Zone Magazine Issue 011 - Paul Oakenfold

feature interview [netherlands]
Sam Feldt.. A name fairly
dominant in the recent dance music
boom! But, where did he come from?
How has such a young lad come up
through the ranks so quick? Zone
Magazine’s Brett Kydd investigates.
Whilst still a young pup at 23,
Holland born Sam Feldt burst onto
the dance music scene in 2015 with
‘Show Me Love’, which proved to be
his definitive claim to fame. The track
is a unique take on the eponymous
90s dance classic, completely
restructured with the vocals used in a
completely new way. It receives
massive DJ support, scoring millions
of SoundCloud plays, marking Sam
Feldt’s definite arrival as headlining
artist.
It started long before the
aforementioned single which catapulted
his career - Sam Feldt worked behind the
scenes as a producer for quite some time,
perfecting his musical talents. The end of
summer 2013 was when he made gained
ground and released his early work.
Within a year of this Sam was snapped up
by none other than Spinnin’ Records and,
from there, released his first track under
the label.
It didn’t take long for the young
producer to gain the attention of
international dance media as he proved to
be already at the top of a new exciting
wave of melodic deep house. Besides
releasing his first original tracks with De
Hofnar, the widely popular ‘Bloesem’ and
a sophisticated edit of the Fleetwood Mac
anthem ‘Big Love’, he also presents
catching remixes for popular folk band
Mumford And Sons, Naxxos, I Am Oak
and Jose Gonzalez.
By the end of 2014 the instant classic
summer tune ‘Hot Skin’ came out, made
with fellow producer Kav Verhouzer and
building up to over 800.000 YouTube
views after its release. At this point, Feldt
is already a reputable name delivering
loveable vibes on a regular basis.
Racking up the stats with almost two
million plays on SoundCloud as well as a
#1 Hypem spot for his remix of the
Sander van Doorn & Firebeatz release
‘Guitar Track’, you could say Sam has
placed his feet firmly under the table.
Sam has played all around the world,
sharing the stage with the biggest names
in the industry like Kygo, Robin Schulz,
Thomas Jack, and Kölsch. His sound is
characterised by beautifully built
melodies, lots of atmosphere and emotion
packed in a tantalising but often chilled
out groove.
Meanwhile, the Dutchman explores the
wide world of this fetching new deep
house sound with his mix tapes and radio
shows presented to his SoundCloud fans
regularly, making him more than a
household name in the recent house
scene. A new flame has come, and it’s
getting brighter by the day.
I had a chat with the extremely busy
DJ & producer to ask him about his latest
tracks, life on the road, and new geeky
technology.. In brief, this feature covers
the important parts of our conversation..
You're the man behind the most
recent remix of one of the most iconic
dance songs of the 90's. Your version
is a lot more down tempo compared
to previous releases. What was your
inspiration behind this 'Show Me
Love'?
I found an amazing cover of it by
Kimberly Anne on YouTube. When I heard
her voice singing the track in such a
different and emotional way I knew I had
to do something with it.
DJ & Producer EDX added to the pack
with his remix of 'Show Me Love' - So,
what do you look for when giving the
thumbs up for someone to remix your
track?
It has to serve a specific purpose.
Looking at the Show Me Love track, the
original is really chilled and not really
something for the clubs. For the remixes
we decided to look for a good club mix
and I think EDX nailed it.
It's not all about that one track
though, as you were first picked up
by Spinnin' Records who signed your
debut track with De Hofnar -
'Bloesem'. With the deviating work
you've came out of the studio with,
how would you describe your sound?
I'm not a big fan of genres and would
describe my music simply as Sam Feldt
music. The key ingredients are emotions
and melodies. The rest is not really
relevant: I release tracks ranging from
100 bpm to 128 bpm and from pop to
progressive house.
I'm excited to see that you've got a
new track out, tell me about it!
I've just released Summer On You, a
collab with Lucas & Steve and Dutch
singer Wulf. It's getting picked up really
well and all over the Dutch radio at the
moment. We just crossed 10 million
streams on Spotify too so I'm really
happy to see it's going so well!
Is there any exclusive collaborations
on the way you can tell me about?
Definitely, there's a new single coming
up with Deepend (you know, the guys
from Matt Simons - Catch And Release
Remix) called Runaways and a new one
with Alex Schulz and the singer of Cheat
Codes.
Just on that topic, who would be your
all-time favourite artist to collaborate
with?
It has to be Paul McCartney!
Who is your breakthrough artist for
this year, who is really doing it for
you at the moment?
Oooh, there's too many to mention, to
be honest. Although, when I’m putting my
Heartfeldt radio show together I always
include a lot of tracks from the guys I feel
are doing great things.
Connect:
http://www.soundcloud.com/
samfeldt
Words By Brett Kydd
Pics By Fanny Van Poppel
" I'm not a big fan of genres and would
describe my music simply as Sam Feldt music.
The key ingredients are emotions and
26 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE
melodies. "