Head to head with the Bassjackers in the funniest dance music video in years
Interview : Dan Prince
Hey Jordy welcome back to DMCWORLD, where in the world are you right now?
“Sup! Right now I’m on my way to Ireland for a gig in Portrush with Showtek and Brooks tonight.”
A really good start to 2014 for you with ‘Battle’, your collaboration with Bassjackers. Talk us through the history of the tune…
“Marlon from Bassjackers and I are from the same city in Holland and have known each other for almost 7 years. Last year in Miami we came up with the idea combining forces on a track. A few months later we made Battle and instantly got supported by Knife Party, Tommy Trash, Showtek and Hardwell. It took quite some time, schedule-wise planning the release in and coming up with a nice concept about the track.”
The video was absolutely hilarious and must have been such a laugh to make. The balloon bursting, mud splats, punching each other in the face…there must have been a lot of outakes?
“We shot everything in one day and had an absolute blast doing it. Some scenes had to be done in one take (the champagne shots, and the final couch / confetti shot). So we do have some outtakes, but all best clips made it into the video.”
Who’s ideas were behind the video?
“Pretty much the three of us. Marlon came up with title “Battle” and we instantly had tonnes of ideas to visualize this concept. I discussed the whole social media beef with Ralph, and fine-tuned it with Marlon and our managers.
OK gotta mention a posting on your Facebook last night, “working on probably my biggest project so far, 86 channels and counting.” Come on sunshine, spill the beans..whatcha working on?
“That’s actually one of the many projects I’m working on at the moment. This particular project is going to be a collaboration with Polish DJ / Producer Fafaq. This guy is super talented and he fired over one of his tracks last summer. I had some different thoughts and feelings about it and wanted to adjust it at certain points and giving it a bit of a Dazz-treatment. So he suggested turning it into a collab. It’s a real festival track, and I fully believe in the power of it!”
Saw you went through a bit of writers block a few weeks ago which must drive you mad. What is your solution for this age old producer problem?
“I’ve learned this is a thing every producer, writer, or creative person in general has to deal with. And yeah, it sucks big time. You feel miserable, you think you were just lucky about the stuff you did before, you’re thinking of quitting etc. – it’s a real confidence-issue. The only solution is not to think about it that much, and by doing some other stuff that is related to making music, but isn’t actual making music. For instance, swipe through your (probably) tons of sample packs and get rid of the things you don’t like. Buy a new synth and just start geeking around with all the knobs and parameters. Go outside, do some sports, or fire up your Playstation. In the end there will be a moment where you feel that thing inside you is boiling again and your good to go!”
Tell us about your “smoking” weekend in France with Showtek in early January, what got done?
“Wouter called me to ask I was up for a road-trip with them. I had a gig together with Showtek on a Saturday and they also had two other gigs in France on Thursday and Friday. So we drove to France and visited Bordeaux, Paris and Lyon in three days. We’ve been friends for almost 10 years now and it was quite some time ago since we had spent some proper time together. We started working on something new in the back of the car on the car’s sound system. When we came back in Holland after a 7 hour drive on Sunday night we rolled straight into the studio continuing what we started in the car. So basically it was just three days of straight fun and music. And yes Dan, there might have been some smoking…”
How do your production styles compliment each other in the studio?
“Wouter and Sjoerd have been in the game for such a long time, so they have great experience and a perfect ear for what works for the crowd. It’s basically firing ideas back and forth, weighing things off. That’s the best thing of collabbing; when two or more different minds meet, you always end up with something you never would’ve made on your own. And if everybody respects each-other, and keeps an open mind, great things will happen.”
Who is the biggest practical joker in the studio out of your fellow producer pals, who just cannot stop fucking around?
“I’m in a complex with 4 different studios and one of the guys is DJ Zany. As his artist name already reveals, he’s a straight idiot. Always in for a joke, and never has a bad mood going on.”
Every interview I read with your starts with the line…”A college drop out…” – does that bother you that people still mention that…and did your family mind at the time?
“I don’t mind at all. To be honest, I think it even points out that if you already know exactly what you want to do in life, you should just follow your heart and make every decision into that direction. And to be clear, I did finish high-school!!”
What is the current top 10 you are spinning…
01. Jordy Dazz & Bassjackers – Battle
02. Jordy Dazz – ID
03. Showtek – We Like To Party
04. Calvin Harris, Alesso vs Freddy See – No Problem, Under Control (Jordy Dazz-Up)
05. Jordy Dazz & Jimi Frew – ID
06. Dyro – Black Smoke
07. Jimi Frew & Sherry St.Germain – Trouble
08. Tommy Trash – Fuckwind
09. Icona Pop – Just Another Night (Lucky Date Remix)
10. Jay-Z ft Justin Timberlake – Holy Grail (Jordy Dazz Bootleg)
Where are some of the big dates in your DJ diary that you are really looking forward to in 2014?
“We’re busy planning a US Tour which is gonna be awesome. Also I’m doing a lot of festivals in Holland and Europe and I’m gonna be back at Starbeach in Greece.”
Funniest ever festival story…?
“Maybe not the funniest, but definitely a memorable one. Last year I did the anthem for 7th Sunday Festival in Holland. A 30000 capacity festival where I played the mainstage. All was going great, until like 25 mins before the end of my set, the main mix-console of the sound system in the front of house broke down. Which resulted in not being able to continue for almost 15 minutes. I had less than 10 minutes left to wrap up my set…”
Who are some of the artists you are listening to at the moment away from dance music?
“Frank Ocean, Lorde, Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, Drake…”
How does Jordy Dazz chill out away from music – other than sleeping!?
“Spending time with the missus and my dog, hanging out with friends, watching series and movies and the occasional Playstation break.”
You once described your music as “female friendly” – what is the strangest request you have ever had from a young lady whilst DJing?
“Probably if I could play better music, like reggaeton and hip-hop.” Some chick once asked me if I wanted to feed her pussy. I hate cats. I’m more of a dog kinda-guy, so I passed the offer. I found it a pretty strange request…”
What are you planning for Miami WMC?
“First of all I’ve got these bunch of tracks I want to wrap up for WMC. However, I have quite some options for WMC and options for other countries, so we’re still checking out the schedule.
What is coming out next from you studio wise…?
“Battle with Bassjackers is coming out on February 10. Exactly one month after, another collab with awesome Australian dude Jimi Frew will be out on Revealed Recordings.”
And finally…what has been your proudest career moment to date…?
“I’m pretty proud of everything so far, but that proudest career moment still has to come.”
Thank you Jordy. Appreciate your time as always dude. Dan Prince
“My pleasure Dan!”
