The new dream team from The Netherlands gets everyone thinking about ‘Conspiracy’
Interview : Dan Prince
Martijn, Quirijn welcome to DMCWORLD, where in the world are you today?
“Thanks for having us! We are in The Netherlands, working on new music in the studio!”
A massive week for you with the release of your brand new tune ‘Conspiracy’ on Protocol. Talk us through the sound and history of the track…
“It all started with this weird pitchdown electro synth that we made. Then we started working on these mysterious chords for the break and that’s when we realized it could be something cool! The actual idea was finished in just a couple of hours, but it took us several months perfecting all the details and getting the mixing right.”
Did you know on completion you were sitting on something very special?
“For us, all the tracks we work on got to have something special to it. This is the way we have worked from the beginning, and it really helps us to develop our sound and get it more professional with every track we finish! The sounds and the groove of Conspiracy sounded very unique to us, so at that point we realized we’ve hit something special.”
Check out Nicky Romero premiering ‘Conspiracy’ at Ultra…
So let’s run through a few conspiracy theories and see whether you think they are true or false…
9/11 was planned by the US Government?
“False”
John F Kennedy’s assassination was a criminal conspiracy involving the FBI, CIA, KGB or the mafia?
“False”
The DJ Mag Top 100 is actually not rigged?
“True”
Elvis is still alive and kicking?
“Hell yeah!”
The cake’s that Steve Aoki throws into the crowd are massive hash cakes?
“Hahaha! True! Def. True.”
Pearl Harbour was allowed to happen by President Roosevelt?
“False”
Most EDM DJs have pre-recorded sets?
“Prepared sets yes, pre-recorded no!
Hahaha, we are pretty sure Elvis is still alive! Going back to reality, there are not a lot of conspiracy theories that sound realistic. The Steve Aoki one would be something cool tho! Considering the artwork does show some sort of “All-Seeing Eye”, it doesn’t mean it has to do anything with the illuminati. It’s just a funny joke. We thought Conspiracy would be the perfect name for the track as it really has a mysterious vibe to it.”
How old were you when you first discovered the delights of dance music?
“I think this all came together for us in 2007, when we first heard the Laidback Luke remix of The Great Fashionista Swindle. We really fell in love with electronic dance music and from this point we started to go to all the house parties.”
What was the initial idea, to become shithot DJs or amazing producers?
“As we were so in love with the music it seemed like logical step to start as a DJ/producer. We just wanted to create music and make people forget their daily routines a bit. If we can do that for only a few hours it makes us happy.”
How did you first meet and when did the idea to work together begin?
“We met through the internet, Martin did a remix for a track mine and I really liked that one. When we hooked up we talked a lot about music and became friends. As we both shared the same ideas about music it felt logic to join forces and work together.”
What did you both think of each when you first met?
Quirijn: “I immediately noticed that Martin was very skilled and passionate about making music. We knew from the beginning that we had mostly the same ideas and opinions about music.”
Martijn: “There was a dude from The Netherlands that also listened to Axwell, Angello and Ingrosso, and he knew about all the upcoming tracks and melodies. At that time we worked in Fruity Loops, and he know all the important knobs and secrets of it. We became best friends quickly.”
Early DJ/producer heroes?
“That would definitely be the Swedish House Mafia, they always surprised us with their melodies and high quality mixing. Before that we really loved the music from Switch and Crookers with the weird jackin’ electro sounds and in the really early days we listened to Daft Punk.”
A quote from one of our favourite DJs……“a DJ has to have a piss every time before he goes on the decks, and if somebody tells me that’s not nerves they are full of shit.” – so guys, you still get nervous before DJing?
“Yes we are always nervous before we play, but after the first transition we become one with the crowd and all the nerves go away!”
What is the current top 10 you are spinning…
1. Martin Volt & Quentin State, Burgundy’s – Conspiracy
2. Hook N Sling – Tokyo By Night (Axwell remix)
3. Orjan Nilsen – Apart (Martin Volt & Quentin State Remix)
4. Steve Angello, Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman – Payback
5. Eric Prydz – Liberate
6. Merk & Kremont – Amen
7. Martin Volt & Quentin State – Fugitive w/ Clarity (Vocal Edit)
8. Galantis – You (Still Young Remix)
9. Third Party – Everyday of my life
10. Stadium X – Howl At The Moon
Your records get supported by EVERY F**CKING superstar producer in the world. Who are the names you always check to see if they like your music?
“Nicky Romero, the Swedish guys and generally people that make melodic or groovy music. Mainly them because we are in love with chords and melodies.”
Tell us about your studio set up and who excels in what department when making a new record…
“We have a really basic set-up, a simple Native instruments soundcard, a MIDI keyboard, Dynaudio BM 5A MK2 and KRK VXT speakers, two Mac Pro’s and that’s it. The good thing about our collaboration is that are both know everything about making a good production so it’s difficult to say who excels in what department but I think Martin is more passionate about getting the perfect mix as I can be a bit obsessed by making melodies. We always try to impress each other with new ideas or mixing.”
A quote from a major DJ this week…“Well I believe true DJing is actually an art, but it’s a dying art, as everyone is pushing the sync button…it’s a real shame when you see a ‘DJ’ plug his laptop in and call this DJing.” Thoughts on that…?
“We don’t really care about that. Like if the people in the crowd are saying: “man this DJ sucks because he pushed the sync button”. It’s all about the energy and fun you give to people, most people just want a good time. We learned how to beatmatch before the sync function was on every CD player. Since technology has evolved we accepted that the DJ art has switched to creating a unique set by playing own productions and edit’s and mixing transitions in key.”
Great answer! You spend a lot of time together, working, playing and traveling. If you could change one thing about each other, what would it be?
“The only thing we hate about each other is that we both live on the other side of The Netherlands. We are quite happy about the way we work together, we have a shared Dropbox folder, which allows us to work on the same projects and we have this daily Skype meetings. We make the ideas separately but from that point we immediately switch over the project so the other one can continue working on it. It works quite effective but it’s way more fun to see each other some more!”
And finally, what is coming out next from you studio wise?
“We have a bunch of new material ready to be released. There is one with a vocal, which we are really excited about and we can’t wait for the moment we can share our upcoming stuff to the world!”
