In the press room of Amsterdam Dance Event, there was a buzz of excitement when the trio of Hardwell, Dyro, and Dannic entered.??Dyro and Dannic are rising stars, yet the attention was on Hardwell, who just had a massive Revealed party, was about to premiere his documentary, and had buzz that he was about to top the DJ Mag list.?The buzz was true and the 25 Year-old Dutch DJ/producer rose above Armin Van Buuren, Avicii, Tiesto, and David Guetta to go from 5 to 1 on the industry standard DJ Mag list.???Regardless of all this, Hardwell remains a down-to-earth and likable guy who doesn?t let the success go to his head.??From the sound of his new single ?Dare You,? it sounds like he is on his way to even bigger achievements this year.
DJ Ron Slomowicz: How did your documentary come together?
Hardwell: Robin Piree, who is the director and editor of the movie, is responsible for all of the videos of me on YouTube. We have been making videos for the last 3 years and decided to make a documentary because we had so much different footage. We are here at ADE premiering the documentary.
RS: One thing we love about you is how you foster new talent. You have Dyro and Dannic under your wing, who?s coming next?
Hardwell: Kill the Buzz is a new guy who has 2 releases on Revealed, and I am sure that he is going to blow up by next year. There is another guy named Julian Calor who is making huge waves and is an incredible producer who is only 19 years old.
RS: At what point did you decide to make the bootleg of ?Losing My Religion? and???Three Triangles? official?
Hardwell: It was actually not my idea to make the bootleg official. I made the bootleg for Sensation because I played several Sensations there and I just thought that the track fit perfectly. Everyone knows that I do a lot of mashups.??When I gave the mash-up to Mark Knight, who is basically the owner of Toolroom,??he fell in love. He asked me if I wanted to do an official release on Toolroom and I said of course.??It was really cool to do an official bootleg of ?Three Triangles.?
RS: What is your favorite mash-up of ?How We Do??
Hardwell: I recently did a mash-up of ?How We Do? for TomorrowWorld which is the one with Lana Del Rey and ?Summertime Sadness.?
RS: When you did ?Apollo? did you have any idea it would become as big as it did?
Hardwell: No, I seriously didn?t think that it would become as big as it did. At the time I was focusing on making another club record like ?Spaceman? and for some reason I felt like doing a vocal track instead. I didn?t expect it to be so big, it is incredible how it went worldwide and is one of my biggest hits so far.
RS: What?s coming next, what are you working on right now?
Hardwell: I just finished a new vocal single that I am going to premiere?tomorrow?night during ‘Hardwell presents: Revealed’ here at ADE. Right now I am working on a lot of new original productions like instrumentals. I may have an album in the future but right now I really don?t have the time because I am touring so much.
RS: How do you balance your touring and your production?
Hardwell: It is really hard; I usually get most of my ideas on airplanes and in hotel rooms.??I start my productions on the road on my MacBook and always finish it up in the studio.
RS: What other collaborations are you working on right now?
Hardwell: I am not working on any collaborations right now, I have done some many collabs in the last 6 months with W&W and MAKJ.??I am always working on tracks with Dyro and Dannic though, but I am not sure that they will ever be released.
RS: What was your highlight of the Revealed party last night?
Hardwell: Definitely having Martin Garrix, Tiesto, W&W and everyone else there to party. It is always good to see all my DJ friends.
RS: What is the best way for people to follow you?
Hardwell: Facebook and Twitter
RS: What would you like to say to all of your fans out there?
Hardwell: Thanks for all the support, without my fans I wouldn?t be sitting here right now. I hope to see all you guys around the world very soon.
Interview conducted during Amsterdam Dance Event 2013.? Special thanks to Urban Rebel PR for arranging this interview.