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In Your Bass

Landing chartbusters, fighting Tourette’s, travelling the world – it’s all in a day’s work for Basshunter

Apr 10, 2010

It might seem laughable today that Eurodance sensation Basshunter’s big-love tracks and catchy beats found their beginnings in his love for all things geeky but that’s one of the many little oddities that go into making this DJ’s story that much more unusual.

It was 2002 when Jonas Erik Altberg first set his eyes on the music-production software Fruity Loops. His experiments with the software lead him to release his first album The Old Shit followed by The Bassmachine in 2004. “I spend basically my whole life in front of a computer. That’s when I discovered Fruity Loops. And I was simply 16 at that time. So then I got hooked, I loved it, I kept experimenting, making music”. The experimentation led to the creation of the dance hit ”˜Boten Anna’ which went to dominate Scandinavian radio waves and clubs.  In fact, it was the first ever Swedish language song to reach number one on numerous charts around the world.

Though both the albums were released through his website he was soon spotted by Warner Music. The music giant signed him up in 2006 to create the album ”˜LOL’. The same year he released an English version of the album renaming his hit single to ”˜Now You’re Gone,’ featuring entirely rewritten lyrics to appeal to a foreign market. The song charted at number one on the UK Singles Chart and stayed there for four weeks. The singles, ”˜All I Ever Wanted’ and ”˜Angel in the Night’ from the album were also instant hits. This was the point, he says, where the world began to took notice of him, markibng him as a frontrunner of Eurodance. His charismatic (naughty, he says) demeanor got him a spot in Celebrity Big Brother (UK). He landed in fourth place and ended up adding some more fans to the ever-growing list. So any plans of doing movies? “Well if they pay millions of dollars it surely sounds fun,” he laughs.

His tours only really took off in 2007-08. “I was in 12 countries in one week! I’d have an afternoon show in Switzerland and an evening club show in France. And it continues without a break.” He carries all his personal belongings in two suitcases. He justifies, “If you were home only four weeks a year, you would be doing exactly what I do. But I love travelling”. But yet the Eurodance sensation, who literally lives out of his suitcase, insists on a few luxuries while touring.  “I always demand for a king size bed, bath tub and wireless internet.”

Basshunter was scheduled to play three shows in India ”“ one each in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. But the Pune blasts happened the same day he reached the country and he had to cancel all but his Delhi gig. “I had only one show in India, which I am really sorry about as I was looking forward to this trip. In fact, I’d been reading up a lot on Hinduism and Buddhism. I have even been learning Hindi so I could gel and interact with the crowd. India is the 34th country I have been in, in the past four years”, he chuckles.

What the DJ’s perpetual impishness hides is his struggle with Tourette Syndrome, some thing he struggled with for a very long time. “It was pretty difficult growing up; I changed four school in my childhood.” The Dj also admits to getting bullied a lot but when he finally overcame the debilitating effects of the disorder, he found the same people who once taunted him coming to him for tips.

The DJ released his fifth album in 2009, to coincide with his tenth year in the music industry. He himself admits it’s been a joyride for the most part. “I didn’t approach record labels. I did it the other way round. I made my music and put it out for the audience. And it was a hit. I guess aspiring artists should learn from this. If you compare to 15 years ago, today it’s so easy to produce music, anyone can, actually. You simply need to know your software thoroughly. You need to have an ear as well.”

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