We Sat Down With Oliver Heldens After Igloofest To Talk About Montreal In An Interview
Oliver Heldens graced Igloofest with his energetic sound and future house hits on January 25th. I spoke with Oliver after his performance to hear more about his festival experiences, recent collaborations, and his quick rise to fame.
Canadanightlife: To start, have you ever played in a setting like Igloofest before?
Oliver Heldens: Yeah, I’ve been to something like this in the Netherlands. It’s called Snowball festival and it’s similar to this, but not as big. Not as cold either.
CNL: Did the Montreal crowd meet your expectations?
OH: It went beyond my expectations, it was an awesome response from the crowd.
CNL: You played in Montreal last year at Beach Club, do you think you create a bigger following every time you visit a city?
OH: Yeah definitely. At Beachclub there were a few other headliners like Firebeatz, Sandro Silva, and Paris & Simo and I played earlier in the day.
OH: I’m closing as the headliner here though, so there is a big crowd with signs for me and everything! I saw someone with “Gecko” and “I Love Oliver Heldens”, one girl even took her bra off and threw it at me.
CNL: Was that surprising to see in the cold?
OH: Yeah really surprising. I think it was around -20 degrees tonight.
CNL: How did the collaboration with Hooks from Zeds Dead come about?
OH: The collaboration came about over the Internet actually. It started forming on Twitter and I’ve always been a major fan of them. I messaged them saying thanks for following me and they replied that they support my music and were big fans too.
OH: They sent me a project and I really liked it so I finished it in my studio at home. It was just via the internet and we gave each other some feedback. The vocal sample and melody were their idea, but I can see how it sounds similar to my style.
CNL: Have you ever heard a comparison of yourself with Hardwell? Do you think that’s a fair analogy?
OH: I definitely have heard myself compared more often to Martin Garrix. He blew up really quickly and in only one year he went sky high. He’s also very young. I’m young too and I also got popular really fast in one year. Next week I turn twenty!
CNL: Has your rapid popularity growth surprised you in any way or did it feel more naturally built?
OH: Both in a kind of way. It all went really fast, it was only a year ago when “Gecko” became really big. There is a lot of eyes on me and already people are saying that my music is the next big thing. But still, it feels crazy what has happened already.
OH: Just one year ago I was going to school as a normal kid that made music. I finished school in May last year and I’ve just been travelling since then and touring the whole world. Of course it surprised me though, if people had told me three years ago I would be this popular I wouldn’t have believed it.
CNL: How do you feel the expansion of future house has impacted your career?
OH: The genre has gained a lot more popularity and many people consider my music future house. But I don’t really think in genres. I don’t like to classify myself in any one genre. If I had to say what’s the closest to my sound, I guess future house or deep house.
OH: But music is always developing and branching in new directions. It’s hard to say a genre helps an artist, because several artists together make a kind of genre. Well the artist makes the music, but all the people who listen are the ones who classify and create the genre.
OH: There is a lot of other musicians who are becoming influences by future house right now too. For instance Showtek have the track, “90s by Nature” which is in my Heldeep Radio show. At first a lot of people thought it was a collaboration of ours. Now Showtek fans are listening to that sound and are becoming interested in my work too.
CNL: Do you see yourself releasing any upcoming music on a separate label other than Spinnin’ Records?
OH: Not yet, but I feel like I’d be open to it.
CNL: What are you most proud to have accomplished in the industry?
OH: I’m most proud of the fact that my sound is different than EDM. My music feels different to me and it’s remarkable how its blown up.
CNL: Last show attended but did not perform at?
OH: It was in Rotterdam, Netherlands, I was with some friends. Joey Beltram played a great techno set.
CNL: Awesome, thanks for speaking with me tonight Oliver! Looking forward for to hearing new music from you.
- Oliver Heldens on Soundcloud
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- Oliver Heldens on Twitter
- Oliver Heldens on Instagram
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