The team here at MMIBTY had the opportunity to interview not one, not two, but three artists on the Dim Mak roster. We have some diverse names in this session starting with Psy-Trance duo Infected Mushroom, up-and-coming Trap/Electro star Victor Niglio, and man of the hour “Future House” producer Oliver Heldens. Check out the latest with these three dance artists, check out some tunes, and show them some love on their social media outlets!
*The interviews continue after the jump*
Infected Mushroom (conducted by Michal Tyszkiewicz)
Twice ranked as the world’s “10 Best DJs” by the Bible of the Scene (U.K.’s DJ Magazine), the Israel-bred, L.A. based duo Amit “Duvdev” Duvdevani and Erez Eisen have established their self- invented genre among the highest in the scene.
MyMusicIsBetterThanYours.com (MMIBTY): Since you have been in the industry for so long, how has the time change affected the way you create music?
Infected Mushroom (IM): With time has come the evolution of electronic music. Styles have come and go, new genres have emerged, new sounds, new technology. If we still made music the same way we did twenty years ago, we’d probably be laughed off the stage!
MMIBTY: What influenced you to pursue music?
IM: We found refuge in music from a young age. We would lock ourselves up for hours. Initially though, our parents pushed us to be classically trained, but soon we found our ways to punk bands, then to each other.
MMIBTY: What has been your greatest challenge to date?
IM: Balancing music with our families… but it has also been the most rewarding.
MMIBTY: Why do you make the music you make?
IM: It’s in our blood, people ask us what we are thinking or what influences us… it’s just us trying to make music that’ll make people go mental. Our goal is to make people jump and scream. That’s it!
MMIBTY: Who are your greatest influences?
IM: Metallica, Primus, Pantera, Zedd, Skrillex… too many to list!
MMIBTY: If you could do it all over again, how would you do it differently?
IM: We wouldn’t have done a single thing differently… if we did it might not have gone the way it has! We are fortunate to still be doing what we love after two decades.
MMIBTY: Favorite moment in your music career?
IM: Hard to limit to one… being in the top-10 of the DJ Mag two years in a row was great… also playing for nearly a million people on the beach in Rio de Janeiro with the Black Eyes Peas was very memorable.
MMIBTY: What advice would you give to the upend coming Producers?
IM: Never give up… The only way you won’t succeed is if you stop.
MMIBTY: Most unexpected moment in music career?
IM: Once at a festival, our console carrying the laptop, mixer and keyboard fell off the 2-meter stage during our show. Everyone went mental haha
MMIBTY: Whats the first thing you do when you wake up?
IM: Coffee!
Victor Niglio (conducted by Matthew Holmes)
Victor is a 20-something-year-old producer and DJ from Philadelphia. We’ve watched him grow in popularity over the years and now he boasts over 50,000 fans on both Facebook and SoundCloud. Perhaps Victor’s biggest claims to fame are his festival Trap remixes, which include Showtek’s “Cannonball”, Martin Garrix’s “Animals”, and Plastik Funk & Tujamo’s “Who”. Those, of course, are in addition to Victor’s many originals, remixes, and mixes, including one he did for Diplo on Diplo & Friends. Niglio’s sound spans genres and he’s really all about producing and spinning party music. Check out what he has to say below.
MMIBTY: What was your first experience with dance music and how did you know you wanted to do this for a living?
Victor Niglio (VN): The real defining “first” moment was hearing The Bloody Beetroots’ track with Steve Aoki “Warp 1.9” for the first time. I was hooked on a level I never had been before. I’ve always wanted to do something in the creative realm for a living, and was originally going to be a film editor with the goal of one day writing the scores for the movies I was editing. But lo and behold, I started finding success with the wild electronic stuff I was making, so I just rolled with it.
MMIBTY: What music, other than dance music, inspires you the most? Why?
VN: Reggae & classical music for sure inspire me like no other. Reggae inspires me due to the fact that such a simplistic sound (guitars of the offbeat and a rolling bass-line) can bring about such a joyful carefree feeling. I’m currently trying to figure that out at the root and incorporate it into my own music. Classical, on the other hand, inspires me in its complexity. Listening to a symphony and keeping note of the theme & variation, counter melodies, call & response, and all the other aspects leaves me in awe as a musician, while to an untrained ear, it simply sounds beautiful. That is something you can hear already in my music, these elements and ideals of classical music.
MMIBTY: You have recently signed with some pretty big players in the game, Dim Mak being one of them, are there any big plans in store that the fans should know about?
VN: Yes, actually. My management and I have actually spent the past few days trading extremely long strategy emails back and forth that all are focused on two words: “Soda Pop”
MMIBTY: What has been your favorite venue/city to play in and why?
VN: This is an extremely tough question, because as I play bigger & more engaged shows, my favorite ones always seem to be my most recent ones. As far as venues go, I absolutely LOVED playing Beta in Denver (their sound system really is as good as you’ve heard), and for cities, Seattle will always be near and dear to my heart. I played my first out of state show there just one year ago, and am going back in August for my third performance there. The crowds are always extremely rowdy and fun!
MMIBTY: Are there any artists out there that you would love to collab with? Why would you want to work with that artist?
VN: I’d love to write a huge anthemic glam-rock tinged progressive-house track with Brandon Flowers of The Killers, with him on vocal duties. The Killers have been one of my absolute favorite bands since I can remember. ‘Hot Fuss’ was one of the defining albums of my life, so I’ve always dreamed of working with Mr. Flowers. He has one of the most unique voices in the industry, and his lyricism is phenomenal.
MMIBTY: How has a background as a pianist helped you to develop your sound as an artist? What have you taken away from producing music in both forms?
VN: It has given me a way better understanding of songwriting vs. making the biggest track with the biggest drop. This shines through in a lot of my melodies and song structure.
MMIBTY: People have been saying Trap Music is a fad for a long time now, how have you had so much success with the genre?
VN: Because good, timeless music is good, timeless music, irregardless of genre. I feel ‘Jiggy’ perfectly encapsulates that.
MMIBTY: If side-chain compression was a girl, who would she be?
VN: Frida Kahlo
Oliver Heldens (conducted by Jon Gilman)
Oliver Heldens is another young producer, but at only 19 years old he’s not even legal to drink in the U.S (though he is in his native Netherlands). You undoubtedly know his name and that’s not just because we’ve posted his song “Gecko”, his remix of Disclosure’s “Latch”, or predicted him to be the breakout star of 2014. It’s probably because the aforementioned songs have been huge in the dance community and Heldens is at the forefront of a new sound in House music. Though Heldens started out producing what I consider to be pretty standard and boring Big Room House tracks, his style has evolved to where he is focused less on epic drops and more on funky bass lines and downright fun music. Some people are calling Heldens’ sound “Future House”, but however you want to think of it, it’s slowly beginning to take over mixes and sound systems around the world. And don’t sleep on Heldens’ Heldeep Mixtapes either because you simply can’t go wrong. Oliver managed to find some time during his busy schedule to answer a few questions. Here’s what we got:
MMIBTY: Your sound has drastically changed from when you first started producing, much of it being Big Room House originally. Is there any one specific reason for this change or would you explain it more as you finding your voice? How would you describe your current sound?
Oliver Heldens (OH): I will never stop experimenting, I just like to develop myself and experiment with a lot of different sounds, and now since “Gecko” I finally found my own voice. I think my current sound is best to describe as a cross-over between Deep House and EDM.
MMIBTY: Pete Tong seems to be one of your biggest supporters. How did you gain his ear and what types of opportunities have arisen for you from his support?
OH: Yeah that’s just awesome, I feel honored that he is supporting me this way. I think the sound of “Gecko” gained his attention, because of the original approach of Deep House & EDM. The release of “Gecko” also was a perfect timing I guess, the industry was ready for something new.
MMIBTY: So you had the Heldeep Mixtapes which are some of my favorites, but now you have Heldeep Radio. What’s the difference here and why the change? We love the mixes.
OH: The music in my Heldeep Mixtapes is more like what I play live. In Heldeep Radio I also put a lot of stuff which I don’t play live, but which I really like to listen to and which inspires me.
MMIBTY: As a young DJ/Producer who we predicted would be the breakout artist of 2014, what have been some of the biggest moments in your career so far this year?
OH: There have been a lot of highlights already, not only the big shows like EDC & Mysteryland also the smaller shows/venues. The #1 spot with “Gecko Overdrive” in the UK is one of my highlights as well. I didn’t expect the support of big DJs, because it’s a completely different sound than most of the EDM DJs.
MMIBTY: What is one goal you have for yourself, either professionally or personally, by the end of 2014?
OH: I just want to produce and keep doing cool shows. I’m really excited to continue developing & distributing my sound!
MMIBTY: Other DJs and producers are diggin’ your sound. Who are some of the people in the industry who have come to you with compliments/feedback/collaboration requests, etc? Any surprises?
OH:I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback, too many DJs to write down.
MMIBTY: You’re under the wing of Tiesto. Can you describe him in four words?
OH: Inspirational, supportive, humble, icon.
MMIBTY: Your song “Gecko” was a hit, whose idea was it to remix it with the vocals of Becky Hill?
OH: The instrumental was really big in the dance community. It was a great opportunity to put vocals on it to reach a bigger audience.
The MMIBTY team wants to thank Infected Mushroom, Victor Niglio, and Oliver Heldens for taking the time to answer some of our questions. We also give a huge thanks to Cecilia over at Dim Mak for giving us the opportunity to speak with these guys. From everyone here at MMIBTY we wish the artists nothing but continued success and the same goes to everyone over at Dim Mak!