Pierre Pienaar
Namibian born Pierre Pienaar is one of the most prominent names in the Electronic Dance Music scene of late. He has racked up over 50 single releases and over 50 remixes under his Pierre Pienaar, P.H.A.T.T., Melodia, ReBirth, JXS Project and Deep Sequence aliases. appearing on respected labels like Ministry of Sound, Sony / BMG, Universal, Warner Bros, EMI, Nukleuz, Tidy, Monster Tunes, Cloud 9, Be Yourself Music and have been commissioned to remix tracks for the likes of Lost Witness, BK, Ratty, CRW, Mario Piu, Ralph Novell, Mauro Picotto and even Bob Marley among others. Currently he is the Head of Nukleuz Green which has released prolific productions from the likes of Mauro Picotto, Alphazone, Mario Piu, Gigi D’Agostino, Tillmann Uhrmacher and many others.
Simon Eve at DJ Magazine was quoted as saying that Pierre is one of the A-Listers in the scene, with his tracks being playlisted by music heavyweights such as Above & Beyond, Paul van Dyk, Carl Cox, The Thrillseekrs, Sean Tyas, Adam White, Dave Pearce, Judge Jules, Darren Tate and Lange on the trance tip and on to Lisa Lashes, Tidy Boys, Warp Brothers, Dave Joy, Paul Glazby, Alphazone, Cosmic Gate, Dumonde and Technikal on the harder tip.
HISTORY
Pierre started taking an interest in DJ’ing at the age of 15, doing weddings and birthday gigs to generate enough money to buy himself a pair of decks. However that dream almost came seemingly to an end when all his equipment burnt down at a matric farewell function. Insurance only paid out a small amount but Pierre decided to just buy a pair of decks and a mixer to train himself the basics of mixing and to try and blag gigs at clubs, which turned out to be more of a problem than he expected because of his young age. However, once promoters listened to his demos he got a chance to shine at Pentagon Entertainment and from there on things just went from strength to strength.
In the meanwhile Pierre started to dabble with music production, getting himself a copy of Fruity Loops and reading tutorials on the internet and on music production forums. During the same time there were 3 other young producers doing exactly the same thing, posting samples of their latest productions for people to give feedback on. Gaz West (Dark By Design), Guy Mearns (Guyver) and Alf Bamford (Technikal) along with Pierre built up a small fan base among members of the upcoming production community and people started talking. Pierre and Alf Bamford decided to put their heads together on some tracks and from that spawned their first track “Darkside” which started getting DJ support from big DJ’s in the Hard Dance scene.
Pierre finished his matric year at the age of 18 and enrolled at SAE (www.sae.edu) to study Audio Engineering in Glasgow, Scotland, working on his own productions when he had free time. He started to send out demos and it wasn’t long until he got a call from Kevin Energy who offered to sign Darkside as well as Stratosphere from Alf and Pierre on his Dynamix label. This was the start of big things to come. At this stage Pierre and Alf have never actually met in person, all of their productions were done over the internet.
A few months after the release of Darkside, Pierre got his first solo production signed to the highly respected Audio Rehab label, one of the in-house labels at Alphamagic under his ReBirth alias. Working closely with A&R Manager Lee Stacey he released a string of successful solo singles on Audio Rehab and Execute as well as the follow up release from himself and Alf, this time featuring a remix from the legendary Anne Savage. The first single under Pierre’s new P.H.A.T.T. alias also got released on Alphamagic’s Phantom Trax label. Unfortunately Alphamagic went into administration which was a huge setback not only for Pierre, but the whole scene.
After taking some time off to re-think his role and position in the scene Pierre started working on new ideas and new sounds, and decided to concentrate more on his P.H.A.T.T. productions. This ended up to be a very good decision and soon Pierre was contacted by Simon “Brisky” Brisk, who heads Monster Tunes (www.monster-tunes.com). He signed “The Gift Of Melody” and “Levitation” and also gave Pierre tracks to remix on his label, including Sundawner – Krystal Dreams (The Theme Of Wildchild), Sunblind – Believe and the now legendary “Ratty – Sunrise".
Meanwhile, Pierre and Alf collaborated on their biggest track to date…Global Panic. Tidy Trax quickly signed it and hype of the track started to build and spread throughout the clubbing community. They were toured to Australia and New Zealand and played in Sydney, Canberra and Auckland. This was also the first time that Alf and Pierre actually met each other in person.
When Global Panic finally got released it entered the national UK Dance charts at the number 10 spot.
As a DJ and performer Pierre has played and headlined many events around the world. In 2006 he did his first UK tour where he played for promotions and events like Twisted at the Fridge (alongside BK, Ed Real, Trevor McLachlan and Olly Perris), Tranzaction (with Charlie G and Rob Tisserra) Zoology and Addiction (alongside Ben Gold and Spencer Freeland) among others. He has also toured Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, playing at high profile clubs, festivals and events, the biggest being H2O in Johannesburg, where Pierre performed to a crowd of 17000 people on which was aired on MTV Base.
Pierre has also done guest DJ mixes for shows like DJ Tiesto’s Club Life, Trevor Reilley’s “Underground Sessions”, Judge Jules’ “International Show” Sean Tyas’ “Tytanium Sessions” as well as “MAXIMUM RADIO” (Hard Dance Channel on DIFM), “HERTZ” (Hard Dance Channel with Trance.nu’s Mark Riddler as host), “CANADIAN CULTURE” (With Darey Products producer DJ Kristoff as host) and "Future of Hard Dance" on Ministry of Sound radio among others.
Currently Pierre has his own weekly show called Euphoric Sessions which airs on Dance Radio in Germany, Pulse in Australia, Totaal.fm in Holland, Derek The Bandit's "Sound Republic" web radio station in South Africa and Slinky.fm in the UK. Guests that has appeared on the show includes the likes of Cosmic Gate, W&W, Matt Darey, Adam White, Sean Tyas, Mike Koglin, Gareth Emery, Lange, Warp Brothers and Andy Whitby among various others. He also mixes the bi-monthly “Nukleuz Trance Podcast” on iTunes.
Pierre got the first mixed compilation mixed by himself released in June 2007 on Nukleuz Records. Trance Sessions Solstice climbed into the TOP10 charts on iTunes UK’s dance album charts and followed up with Trance Adrenaline vol.1 at the end of 2008 and Trance Adrenaline vol.2 which was featured as the trance release of the month in Mixmag.
His tacks keep getting licensed to top selling compilations around the world mixed by others as well. He has featured on various TOP40 compilations including “Gatecrasher’s Trance Anthems which hit the number 1 spot on the UK compilation charts and stayed there for a month, beating off competition from the “NOW..that’s what I call music” series as well as the soundtracks to High School Musical and Twilight.
At the moment he is busy with various projects outside the normal scope of the trance scene by being commissioned by the alcoholic drink Po10C (Potency) to compose their official theme song, co-producing a remix album for some of the biggest Afrikaans acts (Nicholis Louw, Snotkop, Shine 4, David Fourie to name a few…) in South Africa for Select Music and did an exclusive remix for Locnville’s “Sun In My Pocket” which featured on their Deluxe Album as well as the mighty Booom 8 compilation. He is also producing the next single for platinum-selling artist Kurt Darren.
QUOTES FROM OTHER DJ’S / PRODUCERS:
"In an era of rehashed and recycled uninspiring tunes Pierre always delivers something fresh and the scene is all the better for it." - Anne Savage
"Since I picked up up my first P.H.A.T.T. track, it was clear that Pierre was going to be a force to be reckoned with. With such an array of quality productions coming through, there is always a Pienaar track for every occasion!" - Kutski (BBC Radio 1)
"Pierre's mixes always go down a storm in my sets" - Dave Pearce (BBC Radio 1)
”Pierre certainly has an ear for a killer riff, and this combined with the energetic dancefloor qualities and crisp production values in his tracks make his work a cut above the competition” - Simon Eve (DJMag)
“I’m a big fan of Pierre’s material, be it the tougher end of hard-dance or the uplifting side of trance. He has a rare talent that always keep dancefloors packed and DJs excited” - Andy Whitby (Voted Best DJ & Best Resident @ Hard Dance Awards 2007)
"PHATT is a king of hard trance. His music empowers you and yet simultaneously make you feel as if your about to cry. I had him in on the show a few weeks ago - a true master of hard trance” - Nikki Elise (Kiss FM)
"Pierre's slamming releases always travel with me when I'm touring!!!" – Dave Joy
"Pierre has established himself as one of the leading trance producers of today. His reputation is well deserved and he has a glittering career ahead of him." – Lee Haslam
"Pierre continues to be one of the leading exponents of anthemic driving trance, his tracks are always a permanent feature in my record bag!" – Ian Betts
“Pierre is making us proud, as an African taking the Trance World By Storm! It’s a privilege and honour to play his tunes!” - DEREK The Bandit
“Pierre and I have gone through various of first experiences together in the music scene, like our first signed record and our first Australian tour. All I can say is the guy oozes talent and charisma, and will be in the scene for a long long time to come.” – Alf Bamford (Technikal)
"Pierre has been part of the Music Industry for as long as I can remember and this is for a good reason. His catalogue of releases speak for itself, and what a lovely bloke too!!! Rock on, Pierre." – Amber D
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