The day I stop making and playing music is the day they drag my corpse from behind a DJ booth somewhere.
-Sidney Samson
If you think about Dutch House, three names will come to your mind. Sidney Samson. Afrojack. Fedde Le Grand. This genre went really popular in the period between 2008 and 2010, with various worldwide hits like “Take Over Control“, “Put Your Hands Up For Detroit“, and, of course, “Riverside“.
The creature from Sidney Samson, “Riverside”, marked the history of Dutch House, and received two reworks (from Tujamo and Oliver Heldens) in 2017 and 2018. The whole genre seems to be back in action lately, thanks to Sidney Samson and Afrojack.
The Dutch veteran, in fact, pleasantly delighted us with “Soldier“ (in collaboration with the friend Gwise), a hybrid between his signature Dutch House and festival Big Room. Fresh yet old-school, we felt that this was just the beginning of something bigger…
In a fantastic year, with incredible comebacks, Sidney Samson is bringing us one of the most unexpected surprises… Dutch House.
We hope you enjoy reading this exclusive interview with Sidney Samson!
You’ve recently gone back to your Dutch House sound with your release on Musical Freedom as well as your official remix for David Guetta. What inspired you to go back and which direction do you plan on taking your music in the future?
For a while, it seemed like everybody started producing watered down versions of their club and underground style or they were trying to score mainstream hits to get on radio or poppy Spotify playlists. The problem with this is that those poppy records don’t get much of a response from the festival crowds and it leaves the attendees looking quite bored, to be honest. Those types of songs lack the raw energy that you need to get the crowd jumping and so when I first sent “Soldier” to my DJ friends, they were all like “Wow, this I can use!” It was as if they had been looking for this type of record for a while, but nobody was making them anymore. “Soldier” was supported heavily by so many DJs and it was one of the most played records at Tomorrowland this year, reaching the top spot on 1001Tracklists! The comments from the fans have been amazing as well. To me, it tells me that people will always love that powerful sound and it’s a shame that some producers seem to have left that sound behind.
Personally, I have a very diverse taste and as a producer and I have always loved to experiment with different styles. My career really took off when I produced “Riverside” in 2009 which was when the Dutch House and Big Room sound was rocking stages around the world. It was an amazing time but for a while, I became more inspired by, let’s call it “Urban styles”, like dancehall and Moombah. This is why I loved producing records like “Policeman” for Eva Simons, the Deadly Zoo album, or my recent collab with Shaggy “Officer”.
As a DJ, I feel there is nothing better than performing in clubs or big festivals with a more up-tempo, energetic sound. So I decided to go back to my Dutch House and Big Room roots and it felt like coming home! My next three releases are all “100% Pure Uncut Dutch House/Big Room!”
Over the course of your career, you’ve collaborated and toured with many pop and mainstream singers such as Flo Rida, Far East Movement, Lil’ Jon, and will.i.am. All of those artists have embraced electronic elements in their song, but we’d like to learn more about your interactions with them as someone who rose to fame in the EDM community versus someone who became famous in the more traditional way through radio play and record deals.
All these artists were a pleasure to work with. There is no real difference between electronic music artists or pop stars. Creative people are always looking to be inspired by new things and always love to collaborate with other creative minds. In the studio, we never saw each other as being different creatively, we just came from different musical backgrounds and used different tools to get where we wanted to go.
Around three years ago, you created Artificial Records and hosted Artificial Radio but the Artificial branding has gone silent for quite a few months now. Do you have any plans to bring the project back or should we be expecting something new from you in the future?
I mentioned before that I experimented with some of the other genres that I have enjoyed, but I found that those types of tracks and projects I was working on didn’t really fit that label anymore. As a result, it’s been sort of dormant and now I’m undecided as of now what to do with it. I have some great records coming out on Smash the House and Spinnin’ very soon and I loved working with the Musical Freedom team on “Soldier.” There’s always opportunity out there so we will see what happens with the future of Artificial!
As your career has matured, how has the touring lifestyle changed for you?
Last few years I have not toured so much since I was much more focused on being in the studio, but now I am chomping at the bit to go on tour with my new music. There is no feeling greater than having that connection with fans through the music you play and giving people a great night to remember!
The day I stop making and playing music is the day they drag my corpse from behind a DJ booth somewhere.
Thanks to The QR Network for the help with this interview. Check them out for further interviews with EDM artists!
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