Hardwell

“A documentary on MTV about the Dutch scene was what sparked it all. I saw guys like Tiesto and Ferry Corsten talking about this thing called electronic music and I was instantly hooked. I started getting into it from then onwards, I was 12 years old and just completely bitten by this dance music bug. It's been my life ever since.”

“The waterfront in Manila is really popular and somewhere I enjoyed visiting.”

“I'm truly grateful for every moment I've been able to spend doing what I love to do.”

“I don't stop digging for new music. This way, I naturally listen to a lot of music, and it leads to new ideas for mash-ups.”

“The only thing you create music with is your own creativity and your own ears. And it takes a lot of time to develop your own ears. It's really important, before you go to the studio, to realize yourself: What do I want to hear? What do I want to create?”

“There is no reason to be afraid of a Hardwell show.”

“An album is not like an hour-long DJ set, you know, hit after hit and then build up to one big climax.”

“The moment we started DJing in Vegas, back in 2011, the crowd had no idea what dance music was.”

“As a DJ, I'm really focused on the crowd. I never play the same set. I always look at the crowd, try to read what they want, and always look at the signs, point at people.”

“If I doubt whether a track works, I'm just going to play the instrumental version in my set and judge where the crowd takes it.”

“If you're really positive in life, everything else will fall into place.”

“I don't know if it's one particular thing that really made me popular, but I always say my music, it worked really well for me. A lot of people like my music.”

“Make music from your heart, even if it's experimental or not really common, try it out, it can only get you more recognized.”

“To me, new friends, new genres, new person-to person chemistry is the DNA of EDM.”

“For collaborations, I'm always on the lookout for people who reflect similar energies, with a positive state of mind, and who make and understand quality good music.”

“A lot of people always see the EDM DJs as button pushers, especially when deadmau5 came up with that term. Well actually I started out as a hip-hop DJ and I won several awards in Holland for my skills.”

“I feel Indian music is very layered and emotional.”

“At the moment when I come on stage and I hear the excitement, I can feel the excitement of the crowd. That's the most important thing to me.”

“You can have the best production, the best stage in the world, but without a crowd, the festival is nothing.”