DJ and Producer and founder of Dirty Workz Coone is here to share with us upcoming solo single, how Dirty Workz, common distractions during touring, top 3 people he’d like to work with and many more.
Coone, the man who launched his very first label Dirty Workz, released his first EP in 2002, “Protect The Innocent”. He then broke out into the scene with “Eating Donuts”, a remix of “Song 2” by Blur. After releasing his label, he continued to play around Hardstyle. Additionally he’s also been feature in DJ MAG’s Top 100 DJ’s with his first entry at #41 in 2011.
Belgian Hardstyle DJ and Producer Coone and founder of Dirty Workz is here with AsiaLive365 to share with us upcoming solo single, how Dirty Workz, common distractions during touring, top 3 people he’d like to work with, Dirty Workz new platform to support upcoming artists and many more. Read Below.
ASL365: What can we expect from your set?
Coone: “Now or Never” is a new solo single coming up and I have a brand new remix for Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and Vini Vici at Liquid Soul. There’s not going to be anything different from the main stage last year, as I represent Hardstyle, I produce Hardstyle so I’ll just do my own thing.
ASL365: What are some of the considerations that go into deciding which track to play next? What makes two tracks a good fit? How far do you tend to plan ahead during a set?
Coone: Sometime I prepare and sometimes I don’t. I don’t play a pre record set for but I do get my tracks ready before hand. I usually look at the reaction of the crowd and that’s how I adapt to the crowd.
ASL365: Who are you as fan of right now?
Coone: I’m a big fan of Skrillex so I look up to him as a producer genius. Martin Garrix is a great performer and entertainer. Within Hardstyle of course there are a few favourite artists that I’d like to support such as Wildstyle and Hard Driver.
ASL365: If you had to choose 3 DJs who would be a dream team to do a B2B with?
Coone: Skrillex, let’s add a rapper, Eminem, and Martin Garrix
ASL365: What seems to be a common distraction while you’re DJing and how do you control that?
Coone: You need to take care of yourself of course because if you’re on tour in China then you’re always at a different city every 2-3 days so you need to be careful not to loose yourself. You’re away from home; family, friends and you’re in a different hotel where you don’t know anyone besides your tour managers and the team you’re with. If you’re not careful and you don’t eat well, you can fall in to a negative state of mind. I try to avoid negativity at all cost. When on tour it’s never easy of course, but when you’re on stage or at a festival, you see the fans and it makes up for it.
ASL365: Is there any particular city in China that you’ve visited that you like the most?
Coone: I do understand that Shenzhen has a great club scene and rave scene. Shanghai is good and it’s good to see that Hardstyle music is evolving to in China cities and also their smaller cities like Foshan which is quite unexpected.
ASL365: Having been round too many cities are there any country you wish to play?
Coone: Yes there are a few, Africa is a one of them, I haven’t played there yet. Dubai is definitely on my list but there’s still a debate of what Hardstyle is over there. Dubai is a whole different culture of course and I think I wanna try to do Middle East, Russia, Poland and those kind of countries that are ready for Hardstyle.
ASL365: Why did you decided to start your own label? And why did you choose Dirty Workz as the name?
Coone: At first I released a song on Zook records, which is like a sub label where I was signed at and at one moment I have a feeling that like I didn’t have that much musical freedom on that label. That’s why I asked my record company whether I could start up my own label and that’s how Dirty Workz came about. And slowly we build our roster with plenty of top Hardstyle DJs.
ASL365: Anyone in particular we should take a look at from Dirty Workz?
Coone: MANDY, Refuzion, Sephyx those are a new one we should look at.
ASL365: As a representation for Hardstyle and label boss what is one mistake you see a lot from upcoming DJs and how would you advise them?
Coone: You need to take a closer look at how catchy your track is and the marketing strategy for the track. You can create a team instead of releasing a song without any promotion and marketing. That’s one of the mistakes that the talent make, they release a song without any branding or a team. Without any of that it’s just a very well produced track and that’s it.
ASL365: How can label help them in their career?
Coone: We’ve just launched a new platform on Dirty Workz which is copyright free and is of course a good step because there’ll be new tracks out there with us. It’s a new thing we’re trying with Dirty Workz to support them.
ASL365: Which has been your favourite set in your career so far?
Coone: The Gathering at Defqon 1 in 2017 and was one of the best set. Fans were screaming my name for 5 minutes before I went on. It was such a great feeling. My solo concert was great as well. Tomorrowland main stage was also another highlight.
