It must have been difficult to access music in East Germany. When did you first become a music fan?
When I was a kid, I was always listening to the radio when I did my homework. The first piece of music that really hit me was "Hand In Glove," by a band called The Smiths… that was in the early '80s. That's when I realized that music is so much more to than just stuff that just plays in the background. I was becoming a real music "fan," and bands like The Smiths and New Order were my favorites.

Obviously, East German Radio stations weren't playing The Smiths and New Order, right? It must have been pirate radio…
It even more illegal than pirate radio, it was West Berlin radio. I grew up in East Berlin, right next to West Berlin, we were all listening to West Berlin radio stations, they played the music we wanted to hear.

Were you able to get your hands on records or tapes of your favorite artists?
We couldn't get anything like that. Until The Berlin Wall went down, I didn't even know what the guys from The Smiths or New Order looked like. I could never even read an article about them, because we didn't have access to those magazines. (But) I don't really like this glamorous pop star nonsense and stuff, because as a kid, I never had the posters of my hero; I didn't know anything about them. It's the music that means so much, I don't really care who the person is, I don't want to meet my favorites, I just want them to make great music. I think that has to do with how I grew up.

Does that make you wary of doing interviews, now that you're a famous artist, and people want to know about you?
I understand that there is an interest in knowing more about artists, and I don't have a problem with that. Everything that's private no one needs to know, and I don't think it is of anyone's interest. But anything else, I don't have a problem talking about. I'm politically active, and active in charity organizations, and in order to bring these messages across, interviews are absolutely important. To be involved in democracy, you need to speak out.

You obviously have a great appreciation for democracy.
I grew up in a dictatorship, where you were not allowed to say what you think, or live the way you wanted to live. There was no opportunity for a "future," it was all very structured, you go to school, you work, and then you die. There was no chance to develop yourself, and explore something for yourself. That is why I absolutely appreciate democracy. But at the same time, I'm not running around blind saying, "it's all good." It's not. I totally believe democracy is the best concept we have on this planet for living together. It has a lot of mistakes built in. In order to have a good and healthy democratic society, it needs all of our involvement. If you see something is wrong in your neighborhood, go ahead and change it, don't wait for someone else to do it.

Back to the music: when was the first time you performed in public?
March '91 was the first time I played in front of people, at the Tresor Club in Berlin. When you're a "bedroom DJ," you keep the volume low so you don't scare your neighbors. In the club, the music sounded so different! Suddenly, there's loud bass, there's so many elements in the tracks that I'd never heard. Actually, it was scary. It wasn't a prime time shift, I was opening up for someone. But people didn't leave, so I guess it was successful, and looking back, I guess I didn't do too badly.

You've been outspoken against drugs, and there was even some t-shirts that said "No E in PvD".
At the end of the '90s, there was a club in the UK called Gatecrusher where I spun. Young kids, exploring club music for themselves, and of course, with the whole history of taking ecstasy pills, in especially in the UK. There was an issue of drug abuse in those clubs. I always said, "I don't take drugs," I couldn't play for 6 hours completely hammered! So fans started making the shirts: also because some people were misspelling my name with an "e" ("Paul van Dyke"). It was good, though: it showed that you can make a mark on people. Even if it is just one night that one person decides not to take a pill, maybe that was the wrong pill on that particular night. So, it's good to make that kind of impact.

Finally, what can people expect to hear from your Area 33 show, The Vonyc Sessions?
I get so much music every week, there's so many great things, I'd just like to give that music a platform to be heard. The show is completely mixed, I'm also talking about the music, giving information on the music… it is all about electronic music. It's the best music in the world.

You can hear Paul van Dyk's Vonyc Sessions every Thursday night from 6 to 8 pm ET on Area 33 starting August 31.