Showtek discuss main inspirations, upcoming ‘360 Blue’ album, and more: Interview

Returning to their hardstyle roots with the release of ‘360 Blue,’ Dutch DJ/Producer duo Showtek ensure nothing less than the most electrifying of vibes. Truly immersive, we caught up with this legendary act as they provide us with an overview of their career and what we can expect as time progresses.

Enhancing their legacy in the most immersive manners, Dutch DJ/Producer duo Showtek are the epitome of an act that have well and truly cemented themselves as the elite within our community. With a career spanning over 20 years, the duo have showcased their versatile nature through the vast array of genres that characterise each of their productions, whilst at the same time, have ensured nothing less than the most scintillating of vibes. Returning to their roots with their latest ‘360 Blue‘ album, this 15-track body of work will take listeners on a truly euphoric musical journey, where Hardstyle takes centre stage in a manner that will have anyone begging for more. Enticing in every sense of the word, we could not be any more thrilled to have caught up with Showtek, as they discuss main inspirations and influences, the evolution of their sound(s) throughout the years, transcending musical barriers with each endeavour, the release of their latest album and the whole ‘360’ concept, future plans and so much more.

Hello and thank you for joining us! Could you provide us with an insight on the main inspirations/influences that led to your chosen career pathway in music?

“The power of connecting with people all over the world through music is a beautiful thing. It brings people together. I (Wouter) have played piano since I was 11 and always have been playing melodies. After falling in love with dance music at the age of 13 I’ve always wanted to create songs that feel euphoric , slightly melancholic, energetic and passionate. Sjoerd was very fond of harder music and making beats. It brought us together as brothers to another level.”

 With versatility a key aspect in the dance scene, we would like to know how your signature sound came to be, as well as how it has evolved over the years? 

“It’s always kind of simple and we have a way of mixing and engineering our sound. We feel we’re at a point that we can apply our signature even to more and broader genres and sounds, it also keeps it interesting and creates some sort of evolution. It’s definitely made for festivals and main stages, party music with an easy sort of pop feel, we think. We also. always aim to do something new or unexpected in a song, like a unique approach on a vocal, beat elements or an unexpected collaboration.  But always keep our signature Showtek lead and feeling in there. It’s hard to describe in words but we think you can tell when you hear a Showtek song. ‘Booyah,’ ‘Bad,’ ‘FTS’ are probably our most well known songs, but if you listen to our entire catalog there’s definitely a vibe there.”

Exploring a wide variation of genres throughout your career, could you talk us through the significance of transcending your music, and in turn, catering to a variety of occasions and styles?

“It’s always been a journey for us , following our heart and passion. We always want to be and feel free to express ourselves and explore new sounds and genres. If it gets too repetitive it gets boring and hard to enthuse yourself and the fans. So being in the studio without any expectations and or barriers creates the most unique music. Producing wise we keep coming back to either hardstyle, EDM and big room or more pop driven and reggae inspired music. We have always been blending sounds and will just keep doing that more and more. It’s refreshing for us and hopefully the listeners. We feel we keep it interesting if we constantly explore and try out things, that’s how you learn and get to innovative ideas and approaches.”

Performing at some of the biggest venues and events worldwide, as well as producing music with the elite of our community, we would like to know the experience you have gained along the way, and how rewarding such endeavours can be as time progresses?

“It’s so rewarding to do what you love and to be loved for that. In the end, it’s about giving all of what you have and seeing how it lands with your listeners. I (Wouter) have a hip hop label as well and we are working with a huge amount of different artists, singers and producers that have given us a lot of amazing views on music. We have learned so much from other people by working with them, and it’s a great thing to be able to learn every day and convert that into creativity. But also working with new less expressive artists is so important. Experience can be great but can also cause you to overthink, newer producers just do and we always try to make decisions without being too planned, more impulsive.”

Revisiting various genres that you have produced through the ‘360’ project, could you talk us through the concept as a whole, the main thought process behind it, and the overall message that it sets out to portray?

“We have a love for a lot of genres within the dance spectrum. We are known for EDM and hardstyle mainly and felt it would make more sense to put it into a project, giving each genre its own primary color under one identity. It also symbolizes us coming back in a circle traveling the globe to our hardstyle roots (referring to Blue). Yellow represents our EDM identity and Red wil be more of a fusion and experimental thing. With influences of pop, reggae and drum and bass and some more half time beats. The overall message is to showcase all these sounds that in our opinion fit into one performance as a whole and represent our full identity.”

Returning to your roots after a 12 year break from hardstyle, we would like to know the overall feel behind such a major project, as well as your thoughts on how this particular genre helped shape your journey within the dance scene? 

“Hardstyle is a feeling, a lifestyle and community, the fans have an unmatched love for their sound and their music. Being part of that makes you realise that you do this all for the same purpose, the love for music. This is our third hardstyle album and we have been doing this for almost two decades and our fans know all of our old and new songs. Our fanbase gave us a world platform.”

Featuring 15 tracks, ‘360 Blue’ is the latest full length album from your ‘360’ project, and it takes us back to the very core essence of Showtek. Could you talk us through the creation of this body of work, as well as the approach you took towards the production of hardstyle this time round? 

“After a break we felt we had enough new inspiration and ideas  to give back. Still with our signature but also new and innovative enough so that it feels new and fresh. With this album we explored the more melodic and emotional side but also the harder sounds that are more in line with the current sound of hardstyle. When we decided to go back to do some hardstyle shows, we decided to go fully in and not just half as. During our climax preparation, we got inspired by the older stuff but also reignited to do new hardstyle stuff; we were like let’s do an album, it just feels good. So we started setting up sessions with songwriters and really about telling our new story. Not just some cool music, we really wanted to do something mature and meaningful again. ‘Dear Hardstyle’ is one of them. It started with that. It reignited and reaffirmed our passion and love for hardstyle, the fans and the community. In ‘Grow Up’ with City Fidelia, it’s about not having a father around and figuring out your struggles. Or ‘Legends’ with Sub Zero Project. We had so much fun in the studio with them and learned so much from them as well. It seriously feels like we’re just getting started again with even more ideas and new experiences.”

Enhancing your legacy in the most immersive of manners, we would like to also know what the future holds for Showtek, always in terms of new music and live performances?

“We are working on so much more music. There will be a 360 red, which will be a fusion of styles and experimental ideas. Pop, drum and bass, reggae, future and half time type ideas mixed with our Showtek signature in mind. We just did a 360 Blue show in Sydney for 9500 fans to celebrate the launch of our album. And we will be doing festivals throughout Europe this summer and showcase our new music. We cannot wait to release our upcoming projects.”