Radio KUL

You may know the Eindhoven brothers Wouter and Sjoerd Janssen as the #1 Hard Dance act in the world! And they’ve stepped on our soil to perform a sold-out hard hitting session our land has never seen before.

Formed recently in 2007, their debut album Today is Tomorrow set the heart-racing pace for their world tour, smashing sales and performance records in USA, Australia, and Holland. The owners of the equally successful record label Dutch Master Works continue their music colonization this year with the new album, Analogue Players in a Digital World.

Just last week, they acquired 4 wins at the Hard Dance Awards 2010 for Best Track (“The Show Is Mine”), Best Artiste Album (Analogue Players In A Digital World), Best European Hard DJ, and Best European Hard Producer.

Here they are for this Radio KUL Extra exclusive.

Showtek

Hi guys. First of all, it’s really great to be speaking to the both of you. Where are you currently and what’s been the highlight lately?
Hey hello! Well, we just got back from Melbourne were we played yesterday (it was a sold out album tour show) and now we are in Sydney. We are enjoying the good weather and drinking a beer, celebrating the highlight we accomplished this weekend. We won 4 Awards at the UK Hard Dance Awards last Saturday, unfortunately we were unable to be there as we were midway through our Analogue Players Australian tour. We won the the following awards: Best European DJ, Best European Producer, Best Album, and Best Track for “World is Mine.”

The anticipated new album, Analogue Players In A Digital World, has just been launched. What has been the response been so far, and what was the approach on this release?
As we did our first album three years ago, which was a huge success, we thought it was time for a new album. We’ve been producing music for years now, and we also wanted something else. So the new album is a not the same as the first one. We learned over the years, also because we’ve traveled all over the world and we kind of grew up more, not only as persons but also as producers. So our new album is really refreshing, innovating but still full with energetic rhythms and melodies.

Your label, Dutch Master Works, has also been a great discovery platform for other hard dance producers in the scene. Who are some of your favorite artistes on this label currently?
Dutch Master, who is already on the label for a while, has had some really strong productions lately. We expect a lot more from him this year.

Showtek is actual proof that hard dance music is far from demise. You both are paving the way for this genre to really hit out at the masses. Has working in this genre ever posed a challenge, compared to the more publicized genres?
Well we don’t really look to that in that way. We look for what we want to reach and not what is the easiest to reach. So we have a vision of what we can reach in the several years. Of course, some things were really beyond our expectation; like selling out shows in the USA and our music being featured in a Hollywood movie. We work in the studio every day, we travel all around the world so we do everything we can do to get us to the highest level. And we think if you really work hard for something and you really believe in it, it is possible! If hard dance isn’t growing because it’s not on television or daily radio, it doesn’t mean Showtek can’t! We believe in our own brand. Showtek is not just hardstyle or hard dance, we are Showtek. Our music reaches out further than imaginable spectrum. We got a lot of feedback from people who are usually not into the harder music. So we are a bit more main stream these days, but on a good way of course!

It’s not common to find brothers teaming up to form DJ duos. Do you think it’s easier for family to work together, or have there been complications?
We have been working together for years now, we grew into this and we work as a team. And as we are brothers we know each other pretty well, so we know how to handle in certain situations. We both have our positive and negative sides so we both have our responsibilities in our business. It makes us only stronger!

Of the list of Showtek discography comprising singles and remixes, is there one that you both truly hold close to heart, and why?
Well “FTS” is the biggest track we’d ever produced. We got like over 5 millions hits with it on you tube. We did of lot of good tracks but this is one of the most famous one. Further we are crazy about the track “Electronic Stereophonic ” featuring MCDV8 which is on our new album. It’s so innovating and when we play it people go nuts! One of the most honourable thing we did was a remix for Ferry Corsten’s System F “Out Of The Blue.” Only the biggest producers in the world (like Tiesto) were asked to do this and we were one of them! That was amazing!

You guys have been through so many performances together. Which gig will you guys always remember, and why?
The Solo Showtek shows we did in Amsterdam, Melbourne and Exclusive Showtek in Sydney where we played 7 hours were amazing. It was something amazing! Now we are planning more solo shows all over the world.

How do you think hard dance music has evolved over the years? What elements have seeped into your music?
Well for Showtek we got more mainstream elements in our music. We added more lyrics, pop vocals and real instruments like guitars and drums. Which probably makes our music more accessible. We are still full with energy when we perform but not as aggressive as other harder music. In the near future, we see our selves growing to more like a band or a harder live act, with more show elements, not just the DJ part.

ShowTek performs live on Saturday 13th March 2010 at KL Live @ Life Center, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. For info, go to http://www.twilightofdance.com/.