Exclusive Interview with Bassjackers
Bassjackers aka Marlon Flohr and Ralph van Hilst had not foreseen what was coming when they started out with their collaboration. Marlon was already Dj-ing for a while and Ralph experimented a lot with making different kinds of dance music. Marlon was mainly playing house music at the time and then the idea came to push Ralphs productions in that direction so that Marlon could play the tracks in his sets. The first track they were both satisfied with was “Beat Cut”. “Beat Cut” got picked up by Fedde le Grand and kickstarted their career. The success in the studio was also taken to the clubs and with a packed schedule of 250 gigs a year Bassjackers were definitely established in the dance scene. Their big break came in 2011, their dancefloor bomb “Mush Mush” got picked up by Tiesto and got released on Tiesto’s imprint “Musical Freedom”. It dominated the Beatport top 10 for over 2 months and grew to be one of the biggest tracks of 2011.
Siam2nite had the opportunity to have an exclusive interview with Bassjackers, shortly before their performance at 808 Festival at BITEC Bangna on 9th December.
As “Bassjackers” you are a highly successful production duo, but before you teamed up in 2007 to produce music together, you were already good friends. How did you meet and how did you get in touch with electronic dance music in the first place?
We were in each other’s class in high school and from there we became friends. We were always big music freaks, and along the way came electronic dance music and we were hooked real fast!
How would you describe your own music in just a few words?
Energetic, Party and lots of bass!
Your latest track “Gamer” is currently ranked #4 in Electro House and ranked #11 in the overall charts on Beatport! Besides that track - out of all tracks you have produced - which would you recommend to someone that is not yet familiar with your music?
You should definitely check ‘Mush, Mush’! Came out in 2011 but still does the trick, it’s timeless! Further you should just check everything ;) whether it’s ‘Hey!’ ‘Grid’ or ‘Duckface’…all real Bassjackers tracks.
This year you played at several major festivals, such as EDC Las Vegas and New York, Tomorrowland and ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event). What were your highlights and most memorable moments of 2013?
There are a lot, we recently did the ‘Rattle & Roll’ tour with Bingo Players which was really cool! All the above mentioned festivals were awesome again. We loved the Ibiza season where we did Pacha and the ‘Jacked’ nights in Amnesia. Too much to mention, but we can say were really excited about the coming Asia tour at the moment.
What are you currently working and focusing on and what’s on your agenda for the near future?
We have a lot of works in the making. Releases lined up for January & February. Really cool collabs in the pipeline and some exciting remixes. Further we have Asia in the schedule and after that Brasil, Europe & the USA. Work hard, play hard!
You travel a lot. What are the essential things you need to have with you at all times and what are the things you miss when you are on tour?
USB & Passport, those are essential on tour! I definitely miss Dutch food like Frikandellen! Also being able to reach into your own fridge and just get a brewski for instance is something you’ll miss on tour.
What was the best and the worst gig you ever played and what was the funniest thing ever occurred during any of your performances?
A lot of funny things happen, like spilling food over your clothes (a dj is hungry too!), seeing strange stagedives & flashing chicks! Hate it when power falls out though ;(
On 9th December you will play here in Bangkok at the 808 Festival – alongside Bingo Players, Chuckie and Steve Aoki. Have you visited Thailand before? Will your performance be your Bangkok debut? What can Bangkok expect of your upcoming performance?
We’ve travelled through Bangkok before, but this will be our debut. We heard a lot of good stuff about Bangkok and we’re really excited about our debut. We’ve been extremely productive in the studio and will have some brand new exclusives in our set. Let’s go!!