| Wednesday January 7th 2026 |
I translated this Rank 1 interview by Jeroen Berkenbosch from Dutch to English a couple of years back. Sadly I never saved the URL so I can't link it to its original site, or through The Wayback Machine so instead I've decided to post it here, also as a reference point for Symsonic1! You see, what makes this interview stand out is two-fold: First of all, having been conducted in Dutch, it gives a bit of a serious (and therefor rare) glimpse behind the mind of Piet. It shows his down-to-earth nature and relaxed vibe to life.
The second thing of note here is that he mentions "the new album", or the follow-up to Symsonic. He mentions they are working on two tracks for "their new album": the interview was conducted on March 2nd 2005, meaning this must be the follow-up to Symsonic that never materialized in the end. He confirms that one of these two track is going to be called "Opus 17", but the other doesn't have a title yet. As we know today, Opus 17 was released as the A-Side to Top Gear in August 2025, and Top Gear was initially an Untitled exclusive for Trance Energy 2005 they only decided to release much later. Piecing together the pieces, it's likely Opus 17 and Top Gear are the two album tracks being referenced here. |
Rank 1 keeps the party going [Translated by Razormane]
2005 | March 2nd | by Jeroen Berkenbosch
| People having the night of their lives: Hands in the air, dancing and enjoying the music. This is the scenario during Rank 1’s performances. Piet Bervoets and Benno de Goeij are the producers behind Rank 1. They’ve had many higlights in their carreer already. One of their latest tracks, a big Trance Energy hit named ‘Beats At Rank-1 Dotcom’ is known by many. It has been the highest noted Dutch track in almost every European dance-chart. But eventhough they are a famous name in the Trance scene the guys behind Rank 1 remain ordinary people. |
| Piet: We aren’t gods but ordinary people. So people can just act normal towards us. You don’t have to call me ‘sir’. |
| JB: What is Rank 1 doing at the moment? |
| Piet: I’m very busy at the moment. I don’t spend much time at home and I have a lot of performances. At this very moment we’re working on two new tracks for our new album. One of them is going to be called ‘Opus 17’, for the other we don’t have a name yet since we’re still working on it. |
| JB: What does a day in the life of Rank 1 looks like? |
| Piet: I’m never at home during the weekend. I’m the DJ of Rank 1 and as a result I have to travel a lot. As you can see, music is very much involved in my daily life. Next weekend I have to go to Middelstum and afterwards to Rotterdam. The weekend after that I’ll be in the United States. Throughout the week I try to answer as much fanmail as possible since the mailbox will be full again after a few days without emptying it. In the mean time, I try to enjoy life as much as possible. |
| JB: Piet Bervoets believes their greatest hit is their track ‘Airwave’. |
| Piet: "Airwave" is a track that will never grow old. This is a track we can be proud of. |
| JB: The track got worldwide fame and even got them a golden record in the Netherlands. |
| Piet: It got a lot of airplay in the United Kingdom. Over here in the Netherlands it was a big hit as well. |
| JB: The track got worldwide fame and even got them a golden record in the Netherlands. |
| Piet: It got a lot of airplay in the United Kingdom. Over here in the Netherlands it was a big hit as well. |
| JB: Nowadays, this track is considered one of the biggest classics in the trance scene. Rank 1 made one artist album entitled ‘Symsonic’, the second is being developed as we speak. |
| Piet: Rank 1 music has always been classically influenced. Benno is the maestro behind the piano: he is capable of playing entire classical pieces from the top of his head. Because of his piano skills, our music is unique. I take care of the other sounds in our music. It’s always funny to hear people say they recognize our melodies from somewhere but this is caused by the classically inspired tones: our tracks are self made productions with an own style. We remain ourselves in our daily lives as well as in our music. We have noticed that Hardstyle is currently booming in the Netherlands but we try to remain ourselves, our music is more Trance based. |
| JB: Rank 1 is familiar with Groningen. |
| Piet: I’ve been there a few times including for a gig at a school where I was only allowed to play for 45 minutes unfortunately. |
| The name Sunsation reminds Piet of Sensation. That tonight will be a fabulous sensational show is assured with the way in which Rank 1 intends to carry the party on. |
| Piet: I will definitely keep the party going after 4 Strings. Of course I will read the crowd and react to them with Trance records. What people won’t need to expect from me is Hardstyle. This is not my thing but luckily Sunsation has a separate stage for that. |
Is there also a ritual you conduct prior to a Rank 1 gig?
Piet: What I usually do first is examine the room to pick up the taste of the crowd: I usually play close attention to what the DJ before me drops and to what the crowd reacts enthusiastically. I also think it’s proper for a DJ to appear at least an hour before your gig to show yourself. I don’t like just showing myself during my gig; it will seem as if I’m only there for the money. But that’s not true, I also like the good atmosphere as well as the contact with people before and after the gig. In Middelstum I won’t be able to hang around this time. I need to move on to gig in Rotterdam right away afterwards.
Which event did you enjoy the most?
Piet: Every event leaves a memory of its own, these are always tough questions. I just had a tour in Australia where I was allowed to do five gigs. The fact that you are in Australia is special in its own way. Trance Energy was amazing too: the people that come to the event, come for Trance specifically: it’s a lot easier to react to the crowd there since they love every record you drop. Then there is the live performance, always much fun to do. It does take a lot of preparation to do but it does amount to something worthwhile. After a performance it gives a great feeling to be able to tell each other: that went well!
If you had to choose between the three following statements: innovative, passion or music of an own kind… Which of the three do you think is most applicable to Rank 1?
Piet: That’s a tough choice. I can’t choose between them but I can finish with the following: we try to incorporate passion into our music, allowing us to make innovative music which you will be able to hear on our new album where you will find tracks we made on our own accord. Our own kind of music.
Rank 1 has to travel more than 200 kilometers to reach Middelstum, but we’ll be seeing him during the Rabo Dance Event. Saturday the 16th of April we will be allowed to admire Rank 1 between 00:00 - 02:00 on the Transation Area stage!
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