The teenage producer superstar tearing it up with his mighty ‘Animals’ and ‘Gecko’ remixes
Interview : Dan Prince
Hey Oliver welcome to DMCWORLD, where in the world are you right now?
“Hey Dan, I’m in my ‘studio’ (read: bedroom) now.”
Well the wait is finally over, your remix of the monster Martin Garrix ‘Animals’ tune is finally out…the wait must have been driving you crazy???
“Well the wait for ‘Gecko’ drove me more crazy haha, especially because it was pushed as an ID track at first, so people didn’t know it was me behind the track in the beginning. Many people were speculating about me being the producer behind ‘Gecko’, but I couldn’t say anything haha.”
Knife Party – ‘sickkk’.
Porter Robinson – ‘God DAMN dude this rocks’.
Example – ‘Superb, this man has so much talent’
…are just three of the massive supports regarding your ‘Animals’ remix that has come from the dance community. Tell us how this crazy story began and how you were able to sit down and rework a modern classic…
“I started to make a cool break with the melody from the ‘Animals’ break, but people have heard that too many times, so I decided to take the drop melody and make a really cool, more complex melody of it. Also for the drop I made different versions. I sent all these versions to Spinnin and Martin, but it had to be more like the ‘New Oliver Heldens’ (Gecko style). So I just took an original mix and took some parts of ‘Animals’ and cut/past/looped/tweaked them and there is the result.”
Speaking of Example, what’s all this about you remixing one of his tracks?
“I thanked him for the support on my latest tunes and he started following me and he mentioned he will contact me for a remix. Few days after that I told my fans I was working on a remix for a big vocalist, so many of them thought it could be a remix for Example. But that remix I was talking about was not for Example, but for a bigger vocalist, that’s all I can say!”
You mentioned your ‘Gecko’ track which has been causing serious damage around the world these past few weeks, fuck, even your granddad loves the orchestral intro!!! Did you know on completion you were sitting on a big big tune?
“When I was working on it I thought it was a really nice track and it really appealed to me. But I didn’t think it would get so much support from the big EDM DJ’s.”
You started producing at a very young age, 13 to be in fact. What were your early production equipment days like?
“My early studio equipment was almost nothing. I had a computer with a FL Studio demo, without sample packs (only the standard FL Studio sample pack). I also didn’t had any VSTi’s like Massive, Sylenth1 or Nexus. As speakers I had 2 crappy computer speakers. The first 2 years I didn’t spend much time in producing, I was a gamer back then and also a factor was that I had software on my computer (installed by my parents) which didn’t allow me to spend more than 1.5 hours (weekdays) or 2.5 hours (weekend) per day on my computer. Because of the limited time I did rather game with my friends than producing crappy music in a FL Studio demo (yes, my music was really crappy in the beginning).”
I love one of the reasons why you started to produce, a school disco and a certain major DJ…I will let you finish the story!
“Haha, that’s right. Hardwell sometimes played at our school discos back then. And he wasn’t even the headliner. We’ve had Erick E, Fedde Le Grand as headliners, but that was after 12PM, so I wasn’t able to check the headliner. For me Hardwell was the headliner and I really enjoyed his music. His ‘crazy Dutch house’ stuff from then, but also his deeper/minimal stuff, I really loved it both.”
Who do you bounce your music off, who’s opinion do you respect?
“I respect the opinions of the A&R from Spinnin’ (also other A&R’s, but I work a lot with the Spinnin’ A&R). I also respect the opinions from DJ/Producer friends. DJ’s like Jay Hardway, Henry Fong, Thomas Newson, Victor Niglio and Jacob van Hage hear my works-in-progress a lot and give me good feedback.”
It’s your birthday, who are the 3 DJs do you ask to come and play and who is the 1 singer you ask to sing you Happy Birthday?
“From back in the day I would have loved the Bingo Players playing their old 2008/2009/2010 housey style in combination with their new electro style. I want Dillon Francis b2b DJ Hanzel haha and I want Disclosure. And as singer I want Amba Shephard.”
What do you think is your greatest attribute/skill as a DJ and also as a producer? Two strong points in each field…
“As a DJ I think I have a pretty good track choice. And as a producer there is not 1 specific skill which is my greatest. It’s all about creating that combination of specific sounds which gets you a fresh piece of music.”
What is the current top 10 you are spinning?
“In no particular order…
My track Gecko
The Gecko follow up
My Animals Remix / my new remix,
Sage The Gemini – Gas Pedal (Motez Edit),
Tchami x Janet Jackson – Go Deep
Storm Queen – Look Right Trough (MK Dub)
Scotty Boy & Lorenzo – Coke Diet
Justin Timberlake – Suit & Tie vs Merk & Kremont
Paris & Simo – Tundra (Timo S Mashup)
My track Juggernaut vs Clarity
If you could pass any law what would it be?
“Uhm, doing USA tours without a Visa haha!!”
December 17th 2013 – the very first time Mr Pete Tong mentioned your name on Radio 1 towers, how important was Friday nights with Tongy to you growing up?
“To be honest Dan, we didn’t listen to BBC Radio 1 when I was growing up.”
Wow, okay moving on! Who were some of your early DJ/producer heroes?
“Some of my early DJ/producer heroes are: Headhunterz, Hardwell, Bingo Players, Fedde Le Grand and Vato Gonzalez.”
Tell us about the plans for you DJ wise in 2014…whatcha got coming up..
“At the moment we have a lot of requests and I’m really excited about what’s to come. I’ll play a lot of cool gigs, but I’m not sure if I can announce some of the names of the parties and festivals yet. I will do some pretty big festivals in the Netherlands and I will also do some gigs in Germany, UK, Belgium, USA and maybe an Australia tour.”
And finally, what is coming out release from the mighty Heldens studio?
“I have a Gecko follow up I’m really happy with and I also have a remix for a big pop artist lined up. Also I’m working on a lot of new stuff and I try to produce a lot of ‘different’ stuff to develop the Gecko sound/style to something new.”
