Afrojack

The stars must’ve been aligned just right when Nick van de Wall (better known as Afrojack) saw his first ray of light. Music was his first love since his early youth. He started playing piano when he was only five. Being a very creative student, Afrojack spent most of his time listening to all kinds of music while studying. It was no surprise that it didn’t take him long to turn the tables and start making music instead of just listening to it.

At the age of 11, Afrojack gets hold of a program called Fruity loops. At this point in time his talent and passion for creating music truly surfaces. Rapidly acquainting himself with and appreciating Fruity Loops, it becomes his program of choice, which he uses to this day. Afrojack finishes school and decides to proceed with his musical career. Not being able to make a living out of it yet, he starts to work part-time in bars and catering. Now he has more than enough time to discover the club scene in Rotterdam, starting with his first night out in the old club Las Palmas when he was only 16 years old. After this, many club nights, side-jobs, small DJ-gigs for the fun of deejaying and a lot of studio time followed.

In 2006 he sets off to Crete (Greece) deejaying for five full months straight in every club that would have him, learning the craft and making his first ‘flight hours’. It was also in Crete where he landed his first small hit, called ‘F*ck Detroit’. When returning home to the Netherlands, he was fired up and started producing more and more tracks, determined to get ihis productions released on a label. With a little help from Sidney Samson and Laidback Luke, Digidance decides to give it a shot, and it worked; ‘Afrojack – In Your Face’ scored #60 in the Dutch Top 100 and #3 in the Dutch dance Top 30. Not too bad for the first release of an 18 year old kid.

In 2007 Nick starts performing under the name Afrojack, determined to try to make it to the top as a DJ and producer. Track after track and remix after remix follows and he even starts his own label ‘Wall Recordings’. Afrojack is rarely seen outside of his studio. When he’s not deejaying, he is producing and it starts to pay off. His tracks start being supported by international DJ’s like Josh Wink, Dave Clarke, Laidback Luke, Fedde Le Grand, Marco V and Benny Rodrigues.

In 2008 he hits the clubs with ‘Math’ and ‘Do My Dance’ and both tracks get picked up by every big name in the industry. Afrojack hooks up with the Partysquad to add vocals to “Do My Dance”and a couple of weeks later, the ‘Drop Down (Do My Dance)’ co-op mix is born. This track hits the Dutch top 20 and gets crowned “Tune of the Week” by the biggest Dutch radio stations. Afrojack starts appearing at many important festivals, like Mystery Land, Tomorrowland (Belgium), Extrema Outdoor and Sensation.

The world heard more and more from Afrojack in 2009 and it didn’t take a long time for David Guetta to notice Afrojack’s talent. They decided to meet up in the studio, which resulted in ‘Toyfriend’, a collaboration between the two, and an Afrojack remix of Guetta’s track ‘Sexy Bitch’. Afrojack also played at David Guetta’s ‘F*** Me I’m Famous’-events.

Befitting his position as the leading figure of the Dutch new wave, his success stretches far beyond his home turf; 2010 has seen him become one of the most in demand DJ/producers of any nationality.

With a peerless reputation as a producer , his signature style is bringing him the kind of remix requests that most dance artists will only ever dream of. (for example Lady Gaga’s ‘Alejandro’ and Madonna’s ‘Revolver’)

Gig-wise, he’s rocked the world’s biggest floors including Pacha Ibiza, Miami Ultra Music Festival and Electric Daisy Carnival in LA.

Afrojack’s rise to fame as a producer has brought him a roll call of A-list champions – from Pete Tong to David Guetta, and Josh Wink to Fedde Le Grand, along the way collaborating with some of the world’s most respected producers and artists like David Guetta, Steve Aoki, Diplo, Kid Cudi, Pitbull and Black Eyed Peas.

His most recent single, ‘Take Over Control ft. Eva Simons’, is currently one of the hottest club anthems on the planet, not least in the UK where it’s been championed by Radio 1’s Annie Mac and Pete Tong. The track also hit No 2. on Beatport and has already reached over 1 million views on YouTube.

In 2011 Afrojack was rewarded with the respectable Grammy award for the remix of Madonna’s ‘Revolver’ in collaboration with David Guetta.

Respected by his colleague DJ’s for his production skills and loved by clubbers for his dancefloor bombs and energetic performances, Afrojack is setting new standards in the industry.

Garmiani has been a DJ and producer his entire life. He has worked with lables like Sony and Universal, had #1 billboard singles, shared the stage with the like of David Guetta and won music awards, all of it under different aliases. Fueled with newfound energy, he decided it was time to launch a new act and take his music in a different direction. This time using his real name.

Garmiani’s first single “In Front Of Your Eyes” was released in 2012 and reached #1 on Trackitdown’s Top 100 House Chart. His second single “Now That We Found Love” was released as a free download and has been downloaded more than 40.000 times to date.

Garmiani’s 2013 started out with the release of his single “The City Is Mine” with Salvatore Ganacci on Tiësto founded Magik Muzik. The track was featured on the first Marquee compilation album and was supported by Markus Schulz, Gareth Emery and Avicii. It was followed by Garmiani’s remix of Arash & Sean Paul’s hit single “She Makes Me Go” which went #1 on the German Dance Chart.

This multi-aliased Swedish sensation likes to build you up and chill you out with his productions. His latest double A-side single “Rumble” & “Dance Motherfucker” was signed by Steve Aoki to his Dim Mak Records as soon as he heard them. The ground shaking EP, ‘Rumble’, was released in late May 2013.

As a vanguard of forward thinking bass music, Antiserum continuously defines the sound of today. Spawned in a laboratory of collaborations with heavy hitters such as LA dubplate warrior 12th Planet, he has found himself continuously at the forefront of bass music’s list key players. His releases on Smog Records and Caspa’s Dub Police label have established him as a mainstay of sub-heavy music.

Antiserum’s ability to inoculate should come as no surprise. His production “Brick Squad Anthem,” a collaboration with Atlanta-based music producer Mayhem, has received huge support from the bass community including Skrillex, Diplo, Datsik, and Flux Pavillion. His collaboration with 12th Planet on the Smog City Compilation, “Bass Salt” was featured on Rolling Stone and UKF and his remix of Helicopter Showdown’s “Can You Feel Me” reached #2 on the beatport dubstep charts.

Antiserums BBC Radio 1xtra mix is a brief glance into the dynamic nature of his performance, during which he defies expectations of the listener and delivers an injection of what can only be described as the “Antiserum.” Upcoming collaborations with 12th Planet, Mayhem, Brillz, and a release on Datsik’s Firepower label will likely dub him the patron saint of bass in 2013.

Autoerotique stores electro, techno, house, Dutch house, Dutch-colonial house, rave, rock, rave-rock, indie-rock and even ska on speed dial and calls them up frequently. Their effortlessly protean, shape-shifting sound can careen wildly from project to project, so it’s not unexpected to hear them transform from Dutch house to, say, Norwegian black metal on the same record — thus, earning them the lazily au courant nick name “Autobots” (currently TM’d by Hasbro so don’t pass it on!).

The ambiguously great duo’s Keith Robertson & David “Dave” Henderson were homegrown and shifted-into-shape within the multi-culti bustle of Toronto’s west end. Cutting their collective teeth as indie band producers they hop-scotched over to dance music after receiving an epiphany to Groove Armanda’s first album at the tenderized age of 17–only to be swallowed whole by the city’s burgeoning dance scene.

After toiling as producers for EMI during 2008, these working class heroes took a much-deserved personal break and like Martin & Lewis, Simon & Garfunkel, The Captain & Tannille etc. before them, steered their separate courses and architected their respective solo projects (Keith’s being a sorta electro-house-ish EP, & Dave’s an almost terrifyingly intense prog-opera set in rural Bosnia on the eve of WW1). It wasn’t until late 2008 when the group reunited putting all other projects conveniently aside.

Returning in early 2009 and signing with Dim Mak Records, the duo streaked like a tracer bullet through the strobe-lit sky of the T.O. dance community with their official first single Gladiator featuring remixes by Aoki/AM, Klever, Larry Tee/Alexander Technique, The Faint, AC Slater & Milano. That has since been followed up in 2010 by two hit singles, “Bubonic” in May ’09 and “K.M.A.,” a collaboration track with producer SonicC that same September. Along the way, Autoerotique has showed off the many colourful arrows in their musical quiver releasing remixes for Tiesto, Benny Benassi, Lykke Li, Shinichi Osawa, Chris Cornell & Timbaland, Diplo & Laidback luke, Larry Tee, B. Rich, Disco Bisquits, Sarah McLeod, The Only, AC Slater, Fischerspooner and Weezer.

In February 2011, Autoerotique released their hit debut EP, Freak, which included the viral smash “Turn Up The Volume” and their now infamous “cake’splosion”. The EP proved to be widely successful within the dance music scene, inspiring DJs such as Joachim Garraud, Them Jeans and Sound of Stereo to remix its tracks. Several of these remixes were featured on the Freak Remixes EP, which was released in May 2011 through Dim Mak Records.

This past summer Autoerotique once again caught the attention of electro fans with their brand new EP, EKG. The Dim Mak release featured two edits, one by JFK of MSTRKRFT, and three high-energy original mixes, including “Roll the Drums” featuring Marissa Jack. Praised for it’s out-of-the-box sound design and rattling snare riffs, EKG was another step forward for the dynamic duo. It has since been followed up by two remix EPs: Roll the Drums Remixes and WTF Remixes, featuring work by Felix Cartal, Clockwork, Torro Torro, VCO and Damaged Goods.

They stormed into the music scene in 2008 and now the Holland based duo Firebeatz have swiftly merited a reputable and solid name for themselves.

Ever since their club smashing records “Funky Shit”, “Where’s Your Head At” and “Miniman” (which all reached the Top 15 in Beatport’s Main Chart), and their most recent Beatport Top 10 hits “Dear New York” (which reached #2) and “Here We F*cking Go”, their schedule has been filled with top notch remix jobs and a huge increase in worldwide bookings.

They have produced numerous official remixes for artists like Pitbull, James Blunt, Ian Carey, Snoop Dogg, Freestylers, Flo Rida, Timbaland, Fatman Scoop, Alex Gaudino, Wynter Gordon, Bingo Players and Sean Paul. The latter two reaching Beatport’s Main Top 15.

The summer of 2012 marked the release of the Chocolate Puma and Firebeatz collaboration “Just One More Time Baby”, which was hammered by BBC Radio 1 DJ Pete Tong and received brilliant critiques. In addition “Just One More Time Baby” topped the Beatport House chart for weeks. One of their big hits is a collaboration with rising talent ‘Schella’ called “Dear New York”. Incorporating a classic sample in a bass heavy production, “Dear New York” enjoyed massive DJ support and skyrocketed up the Beatport chart reaching the #2 spot in the Main Top 100. Due to its massive popularity “Dear New York” remained a Beatport Top 10 track for weeks on end. ‘Sausage Fest’ is currently at #20 in the Beatport house chart and is still climbing.

In 2013, Firebeatz managed to release several new clubbangers such as “Gangster” which reached the Beatport Top 20, their collaboration with Bobby Burns called “Ding Dong”, released by Tiësto’s famous Musical Freedom label. Their track “Yeahhhh” came out on Calvin Harris’s Fly Eye Records and Firebeatz were asked to make an exclusive remix of “Thinking About You”, a collaboration between Calvin Harris and Ayah Marar. “Thinking About You” will be released by Sony Music. They were also the ones who made the popular Firebeatz remix of Justin Timberlake & Jay-Z’ hit single ‘Suit & Tie’.

Their fresh new track “Wonderful” is another big tune from these talented producers and this track made it to the #5 spot in the Beatport main chart. “Wonderful” is supported by established DJ’s such as Afrojack, Chuckie, Sander van Doorn, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Thomas Gold and R3hab.

Firebeatz are currently touring the globe and they can add exclusive performances to their list. They will be touring with Sander van Doorn in the USA in August, a tour in Australia is scheduled and they will perform at Tomorrowland and at the Electric Zoo mainstage. And if that wasn’t enough they are to top things off with an amazing residency at Pacha, Ibiza this summer.

With so many successful releases, the ‘Firebeatz FM’ radioshow/podcast, an entire tour schedule full of festival gigs and performances worldwide you can say that these boys are ready to take over the summer!

Schoolboy, has quickly established his name in the EDM world after releasing his massive remix of SHM & Knife Party’s “Antidote” which has received an incredible amount of support from Knife Party, who has played the remix at every major festival around the globe. Amidst all the hype, his highly anticipated EP “The Science Project” was released under Excision’s label (Rottun) in early 2012. The EP has 6 original bass driven tracks, most notably “Zombies Ate My Neighbours” which quickly climbed the beatport charts and swiftly became a fan favorite. Not only did his EP do well, but his remixes of “Why I Love You So” by Cassius (Kanye West/Jay Z), “Da Funk” by Daft Punk, and “Nation of Wusses” by Infected Mushroom (Dim Mak) among others, have gained major support from the likes of Koan Sound, Kill The Noise, Qulinez, Mord Fustang, Excision, Skism, Dirtyphonics, Steve Aoki, Zomboy, Dieselboy, and one of his earliest supporters of “Checkmate”…Skrillex, and the list goes on.

Now with his release of his highly awaited single “Aftershock” (Subhuman), his popularity has supernovaed with his first music video release.

Not only has Schoolboy been hard at work in the studio, he’s been touring and playing venues and festivals all over North America. In between shows he has been collaborating with fellow producers and working on his new EP to be released in early 2013.