THE TAKE 5 SERIES
Showtek
We sat down with Showtek for a chat. Showtek is a Dutch electronic dance duo consisting of brothers Wouter Janssen and Sjoerd Janssen. They began making music in 2001, producing hard trance under the stage names ‘Walt’ and ‘Duro.’
Since 2001, the brother duo has made their way onto multiple top music charts, including ranking 17th in DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs in 2014. They have worked with world renown artists such as Tiësto, Chris Brown, and David Guetta, and have accrued over five million monthly listeners on Spotify.
Their most successful single to date is “Bad,” a 2014 collaboration with Guetta and Australian singer Vassy. The song featured on the deluxe version of Guetta’s studio album Listen. It peaked on the UK Singles Chart at number 22 and topped the chart in Finland and Norway.
More recently, Showtek released “Pum Pum” last month, a remix they worked with LA-based DJ Sevenn to create.
To learn more about Showtek, including which artist they’d bring back to life if they could, check out our interview with them below:
Q: Before we dig in, what's next for you? (current or future projects)
Hi guys, first of all thanks for having us! We are doing well and at the moment we are in the USA where we are planning a small summer tour for our fans. It’s been a while since we have toured or even played a show and a lot of people are super excited to go out again. America is finally opening their doors for events to happen, so therefore we are doing some summer shows.
Our single “What is Love ft. Theresa Rex ” just came out and we are very happy with the feedback we got so far from our fans and industry. Our next single will be “Warning” together with Sonny Wilson and it’s going to be a huge one! Most of our fans know Sonny Wilson from our single “Booyah” and “Sun Goes Down”, so this is expected to be another big one! It’s been a while since we have worked together and we are excited for this one as well, which should be out before the summer.
Q: What is the one thing every track must have for it to be solid?
As Showtek, we always try to stand out with our melodies and our mixture of genres & cultures. Music in general needs to touch you in an emotional way. It could be the lyrics that get to you or a melody, but something needs to be memorable! We have an underground vibe with a commercial touch and that’s what we bring to live in all of our tracks!
Q: Let's create a new festival; What would you name it, Where would it be located, and Who would be the top 3 headliners?
It would be named “Everybody’s Free Festival”, it would be a world tour held in every capital of every country and the 3 top headliners would be:
- Billie Eilish (Huge fan of her)
- Eric Prydz (His shows are insane)
- Showtek (Everybody needs a bit of SHOWTEK in their lives)
Q: What is music going to sound like 20 years from now?
Dolby surround? Apple Music is already giving you that experience so that’s definitely the next step and maybe also on festivals. Music always repeats itself, so in terms of genres it might not change but maybe the way we listen to it. Back in the days it was normal to release 8 minute songs and really try to tell a story. In 2021, a song can’t be longer than 3.5 minutes anymore but hopefully that won’t change!
Q: Why do we listen to music?
It brings up emotions that sometimes only come out by listening to music. It’s like being at a festival and you hear “Feelings” by Avicii; it will probably bring you back to that first moment when or where you heard that song, but also to a certain time in your life or to the connection you have with Avicii as an artist. These are not everyday feelings, sometimes you need to dig deeper to really express your emotions and music is a great tool for that.
Q: If you could bring one artist back to life, who would it be? (Why that artist?)
Well since we already mentioned him, for sure; Avicii. He was such a true inspiration for many people and he passed away too early and too tragically. We loved his sound and the way he created music felt very organic and authentic. He crossed boundaries and mixed genres like no other!
Q: What's your favourite smell?
Food? Haha. We both love food and there is nothing like a smell of fresh baked break or pie 🙂 Food makes us very happy!!
Q: What can you talk about for hours?
Music. We have no problems working in the studio for 14 hours straight! When we still lived in The Netherlands we sometimes spent 80/90 hours a week in the studio, talking about how we could make something better and more unique. Now we work partly over the phone if we are not in the same city, but the creation of music and where we want to go is a never ending story!! On a personal level we like to talk about life in general, especially during dinner. We can easily sit at the dining table for 3 or 4 hours and just talk about anything; the past, the future, sports, relationships, anything.
Q: Which historical figure would you like to be?
In 2021, you should be happy if you can just be yourself. With everybody always looking at what others are doing it’s so easy to forget who you are yourself as a person. We need to stop comparing ourselves to others because we often only see a glimpse of someone’s lives, and that’s what we compare ourselves with. But everybody has struggles and problems they need to overcome. The time we look at others would be spent very well working on ourselves!!
But of course we admire a lot of people, such as:
* Tiesto (we admire his hustle and the way he keeps himself at the top of the game)
* David Guetta (they way he produces music and makes it to the radio)
* Major Lazer (we love how they combine genres from all over the world)
* Eric Prydz (great DJ and sick shows)
* Faithless (big inspiration on how to produce music and their live performances)
* Prodigy (their uniqueness in sound and as a brand)
* Ronaldo (his determination and focus on being his best) And many more…
Q: (Pick One) Game of Thrones, South Park, Walking Dead, or Stranger Things?
Family Guy!!! LoL
