The Score Magazine - Archive December 2016 issue! | Page 30

Hardwell, our favorite
DJ had a quick chat with
us about his start into
this genre of music, his
journey so far, what he
thinks about the Indian
Electronic scene, his
inspiration and much
more.
Tell us about how you decided to get into this
genre of music
At the age of 10, I got my own turntables and spent my
allowance on records— in the record store that Tiesto opened
in Breda. I used to lock myself in my room, practice smooth
transitions and the right mixes. I was already playing the piano
since the age of 4. I used to plays at friends’ birthday parties
and win turntable competitions. I was 14 when I signed my
first record deal, so I was 14 and 15 when I started touring in
Holland, and I was 17 when I was headlining the major festivals
in Holland. It's really crazy, but like, every week, I was just
at home in the studio, I started touring more worldwide. I
wasn’t allowed to go into the clubs by myself until I was 18.
For four years, my parents drove me to every appearance,
and accompanied me into the club. My parents supported me
incredibly
How has your journey in this space been so far?
When I look back on my career, I was always really positive
about my career. Everything grew really natural. And of
course, when Tiesto picked me up, that was a big boost for me.
Especially in the States, because it was exactly the time that
EDM blew up here in the U.S., so I was able to actually tour
in the States, join him on his tour, and we did a lot of gigs in
Europe. Well the key thing is you have to love what you do. It
can be a lot of work, long days, tough travelling all the day but
I can’t ever complain because I love it. This is what I’ve wanted
to do all my life. I like to keep busy and work hard to achieve
my goals. Life would be boring otherwise. You have got to think
about what’s really important in life and the most important
thing about having success and being popular is that you’re in
a position to give something back to the world. That’s the most
beautiful thing you have. If you have success the most beautiful
thing you can do is share that success with other people in the
world. So I started with the idea to start my own foundation
‘United We Are Foundation’ and give something back to the
world. That’s when we came up with the idea of the ‘World’s
Biggest Guestlist’ in India. There were over 100,000 people in
that stadium and we raised enough money to send more than
18,000 kids to school for the next 10 years. It was an amazing
charity event and we are definitely going to do some more of
those charity events in the future in different countries.
Considering that this genre of music is received the best across
the world, is there more pressure to make better music?
There’s a constant need to reinvent oneself for any genre
of music. Diversity is the key to creativity. If you are not
experimenting with newer sounds, the experience will be a
repetitive one.
How has your shows in India always been?
I’ve always had a strong relationship with the Indian fans.
They’ve been some of my biggest supporters and I am so
grateful for their belief in me and my music. Connecting with
my fans in India, whether at gigs or via social media, has
always shown me how special the passion in the country is.
28
The
Score Magazine
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