Starkillers

Boom! Exclusive interview as ‘What Does Tomorrow Bring’ smashes up dancefloors everywhere

Nick welcome back to DMCWORLD Magazine! Before we talk about your new music, you posted on Facebook on Sunday morning…”Good morning. Every night should be like last night, had an amazing time.” What the hell did you get up to?

“Hi Dan. I played this crazy party at Voyeur in San Diego, it was so much fun. I can’t tell you the full story as it might get me in trouble, but let’s just say I had a good time, we drank so much vodka.”

So, a wonderful new track swinging our way created with Richard Beynon featuring Natalie Peris ‘What Does Tomorrow Bring’ – talk us through the history of the track….

“I suppose it’s your normal collaboration story, I’ve known Richard for a long time, he is super talented and we love making tracks together, I met Natalie on line and we got talking on Skype, she sent us the vocal and immediately we fell in love with it, the rest as they say is history.”

The last time we spoke you mentioned your girlfriend going mad at you on Christmas Day because you were in the studio with Nadia finishing up a track. You move that studio yet dude?

“Ha ha yeah I got in so much trouble! Nope the studio is still in my apartment, I’m always getting in trouble for being in there.”

The track is signed to Next Plateau which is part of Universal, an old label but new to EDM and fresh in my mind as the label who signed Salt n Pepa and Sybil, two old skool legends. Would we have found you on the dancefloor back in 1986 ‘getting up on this’?

“Yeah I love the 80’s. They are two established groundbreaking acts, the label is new to EDM but the head honcho Eddie O’ Loughlin is one of the best I have ever worked with. He has been so supportive with this record and we are definitely working with him more on the project, they may be new to EDM but they are by far new to the music industry. I cannot wait to do another release with these guys.”

Over at DMC we are intrigued about the rumours concerning the next track from you, a collaboration with Michael Woods’ sister Marcello with the track ‘After Midnight’. A tune you have claimed recently is the best track you have EVER done. So we are sitting down, talk us through the record…

“This is a track that we have done together, Marcella has a powerful voice and I love working with Michael, I’ve been e-mailing him about the track working on some points with him. It’s a big room hands in the air record. Dan – I’ll let you judge if it’s the best track I’ve ever done.”

Cool. You said recently that one of the reasons you love your track ‘Pressure’ so much is that in three years time or so, you will be able to remix the tune and everyone in the club will be like, ‘woah what’s this new tune?’. Now let me ask you, is that down to your expert remix abilities or the fact that perhaps, the crowd on the dance floor in America will be completely different from what it is today?

“I’d say that it might be more to do with the crowd, the track has become quite an anthem in the EDM world so it will probably stick around for a long time and be harder to reinvent.”

Your remix with Dimitri of Loleatta Holloway’s ‘Love Sensation’ is a rework classic. A bomb. How did you keep the artist’s integrity and make this record so cool once again?

“We just kept the vocal as it is, kept the vocal anthemic, it’s such a stand out record we did not want to pull to away from something that, even for me, brought back great clubbing memories…”

How many tunes have you got in the Starkillers music bank right now and what will be the release after ‘After Midnight’?

“I’d say around six so far. The next single is a collab with my friend bl3nd coming on Spinnin, I have a track with Amba Shepherd, Dmitry KO, Richard Beynon and a vocalist called Kai signed to Warners. Some collabs too – myself and Nari and Milani are currently speaking on Skype, those guys are great. There are many more records to come, maybe even another single with Nadia?”

What have been some of your best gigs of summer 2012?

“Touring Australia was great for me, getting to Asia. I’m looking forward to going to the UK this month and getting meetings done with my manager. I’m also going to beatport for an exclusive u stream on the 10/19.”

The EDM scene in the States is getting a lot of flack from some of the ‘serious music’ spinners this side of the pond. A lot of them claim that the American crowd are turning DJs into jukeboxes over there as all they want is hit after hit. Thoughts on that?

“No way, we are not jukeboxes! I think that yes, the American market is not as evolved as the rest of the world when it comes to electronic music or house music, but some people forget it’s a new thing for kids here. If you can make your own hits and play them it’s better right?”

Some are also saying that EDM is going to be like Disco was in the 70s, when the American youth have had enough they will simply chuck it in the trash can and move onto the next sound. Discuss…

“No way. House music has been around forever, I’m sure it will be here for a long time – even pop artists want more and more EMD beats. You never know what is going to happen until then, I’m just so happy that America is embracing the sound and I am part of it, my fans are so important to me.”

What is the current top 10 you are spinning…

Sebastian Ingrosso & tommy Trash – Reload
Starkillers,Richard Beynon ft Natalie Peris – What Does Tomorrow Bring
Alesso – Years
Calvin Harris & Nicky Romero – Iron
Otto Knows – Million Voices
Afrojack – Rock Da House
Chuckie – Breaking Up
John Dahlback – Panic
Spence & Hill – 1234

What has been your anthem of the summer?

“‘What Does Tomorrow Bring’ of course haha…”

And finally, who are the producers from around the globe that you are giving high fives to at the moment?

“Michael Woods, Knife Party, Laidback Luke, Nari and Milani, my brothers Dmitry KO and Richard Beynon of course. There are so many great guys rocking it right now.”