A DAY IN A LIFE OF...

Every month we will interview the boldest craftsmen who are living the Pig & Hen lifestyle. This month, we have interviewed…

WILLY PARTY - AMSTERDAM'S FINEST

Willy Party has a well-known Instagram account where he posts pretty much about stupid people doing dumb shit. What’s the thought behind starting your Instagram account? Where do you get these insane images to post? How come you have two accounts (willyparty and Curbyourlarrydavid) that have such big success?

My Instagram account actually started out from some sort of contest between friends. We used to have the same number of followers and we started sending each other screenshots if we gained one follower. This became a real thing in the group chat. Stupid shit. So, I decided to step it up a notch and started posting this random stupid shit of stuff I find on the internet. It took off pretty quick and never stopped since.

I love it myself and I keep finding insane stuff. I love to put in random google searches and see what I find. The internet is a never-ending black hole of insanity. At the same time, I started this account about Larry David (co-creator of Seinfeld and creator of Curb your enthusiasm). The best sitcoms ever made. Period. I was following all the Seinfeld accounts and was waiting on somebody to start a Larry David account. It never came so after a few months I decided to start it myself. Apparently people were waiting on this. Now it has become the biggest Larry/Seinfeld account on Instagram. hahaha. Pretty nuts.

Where does the name Willy Party come from?

The name Willy Party came from a night out in town. Back then I liked to party a lot. I rolled out the studio 80 (now known as the Claire) around 6 am or so with two friends. This group of Italian girls came towards us and tried to ask me in their best English if I wanted to party with them. It sounded a bit like this.

Imagine a real thick Italian accent. Euuh will he party?? Willheparty?? These friends of mine started to laugh like crazy. hahahaha Willy Party!! Wow that is the best name for you ever! They started using it and everybody else as well. hahaha. Needless to say, it never went away and here I am. Most people have no clue what my real name is. They usually think it is Willem or William or something. Just for the record, it is Sebastian van der Elsken. Hi, hahaha.

Sometimes your posts get deleted by Instagram. Do you repost them or post a different picture? Do you think Instagram is a bit too strict with deleting posts?

Yeah, every now and then shit gets deleted. So lame. I never post naked stuff because I know I can’t, but I do post stuff like a butt crack here and there. Real small stuff and even that gets deleted. It sucks, but then again, I like to see with what content I can get away with. Sometimes I do get mad because of the shit I see on there, like murders. Or what people are sending to me; people getting stabbed. Crazy shit. And then my picture of a couple kissing and a friend of them puking over them gets deleted!?

Bloody scenes or insane racist shit, murders, shootings, which I think are WAAAAY more damaging for a kid than a little butt crack or some naked skin. In this generation, everybody has a smartphone and if a kid want to see some titties, he or she just Google titties and have an endless supply of titties in all shapes and sizes. But hey, I don’t make the rules hè hahahaha

Besides having two big Instagram account, you are a DJ in the nightlife of Amsterdam. Tell us how your love for spinning started and how you became a DJ? Plus which gig gave you the most energy?

I started DJing a long time ago. It started as a joke with 2 friends. We used to call ourselves Flamboyance. Hahaha. Started playing at random clubs and parties. Actually, it started with some friends of mine. Back then we were really into Guitar music like indie rock, punk and metal. Varying from the Beatles, The Strokes, Dead Kennedys, Block Party, I don’t know. Everything we liked. They started this party called Huiskamerhits in Bitterzoet (The old Bitterzoet. Thanks, PDK, Nica and Joris). Those guys just played everything. Hip hop, rock, some soul, disco, heavy metal, punk.

Nothing was mixed together and shit would get crazy. I mean really fucking crazy. I fucking loved it. Those were some good times. So, we started playing there. Later on, I started playing on my own as well. I always liked playing 80’s stuff so I started playing a lot of that. After a while I learned mixing stuff together and it kind of evolved in what I play today. Which is a mix of italo disco, disco, house, and some 80 stuff also every now and then. I never see myself as a DJ even though I did play some crazy parties over the years. This year’s Lowlands was one of my favorites for sure. Hope I’ll be back next year.

Tell us the story about how one of the most notorious bars/club in Amsterdam got your name tag on the bar?

Hahaha. Well after the guys of the old Bitterzoet started their new adventure at the Chicago Social club, we just went those guys. Bitterzoet always felt like a home. You could always just walk in no matter the time or how long the line outside was. And there would always be somebody you know inside. So, when they sold the Bitterzoet and started the new place, we automatically just went over there.

I started doing this Andre Hazes night over there as a joke, but it was a real success. First starting in the bar section and afterwards in the club. After that, I did one in Paradiso which was crazy. But as a regular guest of the Soos and as a thank you for the Hazes party I got a golden name tag. Hahaha. Still not sure how I feel about it hahaha. Thanks PDK! Love you.

You use to be a pretty damn good skateboarder and still go at it from time to time, how’s your body feeling.

Yeah I used to be on my board every day for hour and hours. I was a sponsored skater for years. I love it and I can never walk the streets without looking at things for skateboarding. I don’t think that will ever go away. I started skating when I was 12. My older brothers were die-hard skaters, so naturally I started doing it as well. I loved it from the start. I couldn’t think of anything else. Fun fact for the readers.

The founder of this company (Pig & Hen) and I were in the same first class of high school and skated every day together for years. I was pretty serious about it and started to get quite good. I got my first sponsor when I was 16. A shop sponsor who gave me a couple of boards a year and 50% discount on everything I needed.

I would enter these Dutch championships and developed my own style. Around 18-19 I got on the Nike Skateboarding team and got to travel the globe with friends. Definitely the best times of my life. I was sponsored till 29ish. Around 30 I kind of stopped skating for about 4 years. Skated like 10 times a year or something. I was at a point where I was just mad that I couldn’t skate the way I used to. It fucking sucked. And of course, when you skate that little you just start to lose control over tricks.

It was like a vicious circle. Nowadays I try to get back on my board more often. I still skate every now and then but old injuries are taking its toll now. Fucked up ankles, plus I raptured my hamstring a few months ago when I was skating. Just getting old, hahaha. It is what it is. I still love it and I still consider myself a skateboarder. I’m a skate nerd till the day I die.

Willy Party is wearing Sharp Simon

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