Paul Elstak

Paul Roger Elstak

Dutch producer and DJ of Indonesian origin. Related to Jazz musician (1931 - 1989). DJ Paul Elstak (born The Hague 14 January 1966) is a Dutch hardcore and happy hardcore DJ and record producer. He used to use his full name to create happy hardcore and DJ Paul for hardcore gabber, but when he started Offensive Records in 2001, he started using both names for gabber. In 1987, his career was launched when he was accepted as a DJ at Rotterdam Discothèque Bluetiek-Inn. Here, for the first time, he played with the Dutch House music pioneer Peter Slaghuis. Around this time he also hooked up with Rob Fabrie and Richard van Naamen to form Holy Noise, with whom he released a string of releases at the Hithouse record label (owned by Slaghuis). In 1991 Holy Noise had their biggest success with their release James Brown is Still Alive. This release was an "answer" to the popular house record James Brown is Dead by L.A. Style. In 1992 he created his own record label, Rotterdam Records (under the flag of Mid-Town records) to release hardcore and Rotterdam Tekno. The first release on this label was a Holy Noise release under the guise of De Euromasters, releasing Amsterdam Waar Lech Dat Dan? (Translated; Where is Amsterdam?). This record was an answer to the Dutch media always paying attention to Amsterdam but not to Rotterdam. After a lot of releases under different names in 1995 he released the first DJ Paul Elstak single, Life Is Like a Dance. It had great commercial success. After this record, a few commercial releases followed. Rainbow in the Sky is most likely the most successful of these. After 2 years, Elstak decided to quit the commercial dance scene and devote his time releasing gabber. In 2001 he left midtown (and thus also Rotterdam Records) to start a new record label at Rige Entertainment, called Offensive Records. To this day Paul still releases hardcore on this imprint in his own typical (Rotterdam) style.