Explore Outiders' electrifying world of beats and energy in this riveting adventure.
- Congratulations on your recent achievement of selling out Ahoy Rotterdam without a lineup earlier this year! How did you manage to create such a buzz and generate such a tremendous response from your fans?
All the credit goes to the fans, actually. I think they have been supportive of me for so many years, and I think after Corona, everybody was waiting for me to do something as big as this. And I was expecting some support, of course. But to be honest, I thought I would need a good lineup to actually sell out. And then everything sold out before the lineup release, so I don’t really have an answer to how I managed it. I’m just really thankful that the fans were so supportive, and it was sold out within a couple of weeks.
- Your collaboration with Quintino, ‘Das Armas,’ received significant international recognition. Can you tell us more about the process of working together and how it has impacted your career?
Quintino and I have been friends for many years. Das Armas was actually his breakthrough song. I think 15 years ago he made a remix of that song and then five or six years ago, they asked us to play together in Pussy Lounge. The concept was that I invited a DJ from a different style to do a Hard style set with me, and so the idea came up to make a new version of Das Armas. And then because we were so busy, it just stayed unreleased the whole time and a lot of people were asking for the song.
And then we met each other, a year ago, and we just thought “Hey man! we still have that song, let’s release it”. That song was actually made five years ago, so we bumped it up a little bit. We made it a bit more of a techno style, hard techno style bass. We put in some hard techno kicks in and then we just released it. And again, the response was really good. I play it in every set.
- ‘Gimme Bass’ has been a massive success, accumulating nearly 12 million streams in just five months. What do you think it is about this track that resonates so strongly with your audience?
I think I use a kind of old hard style kick. It’s a 909 kick, which has become really popular again, I didn’t plan it, the timing was perfect, I just wanted to do an old kick, I made the song for X-Qlusive Holland and then also Abba it blew up again. All the new generation just love Abba.
Actually, it’s a funny story because this song I made to play at X-Qlusive Holland, it was just an edit for me to play in my own set, and then in October, I was planning a totally different song, but because of legal reasons, it got postponed. So I didn’t have a song, and was trying to release a song every month. So we were just talking with management and thought let’s release something. So we thought of the Abba song, I wasn’t even planning to release it, and then when I released it, it just took off. It. I don’t think I have had so many streams for any of my solo at least in such little time.
- We’ve heard that you’re organizing your own Rebl City Festival in Breda on July 27. Can you share some details about the festival and what attendees can expect from the event?
The difference between this festival and my own show is that I really do it 50-50 with Dark Raver, he’s my best friend. And, I have done Rebl City for many, many years. Rebl City was the beginning of the whole rebel movement, which has become really big now. It started off as a small party for at most 200 people and it just came to live a life on its own. This festival is only hardstyle, we have two areas. On the main stage, we do all the big, hardstyle artists from now. And then in the second stage, we have the biggest names of the harder sounds in the nineties and the jump style and the old school. And it’s the first outdoor festival that I do, so I’m looking forward to it.
- We’re excited to learn about your upcoming collaboration with The Partyraiser. What can fans anticipate from this collaboration and how did this partnership come about?
So the song I’m doing with Partyraiser releases this month at the end of June. And yeah. The people that know me, they know that I do actual freestyle, so I can do a hard techno song, I can do a jump song, a hard style song, but I also really love hardcore. I did a French core song with Sefa, I did some hardcore songs.
Partyraiser has also been a friend of mine for many, many years. And the click that we have is that we both love a variety of music, so we both are really into seventies and eighties music, we went to a slipknot concert yesterday together. So,in our own careers, it’s not really logical that we make a song together because our music is so far apart, but in a private light, it was perfectly logical. So, we did a really hard hardcore song, but you can really hear his influence and my influence in it. It turned out really nice, and we both loved the song. It’s all about emerging two worlds together, that was really important for us.
- The next ‘Avondje Outsiders’ at Ahoy is highly anticipated by your fans. What surprises and unique experiences can they look forward to at this upcoming event?
I’m not gonna spill too many surprises but, the last one was so good. So the whole team is focused on making it bigger and better, so even more variety of music. And, maybe we’re gonna do a second show, but that’s a maybe. So, we have a whole team and everybody is aiming to set the bar even higher. So I think people should just come and see for themselves, but they have to be really quick because it’s gonna sell out really quick.
- With your career reaching new heights and numerous accomplishments under your belt, what would you say has been the biggest highlight of your journey as a DJ so far?
Well, obviously my own sold out show in Ahoy . This year I’m doing all the main stages, I’ve done intents main stage,I’m doing the Defqon.1 main stage. What I’m doing now, is all the things I would have dreamed about like five years ago. So it’s, everything together, that I can travel Europe and do all the shows, and every stage that I play is full. This year till now, it’s just one big highlight for me, I cannot pick one thing. The streams that I’m doing, the shows that I’m doing, the stages that I’m on, my own show, everything is just coming together and I just enjoy it, I don’t really have goals or anything. Every time I set a goal, it doesn’t work. And every time I just think I’m gonna do my thing and hope people like it. Then everything works out for me.
- Can you tell us about your performant at Defqon.1 and what does it mean to you?
I’m doing three shows on Defqon.1 this year, three totally different shows. I’m doing the gathering, I’m gonna be the first to play there on Thursday. I’m doing a hardcore set with Korsakoff, that one is the one I’m most nervous for because it’s a little bit out of my comfort zone. And then Friday I’m doing the Main stage show.
Every DJ can relate that’s like the highest you can achieve almost in your career, being on the Defqon.1 main stage. I would’ve never thought that that would happen because I started going to Defqon as a young kid, and we would always look at the main stage, like, “Wow”. When you start DJing, your dream is to just play at Defcon on whatever stage, but on the main stage you can’t even think about it. So that’s something I’m not nervous about, but I’m really looking forward to it.
On Sunday I’m playing with PAT B, and it’s gonna be a little bit like an actual freestyle set, so, three totally different shows.
