Monument caught up with DJ Surgeles for a quick chat. The 33-year old has been DJing since he was 16 and since has been rubbing shoulders with the likes of Jeff Mills. Wubbo Ockels is Surgeles’ second release on Nasty Temper, and Tadeo’s remix of the title track has caught people’s attention as a groovy little number. Here’s what he had to say.

Hello, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I am Kole Leijen aka DJ Surgeles from Alkmaar in the Netherlands. I’ve been playing undergound Techno and Electro for 18 years now. I started as a kid listening to old records of my dad’s. I knew someday I wanted to be a musician. The vinyl collection started to grow, same as my love for music.

Nowadays, I get support from all over the world, and that keeps me going in the right direction. The highlights of my career have been working with Jeff Mills, the Something In The Sky compilation release [on Axis Records], and when I played at Tresor and Awakenings.

What message do you want to send with this new EP?
When I was a kid, I was always inspired by space travel. A Dutch astronaut named Wubbo Ockels used to give lessons on TV about being an astronaut. That inspired me so much that I decided to make this EP about his space travels. He was the First Dutch astronaut in space and that’s why I’m honoring Wubbo Ockels.

Why this kind of deep, hypnotic techno?
Because that’s always been my direction as a DJ/Producer. I really try to make a story with my mixes and with hypnotic/deep techno you can make a mix with a great story in it.

The Tadeo remix really fits into the EP, can you tell us more about this?
The label owner of NTR Records, Aymeric G, asked me if I would like Tadeo as remixer on the Wubbo Ockels EP and I felt that that’s an excellent choice, because his tracks are also very hypnotic and sci-fi.

How has Jeff Mills influenced you? Did he say anything about this EP?
From the very beginning, I was always fascinated by the manner Jeff Mills brings to techno; he’s always looking for the unexplored sides of the movement.

He’s played the EP very often in his sets. What was especially unique was, he played every single track at the 1st gig of the Exhibitionist 2 tour. He told me the tracks were great.

DJ Surgeles’ Wubbo Ockels EP is out now