Showtek Interview – Hi Showtek! 2016 seems to have treated you guys well. The world saw Showtek amongst the top 100 DJs in DJ Mag‘s Top 100 DJs for the sixth year in a row, you guys have released widely successful tracks such as David Guetta collaboration ‘The Death of EDM,’ comical and unexpectedly intense ‘Swipe’ and globally well-received Major Lazer collaboration ‘Believer‘ and have performed at well-known events PAROOKAVILLE, Amsterdam ArenA, Spring Awakening, Utopia and more.
Considering all these successes during 2016, how was the year to you guys?
We are very happy with the career we have and feel blessed. It was a good year but we noticed we missed working in the studio a lot the last 2 years. This year we are focusing on spending more time on writing and producing. We have a lot of new music ready so we can’t wait for what’s coming next.
As Showtek, you guys clearly have gone a long way with performances all around the world, a large discography, collaborations, placement in DJ Mag‘s Top 100 DJs, and finally garnering over a million followers on a variety of socials.
How did everything start for Showtek? When did you guys start producing, what were your early influences and what inspired you guys in the early days?
Wouter used to play Piano and Sjoerd was mixing beats on the computer. One day we sat down together and started creating a song mixing both of our styles together. From that day on we were addicted to making music, we spent all the time we had on trying to make a career in music. We grew up in The Netherlands, where dance music is in our blood. It was always on the radio and in the clubs so that was definitely very influential. We never aimed to be DJ’s, that came later. We were only asked to perform clubs after our music started selling like hot cakes around Europe, circa 2001. Our main focus has always been producing.
What is the most important milestone for Showtek’s musical career through all these years and going into 2017?
The fact that we sold millions of records and that our sound became so influential in scene, we also managed to pursue our dreams and achieve our goals doing what we love.
Recently, a collaboration with Major Lazer was released titled ‘Believer.’
How was it like working with Major Lazer? What was your guys’ creative process and what your guys’ experiencing working with Major Lazer?
We were both fans from each other’s sound. We met up in LA after trying to meet up with each other for so long. Diplo showed us the vocal of MAJOR Q , the vocalist of the song ‘Believer‘ and he wanted to give the song a Showtek touch. We worked on the song and finished it together. Both our schedules are crazy full so we only worked in the studio for one day, we finished it by working separately in our studios. We think the outcome is the perfect balance between Showtek and Major Lazer. The entire process took more than a year but the result is worth it!
As many people around the world have seen now, popular director Christopher Louie has put together visuals or a new type of video to go with ‘Believer.’ As Showtek, you guys reminded us that, “not every child grows up under the best circumstances.” That, “this video is meant to raise awareness to those less fortunate than us.”
With this video, having been developed and released to bring awareness to the Syrian conflict and the affect it has on children there and advocating for donation to Save the Children, what was going on in your guys’ minds in early development of this?
We loved the idea of filming something totally different, something out of the box. We had the idea of shooting a mini film, with a political touch. This world belongs to everybody and there is no need to judge people based on skin color, culture, religion or race. We are so privileged to have a good life, people who are less fortunate deserve awareness and respect, especially the children, they are the future.
You guys gave a lot of support for the development of this video with Christopher Louie, Major Lazer and Diplo.
What can you guys tell the world from a behind the scenes perspective about this video, what it means for the Syrian conflict, the children there, working with the director, working with Major Lazer, Diplo etcetera?
Well, as you can understand filming in the middle east is not the easiest job so we have an immense amount of respect for Christopher and his team. We’ve been in touch with them while filming. We’ve seen some backstage footage and it’s wonderful to see how grateful those people were and how happy the kids were to be in front of the camera in a positive way.
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Exiting 2016, you guys celebrated the love and support you saw with a present in the form of Dropwizz and Savagez remix of your guys’ popular track, ‘Swipe.’
What do you guys think is the future of electronic music? Do you guys think that styles will continue changing?
We feel the music styles have become a melting pot. People are so much more open-minded to hearing new sounds. Artists always felt they were stuck to a 4×4 beat, but nowadays electronic music has become so diverse it’s give so much more space to play around.
How will you adapt yourselves to these changes?
We love it! Our new single is 92 bpm, half time and it’s an amazing song, this brings so much variety into our world.
I think I can say for the rest of your fans all around the world and fans who haven’t discovered Showtek yet, that we are all eager to see what will come from you guys in 2017.
What are your guys’ plans for 2017? What can be expect to see from Showtek?
We are trying to find a new balance between what people know us for and something totally new. We will release a lot of different music, some will be typical and some will be something totally out of the box. We also have some more pop and hip-hop influences in our music and we can’t wait to show the world what we are up too.
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I want to finally thank you for taking the time to speak with me. Happy New Year’s Showtek and we will look forward to what the future has in store for Showtek and the electronic music industry.
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