where you think ‘these tracks come close’. Grzegorz (Crypsis) stopped by at my house one day and I had just made the beginning of ‘Darkness is Calling’. He listened to the track and was very excited about it. He asked if we could finish the track together, as a collab. The reason for that was that he had a special live-act at Hard Bass back then and he wanted to play the track there.

After I went outside to do a victory dance, I returned to the studio to tell him that I thought it would be a cool idea. And that was that, ‘Darkness is Calling’ was finished late 2010, the first Radical Redemption track.

2. How did you end up at Minus is More?
Through my contact with Grzegorz I ended up at Minus is More. After ‘Darkness is Calling’ I made ‘You Don’t Know Shit’ & ‘The Worst Nightmare’. Grzegorz liked the tracks a lot and he took them to Minus is More.

3. Can you tell us a bit about your life before Radical Redemption?
My life before Radical Redemption consisted mainly of being a drummer. My goal in life was to become the best drummer the world had ever seen. Before I started producing the music I make today, drumming took up all my time. I spent all my money on expending my drum kit. It was my passion and it still is.

You can also see it on-stage, because I hit almost every kick roll. But you can also hear that it has a real rhythm.

4. Where did the idea for your LIVE-suit come from?
At some point you decide to do a live-act, which is nice and all, but we all know the live-acts as they are. What can you do to really stand out from the crowd? Something that’s tough, recognizable, exclusive and different.

Through my father I met a very creative man living in Amsterdam. I made an appointment with him, sat down together with my ideas and we quickly had the same vision. He went ahead to work on it and suddenly the suit was born! If you really want to stand out, you need to do something that others don’t.

5. It’s good to see that you really lose yourself in music. Why did you decide to make Hardstyle, not Drum & Bass, Hardcore or something like that?
If you listen to my latest album ‘The Spell of Sin’ you will hear both Drum & Bass and Hardcore influences. I don’t mind making now and then. But when I would want to fully focus on that type of music, I would do it under a different alias. Radical Redemption’s core business is Hardstyle.

6. You make Hardstyle, music which you stand for. But yet it’s always the ‘raw’ side. Will we ever see you making a track with, for example, Wildstylez? You say you’ll do anything you want, no matter what.
Combining styles, always interesting! In the future I have a collab planned with Frontliner for example. It’s just cool to blend styles, it makes for an extra challenge. I don’t care as long as the track has balls. A melody can be euphoric or have a summer feeling, but still have balls. Tracks like ‘So High’ or ‘Cats, Jets & Breaks’ for me are ultimate examples of a melody with balls.

I will definitely not make any track that I don’t support, don’t think is tough or doesn’t have balls.

7. You’re becoming a very big artist. Do you get recognized a lot?
If I have to be honest I’m surprised about the places where people recognize me. Of course it’s a good sign for the brand ‘Radical Redemption’. Everyone is very positive about it and thinks it’s cool for me what I’ve achieved so far.

I only think it’s a shame that I can’t celebrate my parties anymore. When I’m at a party I’m only busy with fans, making pictures etc. There’s no more partying for me. Besides that it’s annoying for my friends that they have to wait every time someone wants to take a picture with me or when someone wants to talk to me. It just takes too long. But there will be a day when I will dress up and can go all out the entire day without anyone knowing I’ve been there!

8. What is the first big thing that you bought with your earned Radical Redemption money? Besides studio equipment.
Euuuuuuh, besides studio equipment… That was in June last year when I bought my new car. That’s because my other one died after 400.000 kilometers.

9. Collabs like ‘Insanity’ really sound like Frequencerz. Did you have a lot of influence in this or did you let them work their magic?
For the album ‘The Spell of Sin’ I thought it was very important to let people hear different sounds. With a track like ‘Insanity’ we consciously decided to use the Frequencerz kick and synth. The atmosphere, vocal and drums in the track are definitely Radical, the melody is a mixture of both.

10. Call you tell something about yourself that only a few people know?
I collect the books of Guinness World Records, since 2004!

11. Minus Militia is already the most discussed LIVE-act of 2014. How did it see the light of day?
Somewhere late 2012 Ben (Chain Reaction) and I were in Australia. Minus is More –LIVE- just had its latest gig during Thrillogy (Crypsis Area) and therefore it was time for something new. While we were in Sydney having a drink, we started brainstorming. When we came back home we decided it would be an interesting idea for the future!

During the summer of 2013 we received a message from b2s saying they wanted to book us three for Hard Bass 2014 as the closing act. But they wanted something special and were wondering if we had an idea. Well, our idea could come out of the freezer. When I was eating with Ben outside in Amsterdam I suddenly came up with the name ‘Minus Militia’. Ben’s reaction was “Yeaaah!! Awesome!” and that was also the reaction of everyone else.

Therefore we could message b2s that Minus Militia had been born, ready for Hard Bass!

12. Are you currently busier with Minus Militia or with Radical Redemption?
I’ve been very busy with Minus Militia. In the mean time I’ve also produced the anthem for Beat the Bridge, I’m working on a collab with Chain Reaction and one with Deepack. Besides that I’ve also just finished ‘Brutal 4.0’. So I’m very busy with both, but it keeps you off the streets!

13. Will the Minus Militia tracks be released soon, or will they remain LIVE-act exclusives?
No the tracks won’t be released anytime soon. Therefore we decided to put the liveset of Hard Bass online. You won’t be able to find the rest of the sets online. The tracks might be played in our own sets, but they will be cut out afterwards. If you want to hear the tracks, you need to come to the live-act!

14. With ‘Annihilate’ and ‘The Spell of Sin’ you haven’t released anything in between. Will you do that again, so will there be a new album in the future?
Well I did release the Beat the Bridge anthem recently, but I believe in the power of an album. Let’s just leave it at that.

15. What is the reason that no-one has ever made a remix of your tracks?
It’s funny that you ask, because Digital Punk just finished a remix of “The Black Demon”. I’d like to say it again ‘Renee, thanks for the great work!’ It really turned out awesome. I’ve been able to play it a few times already and the crowd goes completely wild on this tune!!

16. Do you think that Euphoric- and Raw-Hardstyle will someday become a completely separate genre and what is your vision on Hardstyle for the next couple of years?
Let me start by saying let’s hope not. Hardstyle as a genre just keeps getting more and more diverse. You can also see raw Hardstyle dividing. There is the ‘accessible hard’ like Adaro, Crypsis, Digital Punk, Chain Reaction, B-Front and myself, but besides that there is also the ‘industrial hard’ like Thera, Delete, Deetox, Wavolizer, etc.

By the way, I hate the term Raw-Hardstyle, because everything that I make is Hardstyle from my point of view. Dutch people always have the tendency to put things in boxes. I remember Frontliner making that happy hardcore-like track and a lot of people on forums couldn’t resist to call it ‘Happy Hardstyle’. No people not everything has to be put in boxes, just leave it be.

When I look at my own bookings, I can see that the harder sound is gaining popularity in other countries. De foreign bookings really increase. Besides that the entire Hardstyle scene is growing. It’s a serious scene, with good roots.

Me, I love to go to a party where there is a build-up in the line-up. In the beginning you want to start off euphoric, and as the day ventures on it can get harder and harder. That way you have a chance to let people hear the entire Hardstyle spectrum in one day.