Showtek – ‘Welcome Back Home’ + Exclusive Interview

1. Thank you very much for your time! Before we introduce your new release to our readers – what kind of drink would you recommend to zip on while they listen to your new music

Wouter :

Any drink that connects you to your mood and the music that you’re listening to. My personal favourites are a nice glass of red wine (pinot noir or Rosso Di Montalcino), A craft beer (IPA), and recently I tried a sip of Hennessy and actually really liked it. I love and work with a lot of hip hop artists as well so Hennessy is a must . After a nice workout Kombucha has been my favourite drink for the last decade now, refreshing and healthy!

Sjoerd:

Depending on the time of the day. If you go for a wine, I normally go for a nice Malbec, that never disappoints but I rarely drink tho. How ever, when I like to read and relax I either or go for a double espresso or a fresh ginger tea.

2. Please give us an update about – new single, new album, tour dates, new videos?!

Our new song welcome back home was just released, and it’s been created in the pandemic. After the negative events that took place in 2020 ( and before ) we wanted to focus on creating a song that is about unity, respect and love for one another. The love and unity we feel when we’re at a festival or in a venue , having a good time with each other, no racism, no judgement, letting people be who they want to be is still not a given in the world we live in today, music brings people together and creates unison! Welcome back home!

3. Name 5 things we all should know about you as a band?!

We are brothers from Eindhoven , The Netherlands.

We love almost every genre, and are known for creating festival music, if you want to call it EDM go ahead:)
We both love healthy living
We grew up playing and loving Basketball
We both love Canada, but spend most time in the United States.

4. What fashion style or brand would best describe your music?

Wouter.:

It’s going to be generic but the first thing that comes to my mind is NIke. A music career is comparable to a sporting career or for some an olympic career in a certain way. You have to be willing to put a lot to the side, don’t see your family and friends as much, put in thousands of hours, work , sweat, cry, burn out just to fully optimise your potential and the space the world is willing to give to you, and just take it and do it.

Follow your heart, passion because that’s what’ll make you happy. Like most sports, music also starts as a passion or hobby, not as a money making decision. At least not for me. I started playing piano and making music because I could tell my story and express myself. If you have space to express yourself you’ll be a happy person.

Sjoerd:
Very well said, the only thing that I like to add to that is that we try to reach a very diverse crowd. Even-though we are known for our heavy EDM festival bangers, if you listen carefully to our music, you’ll notice that we often blend genres. We did that in the hardstyle for example with “FTS” and we did that in EDM with “BOOYAH”. We love Hiphop, Raggae , D&B and always look for another element that could make the song more special, meaning; we don’t focus on just one sport!

5. What’s your songwriting process?

Wouter :

It’s always different. But it starts with inspiration, our modern world is built on science and inspiration. I’ve been listening to music since a little kid, and all the moments accumulated of me listening to music that triggered something inside of me , created a realm of ideas and things I think of or utilise and apply to my own craft, when I create a melody, or make a beat. Inspiration is the driving force of our artistic world, we all

inspire each other and pass in on to generations. If you
watch „Eveything is a remix, you will understand what I’m talking about. nowadays we get a lot of stuff sent to us by songwriters and musicians all over the world, a vocal idea or a music piece that will trigger a million ideas in my head from the get go. The other thing is, I sort of have a list , a bucket list in my head of things I want to do the next two decades. If i hear an idea, a great vocalist or a cool music piece i immediately think of this maybe being a puzzle piece in creating a type of song I’m still trying to create,

Sjoerd:

I listen to music a bit differently. I am very technical so I immediately start on the mix , how it sounds ’ lol ‘. Even-though the mix is not always key, in dance music is half the experience most of the time. It’s a combination of both but that’s why each of us do different things went it comes down creating music.

6. If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?

Wouter:

I wouldn’t want to change anything, and you can’t. It’s way too powerful. I think you should find a way to find your place in it, and a way to make yourself visible and audible. A lot of unoriginal stuff that gets way too much attention, a lot of AMAZING music out there that never finds the light of day, but I still believe (or at least the hippie in me) that music will always find its way to the right people.

What I love about the music industry is that it eventually follows the really powerful creators and gives them a platform, you just have to really work hard for it, and that can be challenging and exhausting. All musicians and artists have these ideas and visions that they want to put out but it’s a competitive space. Algorithms are a key factor in deciding what you hear on Spotify, or watch on Netflix. If you decide to ignore the ‚ based on your previous shows or songs, we suggest….‘ a whole world will open up to you., but a lot of people are lazy and or just watch what’s presented to them or listen to what’s presented to them There’s a

whole legacy of material that doesn’t get that attention, which is hard for the people who created it .

Sjoerd:

Not much to add here, only that we want to tell artist to be proud of what they do. With or without a million streams or views because it’s a very hard world and it’s easy to lose faith. It takes time to be discovered or heard when 100.000 songs are uploaded on a daily base. Low streaming numbers doesn’t mean your song sucks or no one like it….

7. Tell us more about your songs! Topics! Message!?

Wouter :

We want to create music for every mood, but definitely it’s important for us to do something a little more meaningful and culturally more connective. As a Dj and or producer most of the imagery people get to see is the back of a dj facing the crowd, clapping and or saying 1,2,3 lets go. That’s fun, but I’m personally a person that wants to involve cultural aspects as well, hence why I love working on hip hop and working with artists from different industries. There’s still a lot of inequality and racism and we have addressed this in some of our songs, but sometimes we just want to create a fun and easy record, light and fun and just have a good time. Sometimes we do a more poppy record about love and relationships and also show the world our passion for different sounds. Music, and going out is important for people to let go of all the stuff they’re going through in life. That’s why art is so important. So some of our stuff can be a relief to listen to and forget about the dailey struggles, and some stuff we have done might be less dancefloor focussed but is relaying a message, we want to use our platform to communicate certain things that we think are important.

Sjoerd:

We have a few fans that really suffered from physical and / or mental illnesses. Over the years we received some messages about how our music helped them recover and get over their illness and struggles. To us that’s such an honour to hear. Of course we like to unite people, bring them together through music and in terms of energy; there is no bigger feeling than playing infront of 50.000 people. But….. when someone struggles in life and our music helps them get through that fase, that’s just another level. There’s no words for that!

8. A question you’d like to answer, but never been asked in an interview before?! + Answer pls

Wouter :

The thing I sometimes wonder is : As a musician where do you draw the line between making an artistic decision and a business decision. When it’s not your hobby anymore those two sometimes get in the way of each other. How do you deal with that?

It’s very easy to go the wrong way, and what I’ve learned is that it’s a compromise between the two parts of yourself, or your brain even. I always believe(d) I let my artistic side make the decisions when we’re talking about a composition or song idea. It all comes down to how can we make this sound as big as possible ? For me it’s always: What I feel when I create a song. I want the listener to feel the same thing. For a big festival dance anthem for example, it should be a cocktail of Energy Melancholy, Unity, Relieve and excitement all at the same time. If I feel that way I trust the process.

Sjoerd:

Good question, but to be really honest I have to start packing my bag because I am flying back to LA tmrw and I can’t think of a decent answer. I would say that this interview didn’t have the standard questions which was good. So maybe my answer would be, the question not to ask us (which people as all the freaking time):

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NAME SHOWTEK.

LoL .. no… just … no… hahah

Instagram: @showtek