Oliver Heldens, only twenty-years-old is living the life most merely dream of, DJing for festival crowds of thousands and thousands of people. A rising star last year, Oliver's career has grown at a rapid rate and he has not let his young age hold him down. Twenty is only a number for Oliver and where he lacks in career experience, he brings an impeccable talent, which he demonstrates as a skilled DJ and a producer.
At EDC New York last weekend, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Oliver Heldens for what was likely his first interview with somebody younger than him. (Oliver laughed at that, I promise…) It was a beautiful Memorial Day Weekend and each of us were excited to “headline” the festival, in our own roles!
Q: To start off, as somebody who has always dreamed of DJing since I was young I must ask, what is it like DJing for such massive crowds of fans at our age?
A: “First, I think that age doesn't really matter in this situation, but still most people at my age are probably in college or at university or something so of course that changes things, but I feel really happy, to do what I'm doing now.”
Q: Oh, that helps bring me to my next question; if you were not DJing right now, do you know where your life might be? College? Working?
A: “Yeah, I think that I would have done something creative, maybe designing or architecture, or something that is technical, but still creative so I would be at college or university.”
Q: Okay, let's talk music now. Oliver, you were one of the biggest DJs to push deep house in the past year, and by doing so you have created your own signature style, but are there other electronic genres that you plan on working with in the future, outside of house music?
A: “Well, I don't really think in genres, I just try and produce what makes me happy, which in the past year has been much more groovy stuff because I have been inspired by artists like Disclosure, Dusky, the garage house from England. Also, there are artists back to the old Dutch house, like Fedde Le Grand, Laidback Luke, Sander van Doorn, so yeah, at the moment, I try to bring the old sound back, which for a lot of people is like the 90s, but for me it is more like the old Dutch house and I try to make everything really fresh.”
Q: Again, that helps me bring to my next question; based on your inspirations, I feel like we each grew up listening to different types of music, so what music did you grow up listening to in your childhood?
A: “Since I was really young, my father would always play a lot of music at home or in the car, but my father never really listened to pop radio so it was really diverse, from classical music to techno to old school drum and bass to jazz music, a lot of jazz and funk, so yeah, a lot of different stuff! Also, when I was ten-years-old, I fell in love with hardstyle and jumpstyle, but when I was twelve, I went to high school and I discovered people like Fedde Le Grand, Hardwell, and Laidback Luke, so that was when I got into house music. Then it was like a crossover between electro house and tech house, which I really liked so I started to like much more and more progressive stuff and then I started to like more EDM stuff, but because of artists like Disclosure and Dusky, I really started to get into the UK garage house. Lastly, I have always liked hard, metallic sounds because hardstyle inspired me a lot, especially in 2012, and in that period they were using a lot of those hard, metallic sounds so I tried to make that kind of house like hardstyle, but also with more like future house sounds and that is how it all came together!”
Q: So, one could say in 2013, the rising star was Martin Garrix and in 2014, the rising star was you; have any artists in the past year caught your eye that has what it takes to have a similar rise to stardom in 2015?
A: “Well, first I want to say I think it is really hard for any artist to ever grow as fast as Martin Garrix, and yeah, I also feel extremely lucky with the big growth of my career, but to answer your question, I am working with a guy, Shaun Frank, and we have a new track ‘Shades Of Grey' with Delaney Jane on vocals and it is going to be released next month. I think he is really talented, Shaun used to do bands and stuff, but for two years now he started producing and he is really good at writing songs so I am really excited about our new track, ”Shades Of Grey' going to be released next month and tomorrow we are actually going to be making the Music Video up in Toronto.”” (Yeah, I have heard some of Shaun's stuff, like his new track with Borgeous, and I definitely think he has what it takes to be a star!) “Yeah, I am playing a lot of his older stuff on my Heldeep Radio, but also there are a lot of other young talents on my show; in my inbox, I get hundreds of emails from unknown, talented producers who are trying to get there music aired, and yeah, they always are producing something different and good!”
Q: Awesome! So, you said you are working with Shaun Frank, you have also done other collaborations, like with Sander van Doorn, Zeds Dead, is there anybody else that you plan on working with, or really dream of working with in the future?
A: “Yeah, I am working with Knife Party at the moment, as well as Tiësto, both of whom I believe are playing later tonight, and yeah!”
Q: Okay, this is my last question. Obviously, you are touring a lot and producing a lot, but besides music, what do you do most in your free time?
A: “I think I really just hangout with friends or surf the internet, watch movies or…” (What do you surf on the internet?) “I don't know, random stuff!” (Okay, any favorite movies?) “Well, I also game, but favorite movies… It is really diverse, I like movies from Tarantino, from Oliver Stone, but also movies that are really funny, like ‘Zoolander' is really funny, probably one of my favorite movie!”
I would like to thank Oliver Heldens and his management, as well as Insomniac and Electric Daisy Carnival, for this amazing opportunity… words do not describe how much I enjoyed having the pleasure of speaking with Oliver; my only hope now is that you enjoyed our interview as much as I did!
