Hardwell
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Hardwell

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“A lot of times it feels surreal,” he says. “It’s weird to achieve the dream that was always so impossible, even like three years ago. Sometimes I have to pinch myself.”

While he’s still a relative youngster, van de Corput is by no means new to the art of DJing. His international breakthrough came from 2009’s original production Show Me Love vs. Be and the smiling Dutchman has been DJing clubs since the age of 14.

“It was always my dream to be a DJ on a high level and tour around the world and show my music to the world,” he says. “So at this point I’m living the dream and I couldn’t be more excited than I am right now.”

Backing up on his hedonistic headline sets on this year’s Future Music Festival tour, next month Hardwell returns to Australia to present the outdoor dance spectacular I Am Hardwell. This tour actually kicked off early last year and has seen van de Corput’s mark a trail of massive shows all over the globe. He describes it as, “the biggest Hardwell experience you can get,” which greatly expands upon the show we got from him last time.

“At a festival we only get booked for an hour. With the I Am Hardwell show I’m performing three hours so I actually have the time to play more progressive and take people on a musical journey. That’s what DJs did back in the day – they played for the whole night. I am totally free to play whatever I want and make it the best night possible.

“Australia was one of the first countries to support my music,” he adds. “I think it’s a great crowd – people really know how to party. I can’t wait for October.”

Since visiting us earlier in the year, van de Corput has been hard at work on the debut Hardwell album. Over the last five years he’s unleashed a string of club-ready singles, such as Spaceman, Dare You (featuring Matthew Koma) and Everybody Is In The Place. Combine this collection of hits with several years of touring and remixing and it’s safe to say that the forthcoming Hardwell LP is hotly anticipated.  

“I’m really enjoying making the album but it’s so hard,” van de Corput admits. “When I look back over the years I only did four or five songs a year and now I have to do a whole album. [It] takes a lot of time. But I’m really enjoying doing the project.”

While he sounds somewhat daunted by the productivity requirements of a full-length record, he’s not struggling to come up with material. “There are more 20 tracks. I have to decide which tracks I really want to finish off and which tracks will never make it. The album needs to be perfect. I want to be 200 per cent satisfied. Even when I listen to the album in ten years I still want myself to be proud of what I did.”

For any artist contemplating a debut record, decisive action needs to be taken regarding whether or not it will follow a specified stylistic arc, be a representation of one’s diverse impulses, or pay direct homage to earlier artists and genre movements. At this stage, Hardwell’s fundamental objectives can be simply summarised.

“People ask me ‘What kind of music do you play – is it big room? Is it progressive? Is it electro?’ I always like to call it Hardwell music. That’s exactly what the album’s going to be. It is a full dance album, but I want to make beautiful music instead of only the big club bangers. When I look back at my single Apollo – the one I did with Amba Sheperd two years ago – I still play it every single set because it’s a good song. I think a good song will always last.”

Despite the fact that many fans are hankering for a repeat of the style and standard of Hardwell’s earlier releases, van de Corput plans to use his position of power to push things forward artistically.

“If I think about the pressure and what people think of me and the album, it will never be done. Avicii is the perfect example. When he played Wake Me Up for the first time last year at the Ultra Music Festival everybody was laughing at him, like ‘Wow he’s playing country music,’ and ‘It’s the biggest shit I’ve ever heard.’ Six months later it was a worldwide number one hit in over 70 countries.

“You can never satisfy everybody,” he continues. “That’s what I’m trying to say. Good music is good music. That whole Avicii album is so good, it’s almost unbelievable. Every single song is so well produced.”

So does Hardwell hope to spread a massive global fever, akin to Avicii? Well, he remains modest for now. “I don’t know if I’m going to set the trend, I just want people to appreciate my album.”

BY AUGUSTUS WELBY