Ian Van Dahl (Castles in The Sky) | The Pressure & Reality of Making Timeless Dance Music

Ian Van Dahl, the voice behind Castles in the Sky, opens up about the pressure, politics, and unseen realities of creating timeless dance music.

This is a rare, honest conversation about success, creative control, and what really happens behind a global anthem.

Few tracks define an entire generation of club culture quite like “Castles in the Sky.” In this episode, we revisit the story, sound and legacy of Ian Van Dahl, one of the most influential trance acts of the late 90s and early 2000s.

From dominating dancefloors across Ibiza, the UK and Europe under multiple aliases, to becoming a defining moment in the golden era of euphoric trance, Ian Van Dahl’s music soundtracked a time when clubs were about emotion, release and collective energy.

This isn’t just nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake. It’s about understanding why this music mattered, why it connected so deeply, and why it still resonates today.

In this video:

◼️ The story behind Castles in the Sky
◼️ How Ian Van Dahl broke through globally
◼️ The sound of late-90s / early-2000s trance culture
◼️ Why these records still hit differently today

Chapters:

00:00 Intro & meeting Ian Van Dahl
01:31 How the name Ian Van Dahl was created
03:16 Early music career & multiple aliases
10:50 Making music in the 90s (before laptops & DAWs)
22:02 Eurodance vs trance – why the UK was different
30:04 The Ian Van Dahl project & Castles in the Sky
39:24 Record labels, pressure & creative control
54:35 European club culture & the rise of Eurodance
1:19:22 Why modern DJs struggle with identity
1:29:00 What’s next for Ian Van Dahl as an artist

Whether you lived through it or you’re discovering it for the first time, this is a reminder of a moment when dance music felt timeless.

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Where did you first hear Castles in the Sky? Ibiza, a UK superclub, a car stereo, or a dodgy burned CD?

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Classic trance • Ibiza culture • Behind-the-scenes stories • No revisionism

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