Zone Magazine Issue 011 - Paul Oakenfold
In our feature interviews in this issue we talk to cover man, and one of the pioneers of dance music, Paul Oakenfold. Paul is without a doubt one of dance music’s leading lights and his story is one that is littered with success after success. He has single-handedly achieved more in his career than most dance DJ or artists could dream of. Next up is international God that is Hardwell, talking about his imprint Revealed Recordings! We also talk to Sam Feldt, whilst still a young pup at 23, Holland born Sam burst onto the dance music scene in 2015 with ‘Show Me Love’, which proved to be his definitive claim to fame.
In our feature interviews in this issue we talk to cover man, and one of the pioneers of dance music, Paul Oakenfold.
Paul is without a doubt one of dance music’s leading lights and his story is one that is littered with success after success. He has single-handedly achieved more in his career than most dance DJ or artists could dream of.
Next up is international God that is Hardwell, talking about his imprint Revealed Recordings!
We also talk to Sam Feldt, whilst still a young pup at 23, Holland born Sam burst onto the dance music scene in 2015 with ‘Show Me Love’, which proved to be his definitive claim to fame.
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" The label has grown into a life force of its own. It’s such an<br />
amazing experience to watch. I am so happy the label can<br />
now be used to help others and be a piece in the jigsaw that<br />
carries them to the next stage in their career. "<br />
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It helps being a DJ. All of the music on the<br />
label is music I’d play in my sets, it’s music I<br />
believe in and really love. I’m committed to the<br />
art of djing in the same way I’m committed to<br />
discovering new music, I truly love the search for<br />
new music, and this helps a lot with the growth of<br />
the label. I’m always looking for new talent and<br />
new music. I spend a lot of time whilst travelling<br />
listening to promos and prior to each show I’m<br />
going through the promos of the label and my<br />
own looking for that special track.<br />
What advice would you give to new<br />
producers out there to get their music<br />
noticed by a wider audience? It’s fair to say<br />
that the whole ‘Revealed Recordings’ project<br />
has snowballed over the last six years and<br />
has grown into a massive entity in dance<br />
music. Did you ever imagine that it would<br />
grow so big and so fast?<br />
I had dreams, I’ve always had big dreams, but<br />
I think to imagine it would have become this big<br />
is truly out of my wildest dreams. The label has<br />
grown into a life force of its own. It’s such an<br />
amazing experience to watch. I am so happy the<br />
label can now be used to help others and be a<br />
piece in the jigsaw that carries them to the next<br />
stage in their career. The only advice I can offer<br />
is what was once said to me which is “believe in<br />
yourself and follow your own path”. We’re very<br />
open at the label and if you’re music is what<br />
we’re into then we’ll support you. The thing for us<br />
is we’re always pushing our ideas and projects<br />
forward to improve the quality of what we’re<br />
working on, so it’s really excited to be a part of.<br />
Out of the many different facets that make<br />
up the magnificent gem that is ‘Revealed.’<br />
which one if any would you say was your<br />
favorite?<br />
I love helping the artists where I can. I enjoy<br />
the process of sharing my experiences and also<br />
getting in the studio and offering any help I can.<br />
It’s also fun to get artists involved in the events<br />
we run and give them a chance to DJ out to a<br />
crowd with the freedom to play what they want.<br />
For me seeing new artist’s breakthrough and<br />
being able to help with that for new talent is<br />
something I’ve always been very happy to do.<br />
Revealed Recordings has its own distinctive<br />
sound be it EDM or Big Room, do you think<br />
that you will ever move away from that<br />
sound in your label output and the style you<br />
play personally?<br />
The label, like myself, is always looking to<br />
evolve its sound but you have to take that<br />
direction of change at a slower place if you’ve<br />
grown a community of fans and they have a<br />
passion and love, like we do, for a style and area<br />
of electronic music we’ve become known for. I’ve<br />
always tried to keep dj sets mix varied. The label<br />
has a slightly different direction but it’s again<br />
varied. As mentioned it’s constantly evolving so<br />
I’m sure we’ll be sat here in years to come talking<br />
about different sounds and genres we’re into.<br />
You must get to listen to some amazingly<br />
talented producers and DJs, are there any<br />
that you care to mention who you think have<br />
got what it takes to make it big?<br />
Julian Calor is a talent who has that capacity to<br />
make it big as a producer. He’s doing this really<br />
cool visual concept project at the moment titled<br />
Involve, where he’s building sound structures<br />
around these short video visuals from a designer.<br />
Definitely something to check out and a project<br />
that demonstrates his qualities as a producer<br />
away from typical dance music sounds.<br />
And with your own numerous productions<br />
and collaborations, how do you find the time<br />
to get into a studio and actually produce?<br />
These days we work a lot of time into my<br />
schedule to give me the freedom to go and work<br />
on new music. It’s important to be smart and<br />
manager this otherwise you never get to<br />
complete half the projects you start on the road.<br />
I’m really enjoying it and I’m excited to show a<br />
lot of new music soon that I’ve been working.<br />
Are you always working on tracks on your<br />
laptop on planes etc like a lot of DJ/<br />
producers that I have spoken to or do you<br />
prefer a proper studio to create music in?<br />
I do work on music whilst on the road. I’m<br />
never too far away from my laptop working on<br />
ideas etc whilst touring but for me nothing beats<br />
being in my own studio. I love it. As well as a DJ,<br />
I’m a producer at heart so working off a laptop<br />
isn’t the same feeling.<br />
Finally can you tell us what you have coming<br />
out, or coming up that we should be on the<br />
lookout for?<br />
I recently released the latest edition of my<br />
Hardwell Presents Revealed Compilation Volume<br />
7. I also just did a track giveaway with a new<br />
record titled ‘Wake Up Call, it’s something really<br />
cool and one you should definitely check out. I<br />
have a collaboration coming up with Craig David<br />
called ‘No Holding Back’ which is due out later<br />
this year and I’ve some other new music coming<br />
up, which I’ll be announcing very soon.<br />
Connect:<br />
https://www.facebook.com/djhardwell<br />
Words By Danny Slade<br />
Pics By Gerard Henninger<br />
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ESSENTIALDANCEMUSIC 19