From Oldskool Hardcore DJ to Creator of the Thunderdome CDs

 

Mental Theo has had an incredibly diverse and exciting career in the dance scene, with a passion for music and his fans that is clearly evident. Having followed the trends from disco to hip-hop to techno, he has undoubtedly amassed a vast knowledge of music and a wide range of musical tastes that he incorporates into his sets.

 

Mental Theo began his music career at the record company Arcade in Nieuwegein. Arcade was a compilation label that released CDs to the market. Theo was the first to come up with the idea of putting his hardcore vinyl collection onto CD and presented this idea to Arcade to see if a hardcore CD could be made. Arcade indicated that they could use the name Thunderdome.

Under the name Thunderdome, Mental Theo personally compiled the first four volumes and helped put the Thunderdome hype on the global map. The name Thunderdome itself came from party organization ID&T, founded by Duncan Stutterheim, who at that time had only just successfully organized their first few events.

At the time, there were no CD compilations of this kind anywhere in the world, so Mental Theo created the very first Thunderdome, which remains a massive success to this day. Due to an error in Arcade’s legal department, Arcade had to return all rights to ID&T. This was unrelated to Mental Theo’s creativity, and with great pain in his heart, he had to hand over the compilation to ID&T. This was, of course, entirely justified, and ID&T then continued compiling Thunderdome themselves.

Mental Theo performed at many of the first Thunderdome events. You can therefore say that ID&T and Mental Theo are the founders of Thunderdome. Many years later, Mental Theo also worked as a radio DJ for ID&T’s radio station, SLAM!FM.

 

His ability to seamlessly transition between different genres and styles of music is a testament to his versatility as a DJ, and it's no wonder that he's been dubbed as one of the best performing DJs in the world by fans.  In the early 1990s, Mental Theo scored many Happy Hardcore hits together with Charly Lownoise and they broke through worldwide. Their success continues to this day, and they still perform at the biggest events across Europe. Their biggest hit was Wonderful Days.

His collaboration with Basshunter and their worldwide hit "Now Your Gone" is a clear indication of his success and ability to create massive hits.

 

It's exciting to hear that he is currently focused on Techno and harder styles and has started working with Reinier Zonneveld to create a new episode of dance and techno. It's clear that Mental Theo is not afraid to take risks and push boundaries in his music, and it will be interesting to see where his career takes him in the future.