One of our favourite producers and DJ’s, the extremely talented Deniz Koyu will be headlining today at MTV‘s MTV Bloc Party in Mumbai and it is our utmost honour to bring to you an exclusive interview with the man himself!

Q) So Deniz, how’s it going? How’s India?

DENIZ KOYU: Great! I arrived yesterday very early in the morning, I went to sleep and then I just worked in the hotel room. I haven’t seen that much yet, but yeah I’m excited.

Q) So today you’re playing in Mumbai. This is one of your first festivals that you’re headlining right?

DENIZ KOYU: Yup yup, that’s true.

Q) We believe you were Artist To Watch Out by MTV in 2012. How was the feeling when that came about?

DENIZ KOYU: Oh that was amazing. It was a great feeling. I remember seeing it on the internet site and then I read it and it was amazing.

Q) You started off listening to Indie pop and a lot of pop music and then you went on to electronic music. How did you go about this transition?

DENIZ KOYU: When I was a kid, I used to listen to a lot of Michael Jackson. He was my first idol. Very mainstream, and I think it’s very normal. And then when you’re very interested in music then you dive into it. You don’t listen to mainstream, you look for something more interesting. I’ve always been more interested in everything that’s more electronic, not only music related but I also work a lot with computers and create a lot of stuff with computers, I’m more of a technical guy so that’s maybe why I like electronic music, I’m more of a synth loving sort of guy.

Q) At what age did you start producing?

DENIZ KOYU: I started at the age of 15, when I was trying out my first music program and then at 17-18 I started to buy some synthesisers and some more studio equipment and then I got more & more into it.

Q) We heard Fedde Le Grand heard you for the first time and then went on to bring your track out on his label? 

DENIZ KOYU: Yes that’s right. I think that was in 2010. Pretty recent, not too long ago.

Q) We’ve heard your track, “Follow You” featuring Wynter Gordon and it’s been very successful and is very popular here in India as well. Tell us a little about how you got down to doing the track?

DENIZ KOYU: Actually that production took me quite a while. I started with an idea which is quite different from the final song, I had this idea lying around for half a year maybe and I didn’t know what to do with it and then I looked at it again, and I added the main melody where Wynter Gordon adds her vocals, and first I played this melody on an instrument and then I sent the melody to Wynter Gordon and then she added her vocals and then basically I changed it a lot I cut her vocals. I did the technical bit, haha.

Q) Did you know Wynter Gordon before the collaboration?

DENIZ KOYU: Well not personally, but she’s working with Atlantic Records and I know those guys very well and once I went to New York into the studio with her basically, and she was recording her album and I’m a big fan of her and I just went inside to listen to her and see how the session goes and yeah we spoke a bit and we said we could do something together and in 2-3 months I sent her the record.

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Q) What can we expect from your set today?

DENIZ KOYU: Well I will be playing some new tracks, some new productions. One new track from Refune records called “Rage”, I have one upcoming collaboration with Dirty South. I think it’s a very exciting track, I’m very happy with it, I will play that one and one more of my tracks which I have released yet, an ID and then some edits mashups etc. I like to play not commercial, but not underground either.

Q) A little controversial, but do you just press play or do you like playing to the people?

DENIZ KOYU: Well I like to observe the crowd and see what they are into and I like to show them as much new stuff as possible, depends how open minded they are. So Yes, I always play my sets to the crowd!

Q) So what is Deniz Koyu’s most #bangin track?

DENIZ KOYU: At the moment it would be my track “Rage” and I also like “Reload” by Sebastian Ingrosso and Tommy Trash and then I love Fedde Le Grand’s new track “Raw” quite a bit too.

Q) Since we’re talking about the future, do you have any plans on opening your own recording label, like Fedde has ‘Flamingo’ and Ingrosso has ‘Refune’?

DENIZ KOYU: I definitely want to do that but it’s too early for me at the moment because I’m so busy with everything. I believe in the beginning you have to be fast, that’s important. I’m planning maybe next year, 2014 maybe.

Q) Koyu is derived from your last name, Akcakoyunlu, Do you believe a stage name is important for an artist to keep?

DENIZ KOYU: It is. Atleast in the beginning because people have to remember the name. After a while if you’re very successful and if your music is good, people will learn your name no matter how complicated it is.

Q) Any advice for upcoming producers? 

DENIZ KOYU: It’s always very hard to give one general advice, it’s all about working very hard and putting a lot of effort in it. Whats smart is that, these days don’t try to find a record label and then send out all your very early works to the label, because if you’re honest with yourself your initial work will not be very good. If you compare your initial work to your current, you’ll know it’s not very good. That’s why in the beginning I wouldn’t send out my work to all record labels, because the thing is they’ll listen once and if it’s not good, in the second email they’ll ignore it. I think it’s good in the beginning to spread your stuff on the internet for free and if it’s great, people will recognize it and you will get attention.

Thank you for the interview! We’ll catch you at the MTV Bloc Party today!