Signum

They’ve been moving the crowds and shocking the turntables for several years and are considered one of the long-lasting groups of producers trance has to offer. Signum, the successful team up of Pascal Minnaard and Ronald Hagen, is the unavoidable guise that has kept trance alive throughout the years.

Based in Zoetermeer, a little city near The Hague in trance paradise The Netherlands, the duo’s work has had huge influence on what the trance scene looks like today. After discovering a shared love of music in high school, the guys lost contact for a while, but re-united shortly after Pascal had a record contract at Dutch label BPM Dance and released several tracks with the Signum alias. With Ron signing to BPM Dance as well, Signum was complete. The first result of their musical chemistry came in the form of ‘What You Got For Me’, which in 1997 became a massive club item, which in 2001 saw it’s re-release and secured the status as a trance classic.

But there was so much more to come. The boys, establishing themselves to both respectable producers and remixers, made their mark with ‘Forever’, ‘Take U There’, ‘On Stream’ and ‘Coming on Strong’. Remix request came in and resulted in the Signum touch taking over ‘ATB – 9PM’, ‘KayCee – Escape’, Tiësto alias Straydog’s ‘Mirror’, ‘DJ Jurgen – Better off alone’ , Armin van Buuren – Serenity, and many more. But Signum wasn’t planning on sticking to their past successes. New productions followed, winning support and respect by the big dj’s. The only thing missing, was a DJ career. So Pascal and Ron started mixing and preparing themselves to hit the clubs, with the advantage of understanding the way music works and beats fit as their back up. Their UK debut was a three hour set in Gatecrasher, in July 2001, which was a tremendous success and led to even more bookings. From gigs in Australia, Japan, Ibiza and Canada to Africa, Switzerland, Germany and Malaysia, and many, many other countries.

In 2003, when BPM Dance stopped, Ron and Pascal found a new, comfy home at Armada Music. The fast growing label, launched by Armin van Buuren, Maykel Piron and David Lewis, formed the perfect way for Signum to widen their audience and gain even more success. Their massive trance smacker ‘Push Through’ was released on the A State of Trance label, another classic was born and heralded the beginning of a new period of creativity and prosperity. Their team up with vocalist Anita Kelsey resulted in ‘Come Around Again’, the track “they’ve always wanted to make”. ‘The Timelord’, ‘Captured’, ‘First Strike’, ‘Second Wave’, ‘Syndicate’, ‘Harmonic’, ‘Any Given Moment’, and ‘Royal Flash’ are only just a couple of the many Signum tracks that have worked the crowds, gained DJ support by numerous big names in the scene and once again, confirmed the long-lasting status as quality trance and tech-trance producers.

In 2008 a new chapter in their career came about as they mixed their first compilation and were the first ones to kick off the Tranceworld compilation series. Shortly followed by a new radioshow called Xposed, which is broadcasted on the ever growing AfterHours radio station (AH.fm), and gained a lot more fans throughout the globe. To top it all off they entered the DJ MAG TOP 100, at the nr. 72 spot, for the first time in their career.

The latest success came from the massive progressive summer hit ‘Riddles in the Sand’, and it was the summer’s hot sun that inspired them. Sunny guitars and a deep relaxing progressive sound set forth a true holiday spirit. This track and their track ‘Addicted’ were both featured on Armin van Buuren’s compilation A State of Trance 2009 and caused quite a stir in club-land. Playing at A State of Trance 400 resulted in the collaboration between Roger Shah & Signum called ‘Healesville Sanctuary’ and is a one of a kind record that will definitely go down as another classic.

2010 will be the year that the long awaited Signum album will see the light of day and with a lot of high profile gigs this year and an album on the way, the future looks bright! Be prepared to be Signumized.