As the organisers of this year's inaugural London Calling found out, hosting an international music conference in a city pivotal to the explosion of dance music culture, doesn't necessarily guarantee the success like that afforded by the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE).

Organiser Pieter van Adrichem attributes the ongoing and future success of the event to the "growing up" of dance music.

“These days dance events are established events. Mayors come and visit them to see what’s happening and actually really like what they see," says van Adrichem. "That’s really important! The music itself also has more depth and an identity."

Indeed, such an event like the ADE does require a certain amount of infrastructure, the kind usually only put into place after a scene, like that of Amsterdam or Holland, has matured.

"If you read about dance music in a Dutch newspaper 10 years ago, it was always about people dying from drugs and idiots dancing in the mud but today it’s considered a serious culture,” says van Adrichem. "However a connection has been made to modern technology and innovation. You could say that dance music is the new jazz. Actually it’s better to use the term “electronic music” instead of dance music. That itself is a really interesting development on the part of the media."

Having tapped into the media and garnered the support of local authorities, the ADE has grown to the extent that the city now considers it as an event that puts Amsterdam on the map. But is Amsterdam, the "Capital of Dance", as the organizers of the upcoming tenth edition of the Amsterdam Dance Event want us to believe or is it still about tulips, coffee shops and the red light district? Is there more to explore during the day and night?

In the second of our ADE features, we posed this question to organiser Pieter van Adrichem and asked him about the future of the conference and dance music as a whole.

"I have a feeling that a lot of new and smaller clubs are on the rise and that a lot is happening on an underground level again."

As you might know Dave Clarke moved to Amsterdam some time ago. I read an interview with him where the interviewer asked him what he liked about Amsterdam’s nightlife and its clubbing scene. His reaction was like, “What clubbing scene?”.

On the Amsterdam Dance Event website there’s a section called: “Amsterdam – Capital of Dance”. What's that about?

Dave is actually really positive about us and what Amsterdam has to offer!

Yeah, I’m sure he’s probably positive about the quality of music on offer and the event itself but I think he was talking more about the club scene in general. Isn’t Amsterdam still only about Friday and Saturday nights? Just like any other big city?

The ‘Nachtwacht’ (an 8-person group of so-called mayors promoting Amsterdam nightlife) reported a few years ago that a lot of initiatives were facing hard times in Amsterdam. A few clubs were doing really bad and there was a lack of new ideas.

However, nowadays I get the feeling there's a lot going on again in unexpected locations. Unk at Club 8, for instance. It’s a gay night but a huge hit! 300 people but for that market it’s very new and cool. And think about OCC II, a real punk bunker where you have those underground electro and hardcore-like parties. That’s really a scene of its own. I have a feeling a lot of new and smaller clubs are on the rise and that a lot is happening on an underground level again.

Look at what happened in the UK. Almost all the superclubs went down the drain. In Amsterdam also, nights that used to be successful stopped as well. Like at Club More for instance. I think when you’re going to nights like these for more than 10 years straight you begin to think that you’ve seen it all before. People have to come up with new ways of going out or need to program other types of music on their nights.

If you look at the Sugar Factory, it’s a mature venue with its own identity. It’s the future of clubbing. It’s a really nice club. Panama is doing well, as is Pakhuis Wilhelmina and small venues like that. 11 is a special concept of course. There are a lot of things going on there right now.

You could say there isn’t much to do on Monday to Wednesday but I don’t think you’re better off in Rotterdam either! (laughs).

Amsterdam IS quite popular. If you look at London or Berlin…No, actually let’s take Paris, which is probably the best example. You can’t go anywhere there during the week! On the weekend it’s disappointing but I know people in the music industry that tell me that the best parties are going on elsewhere in the country. It’s more spread out and less centred, which you would expect in a capital.

Thank god Amsterdam is a capital where there’s a lot to do!

Do you think Amsterdam has a specific sound?

I don’t know if you could say that. The funny thing is that when you ask people abroad this they often emphasize that Amsterdam is different than the rest of Holland. But well, they're right - Amsterdam is indeed very different!

For instance, Amsterdam is not really about trance. Someone like Steve Rachmad is purely Amsterdam but what he produces and plays is purely Detroit Techno!

Is Joost van Bellen (creative manager at the former RoXY club in Amsterdam from 1991 until 1995) typically Amsterdam or is he just a good Electroclash DJ?

There are also some very good house DJs in Amsterdam such as DJ Marcello (former resident at IT and one of the founding members of Chemistry). He’s still a special person in the Dutch scene.

I think that when you’re so involved in a scene like the one here, that you really can’t give an honest opinion. Maybe Amsterdam is really special because there are so many different things going on at the same time.

"...Amsterdam is not really about trance. Someone like Steve Rachmad is purely Amsterdam but what he produces and plays is purely Detroit Techno!"

So what about a place like, say, Berlin?

That has really taken off in the last 2 years or so. That minimal sound from Berlin is maybe the trendy sound at the moment but Sascha Funke was playing that at the ADE 2 years ago! It’s interesting but I haven’t heard a genre-defining record that has become a hit record yet.

London had UK garage at some point but it that’s also over now. The biggest things in dance music in the UK are still the Freestylers, the Chemical Brothers and acts like that.

It all comes down to a fusion of styles...I remember some people in the house scene talking about this 15 years ago, about the fact that music always has to be new and involve new developments.

If you look closer and see what’s happened to house music it’s exactly what happened with other popular music as well. People often refer to something from the past and combine that with modern influences in order to shape new things. Think of French House and Disco!

It’s especially interesting if people mix things in such a way that new things are created. In a way it gives the music depth as well...

It’s kind of like what you told me earlier, about the Asian underground. That’s something that has never really broken through. A sub-genre like that really needs a hit single to make sure it’s played all over the world. If that happens then you become in the collective minds of people. But if it doesn't, after a while I think people tend to act like they’ve seen and heard it all.

So then what do you think the direction will be of the music that is promoted at the ADE this year?

That’s difficult to say. Ultimately I think there will be more live performances because of new technology such as the Ableton Live software. I really expect a lot more happening in the live field due to developments like that.

I am also expecting a lot more funky stuff in some way or another. I’m not sure whether that will be very electronic as on a record or as a live performance. I recently saw a live performance of Comtron and thought: “Wow, this is something people are really going to like!”. It’s a 2-person band from Amsterdam playing Electro Funk using synthesizers, a vocoder and electronic drums. It’s funky as hell!

If you listen to DJ sets from Joe Clausell and Francois K you’ll hear the more funky tracks with samples from Prince records etc. That’s the feeling I’m getting at…We've had the pop-side of electronic music, like Depeche Mode but there’s also another side; the side like Afrika Bambaataa...Black music! Hip Hop!

What do you think the ADE program will look like in 2015?

It’s difficult to say. I hope that it won’t necessarily be driven by musical development but more like visuals and music coming together in one medium. A lot of new software these days can incorporate music and visuals. There are even DVD players available to mix visuals and music on the fly! VJs are becoming more recognized and are taken more serious as dance artists.

Look at what Eboman (a Dutch sample artist) has been pioneering for more than 10 years now. One day he will probably be seen as “the grandfather”.

Will a word like “dance” in the event’s name still be appropriate to use in 2015?

It’s a matter of taste. The term ‘dance’ is still often linked to the more commercial side of dance music. Maybe people will think differently in 10 years time. It could be but it’s just a name you know. You can still dance to most of the music out there so I think it will still be appropriate to use it then.

"I hope that it [the ADE in 2015] won’t necessarily be driven by musical development but more like visuals and music coming together in one medium."

What do you think is the future of online dance music magazines like Resident Advisor? What will be their role in the years to come?

I think the role of communities will become more important than just being a magazine. The traditional model is still based on the idea of “looking for new music”. People are used to reading a review in a magazine or friends telling you to listen to a cool record or maybe stuff you heard in a club. But that’s not the only way to find out about new music anymore....

People chat a lot these days on like MSN, pass on information to each other and put stuff on the web as well. People have more platforms to explore music. In ten years time maybe it’ll not only be about music but about multimedia art that people like!

I think online magazines will still be playing an important role but it’s hard to survive when you cannot pay all of your writers. Therefore there will always be a market for books and hardcopy magazines. It’s also a lot more practical to read a newspaper when you’re having your breakfast or having a bath instead of using a laptop.

People just need a place where they can read about cool, new music. There’s so much music out there that’s it impossible to listen to it all. They need people to point them in the right direction…

About 30 or 40 years ago there were just 3 musical genres that were really important. People liked either soul, rock or middle of the road music. If you’re 16 years old right now you can choose from around over 80 styles I think and I think the music community has also been divided into subcultures by the media because each of those subcultures have certain things that they like.

So 20 years of dance music. 10 years of ADE...

20 years…I think people also danced in the '70s didn't they? You could dance really well to disco music (laughs). That’s just another of those media moments. Like when people call the Summer of Love in 1988 as the beginning of an era of modern dance music….yet all those guys in Detroit also refer to Kraftwerk and Patrick Cowley. Don't forget that people also danced to Italo Disco!

OK then, 10 years of ADE. So finally, what will be special about this year’s edition for both Amsterdam and the people attending?

To start with: we have the biggest ever program!

This year the city of Amsterdam will also really feel the presence of the ADE and a vibe that it’s “really happening”! You will soon see it on the streets of Amsterdam as we have a few surprises and are going to do a few things using more guerrilla tactics!

The tenth edition of the Amsterdam Dance Event will take place on October 27th, 28th and 29th at the Felix Meritis and selected venues in Amsterdam.