Radio 1 all over it, 17m hits on YouTube, No. 1 in 3 countries…’One Day (Vandaag) – summer smash written all over it
Interview : Dan Prince
Lodewijk welcome to DMCWORLD, where on planet earth are you today?
“I’m in Amsterdam at the moment, where I live. I just came from Montreal, where I had a show this weekend, had an amazing time there.”
It’s not often a record comes out and everyone says this could be one of the records of the summer, but by jove you’ve done it with ‘One Day (Vandaag)’ – over 17 million views on YouTube and 3 million Soundcloud hits can’t be wrong! Talk us through the track…
“The process was really organic. I started out with the piano progression, I was jamming in my room. Then I started messing around with some saxophone samples I had on my laptop. When I found the right tune I created the soft synth with V-Station (a VST). I tried finding a way to make a build up to the sax solo and eventually put the Martin Luther King speech on top of it. It worked. In a way the MLK speech is music itself. It has a kind of melody.”
What many of your fans around the globe won’t appreciate is that you still have one year left as a psychology student, was music always your 1st choice as a career or was it just a hobby sitting next to a different avenue ahead in psychology…?
“Music was always my passion. I started collecting jazz albums when I was around 11 and I have been collecting music ever since. At the age of 16 I felt the urge to make music myself too, and I started learning how DAW’s and synthesizers worked. It was always my dream to make music my profession, but I started studying Psychology when I was 18 because at that time it was still a hobby. Now though music is my number one priority. I’m still studying Psychology but I just do it for fun now, taking it very slow. Music comes first!”
We love the story of how you exploded onto the scene, there you were quietly minding your own business in your student room making some music like your ‘Zomer’ and ‘Vandaag’ tracks to listen to when there was a knock on your door from a friend. What happened next…?
“Haha, yeah it all went really organically. I made the tracks for myself to listen to, untill my roommate came in and heard it. He told me to put the tracks online right away. It first went viral in Amsterdam, after that Paris, Berlin, Zurich and stuff. I didn’t even release the songs yet, it were ‘internet hits’. After that it got bigger and bigger and I started making more tracks and doing shows all around Europe. It’s really my dream coming true, totally out of nowhere.”
What is the current top 10 you are spinning?
1. An exclusive vocal edit from a track from German producer Lexer – My Princess, absolutely amazing.
2. Melokind – Smile (Vamos Art Edit)
3. Fedde le Grand & Direct – Where we belong (Bakermat remix)
4. Max Manie – Sunday (Klangkarussel Remix)
5. Dimmi – Promesses (Feat B Lacoste)
6. Bakermat – Another Man (new track, unreleased)
7. Bakermat – From Paris To Amsterdam (new track, unreleased)
8. Friends of Ours – Back 2 the groove (Niko Schwindt Remix)
9. Watermat – Bullit
10. Moby – Almost Home (Sebastien Edit)
So word on the grapevine is that due to the amount of club and festival DJ shows being offered to you, the university work is going to be put on hold for a while?
“Yes definitely. Last year I did around 200 shows all around Europe and other continents. I didn’t have time to study and this year it’s practically the same haha. I put my study on pause, the university knows about it. Maybe in 2 years I’ll have a sabbatical or something to finish the last courses. I do wanna finish the study, I think it’s important for me to have a bachelors degree in Psychology.”
Where is your studio these days and what is the set up…?
“I just moved to a new house in Amsterdam and I got Jan Morel (a professional studio maker) to transform one room into a studio. It’s great to have the studio in my house now, so I can create music whenever I want. I work with FL Studio, but have a lot of external VST synthesizers and effects. I also have some analog equipment that I use sometimes, for example I have the compressor that Daft Punk used for their famous old classics. I also do a lot of recording, I have a relatively simple microphone where I record some percussion, vocals, instruments etc.”
Loving some of your musical influences…Coleman Hawkins, Nat King Cole, Goldfish, Ludovicio Einaudi, Fatboy Slim, Stimming, Moby and Benjamin Herman all nestling amongst each other. Tell us about your childhood, have you hailed from a musical family…you have so much good music there!
“My mother is an opera singer and my father a big music lover. So yeah, I was raised with music. Even though I am not that much into opera, I learned to appreciate classical music by visiting a lot of my mother’s concerts. My dad brought me in touch with jazz, blues and soul music: my big passion. My parents have always encouraged me to listen to all different kinds of music and make music myself, I have a lot to thank to them.”
When did you first start becoming aware of dance music, who were the artists/DJs that first got you interested?
“The guys that opened the gates to dance music were definitely Moby, Fatboy Slim, Parov Stelar, Goldfish, Daft Punk etc. They were putting soulful, jazzy or blues influences in dance music, that made me aware of dance music. I realized that you can put a lot of feeling in dance music as well. From there on I started collecting dance music too.”
One tour you had been really looking forward to was hitting South Africa in December. What were some of the highlights of that trip?
“It was quit coincident that when I got there Nelson Mandela died. When I heard about the news I immediately started working on a tribute for him to play that night. I replaced the Martin Luther King speech in “Vandaag” with Nelson Mandela’s speech. Played it that night and I had goosebumps all over my body when I saw the reaction of the crowd. Definitely a show I will never forget in my life, such a special moment. These are exactly the kind of moments I am looking for in my show.”
You met Goldfish in Ibiza, what’s the story there?
“We got in touch because they approached me. They liked my music and wanted to do a show together. I didn’t hesitate for a second, since they are one of my musical hero’s. We got along very good professionally, but also privately. Since Ibiza we are doing a lot of shows together in France, Belgium, Holland and stuff. They became really good friends, they share the same attitude towards life.”
We love a live musician on stage with DJs, how did Ben Rodenburg come to be part of your show and why is he so important.”
“When I got some requests for shows I first did a lot of DJ sets, but after a while I came up with the idea to use a live saxophonist, since I used a lot of saxophone in my first songs. My manager brought me in contact with Ben and I gave him some instrumentals to practice. Turned out he loved the saxophone solo’s and he could play them right away and with a lot of feeling to it. Now I play a lot with him so we really understand each other during shows.”
Who are some of the producers around the world you are giving high fives to right now…?
“I’m really new to the scene, so I don’t know a lot of people yet haha. Also I’m kinda lonely in this new kind of genre (melodic, soulful, deep dance). I have a very good relationship with Goldfish, Lexer, Nico Push and Klangkarussel, however I do meet a lot of producers now because of the touring, most of them are very nice people.”
And some of the big DJ shows coming up you’re excited about…?
“Yes. In September I will be doing a live album show in Paris, London and Amsterdam. I will play my new album with a live guitarist, vocalist and saxophonist. Also I will be playing at some great festivals in France. And I got some few other things lined up, but I can’t tell you much about it yet..”
Away from music, how do you chill out?
“I love watching series like Breaking Bad, Homeland, Dexter etc. I’m also really into pop art and photography, so I like to collect paintings and pictures. But most of all I really like drinking a beer with friends and spending some time with my family and dogs.”
Are there any forms of music that you don’t appreciate?
“I actually almost like every genre. Of course there are some genres that I really don’t understand like Terrorcore, modernism and really dark underground techno. But my interest in music is aside from that very broad. I don’t really use genre’s as a way to define my taste in music. I just like songs that have a good progression and hit the right note at the right time.”
And finally, what is coming out next from you studio wise?
“I’m working on the finishing touch on my album right now, but all the rough mixes are done. I’m first coming with a new EP that I will release on my own label Bloes Records. I’m really experimenting with a lot of different sounds than the saxophone lately, because since I started making tracks with saxophones in 2012 there came a lot of people that copied that music (like Faul, Klingande etc.). I feel that it’s my job to come up with something new, refreshing. I’m working with electric guitars, violins, vocals, old American folk songs and prison songs right now!”
