Hardtraxx Q&A: Clockartz

Q&A met Clockartz!
Na de Q&A met Prefix & Density, is het tijd voor de twee Italiaanse heren van Clockartz. Binnenkort wordt hun nieuwe conceptuele album, “Chord V”, uitgebracht waarbij ze klassieke invloeden combineren met Hardstyle. Wat het uniek maakt is dat het album, bestaande uit 12 tracks, als een groot nummer is geproduceerd. Hier krijgen jullie de gelegenheid om vragen te stellen over het album, hoe het is als Italiaan in een Nederlandse scene en wat hun visie is op de scene als geheel.

Hoe werkt de Q&A?:
In dit topic kan je al je vragen aan Clockartz kwijt. Hierin ben je vrij om te kiezen of je dit in het Engels of Nederlands doet. Alle vragen worden echter wel in het Engels beantwoord. Vanaf maandag 11 november kunnen jullie beginnen met het stellen van vragen tot en met 22 november. Hierna zal het topic sluiten waarna Clockartz alle vragen kan beantwoorden. Hierna wordt het topic weer geopend en is er ruimte voor verdere vragen/discussie.

De regels:
- Neem ook de eerder gestelde vragen door om te voorkomen dat er dubbele vragen gesteld worden.
- Verwerk al je vragen in 1 post. Je kan altijd nog vragen toevoegen door deze post te wijzigen.
- Discussies tijdens de vragenronde worden verwijderd om het topic overzichtelijk te houden.

We hopen op een informatieve Q&A.

Vanaf nu kunnen jullie hier al jullie vragen kwijt voor de heren!

Hi,

Some easy questions to begin with.

1. How many hours a week do you spend in the studio?
2. Are all the Clockartz tracks a team effort or are some of them maybe produced by one of you?
3. Are you guys allways together in the studio?
4. Favorite all time hard dance dj/producer?
5. With who do you really want to make a collab? Dream collaboration perhaps?
6. Boobs or butt?

Thanks for the Q&A and I will see you guys at Spectrum of the Harder Styles.

Ciao fellas,

At first a lot of thanks that you guys will play at our event. It will be massive!
Then my questions:

1. Is it a difficult dilemma to stay in Italy or go living in the Netherlands for your career?
2. How did the creative progress went with Chord V? Did you guys had a certain stort that you want to tell?
3. If you want to work with Some artists inside or outside the hardstyle scène. Who would it be?
4. With creating this new album and a lot of new tracks, do you think you will play a less diverse set (like playing Some early hardstyle)?
5. What kind of work do you do besides producing? Or is it really a full time job right now?

Thanks allready in advance and see you guys at spectrum of the harderstyles!

Hi Guys,

Thank you for doing this Q&A!
Here are my questions:
1. Where does the artist name Clockartz come from?
2. What's your biggest achievement so far?
3. What do you enjoy more: producing or mixing?
4. What's your all time favourite hardstyle track?
5. What's your opion on the current hardstyle scene and trends?
6. In what way do you still collaborate with (the management of) TMS, or are you completely independent now?
7. What's the downside of the career as an artist for you? And the upside?
8. Mandy or Malua?

I doubt if I will see you at Spectrum, because I don't like the organization so much. But we'll see!

Hi guys,

First of all, thanks voor taking the time for a Q&A much appreciated!

My questions for you:
1. What has been your favorite booking up to this moment?
2. Which hardstyle/hardcore/harddance track got you into the scene, or, inspired you to start producing?
3. What's your 'poison' when performing? Do you drink on stage or before, or do you drink/eat/use something else to get into the mood?
4. What was the first hardstyle party you visited, either as visitors or as artists?
5. What is the main goal you want to achieve in 2020?
6. Pasta of pizza?

Looking forward to your answers! Thanks in advance

Hi guys,

Thanks for the Q&A!

• 1. What's your opinion about ghost-producing?
  2. Have you ever ghost-produced a track for somebody else?
  3. Have you guys ever got help in the studio with producing tracks and in what form?
  4. How is your process of creating a track usually?
  5. What do you guys consider the most essential vst for creating hardstyle? And which one is your favourite to work with?
  6. What track/element in a track of yours are you guys most proud of?
  7. Did you ever had a very hard time in the creative process of trying to create a certain sound/feeling in a track? If yes, what was it and how did you overcome it?
  8. What do you guys consider the moment/thing that really launched your carreer?

Looking forward to your album.

Hey Clockartz,

Thanks for this Q&A, much appreciated!

1. What do you think of all the older Italian hardstyle music, like the Saifam artists and Activator?
2. Any plans for a collab with one of these guys, like Technoboy and Tuneboy?
2. What's the difference between the Italian hardstyle scene and the Dutch hardstyle scene? And do you think it has the possibility to grow as big as the Dutch scene?
3. Festival or indoor season?
4. What's your favorite Italian soccer player?
5. Can you tell us something nobody knows yet?

Thanks for all the amazing music and sets and see you real soon at one of your gigs.

Hey guys,

Thanks a lot for doing this Q&A and of course playing at Spectrum of the Harder Styles

1. What inspired you to make an album with a lot of classical influences and to produce the album as 1 big track?
2. Since Chord V has a lot of differences with your previous style, which path are you guys intending to follow music wise in the near future?
3. How did the collaboration with Q-Dance for the album come off the ground?
4. How do you guys feel now that the album is finished and released?
5. Favourite drink?
6. Favourite way to spend your free time?

Looking forward to your answers and see you guys the 4th of January

Ciao guys!

A lot of questions are already asked, so I don't have many, but here they are:

1. What music genres outside of hardstyle do you guys like? And which artists that create other music are you guys inspired by?
2. If you have to describe your music in one sentence, how would that sentence go?
3. What are your dreams when it comes to collaborations?

Curious!

Hoi Clockartz!

Thanks for participating in this Q&A!

1. Do you guys ever made music for movies,... Or do you have ambitions with themed music?

2. Do you guys experience (a lot of) pressure from labels, promoters, organizers ect. to perform and produce at the highest possible level?
2b. And can you understand the choice of Phuture Noize to quit touring/performing for a while?

3. Do you guys like the Dutch mentality and lifestyle?
3b. And are there some things that you don't like about NL in comparison with Italy.

4. A tricky one Do you understand and appreciate the music that for instance Malice is producing at the moment? And do you often listen to colleagues in the scene with a critical view? (With all respect to Malice)

Till the 4th of January and future gigs.

Hi guys, thanks for doing this! Enjoyed your sets at ST8MENT and Decibel this year

1. What are your hobbies besides producing music?

2. What's your favourite video game of all time, if any.

3. Do you guys get distracted a lot during producing or are you very focused? And do you think it helps that you are a duo to keep your focus on working on your tracks?

Hi guys!

Thank you for taking the time to do this Q&A! Great to see your involvement on Hardtraxx, even after several years!

1. What seperates 'Clockartz' from other artists?
2. You guys play a lot of older tracks in your sets. Most artists don't do that (anymore). Why do guys keep playing those older tracks and what is your reasoning for why most artists don't? Not to push your answer in any direction but some artists claim that older tracks don't fit in anymore (quality wise) between the recent/newer tracks.
3. Favorite (all-time) Hardstyle producer and why?
4. Favorite (all-time) Hardstyle DJ and why?
5. What is your opinion on longer set lengths vs shorter and back 2 back sets? For example 90 or 120 minutes solo vs 60 minutes solo or 60 minutes back 2 back.
6. As a duo, do you guys put equal amounts of time and energy into stuff regarding Clockartz? Or do you guys work by your strenghts and fill each others shortcomings?
7. We dutchies obviously know pizza and pasta but are there any Italian delicacies which we don't know in Holland but we certainly should?

Hi boys

1. You're known for your very experimenting/underground kind of hardstyle. With tracks like 'Welcome to my rave' or your recent album 'Chord V'. Why this kind of hardstyle ? And did you guys ever thought or felt the pressure about being less experimental ?
2. What can we expect from Clockartz in the future ? Are there for example further plans to collaborate with Q-dance ?
3. Which track are you the most proud of ?
4. Your favourite Italian swear word ?

I like your music, but could you stop reposting 627299 Instagram stories for every release?

Helicaze wrote:Hi,

Some easy questions to begin with.

1. How many hours a week do you spend in the studio?
2. Are all the Clockartz tracks a team effort or are some of them maybe produced by one of you?
3. Are you guys allways together in the studio?
4. Favorite all time hard dance dj/producer?
5. With who do you really want to make a collab? Dream collaboration perhaps?
6. Boobs or butt?

Thanks for the Q&A and I will see you guys at Spectrum of the Harder Styles.

Ciao guys,
here we go with the answers of all your questions!

1. How many hours a week do you spend in the studio?

It depends a little on the schedule that we have. While making the album we were on average 40 hours in the week in the studio. Besides making music we also do some work for other artists like mixdowns, masterings and some fixes in tracks.

2. Are all the Clockartz tracks a team effort or are some of them maybe produced by one of you?

In general every track is made together. However it’s not always a 50/50 work. Some tracks we make when we are sitting next to eachother while others we make separate from eachother. It’s a natural flow, it goes how it goes but we always know from eachother what we are working on.

3. Are you guys allways together in the studio?

I think we are about 50% of the time together in the studio and 50% of the team alone.

4. Favorite all time hard dance dj/producer?

We really love the music and quality that Ran-D produced over the last 10 years.

5. With who do you really want to make a collab? Dream collaboration perhaps?

There is some names on the top of our list. Deadmau5, Eric Prydz, Armin van Buuren and within the hardstyle we would ofcourse love to work with guys like Headhunterz and Wildstylez. They are the most experienced producers in the scene we would learn so much of them.

6. Boobs or butt?

We love a good booty; Butts!

Hekzitter wrote:Ciao fellas,

At first a lot of thanks that you guys will play at our event. It will be massive!
Then my questions:

1. Is it a difficult dilemma to stay in Italy or go living in the Netherlands for your career?
2. How did the creative progress went with Chord V? Did you guys had a certain stort that you want to tell?
3. If you want to work with Some artists inside or outside the hardstyle scène. Who would it be?
4. With creating this new album and a lot of new tracks, do you think you will play a less diverse set (like playing Some early hardstyle)?
5. What kind of work do you do besides producing? Or is it really a full time job right now?

Thanks allready in advance and see you guys at spectrum of the harderstyles!

And the next ones

1. Is it a difficult dilemma to stay in Italy or go living in the Netherlands for your career?

Yes it’s really difficult. We really love to live where we live right now but we realize that in this phase of our career it would be better to live in the Netherlands or close to it. Unfortunately it’s not something that goes so easy as we are in two. That means when we move to the Netherlands we need to be capable of making a living for two persons from just music. In some months we can easily manage that, in other months it will be very hard.
Because we don’t live in Netherlands right now we have a lot of extra expenses on each booking that we do. For example we need to drive for every show about 3 hours to the airport, leave our car there, take a flight to the Netherlands, book a hotel and drive in the Netherlands to the show. That means that our expenses for every show are over 500 euro and that’s just traveling costs. Ofcourse these expenses are paid by the fee for the but it still makes us pricey artists to book and especially for the smaller festivals and club a bigger risk compared to dutch artists.
The last two summers we stayed in Eindhoven and we could live with our manager and family which has been making things much more easy for the summer period but that’s ofcourse not a solution that works in the long term. At this moment we are looking for appartments in Dusseldorf which is near the Dutch border. Hopefully we can manage something nicely there and move there with out studio and Sebas girlfriend. Germany is for us a little nicer to live because in the region where we live German is actually the first language and eventho we understand a lot of Dutch and everyone here speaks English it’s also nice to be able to just talk in your native language.

2. How did the creative progress went with Chord V? Did you guys had a certain stort that you want to tell?

The idea of making an album was something that came really organic. We made a couple of tracks with a little different arrangement and progression then we usually did. Luma was the first track with that vibe and later we also made the track “Art of Being One” and “Chord IV”.
We realised at that time that we also really love this style and that we felt really comfortable with the approach we had when making these tracks. Usually when you are in the studio and you are making music you have somewhere in the back of your head that a track needs to “work”. We felt really free when we made these tracks and it came natural to us to make something bigger in that style.
When we started brainstorming about the album we felt that we wanted to make an album in which everyone can identify themselves, the maintheme should be emotions and not a certain story. I think that everyone that listens to the track can relate in the lyric and music to a happening in their own life and that was the goal for us.

3. If you want to work with Some artists inside or outside the hardstyle scène. Who would it be?

Like we answered to Helicaze outside the scene Deadmau5, Eric Prydz, Armin van Buuren and inside the scene Headhunterz or Wildstylez would be really nice. If we had to think of some other names on top of that we really would like to work with Porter Robinson outside the scene and we also really really love the recent work of Keltek within the hardstyle. The remix he made for League of Legends is ridiculously good!

4. With creating this new album and a lot of new tracks, do you think you will play a less diverse set (like playing Some early hardstyle)?

No not really, the album is pure a musical production and not every track is suitable to play live. For that reason we have made some edits for our live performances that are a little bit more straight on without losing the original touch.
In the end we decide for each DJ set what fits on that moment and we don’t only look at our own tracks are recent hits. For us in a set it’s important that the set that we play fits the event, timeslot and that there is a story in the buildup of the set so whatever track fits there fits there. On Loudness last month we decided to not play any of the album tracks because we felt that on that timeslot at that event they just didn’t fit. In the end we are there also as performers and not exclusively to showcase our own music. For other shows we might decide to play more of our stuff, especially outside the Netherlands that makes more sense of us since people there usually see us max once a year.

5. What kind of work do you do besides producing? Or is it really a full time job right now?

Seba works part time as a car mechanic and Konnie works as a salesman.

Justinhafc wrote:Hi guys,

First of all, thanks voor taking the time for a Q&A much appreciated!

My questions for you:
1. What has been your favorite booking up to this moment?
2. Which hardstyle/hardcore/harddance track got you into the scene, or, inspired you to start producing?
3. What's your 'poison' when performing? Do you drink on stage or before, or do you drink/eat/use something else to get into the mood?
4. What was the first hardstyle party you visited, either as visitors or as artists?
5. What is the main goal you want to achieve in 2020?
6. Pasta of pizza?

Looking forward to your answers! Thanks in advance

Thanks for the many questions, here we go

1. What has been your favorite booking up to this moment?

The albumshowcase we did at Impaqt was very special. It all felt really unreal, like as we were dreaming. We worked towards this moment for such a long time and then suddenly the moment was just there. It all felt like it was done in a second but it was the second of our lives.

2. Which hardstyle/hardcore/harddance track got you into the scene, or, inspired you to start producing?

The very first hard song that awoke our interest was "Da Juve - Dinnaken (Brainkicker Remix)". Soon after that we got to know songs from Headhunterz and Noisecontrollers and those were the ones that got us into the scene. Damn those are good memories.

3. What's your 'poison' when performing? Do you drink on stage or before, or do you drink/eat/use something else to get into the mood?

Actually we don’t really have something, usually we drink a beer before but we don’t really have a ritual. Maybe we should get that in the future haha.

4. What was the first hardstyle party you visited, either as visitors or as artists?

The first hardstyle party we visited was at a local club called Baila here in Italy, a club where we used to go since we were 15 years old. The party was called Hardstyle Offensiva. At the second Hardstyle Offensiva in 2009 there was already Headhunterz playing! Seba and me we were standing next to the dj booth and watching Heady mixing and performing, and we were overwhelmed. We have a picture of that moment. One of our best nights of those past years!
Our first big show as artists was Loudness in 2013.

5. What is the main goal you want to achieve in 2020?

That we can keep doing what we are doing now and reach more people with our music.

6. Pasta of pizza?

Pizza!!!

Brainweavers wrote:Hi guys,

Thanks for the Q&A!

• 1. What's your opinion about ghost-producing?
  2. Have you ever ghost-produced a track for somebody else?
  3. Have you guys ever got help in the studio with producing tracks and in what form?
  4. How is your process of creating a track usually?
  5. What do you guys consider the most essential vst for creating hardstyle? And which one is your favourite to work with?
  6. What track/element in a track of yours are you guys most proud of?
  7. Did you ever had a very hard time in the creative process of trying to create a certain sound/feeling in a track? If yes, what was it and how did you overcome it?
  8. What do you guys consider the moment/thing that really launched your carreer?

Looking forward to your album.

And the next

1. What's your opinion about ghost-producing?

We don’t really have a problem with it. Sometimes it feels a little bad when we see so called “push-projects” where big organisations are pushing one artists because they have a financial interest in them but then on the other hand if the people like it – why not?

2. Have you ever ghost-produced a track for somebody else?

Not in hardstyle

3. Have you guys ever got help in the studio with producing tracks and in what form?

In the beginning of our career we hired Freek (Hard Driver) to do our mastering. But the last couple of years we invested a lot of time and energy in our own quality and we do everything ourselves now. The only help we get is sometimes feedback from people who are close to us.

4. How is your process of creating a track usually?

It really depends on the situation. Sometimes we already have a theme for a track in mind and we work from that theme onwards. Sometimes we get really inspired by a track and we use that as reference or as inspiration while producing the track. The last couple of months we did some sessions with singersongwriters at writerscamps organised by Cloud 9, Q-dance and Armada so for those projects we have an arrangement with just vocals and we work around that. Other times in the studio we just tweak sounds and ideas untill we have something cool. In the end it all depends on the mood we are in and the flow we are in. We try to get inspiration from all sorts of things.

5. What do you guys consider the most essential vst for creating hardstyle? And which one is your favourite to work with?

The most essential vst for hardstyle is probably sylenth1. Every hardstyle producer knows it and uses it. Its easy to handle, has a lot of useful functions and gives good results, we also use it quite a lot!

6. What track/element in a track of yours are you guys most proud of?

The kick because it is still a kinda signature sound of each hardstyle producer. It is a lot of work to create a nice hardstyle kick that works good on the dancefloor and if there comes out a good one you are proud of it.

7. Did you ever had a very hard time in the creative process of trying to create a certain sound/feeling in a track? If yes, what was it and how did you overcome it?

Yes, there are some days or moments where you just lack of creativity. Its human and you can not force creativity. Then its better to go out of the studio and don’t produce anything for some days, switch off the head and try again some days later. During the process of producing our album for example on a certain point while working on the very last albumsong, we had no more ideas, no more inspiration, it was just gone. 2 weeks of trying hard without results. Then we took some days off and I remember that we prepared for our set at Rebirth. After the gig we were somehow motivated again and the Monday after that party we finished the last song without problems. That’s how it goes with producing sometimes.

8. What do you guys consider the moment/thing that really launched your carreer?

Ofcourse Luma was something really big and when we made Rockafella and Victorious it really caught attention in the scene but we feel that our carreer has been going steady but slowly and we are really happy with that. We rather have a good foundation of our carreer instead of being a hype that no one remembers in a few year!

wootum wrote:Hey Clockartz,

Thanks for this Q&A, much appreciated!

1. What do you think of all the older Italian hardstyle music, like the Saifam artists and Activator?
2. Any plans for a collab with one of these guys, like Technoboy and Tuneboy?
2. What's the difference between the Italian hardstyle scene and the Dutch hardstyle scene? And do you think it has the possibility to grow as big as the Dutch scene?
3. Festival or indoor season?
4. What's your favorite Italian soccer player?
5. Can you tell us something nobody knows yet?

Thanks for all the amazing music and sets and see you real soon at one of your gigs.

Yeh cya soon, maybe Shockerz?
Here the answers!

1. What do you think of all the older Italian hardstyle music, like the Saifam artists and Activator?

We don’t know so many of the old Activator tracks actually I think his style is a little bit different to our liking but we are a really big fan of the old SAIFAM sound. Some of our tracks are heavily influanced by them. A good example is the track Welcome To My Rave.

2. Any plans for a collab with one of these guys, like Technoboy and Tuneboy?

Actually we never really spoke with Technoboy & Tuneboy in person. A couple of years ago our manager asked them if they were interested in doing something together but at that time they didn’t have the time for it.
We talk on regular base with Zatox tho and have been trying to find time to make a track together with him. We know that in the Dutch scene he is not that popular at this moment but we really love his work and can’t wait to work with him, in the end he is a big legend that achievement pretty much everything you can achieve!

2. What's the difference between the Italian hardstyle scene and the Dutch hardstyle scene? And do you think it has the possibility to grow as big as the Dutch scene?

There is not really a big scene in Italy. I’m not sure how it was 15 years ago but there are just a couple of festivals over the entire country and just a couple of clubnights. The people here are very dedicated but our feeling says that they are more into hardcore than into hardstyle.
It’s hard for us to judge weither the scene here can grow as big as the Dutch scene. Our guts say it’s not very likely but ofcourse we would really like it if it would!

3. Festival or indoor season?

Festival!

4. What's your favorite Italian soccer player?

Of course Gianluigi Buffon

5. Can you tell us something nobody knows yet?

We made a remix for Armin van Buuren

Albatrots wrote:Hey guys,

Thanks a lot for doing this Q&A and of course playing at Spectrum of the Harder Styles

1. What inspired you to make an album with a lot of classical influences and to produce the album as 1 big track?
2. Since Chord V has a lot of differences with your previous style, which path are you guys intending to follow music wise in the near future?
3. How did the collaboration with Q-Dance for the album come off the ground?
4. How do you guys feel now that the album is finished and released?
5. Favourite drink?
6. Favourite way to spend your free time?

Looking forward to your answers and see you guys the 4th of January

We are also looking forward to the 4th January!

1. What inspired you to make an album with a lot of classical influences and to produce the album as 1 big track?

A part of the question we answered towards Hekzitter already.
When we deciced that we were going to make an album we thought really carefully on how we wanted it to be. For our feeling a lot of albums have been pushed out as a marketingtool to generate new bookings. In general those albums were to us more compilations then real music albums. We really wanted to make a music album and didn’t want to do any concessions to that.
The classical influances just came organic, it’s just what we felt was right to do in the album. That the album became 1 track was also just something organic. It wasn’t planned it just happened because it felt right

2. Since Chord V has a lot of differences with your previous style, which path are you guys intending to follow music wise in the near future?

Right now we want to focus on finishing the last preparations of the Chord V liveshows, there is still a lot of work on that on all kinds of levels. Then we have the vocal tracks that we still have to finish from the writingsessions. Those tracks will probably be ready before the summer. We didn’t really decide yet what direction we will go afterwards. For now the creative freedom we had was very satisfying so I’d say we will do whatever we feel like at that very moment.
In the end we are sure there will be some hard tracks coming still but also more tracks like on Chord V and everywhere in between. I hope that answers your question!

3. How did the collaboration with Q-Dance for the album come off the ground?

We showed Bas (old music manager of Q-dance) the projects we were working on at ADE in 2018 and he really loved the title track “Chord V” – which was back then the only track we had of the album. When we explained the plans we had he was really enthousiastic and from that moment everything just went really smooth. They have a really nice and young team that’s very passionate about music so we were really glad to be able to work with them on the album.

4. How do you guys feel now that the album is finished and released?

We are very proud of the result and very touched by the reactions we got. We really feel like we did what we wanted to do and couldn’t be more happy that people also like what we made. For now we are really focusing on the liveshow aspects since we have still a lot of work to do there. So it feels in a way like the album isn’t completely finished yet, haha!

5. Favourite drink?

Vino rosso!

6. Favourite way to spend your free time?

Mountain biking.

THArdstyler wrote:Hi Guys,

Thank you for doing this Q&A!
Here are my questions:
1. Where does the artist name Clockartz come from?
2. What's your biggest achievement so far?
3. What do you enjoy more: producing or mixing?
4. What's your all time favourite hardstyle track?
5. What's your opion on the current hardstyle scene and trends?
6. In what way do you still collaborate with (the management of) TMS, or are you completely independent now?
7. What's the downside of the career as an artist for you? And the upside?
8. Mandy or Malua?

I doubt if I will see you at Spectrum, because I don't like the organization so much. But we'll see!

Hope to cya anyway soon!
Here we go with the next answers.

1. Where does the artist name Clockartz come from?

When we started with making music our name was actually Rough Tuners. In 2012 when things started to get a little more serious we were searching for a new name. We had no idea and then Seba’s girlfriend came with Clockartz. We don’t really know why but that just felt right and Clockartz it was.

2. What's your biggest achievement so far?

100% Chord V

3. What do you enjoy more: producing or mixing?

It really depends a little on the vibe, when we are in a really good flow in the studio there isn’t anything better in the world than making music so in that situation for sure producing.
Mixing is also something really fun altho the DJ-aspect of mixing isn’t really that important anymore so I’d rather call that performing. Ofcourse the crowd reaction when you are playing is something very special aswell so we probably say that we can’t chose between these two, haha!

4. What's your all time favourite hardstyle track?

From Konnie it’s Noisecontrollers – Gimme Love and from Seba it’s Wildstylez - Temple of Light (Qlimax Anthem 2017).

5. What's your opinion on the current hardstyle scene and trends?

This is a difficult question and we are having a hard time to explain exactly what we think without being disrespectful to anyone as we love the scene and definitely the people who are involved in it.
But we also feel that in hardstyle in general people are a little narrowminded and thinking strongly in what “works”. In our opinion it would be nice if people took a little more risk and explore boundaries to come with new things.
If you do what you always have done you will get what you always had. And if you keep doing the same tricks over and over again the trick will stop working. We really hope that the scene will get a little more diverse. The producers we have in our scene are of toplevel and I think in many occasions we are limiting ourselves by the fear of being irrelevant if you doing something outside the box. This counts for the artists, promoters but also definitely for the fans.
As for trends – personally - we feel that we lost a little bit of the connection with the harder side of the scene. Eventho we still really love some of the really raw stuff we also feel that a lot of the tracks out there are – so the say – without a soul. But clearly it works really well and it makes a lot of people happy so we can only cheer for that.

6. In what way do you still collaborate with (the management of) TMS, or are you completely independent now?

We work very closely with Michel and while doing that we are also completely independent. Basically TMS is helping is with running our business and helps us with coaching, A&R and advice but we chose our own paths and our managements is only supporting the direction we are going with.
You could say that we would for example decide that we want to go “right” and our management will then think with us what is the best way to go that direction. I guess you know what we mean

7. What's the downside of the career as an artist for you? And the upside?

There is a lot of stress and pressure in the scene and everyone has a very strong opinion about everything you do. That sometimes makes it hard. Ofcourse also the balance between having a normal job, living full time of music and traveling back and forth all the time is very hard.
The good side is really the reactions we get from people about our music and performances. If we just bring a little joy in the life of some we are totally satisfied. Ofcourse we also really learn a lot while being in the industry. Not only about making music but also about how things work in life and especially in businesslife.

8. Mandy or Malua?

Mandy

Looike wrote:Ciao guys!

A lot of questions are already asked, so I don't have many, but here they are:

1. What music genres outside of hardstyle do you guys like? And which artists that create other music are you guys inspired by?
2. If you have to describe your music in one sentence, how would that sentence go?
3. What are your dreams when it comes to collaborations?

Curious!

1. What music genres outside of hardstyle do you guys like? And which artists that create other music are you guys inspired by?

We really like a lot of different kind of music from rock to all sorts of electronical music. Some acts that we really like are Rezz, Porter Robinson ( & Virtual Self), Madeon, Seven Lions, Eric Prydz, Deadmau5, many trance artists. We also try to go to shows of our favorite acts and get inspired by it.
Last year we went to a couple of concerts of big artists because they are known for their incredible live performances. We have been at concerts of Armin van Buuren, Metallica, Avantasia, Ed Sheeran amongst many others. It’s really refreshing to see how other genres and people approach their music and liveshows. We learned a lot from it!

2. If you have to describe your music in one sentence, how would that sentence go?

Ti sento, un brivido lungo la schiena, un colpo che fa pieno centro.

3. What are your dreams when it comes to collaborations?

As answered before: Armin, Deadmau5, Porter Robinson, Headhunterz, Wildstylez, Keltek for example

simon10pont wrote:Hoi Clockartz!

Thanks for participating in this Q&A!


1. Do you guys ever made music for movies,... Or do you have ambitions with themed music?

2. Do you guys experience (a lot of) pressure from labels, promoters, organizers ect. to perform and produce at the highest possible level?
2b. And can you understand the choice of Phuture Noize to quit touring/performing for a while?

3. Do you guys like the Dutch mentality and lifestyle?
3b. And are there some things that you don't like about NL in comparison with Italy.

4. A tricky one Do you understand and appreciate the music that for instance Malice is producing at the moment? And do you often listen to colleagues in the scene with a critical view? (With all respect to Malice)

Till the 4th of January and future gigs.

Yep cya there!

1. Do you guys ever made music for movies,... Or do you have ambitions with themed music?

We have been in touch recently with people that have connections in that world. We definitely have ambitions there!

2. Do you guys experience (a lot of) pressure from labels, promoters, organizers ect. to perform and produce at the highest possible level?

Yes

2b. And can you understand the choice of Phuture Noize to quit touring/performing for a while?

Yes

3. Do you guys like the Dutch mentality and lifestyle?

Haha no we don’t actually we really like the Italian way of things. It took us a while to get used to the Dutch mentality

3b. And are there some things that you don't like about NL in comparison with Italy.

Let’s start with the weather and the landscape, hahaha

4. A tricky one Do you understand and appreciate the music that for instance Malice is producing at the moment? And do you often listen to colleagues in the scene with a critical view? (With all respect to Malice)

Yes, actually we think Malice (/ Sickmode) are really talented producers and one of the guys that stands out for us. Otherwise we wouldn’t have worked with them. In general the “scene” that they perform in isn’t really our scene tho. But big respect for the hard work and achievements they have reached.
Regarding the critical view... Ofcourse when we listen to some of the tracks in that scene we think that the productionquality isn’t so great. But then again it’s a different scene and it seems to work, so who are we to judge…

Delt-A wrote:Hi guys, thanks for doing this! Enjoyed your sets at ST8MENT and Decibel this year

1. What are your hobbies besides producing music?

2. What's your favourite video game of all time, if any.

3. Do you guys get distracted a lot during producing or are you very focused? And do you think it helps that you are a duo to keep your focus on working on your tracks?

1. What are your hobbies besides producing music?

Mostly we go mountains biking and swimming in the summer. In winter we like to go snowboarding and sledging. We also love to spend time with our family and friends, eventho the last years with all the work in the studio we didn’t see them so much anymore, that’s why we try to enjoy every second with them.

2. What's your favourite video game of all time, if any.

Oh god its hard to decide between Call of Duty and Counter Strike, but I think COD.


3. Do you guys get distracted a lot during producing or are you very focused? And do you think it helps that you are a duo to keep your focus on working on your tracks?

Once we are full into producing we are barely getting distracted. Its nice to produce in 2 cause you have more different ideas from 2 different heads and the flow of creativity can sometimes be rly good like this. Sometimes we work together, sometimes alone, just how it goes.