The resurgence of the bigroom genre has been well documented over the past couple of years and Dutch native Maurice West has been at the undeniable forefront of that movement. Freshly removed from his W&W-assisted ‘Matrix’ collaboration and scintillating remix of Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike’s ‘Selfish’, the rising star now gears up for a busy summer of releases and tour dates…
Hi Maurice, welcome to DMC! Firstly, where are you in the world and what are you doing right now?
Amsterdam in The Netherlands answering your cool questions.
How did you initially get into music and at what age were you when you produced your first track?
Music has always been a very big part of my life as both of my parents are musicians. The ground floor of the house I grew up in is a recording studio so I always had basically any instrument you could think of within reach. I never really got to “decide” that I wanted to get into music. Music got into me. When I was around the age of 12 I was already messing around in Garageband, going through all the loops, writing chord progressions and melodies, recording my own vocals and putting weird FX on them, etc. I don’t know if you can really call the stuff I made back then “tracks” but I know that I was very serious about it back then haha.
You recently released your single ‘Matrix’ alongside W&W, how did the collaboration come about and what was it like to work with them?
Matrix came forth out of a break that I made overnight in a hotel to play at a festival the next day. I already had a drop but I wanted a cool, gimmicky buildup towards it. The buildup that I made in the hotel is still almost the same thing as the first break / buildup that’s in the final version. I remember W&W messaging me and going crazy about that track when they heard it on my Instagram story. The three of us hit the studio together as fast as we could and turned the sketch I had into a full track that we played throughout the whole summer. Working with them was really dope and fun because we had been sharing our thoughts and vision on music for 2 or 3 years already.
You’ll soon be returning to London’s iconic Ministry Of Sound, what are you most excited about for this upcoming performance?
I’m basically ALWAYS really excited when I get to DJ somewhere in front of a crowd. It doesn’t matter if it’s 10 people or 10,000 people. Playing in such a cool city like London and in a venue like Ministry Of Sound makes it even more special.
Are you sitting on any new music that you plan to test out during your Ministry Of Sound set?
YES. That’s all I can say.
Will you be doing any sightseeing whilst in London?
I hope I will have the time to do so. I’m bringing one of my friends with me on tour this whole summer to help me out and take pictures of me doing dumb stuff. I never in my life got the “red phone box money shot” as I like to call it so I hope to cross that one off the list.
Who has been a big influence for you and your production style?
Since I was 14 I’ve been really inspired by Alesso, Skrillex, Knife Party, W&W and Hardwell just to name a few. I also remember being really into dubstep but you wouldn’t really be able to hear that in my productions. Furthermore, I like to listen to Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Sister Sledge, The Doobie Brothers, that kinda stuff. I basically listen to a lot of soul and disco music that was made long before I was born and try to draw inspiration from that.
If you could collaborate with any other artist, who would it be?
I’ve been asked that question a lot actually and I don’t just have a simple answer to that. The only thing I know is that it would have to be someone very different from me both personally and musically. When working with other artists I think it’s very important to step outside of your usual music making routine to come up with exciting stuff. So here’s a short list of names that could do that for me: Post Malone, Skrillex, Tame Impala, Porter Robinson, Chopin, you name it.
You’re due to perform at Galp Beach Party in June, will this be your first time playing in Portugal?
Yes. Very excited for that. I’ve seen a lot of videos of these crazy festivals in Portugal where the crowd just seems to have an endless source of energy stored in their bodies, which will come in handy for my set.
What else can we expect from you in terms of new music and shows in the coming months?
There’s a new single coming next month which I’m really excited for. A lot of the stuff I’m working on has influences from very different styles of music. It gets me hyped and it all feels very refreshing. In terms of shows I’ll be all across Europe the whole summer (with some Asia dates in between) playing the mainstages at festivals that I could only dream about a few years back. It’s gonna be a blast.
Lastly, what is your favourite track of 2019 so far?
This question just might have damaged my brain a little. I tried thinking of an answer but I listen to literally everything so I don’t think I have an answer. I’m sorry…this interview was fun though!
