Bates45 is a project by electronic audio artist Benjamin Bates (Eindhoven, the Netherlands, 1976). It showcases the sound Benjamin plays when he’s deejaying. Where his regular productions are heavily influenced by pop and alternative music, this project takes a totally different approach and is solely aimed at massive dance floor response.

The Bates45 moniker was used as early as Benjamin’s first release “Locked up” (the anthem of the InnerCity party in Amsterdam RAI) and has been lurking in the shadows for quite some time. In 2008, Benjamin decided it was time to split things up. “It was just getting too confusing for everyone,” Benjamin explains, “especially with the release of my second artist album ‘Recyclomania’. People were wondering whether I would be singing whenever I stepped into a deejay booth. I needed a way to let people know what to expect from me. It was the logical thing to do to dust off the Bates45 project that had been my ‘dance floor’ project all the time anyway.”

it seems like a smart move, as the first official Bates45 release “Watch you dance” was immediately picked up by Pete Tong for his Essential mix on BBC radio 1 and played by lots of international jocks worldwide. This new mixture of various shades of modern electronica has created lots of great opportunities even in the first year of its existence; remixing some big names as well as a collaboration with NYC based writer Carol Mirakove.

Benjamin on the future: “As i am taking the songs I normally do more and more into a live environment, I will make sure to keep the Bates45 project up and running to cause some serious dance floor mayhem when I’m out there deejaying. It has been the best thing in years for me, splitting things up. I feel more freedom on both sides at the moment and I am just bursting with inspiration”