Bart Claessen is a Dutch trance DJ and producer. Claessen first burst onto the scene as Barthezz with the hard edged trance anthem ‘On The Move’ but in more recent years has released more techy, mainstream electro trance under his real name. Claessen is currently signed to Above and Beyond’s label Anjunabeats. 

Early Years: 2000 to present

After having built his first studio in his parents’ attic Bart Claessen moved away from home to study music technology and simultaneously work on his first production to be released as a single.  ‘On The Move’ (Tremelo 2000) was released under the production alias Barthezz and was an instant success.  Sitting towards the harder end of the trance spectrum ‘On The Move’s bouncy lead-line was also accessible enough to make it a mainstream crossover success.  It was licensed to leading dance imprints across the globe, including Positiva, Superstar and Ultra, charted in the top 10 across 10 different countries and sold 150,000 copies in Germany alone.

The success of ‘On The Move’ provided the perfect platform for Claessen’s DJing career and numerous gigs followed in countries as diverse as Spain, The Lebanon, Japan, Canada and Poland as well as major trance festivals Trance Energy and Inner City.

Claessen released a follow up Barthezz single ‘Infected’ (Tremelo 2002) which felt every bit the attempt to create another ‘On The Move’ and in doing so only succeeded in sounding like a contrived imitation.

The following year Claessen dabbled with a new production alias Stereoshaker and released the single ‘Rock 'n' Roll’ (Mo'Bizz Recordings 2003). 
In 2004 Claessen started releasing as Bart Claessen with the single ‘Persona Non Grata’ (Yakuza 2004). ‘Persona Non Grata’ signalled the start of a new, moremainstream but also techy-electro trance production style for Claessen. ‘Persona Non Grata’ proved to be a successful approach for Claessen and the blueprint for future releases.

Claessen’s most distinctive release came in 2005 with ‘Playmo’ (Yakuza 2005) which combines a driving, almost sinister electro lead line with a thumping beat that results in a sound that is somewhere between trance and hard, techy house.

‘Playmo’ got a new lease of life three years later when it was re-released with a female vocal as ‘Catch Me’ (Yakuza 2008) and broke into the Dutch national charts.  The same year Claessen released a bootleg of Riva’s Danni Minogue-featuring ‘Stringer’ which proved so successful that it was eventually given an official release.

On the DJ front Claessen signed to Ferry Corsten’s Dance Therapy agency and secured sets at Cream @ Amnesia, Melbourne’s Ultraworld, Godskitchen Kiev and the Sunrise Festival in Poland.

In 2008 Claessen signed to Above and Beyond’s Anjunabeats and started out on a series of electro-trance releases including ‘Elf’ (Anjunabeats 2010).

Bart Claessen burst onto the scene with ‘On The Move’ but took a few years before he could start to reach similar heights again.   Over the years he has moved from a production style that bordered on cheesy to a more driving, techy sound that still retains strong mainstream appeal.

Bart Claessen was a musician from an early age and his first studio was in his parent’s attic.   Claessen studies Music technology at the Utrecht School of Arts.