Interview: We speak with World No. 1 DJ, Hardwell

PUBLISHED May 22nd, 2015 03:09 am | UPDATED June 18th, 2020 08:45 pm

When Zouk announced that world number 1 DJ Hardwell (for two consecutive years in DJ Magazine’s annual Top 100 DJs poll) was going to spin in Singapore as part of his ‘UNITED WE ARE’ tour, EDM fans all over the country were thrilled. With some 11,000 fans gathering at The Meadow at Gardens by the Bay, the stage was set for the 27 year old Dutch maestro to work his magic. We had a smashing time; but before the party started, we had the opportunity to speak with Hardwell about the city he grew up in, his musical inspirations, and his passion for dance music.

What’s your creative process like?

I start writing chords and melody, but just on the piano, if I decide to make it a vocal track, I send the piano chords to one of my song writers, and from that point, I receive vocals. But to finally find the right vocal that fits a song, it’s an endless process. Sometimes I have 40 versions of one song before it’s the final track. Then, I start to produce a track and decide which sound direction I wanna take – more radio-friendly or more festival-wise.

In terms of radio-friendly versus festival-friendly, what is the difference for you when it comes to producing the song?

Well, as a DJ you have that adrenaline kick if you have that long build-up and when the song finally kicks in, you have the whole crowd giving that energy blast. On the radio, you’re not even allowed to have a 15-second buildup ’cause it’s too long for the radio. It’s really hard to make a radio-friendly version of dance music, and it’s really, really rare that the radio picks up an instrumental record. Most of the time, they want the DJ’s to come up with vocal records. I think my album ‘UNITED WE ARE’ was the perfect blend between radio-friendly songs and festival-friendly songs. So I always try to look at both worlds and try to combine it.

What are the 5 most influential tracks in your life?

A lot of tracks have inspired me throughout my career, I can’t make a top 5 in random order. Let’s start with Tiesto’s “Flight 643”, that was definitely one of the songs that got me into dance music. The first vinyl I ever bought was Marco V, “Simulated”, another dance song that really inspired me in my career. A song that I really look up to in terms of how it is produced technical-wise is The Prodigy, “Smack my Bitch Up”, that’s definitely one of my all-time favourite songs. if you know the story behind the track, every single sound from the track is sampled from another track. They made a completely new track out of it, production-wise it’s an amazing song. Definitely the second Eminem album, the whole album, Marshall Mathers LP, an album I’ve been listening to for a long time when I was in high school and well, Dr. Dre is an amazing producer. The 5th track is a hard one (laughs), but it’d probably be something from Pharell Williams. Everything he did from his solo tracks to N.E.R.D, to the Neptunes. He is one of my favourite producers in general.

What are your thoughts on the Singapore crowd?

It’s amazing every time I’m in Singapore – from the first time in 2010 at Zouk, which was one of my first gigs outside of Holland and definitely one of the first gigs I ever played where the crowd was super dedicated and really hyped up to see me and my music. So I always have good memories coming back to Singapore, coming back to the I AM HARDWELL show in 2013, that was definitely one of my favourite shows of the whole world tour. The Singapore crowd is amazing, I’m really happy to be here.

Could you share with us more about your hometown Breda, and how you developed as a person and as an artist?

I was born and raised in Breda, a small city in the side of Holland, and I still live there. Coincidentally, it’s the same city that Tiesto was born and raised in too. Dannic is from there, as well as Kill the Buzz. We always call it the dance capital of the world because there’re so many great DJ’s from Breda. I think one of the reasons dance music is so popular is because Tiesto was always in the newspaper, and I think that inspired a lot of kids, including myself to become a DJ. We had two really big record stores, so it was really easy to get your hands on a good dance music song. The funny thing is, we don’t have any clubs in Breda. There are only small bars, and I think that’s a good thing. Since we only have small bars, all the DJs gather in the same bars and we talk about music. It’s quite geeky, talking about plug-ins and the studio and everybody is really connected. Everybody is helping each other, just like how I’m doing now with Dannic, Kill the Buzz and all the other guys. Everyone’s really helpful and interested in each other. If something is happening, everyone knows about it.

You started your career really, really young. How was it like going to clubs with your parents?

(All laugh) Yeah it’s good – it’s good. I was 12 years old when I started DJ-ing, and I was 14 years old when I first signed my first record deal. From that point I started to tour in Holland but I wasn’t allowed to enter the club because you had to be 18. So I had to take my parents with me, and they drove me everywhere in Holland for all my gigs. For the first four years of my career, my parents were always there.

Do you still bring your parents to gigs?

Sometimes! They’re really, really proud now. And when I have really important shows, they’re always there. For example, they supported me at I AM HARDWELL, Madison Square Garden, Ultra Miami, and Tomorrowland.

How do you juggle between playing what people want to hear and what you want to produce?

That’s a really good question. I think it depends on the mood in the studio. Sometimes I make records for myself, to keep myself fresh, to experiment a little bit more. On the other hand, when I’m in the studio I always want to create that one big record that I wanna play in my set. As a DJ, it’s really important to play new songs, and come up with something special that other DJ’s can’t play or don’t have. So yeah, you always need that inspiration to work on a song that’s really big in your set. Of course you have to put your signature sound in there, so it’s always like 50/50.

You’ve always mentioned Tiesto as your mentor. What would happen one day if another talented artist came along, would you groom that person to a superstar one day?

Of course, yeah. That’s the whole point of the record label. I think the biggest challenge for a record label isn’t really about producing music anymore, it’s about creating a family of guys that inspire each other and make each other better y’know. I always say sharing is caring – if you take care of each other, you’re all getting bigger and better. And that’s what we want to create with Revealed Recordings. I’ve been mentoring Dyro and Dannic for the last three years. Dyro was a guy without a Facebook Page and 3 followers on Soundcloud, but he’s now one of the biggest upcoming guys in the whole business. The same goes for Dannic. Kill the Buzz is making amazing tracks right now, and he’s doing all the opening shows for I AM HARDWELL. I always try to mentor guys y’know and it’s funny to see ’cause I always say for example Tiesto is my idol, my big mentor but guys like Martin Garrix say the same about me so I’m feeling old right now (all laugh). It’s funny to see that those guys are really looking up to me and seeing me as an inspiration.