Interview With Oliver Heldens!

Being on the forefront of dance music, Oliver Heldens has taken all the right steps towards superstardom. The Dutch prodigy was only 17, when he was signed by Spinnin’ Records and hasn’t looked back since. With 6 singles in 2014, including his wildly successful singles Gecko and Koala, Heldens cemented his place as the one to look out for. With one single (You Know) already released, and second one (Melody) due in March, 2015 looks promising already for Oliver Heldens.

We had the chance to catch up with the phenomenal DJ/producer. Read on!

TBB: Hey Oliver! It’s an absolute pleasure to speak with you! Thank you for doing this with us!

Oliver Heldens: You’re welcome!

TBB: We, over at thebanginbeats.com, absolutely adore your music and style! How would you, as an artist, best describe your sound?

Oliver: I would really call it groovy and uplifting. Though most of my listeners think it’s deep house, so I guess it’s deep house too.

TBB: You’ve named Flume & Disclosure as some of your biggest inspirations in Electronic music. What about them inspired you the most?

Oliver: The new deep house sound was actually what gave me a lot of inspiration to go in this direction.

TBB: You have yet to complete your formal education since you’ve committed yourself to music production full time. If not a hugely successful DJ/Producer, what did you aspire to become?

Oliver: I finished school, so I can focus on my musical career right now. When I was going to school, Hardwell used to play at our school parties. From the moment I saw him perform live, I knew I had to become a DJ!

TBB: What’s with the animal references in your song titles? Can you reveal what the next song title might be?

Oliver: The reason “Koala” is called “Koala” is because I had “Gecko,” so I thought the new track also needed an animal name. The reason I called it ‘Gecko’ is because ‘Gecko’ was a really weird, different track, so I wanted a weird name for it as well. Also, “gek” means “crazy” in Dutch.

Buy Koala (Last All Night) here.

TBB: ‘Overdrive’ skyrocketed to the top of the charts, far more briskly than ‘Gecko’ did. Would you say that vocal-laden tracks garner more success in the mainstream?

Oliver: I think it’s really nice to have 2 versions of one track. The instrumental was really big in the dance community. It was a great opportunity to put vocals on it to reach a bigger audience.

TBB: What have you heard about the Indian EDM sphere so far? Any artists in particular who’ve caught your attention?

Oliver: I’ve only heard good things about India’s EDM scene, so I’m really excited to play there some day.

TBB: Should we expect to see an Oliver Heldens performance in India anytime soon?

Oliver: Nothing scheduled yet, but yeah, sounds great to perform in India.

TBB: What future collaborations can your fans look forward to in the coming months?

Oliver: I just released my collaboration with Zeds Dead, which is number #1 on Beatport! Can’t tell anything about my other collabs, stay tuned ;)