Johan Haagen

Johan Haagen alias DJ Higgens.

His style of playing Techno would be defined best, as a balanced mixture of bass driven techno with an
uplifting sound. Combined with tracks with the remarkable Roland TB 303 acid sounds, tracks with subtle
trance influences, and a twist of a bit harder tracks, he creates the set he enjoys himself the most.First contact with the dance scene has been somewhere in 1990. In those days when dance was not quite adopted as nowadays, the love for listening house music and  attending parties grew more and more.
Dance Valley 1998 was actually the moment that he felt the urge of buying himself a pair of turntables and
a mixer. Within one year the first equipment has been upgraded to a second-hand pair of real Technics SL-
1210 turntables. (love the black one’s) Feels lucky to have started dj-ing on vinyl. Spend lots of hours and
money in record shops. Though plays from digital sources nowadays.First style of DJ-ing has been UK Hardhouse. This style of dance music has it’s major popularity in the club circuit in The Netherlands, between mid-nineties and 2005.

The Melkweg in Amsterdam happened to be the most important venue, and has been home of the event HQ (High Quality) with residents DJ-JP en Tom Harding, for many years. After Johan his first gig, in a lineup of a small house party, the need of an artist name was stated by the organizer. The answer came in a split second: “Okay: let’s make it DJ Higgens”. In the time of DJ-ing UK Hardhouse, Johan played a lot of gigs. Venues differ from small dirty bars, subsidized pop stages, squatted buildings to clubs. Named a few: Burgerweeshuis Deventer, Boerderij
Zoetermeer, Club Item Amsterdam, Club Fantasy IJsselstijn. Somewhere around 2006 the preference for playing Techno raised more and more. The dark sound combined with a rolling bass line, were the right ingredients for the new path to enter. The current style DJ Higgens plays, contains and represents all favorite components that lights the fire inside himself. So where, rather than on-stage…2018 has been the year when it all came together. At the night of the very last DJ performance byTom Harding, DJ Higgens was asked to play the opening set of the evening, in De Melkweg in Amsterdam. A dj-set of techno music, at the typical HQ hardhouse event. It felt like an honour, and still does. Actually, it is the same spot where he got hooked for the music as a visitor, twenty years earlier.