Paul van Dyk, the much revered King of Trance, says he'll be gate-crashing into the new millennium at the coolest bash in the world - but not before he's flown in to give Tokyo a much awaited trance injection at the end of October. Kate Crockett bows down and listens.

Paul van Dyk certainly knows where the party is this New Year. He'll be spinning the night away with over 25,000 clubbers and loads of his celebrity DJ mates at one of the biggest millennium events in Europe - the Gatecrasher extravaganza in Sheffield, UK. Wouldn't he rather be somewhere else on millennium night? I ask, with a hint of millennium-night's-gonna-be-a-let-down spirit.

"In terms of a party, not," Paul bubbles. "I really believe it's going to be one of the coolest events of the millennium, so I'm glad to be there with the Chemical Brothers, Sasha, Paul Oakenfold and Judge Jules." More big names! I consider stooping a little lower. "I think it's gonna be wicked," Paul adds. Who am I to argue with that?

Paul has been a professional DJ for about eight years, but it has been in the last couple of years that his popularity has really mushroomed, thanks to his legendary tracks "Binary Finary" and "For An Angel," both of which were big hits last year. This year, rival DJs and clubbers alike have been going mad over his latest creation "Avenue" which is finally being released mid-October and already seems to be a guaranteed hit. Paul may be the hottest property in Trance Town, but he manages to stay modest about his achievements. "Obviously, it's good if something you do is received well by people, so I'm very happy about it," Paul says, about the dance-floor furor "Avenue" has created. "Another thing which I feel really good about is that people would have expected me to do something sort of easy-going, in the same direction as "For an Angel." If you listen to "Avenue", it's quite a strong, tough club tune but it still gets very well received - which means that people are open-minded enough to follow my weird thoughts about things."

Paul is touched that people respond so well to something he is so passionate about. That passion, he says, is the key to his success and the success of any DJ. "The only thing you can be really good at is the thing you like and understand the most, and which you believe in," he explains. "I respect every DJ who is able to put his own taste in music to the people, because there are some DJs who have no taste and aren't able to put it across to people, or DJs who just play the club chart top ten. People who are doing it for the sake of the music and who really, deeply believe in music, I respect them - whatever style of music they play."

And, so, to Japan, where Paul has been once before and will be spinning his magic again at Shinjuku Liquid Room on October 23, and the day before in Osaka. Paul's previous visit was very short, and he felt disorientated by culture shock and the sheer size of Tokyo. "Tokyo's so big you don't even know where you've been," Paul laughs. "It's a town with a lot of centers, so you never really know where you are. We didn't have much time, but it was pretty amazing. When you go, say, from Europe to America or to South America, somehow there is some similarity. This was completely different - nothing we knew was the same - so it was pretty strange." But strangeness aside, Paul really enjoyed himself and thought he was received extremely well, so he's coming back for more. "Four years ago, they [Japan] always had DJs playing really tough techno and things like that," he says, "so when I came along and played my stuff I think they really appreciated it, and the reaction was a bit extreme."

Paul's schedule is now manic right up until the end of the year, so he'll be looking for a moment to shoot off and relax. The place to go, he says, is Central America. "The place I like to go when I chill out is Mexico. They have this area by the Caribbean Sea and it's a wonderful place to hang out. I've played in Mexico City a couple of times too, which is pretty cool."

Paul won't speculate on the future, and he says he doesn't want to voice his ambitions because it would be bad luck. He simply says, "I hope I'm able to work with music for the rest of my life. I just do the things I believe in, and if they work out then fine, and if not then that's fine too." And he gives his respect to his DJ counterparts, adding, "We're not really doing it for the sake of being successful or selling a lot of records. We just love the kind of music we do." But, if he wasn't headlining the Gatecrasher bash this New Year, what would he do instead? "I'd probably just climb up a hill and sit there and think." Paul van Dyk will play at Mothership on October 23 at Shinjuku Liquid Room alongside residents DJ 19 and Yoda. Open 11pm. Tickets: JY4000 (door), JY3500 (advance), available from Ticket Pia, DP-1, Cisco Techno and Technique. Info: Vision: 03-5459-3301. Liquid Room: 03-3200-6831.