Stereosonic Exclusive Interview With Afrojack!
Today DJs are running pop and dance music. This year Afrojack (aka Nick van de Wall) and David Guetta scooped a Grammy for their remix of Madonna’s Revolver. Sadly, an hour’s flight delay meant that Afrojack missed the ceremony in Los Angeles. “When I landed I found out I won a Grammy, so that was pretty cool,” the Dutchman says without dismay.
That’s not all. Afrojack has enjoyed an enduring hit with Take Over Control, featuring Dutch starlet Eva Simons. He also produced Pitbull’s Give Me Everything, the Miami rapper’s first US No. 1 and a multi-platinum single in Oz. Afrojack even scored a writing credit for Beyoncé’s Run The World (Girls) – it samples Major Lazer’s Pon De Floor, which, again, he co-produced. “She wanted to use it – I said ‘OK.’” And Afrojack’s huge profile on the club and festival circuit has been rewarded. He’s now ranked No. 7 in the influential DJ Magazine poll. Incredibly, this stalwart of the Dutch House Mafia is only 24.
The Rotterdam native, whose mantra is “music, parties and fun”, was in Australia over winter, but he’s happy to be clocking up more air miles for his second Stereosonic. ”It was absolutely crazy and one of the best times of my life,” he enthuses of last year’s blockbuster. “It was a really fun festival tour, too.”
Afrojack played piano in childhood and later messed around with computer software, producing demos. By 16, he was exploring the local club scene. The enterprising Afrojack DJed in Crete for several months – and here in the Mediterranean he experienced an early dancefloor hit. Back in the Netherlands, the electro-houser resolved to pursue music-making, unleashing 2007′s bona fide smash In Your Face on Hardwell’s then label. He’s since established his own imprint, Wall Recordings, and disseminated countless tracks as well as provided remixes for everyone from Rihanna (Rude Boy) to Ian Carey (the Snoop Dogg-cameo-ing Last Night) to The Wombats (Techno Fan). Afrojack’s first major hip-hop co-production was Chris Brown’s Look At Me Now.
Afrojack has discovered a kindred spirit in Guetta, the pair often collaborating (Afrojack is the technician). He worked on songs for Guetta’s album Nothing But The Beat, including the singles Titanium (with Sia) and Lunar. Yet Afrojack doesn’t necessarily aspire to be a hip-hop ‘super-producer’ like his French friend. “I’ve made all kinds of different music, but especially a lot of dance tracks because that’s what I love to do the most – dance music,” he explains. Still, Afrojack predicts that, after dubstep, moombahton will be the next genre to lure in rappers. (Funnily enough, US DJ Dave Nada invented moombahton by slowing down Afrojack’s remix of the Dirty Dutch anthem Moombah!)
Moombah (Afrojack to Dave Nada Transition Remix) (128-108) by keevo
Afrojack has a solid work ethic. He was involved in Nervo’s “official” premiere, We’re All No One, alongside Steve Aoki, the song coming out of their No Beef sessions. Late last year Afrojack released the digital album Lost & Found – and he’s aiming to complete a ‘proper’ LP. “I’m going to put a lot of time in that.” However, he prefers to go with the creative flow than plot his music projects, collabs or not. ”I don’t plan these kinda things – I just make music when I feel like making music.”
Afrojack is a superstar in the US, headlining events such as Miami’s Ultra Music Festival. But the DJ isn’t abandoning his hometown. “I know everything there,” he says of Rotterdam. (Mind, he launched his Jacked party brand in Amsterdam.) On the road, Afrojack most misses his PlayStation. Doesn’t he worry about leaving his Grammy behind? “I still never got the little statue!,” Afrojack reveals. “They take shitloads of time to send those things out. [But] I don’t really care about the statue. For me, the most important thing is when I’m playing the shows and I’m playing the clubs – that I can actually share my feeling of the music with the people who come out. I don’t care about a statue – a statue is just a statue you put on the table or on your chimney or something… The look on certain people’s faces when I’m DJing, and [when] I see they understand the music the same way I do – that’s the most special thing.”
Afrojack has an exclusive in store for Stereosonic 2011′s festival-goers. “Stereosonic is actually the first place where I’m gonna try to play a new show – play new music mixed with my classics and edits [Australians have] never heard before. But I’ve been working on it for a while now and I think it’s gonna be fine – it’s gonna be fun.”
Words: Cyclone