Music
Ticketmaster Blog chats to DJ Hardwell
Ticketmaster Blog has conducted an interview with one of the world’s hottest DJs from a place you’d definitely rather be.
While this blog writer has been shivering though a freezing cold southern hemisphere winter, our counterparts in Spain are sunning themselves in the playground of the rich and famous all while interviewing the world’s number one DJ, Hardwell.
The master of EDM, Hardwell is currently mid-residency at Ibiza’s Ushuaia. The Dutch DJ is doing a 12-week stint at the venue and has 12 remaining Hardwell Carnival shows as well as the Closing Party on September 8.
If any of our readers are lucky enough to be heading to Ibiza in the coming weeks, you should definitely try to catch one of Hardwell’s performances. Click here to purchase tickets.
But if, like me, you’re set to see out winter on home turf, the news is not all bad; Hardwell has told Ticketmaster Blog he is working hard on getting back to Australia and New Zealand soon. Check out that and the many other great questions and answers in our Hardwell Q&A.
Ticketmaster: How would you describe the atmosphere of Ibiza –to anyone who hasn’t been before?
Hardwell: Ibiza is amazing! You have to keep in mind it’s one of the most legendary places in the world when it comes to dance music, with a great history in dance music.
All the DJs are here during the whole summer, you can visit super underground parties, super mainstream parties, everything as a dance fan is here.
So yeah, the parties are really great, people actually book their vacation to party, and you can tell by watching the crowd and how energetic they are, it’s definitely one of the places to be.
Ticketmaster: What can fans expect from your set in Ibiza?
Hardwell: It’s one of the few sets where I actually play for 2 hours, on a festival you only get booked for like 1 hour.
We have Hardwell’s Carnival, with a great line-up with lots of guys from my label Revealed and also a couple of friends like Afrojack, W&W, Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano, and it’s actually one big family of friends and we have a lot of fun on stage.
This year with have as theme the Carnival, very colourful, with a lot of happiness, and what you can expect is a lot of great music and happiness.
Ticketmaster: Can you tell us where the nickname “Hardwell” comes from?
Hardwell: I have a Dutch last name, van de Corput, and if you translate Corput in English you get Hardwell. It was quite simple!
Ticketmaster: What would people be surprised to learn about you?
Hardwell: I think a lot of people don’t know that I started as a hip-hop DJ and I became quite a famous hip-hop DJ in Holland. But I wanted to produce dance music, so I made the decision to switch to dance music and started my career as a house DJ.
Ticketmaster: Which collaboration with another artists has been the most significant for you and why? Is there any artist you would like to collaborate with but haven’t had the opportunity yet?
Hardwell: I really enjoyed one of my latest collaborations with Jason Derulo, but a really significant collaboration was Zero 76 with Tiësto in 2010, that collaboration put me on the map, especially for America. A lot of people hadn’t heard about me and they were like “Who is that young guy with the legendary Tiësto?”, so that track really worked out for me.
If I have to pick out someone to work with it would be Pharrell Williams, I admire him as a producer, singer, songwriter and just who he is, an amazing person, it would be good to share some studio time with him.
Ticketmaster: Any plans to return to Australia or New Zealand to perform soon?
Hardwell: We’re working on it, I’m definitely coming back. I don’t know, maybe I’m gonna join the guys for Stereosonic, maybe I’m coming back with my I Am Hardwell world tour, at this point we’re just working on it, there’s no specific dates to announce.
Click here to purchase tickets for Hardwell’s Carnival at Ushuaia, Ibiza, along with the many other amazing events happening in Ibiza this European summer.
