Hardwell: “I’m only doing 30 shows a year, compared to 200 a year” [Interview]

This year, Hardwell plans to scale down the amount of shows he does. “After my sabbatical, things changed,” he says in our exclusive interview with the man himself alongside Breda Beats & TURF.

On 29 November, we hosted our first-ever conference alongside Breda Beats & TURF, talking to some of the biggest names within the Breda world, one of those being no other than superstar Hardwell. Having been in the scene and pioneered big room sounds for a long time up until his hiatus, the Hardwell we see today is a reborn version.

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Whilst reminiscing on the past and what his influences were, we also look to the future and see how things have changed within his mindset as he came back from his hiatus.

“I think my biggest music influences were definitely the beginning of the Dutch dance scene, basically, so Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Ferry Corsten. Obviously all the music that my parents played when I was younger from Michael Jackson to ABBA. My mother was a huge James Brown fan so I think everything in part influenced me to be who I am today. Don’t underestimate how important it is when you were younger and listening to the music your parents were playing. I just got into dance music because I loved it so much when I heard all the DJ sets back then and that’s actually why I started producing dance music at the age of ten.”

We also spoke to him all about how it feels to be back in the swing of touring, how Breda influenced his music, the messages he aims to portray as an artist and much more. To watch the interview in full, you can do so down below.