In 1998 I met a guy called Jan Liefhebber at a house party. It was back when I lived in one of the numerous and infamous party houses on Maples Street in Hyson Green, Nottingham. My time in Maples Street is a whole other story in itself, far too big to summarise properly here, but suffice to say it was one of the craziest times in my life, for better or worse. Jan was visiting the UK from Holland with his girlfriend, Jenny, who grew up in the next town from me. We’d all been at a club night that finished at 2am and when we were kicked out us Maples Street reprobates decided to have an open house after party and Jan and Jenny came along. I chatted to Jan and Jenny for some time and found that Jan ran a record label called Highland Beats and was very active as a DJ as well. After talking for a while I eventually went to play some records myself, which was a good move because based on that little set I did, Jan and Jenny flew me out to play in Nijmegen not long after.My debut gig in Holland was for his Highland Beats label party at a fantastic club in Nijmegen called Doornroosje. After that I spent the next couple of years going back to the Netherlands to play gigs with or for Jan at squats, clubs and fields in Amsterdam, Nijmegen, Groningen and Deventer. During that time I met some amazing people and fell in love with the country, not just for the availability of quality Dutch smoke but because there’s a real love of techno over there. But then I moved to Brighton, took up my studies at university and unfortunately lost touch with the Nijmegen contingent.
Skip to a few months ago, and through the wonder of Facebook I got back in touch with Jan and Jenny. I found that Jan is as driven by his music as he ever was and as well as being a DJ, he’s now also a producer and has released some damn fine music in the past ten years. I’m more than pleased to report that Highland Beats is alive and kicking and coming up to it’s 41st release with no sign of letting up anytime soon.
Not long after getting back in touch with Jan, he kindly invited me to play at his birthday party on the 1st October at an amazing venue in Nijmegen called Waalhalla, a chance I fucking jumped at. It was an incredible party and I met with some old friends who I’ve not seen for a decade or more, as well as meeting some new people who are equally cool. Waalhalla is a skate park that doubles up as a music venue and I had one of the times of my life there last weekend and one thing is for sure, I won’t be waiting ten years before going back out there to party again.
I made a little short film on the night so you can get an idea of the kind of party Jan had for his birthday, check it out. From Nijmegen with Love… enjoy.
