Joining us in the Nexus Lounge, Amsterdam Dance Event, we spoke with Drove about their experiences as a Dutch act, their advice to up-and-coming artists, and the new music they’ve got coming out.
A pair of old school friends, Teun Wouters and Eli Salomons, first bonded over music back in their hometown of Den Helder. While Wouters honed his ensemble talents in a band, Salomons was getting into electronic music, making his first tracks on his laptop. Years later, during the pandemic, the pair finally decided to put their skills together and created Drove.
With music designed to evoke the freedom of the open road, the pair have picked up quite a following through their releases on Martin Garrix’s STMPD RCRDS. After meeting fellow artist Dillon Francis at ADE, they worked on the track “Places,” which later appeared on Drove’s 2021 EP Dusk.
Soon after, they decided it was time to ramp up their performance game, appearing at major events such as Tomorrowland. They said about the event, “Tomorrowland was really special because you get into a completely different world… It’s almost like a fairytale, but then you live inside that world.”
And now the pair have another EP out, featuring not one, not two, but three new collaborations. A Moment in Time opens with another stellar Dillon Francis collab in the catchy dance number “Waterfall”, before going on to feature “Here By Now” with Lilly Ahlberg and “Ready For Us” with Book Seeka. The album also features three solo tracks, a great example of the balance they seek between solo and collaborative work.
“It’s so special to bring someone else into the song because they always have a different view on the subject, the song, the instruments. It’s nice to combine all the creativity into a new song because we have a lot of creativity for our own songs but when you bring in someone else you just get a different perspective. Kind of a new world.”
Of course, it comes as no surprise to see a Dutch act at the Amsterdam Dance Event, and that’s thanks to the fantastic music and culture the country fosters. As a small country, the pair noted in particular just how easy it is to hop in a car and meet up to get a collaboration going.
Being an up-and-coming act is never easy, but Drove has certainly found its way into the industry. When asked about advice for other up-and-coming artists, they had this to say:
“Stick to yourself… I think authenticity is the number one thing right now. With social media you see everywhere, it does stand out.”
If you’d like to learn more about Drove, their favorite driving songs, their time at ADE, and their celebrity crushes, then why not check out the full, exclusive, Nexus Radio interview? You can also follow their social media on Instagram for all the latest about their upcoming releases/concerts.
