The kings of hard dance – hell yeah
Wouter, Sjoerd welcome to DMCWORLD Magazine. An incredible five years setting dancefloors alight around the world – had you any idea just the quality of your talent you possessed when you began this journey?
“Well, we never had “the dream” of becoming international artists. We just liked to produce music, as hobbyists, but never thought our talents would lead to this. We still get amazed once in a while, like last time in South Korea. We arrived at the venue and when we started playing it was like they saw Michael Jackson. They didn’t stop screaming. Weird…”
Who were the early pioneers of hard dance that influenced you to follow them in their footsteps?
“Actually no one really. We never had the intention to make Hard Dance only, back then it was all “new” what we did. It was a combination between Trance, Hard Trance en techno, not really a genre in particularly. We were more influenced by guys like Marco V, Tiësto or Faithless.”
You began the summer with a collaboration that certainly raised a few eyebrows in the EDM fraternity, ‘Hell Yeah!’ with the legion Tiësto. But this wasn’t the first time you have worked together is it?
“Well it’s good to raise a few eyebrows. Hell Yeah is just an amazing track and we got a lot of good feedback on it, from all over the world. We work with him for a while now and after we co-produced several bombs we thought it was a cool idea to release something together.”
So how did this tune finally come about?
“Tijs was in The Netherlands for a short period of time and we needed to finish up some songs with him. As Showtek we’ve always been diverse but we never had the opportunity to really do something crazy. So when we were working on this new song, the three of us were head banging on the tune and we thought: F*ck this is going to be nice! So we decided to make it a collaboration. It worked out really well!”
It’s fair to say that your sound has expanded in the last five years, you are a little more diverse than other Hard Dance DJs. Why do you think that is – is it down to the fact you are more open minded?
“We don’t want to categorize ourselves. We want to be more than artists in a certain genre, just be distinctive and not putting any restrictions to ourselves. We stand for quality party music and our performances make that you want to come back the next time. And we play everything we like, so no boundaries and if we see a locked door, we just kick it down! That’s the power of our success. Always believe in yourself, follow your passion and the rest will come. Since the beginning of our career we produced all kinds of music, behind the scene (so as Producers) we work with Marcel Woods, Tiësto and more. In the last few years we’ve travelled all around the world. We’ve grown up, and evolved as a person as well as an artist. If we would still do the same like we did five years ago, we would be really fucked and bored. And don’t forget we have an artistic mind; we want to experiment and try out new stuff.”
This collab is just the first of the summer, July 30th sees your track ‘How We Do It’ alongside Hardwell coming out. What’s the history with this little beauty?
“We started a new project called; Crazy Collabs. Within this project we work together with other artists that we admire, who we really connect with in the studio or just have a lot of fun with! So: no rules, no limits, no boundaries, everything outside the box. And we LOVE IT!! So the second one indeed is with Hardwell, which is a massive bomb! It was the nr.1 video on MTV last week and yeah, it will be released on July 30! So keep your eyes and ears open!”
Unfair question – but which tune do you prefer?!?!
“Two totally different tracks; really can’t say. ‘Hell Yeah!’ has a more original melody you don’t hear that often. ‘How We Do’ is a bit more party and nastier! Both great bombs. But we have another sick one coming up, even harder!! With Bassjackers…it’s called HEY!”
What’s with the recent influx of collabs – is it all about widening your musical boundaries?
“Yeah as we said, we wanted to do something new and different. We wanted 2012 to be the year that is going give a new dimension to our musical career, so.. We are working on it! Since people know what we do, not only as Showtek, but also behind the scenes we get a lot of respect in the scene, what made it a lot easier to set up those collaborations.”
Have you been pissed off with the tag of simply hard dance producers then?
“No not pissed off. We are proud of what we did so far, it’s an underestimated scene though. But if you know you can do more than that, well you are just freaking stupid to keep the talents for yourself. And besides that, it’s all about the music. We really really want to do this.”
What are the current top tracks you are spinning?
Tiesto & Showtek – Hell Yeah!
Hardwell & Showtek – How we do!
Showtek & Bassjackers – Hey!
Knife Party – Rage Valley
Showtek & Noise Controllers – ID
Porter Robinson & Showtek – Unison vs Here we fucking go 2012 mashup
Showtek – Music on my mind
Can you please explain the Baldy & Cresty names…
“We just started out with that, it a bit weird but funny! It’s a cartoon that is based on what we do in the studio without actually putting ourselves in it. So they are our alter-ego’s! Bald and crest refer to our hairstyles. Just go to www.showtek.nl to check them out!”
How has 2012 been for you gig wise, where has really stood out?
“Studio wise we explained enough we think. We sold out the Hordern Pavillion in Sydney about two months ago, which is a 5500 capacity concert venue and we are really proud doing that. Only guys like Tiësto, Red Hot Chili Peppers or Coldplay usually do that, so it’s pretty unique; we did it for the second time by the way. And we loved this year’s Ultra Music Festival where we dropped our new track with Tiësto for the first time. And we are now actually in the States for about 7 weeks, doing the ID-Fest tour which is going to be really great.”
What one country has always been a firm favourite with you – which crowd always gives you the wildest response?
“That is seriously hard to say, It also depends which region you go to. Because we can show you the video of us in Korea, well we never saw that before!! But the US has become one of the biggest markets for us lately. It’s just booming here and the country is so big we could live here and tour around all year!”
Aside from EDM, what other music genres / artists do you listen to?
“Everything, seriously; everything, well not heavy metal though. Not really our style! But we are big hip-hop fans. Recently we went to a Jay-Z and Kanye West concert, which was awesome! And we got to perform before Snoop Dogg @ Motion festival in Switzerland two weeks ago, we were lucky we could take a picture together with him. We were like kids in a candy shop. Haha…”
Brothers in rhythm – what do you argue about?
“Being Late! Is there enough bass in the kick? Is that chick hot or not? Are those tits real? Did you eat my sandwich? Are you such a pussy you can’t bench-press this? That kind of stuff…”
Who brings what to the studio – who is great at what?
“Wouter is the one who sends Sjoerd messages by WhatsApp with piano chords and stuff. So he is definitely the Mozart of the two of us. Sjoerd brings stories to the studio about pussies and b*tches. So while Wouter is playing piano Sjoerd is showing boobies on his iPhone and telling crap stories. No seriously, we know our own strengths and weaknesses so it’s divided quite naturally when working in the studio. Sjoerd is more about editing and we both work on the mixing.”
What 1 record changed your life?
Benny Benassie – Satisfaction
Tiësto – Lethal Industry
What are the big events this summer you are really looking forward to?
“We are touring through the States for the whole summer so we won’t be home until the end of August. We also played in Ibiza just before we left. It’s going to be so cool. We are able to combine work and holiday because we have our own tour bus. This way we are able see the whole country. So it is going to be Rock & Roll this summer!!”
Have you been to Ibiza yet this Summer?
“We played a show with Ferry Corsten which was really nice. We played back to back for about 45 min and then we closed down the show. The day after we went to Pacha with Tiësto, Hardwell and Bassjackers and we dropped some of our tracks as well!”
What is coming next studio wise from you?
“The track we did with Bassjackers will be released on Musical Freedom. This is going to be a hard and nasty track. We also did a track with Noise Controllers, which is a bit harder but still very cool and diverse.”
What is the craziest request you have ever had whilst DJing?
“If we also could play hip-hop!?”
What is your favourite club of all time?
“The Arches – Schotland. We don’t play there that much anymore but the first time we played there, it went off like crazy!”
Who out there would you really love to do a collab with?
“Knife Party! Awesome productions…”
And finally – what piece of advice can you give to the thousands of people reading this who want to folio in your footsteps into the world of producing and DJing?
“Do what you love, follow your passion and believe in yourself! Cheesy but true!
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