Afrojack
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Afrojack

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Having discovered Fruity Loops at the age of 11, van de Wall concedes that he never consciously set his heart upon a career in music. “I never did, it was just a hobby that grew into a profession.” In his eyes the career development was unexpected and came with distinct pros and cons, “From being fun and hard to get, to being fun and getting paid, to being fun and getting paid and having responsibility.” Yet, however unexpected his discovery of the Rotterdam club scene at age 16, he didn’t hold back in pushing forward for opportunities to spin those discs and unleash his own compositions to the world.

With his driving force an obsession with everything sonic, van de Wall says his early experiments were somewhat inevitable. “Music has always fascinated me. Fruity Loops studio was just a really fun and easy tool to speak the music in your head.” Though his abilities were no doubt evident, as a pre- and early-teen, van de Wall found himself falling prejudice to people’s perceptions, although it didn’t take long for him to find offers of work. “There weren’t a lot of people that understood my fascination, but I was happy with myself and the music.” But within an industry that can often be coldly competitive, van de Wall soon found a friend and ally, “Laidback Luke really helped me out in the beginning, sending me a lot of tips via email or helping me out when I had questions etc, mostly technical mumbo jumbo” he laughs.

Given that he constantly returns to his apparent ‘fascination’, is he able to define what exactly it was the caught and kept his attention? While most teenagers flit from one fancy to the next, it is clear that once the bug had bitten, its teeth sunk so deep that there was no escape. While initially reluctant to reveal anything more than being inspired initially by “just dance music,” but with a little more probing, he finally reveals that “In particular, I remember Satisfaction by Benny Benassi was really big back then. I remember trying to get that fat compressed sound for days.”

Though Satisfaction proves to be the stand out track that spurred on van de Wall’s sonic experimentation, he quickly returns to his initial stance that dance music in general was the accelerating force. “”You automatically get deeper into the music scene and listening to technically advanced music, back then drum and bass was really advanced.”

Having been able to transition from passing interest to celebrated career, van de Wall believes that as with anything in life, you should “Only do it if you really want it, and if you want it really do it!” Having knocked on numerous doors, by 2006 van de Wall was reaping the rewards of his hard work. With five months in Crete and his first minor hit Fuck Detroit, it was clear that he was no average 18 year old music enthusiast. Though his alter ego Afrojack was not born until 2007, van de Wall applied the same attitude to his early outings as to his current day projects. “I think mainly that I try to do everything myself and I constantly speak my mind.”

“This is one of those standard interviews questions, but it’s not comparable, it’s like do I prefer snowboarding or car racing?” Having made his name as both a producer and DJ, it is evident that he hates the presumption that someone needs to pick between the two. “I love both but it’s a whole different kind of thrill, producing is like car racing; crazy but safe, and DJing is like snowboarding, crazy and the slightest error will break you, only psychologically instead of physically.”

Having studiously attacked the dance music scene, van de Wall is willing to admit that in his eyes a good tune is easy to define, “To me a it’s combination of a fat sound and it needs to be really appealing to the crowd, or just really original.” The principle he applies to his composition, equally applies to his live sets, though he concedes that while a lot of preparation could be put in to ensure success, he determines, “I think I never forget that the people in the crowd are human, they can’t jump up and down nonstop for 10 hours, not every song you play has to explode and go crazy.” While he clearly gets bored of being asked his preference, as he responds “I don’t put any into it though, just make sure I always have my newest music.” However, as with any acclaimed artist, he is astutely aware of the need for crowd pleasers. “Of course I always play Take Over Control and Bangduck! These are my biggest two hits, I think, the rest depends on everything.”

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