House music has a list of young influential DJ’s, but Hardwell has been making the biggest impact of late. Crossing genre’s between Trance and House, Hardwell has created his own sound we would like to call Trouse. Since teaming up with the world’s biggest DJ on ‘Zero 76′, the young star has had the influence of Tiesto. His own record label Revealed Recording has been responsible for some huge tracks including The World, Encoded, and Cobra, and has big things ready for the future. We caught up with Hardwell at Pacha NYC‘s 6th anniversary party where he played with Adrian Lux, Martin Solveig, R3hab, & Quintino. Hardwell’s set was explosive big room music that had the dance floor rumbling. After our interview, we had a better understanding about what makes Hardwell such a killer DJ.

You just jumped into a USA tour? Going into it, which tour stop were you most excited about?

It is hard to pick one city but I am really excited about the tour. To be honest it is tonight, Pacha New York. New York is the place I’ve always dreamed about playing as a kid. When you start as a DJ there are so many big festivals and clubs that you want to play. Pacha is definitely one of them. The last 2 gigs in Philly and Ann Arbor were more like college gigs.

You’re sets are pretty diverse, what direction do you plan on going when you play pacha? How do you figure that out?

I figure out the direction I go within the first 15 minutes of the set. It is teasing the people with different styles of music.  Ofcourse, the main focuses of my sets are my Hardwell tracks. Some times I play more electro and progressive kind of stuff. I think tonight will be pretty hard since I am headlining at prime time.

How did you make Cobra and what made it become the Official Energy Anthem?

I did the track before it became an anthem. I sent the track over to ID&T who do the Energy Festival and they crowned it the anthem. I think Energy is one of the best indoor music festivals in Holland so it’s pretty awesome.

You’ve released so many big songs on your label Revealed Recordings pretty recently, what is the next big hit coming?

The follow up tonight is called ‘Spaceman’ and I am going to play that tonight. It will be released in January on Revealed Recordings. I have been playing it now for 2 months and to be honest it is the biggest track I have ever done based on the dance floor’s response.

You did a Sirius XM show, Hardwell on air? How was that and what big tracks were you pumped about playing?

I am always aiming for a show that is playing unreleased or exclusive tracks. I am always trying to put out those tracks. Between playing the known stuff and educating people on new stuff.

So you’ve collaborated with Tiesto on a bunch of tracks, the most recent being the Love Comes Again Rework.  Where exactly are the similarities in sound that make you both vibe so well together?

When I met Tiesto 2 years ago he was playing more big room Trancy music and I was playing more dirty dutch stuff. Since that moment we’ve influenced each other a lot. We have played a lot of gigs together, spent a lot of time in the studio together, I think Tiesto has gone houseier and I have gone tranceier. We crossed each others musicology. If people want to call it Trance that is fine; but if you call it Trance, you should call Swedish House Mafia, Swedish Trance Mafia. It is different, just big room music and exactly what the dance floor wants.

Being set on 2012, if you can choose any artist to collaborate with, who would it be?

I would do a record with Pharrell. I wouldn’t want him to do vocals, I would want him to do the stuff he did with N.E.R.D. Just making the beats. For example, what if you took ‘Drop It Like Its Hot’ and turned it into a house record. Not the vocals but just the beat. I think it is going to really happen, it is like next level house music. Combining the best of hip hop and urban with house music. I’m not talking about vocals, just the beat and the flow of the track. House is really bumping really electro. What is you take it more laidback and more of a hip hop kind of feel? Fedde has been doing it for years now with Flamingo recordings. ‘Put Your Hands Up For Detroit’ was a really housey track with an urban feel and that’s what it was such a hit.

Hardwell – Spaceman

Dylan Farella

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