Ferry Corsten readily admits he has a thing for Asia. His wife, Lia, is Filipino, and Tokyo is one of his favourite cities for spinning.
'I have a big weakness for the whole Asian thing,' says the Dutch trance producer and DJ. 'Asians seem to have a certain gene Caucasians don't have that switches on when they hear tracks with big melodies. They go crazy and emotional, as if they're about to cry. It's crazy and it's beautiful.'
Asian clubbers rule the roost in participation, according to Corsten. 'The Japanese, they're very freaky,' he says. 'The way they dress is unreal. They look like they're from the future. It's great because they're so enthusiastic and open-minded.'
Corsten will aim to get the crowd going crazy at Sun Hung Kai Centre tonight, as part of Heineken's Found@Thirst search for local talent.
While Corsten's name might not ring a bell, you may have heard his tracks produced under a long list of pseudonyms, including Pulp Victim, Moonman, Gouryella, Veracocha, System F, Exiter and Ferr.
'Before I had my own label, Tsunami, I was releasing a lot of material at a very fast pace,' he says. 'I couldn't flood the place with my material, so I came up with a couple of pseudonyms and released one thing here, one thing there. That way, I also learnt how each record label would deal with my material, and I eventually used what I had learnt to set up my own label. And when I started my label in 1997, I had no artists, so I had to create aliases.'