He subdued and conquered electronic stage in 2009 with “Show Me Love vs Be”. Among his hottest tracks — “Encoded”, “Cobra”. He collaborated with Tiesto — “Zero 76”. Robbert created label Revealed Recordings in 2010. In 2011 he was on the DJ Mag Top 100 (24), in 2012 he reached the 6th place. He was the first in2013 accorting to the rating, even overtook Armin van Buuren.

Hardwell became the youngest ever winner of the coveted Top 100 DJs award!

Now he even is a presenter of his own radio house music show “Hardwell On Air”.

Interviewer: Hey Robert! How is your morning?
Robbert: Hi man, I just woke up, its 11am now and I am back in my hometown of Breda. I actually just had breakfast and I am heading to the studio in a bit.

I: Speaking of Breda, there has been a lot of talent coming out there recently. What is it with Breda and Producers / DJs?
H: I actually have no idea! Seeing as we are from Breda we help each other a lot, we are all good friends and we all know each other.

I: How was your summer season – did you play a lot of gigs?
H: I did a lot of shows – I did a lot of the “I Am Hardwell” World Tour shows, which we toured all over the world. Recently we were in Tel Aviv and then we have Portugal next.

I: It must be a massive tour because it does not hit Australia till October 2014!
H: Yeah, I am constantly touring, and of course, I still have regular club shows and festivals, so it is a big schedule at the moment.

I: You were just in your early teens when you got started DJing – was it 14 years old?
H: I was 12 years old when I discovered dance music and 14 years old when I signed my first record deal, which is quite a long time ago already (laughs). I had to bring my parents with me to every gig because I was not allowed to enter the club or DJ at the club without them because I was too young.

I: What was it like DJing at 14 to a club full of 18+ people?
H: It was hard sometimes, but I really enjoyed it and for the most part everybody seemed to love it. My parents have really supported me from the very beginning; they admired my passion and saw that I really wanted to do it so they were happy to come with me.

I: Your breakout moment was probably the bootleg of “Show Me Love” from Robin S, Laidback Luke and Steve Angello.
H: I was DJing live at a gig when I played the organ sample from ‘Be’ for the first time, and I do not know, I just decided to mash it up with “Show Me Love”. When I was done, I sent it to Luke, and for some reason after that the track got picked up and every major DJ was playing that bootleg.

I: Did you have a relationship with Luke before that?
H: Luke is one of the most humble and open-minded people in the whole scene so it was really easy to get in touch with him. The funny thing was though, he did not like the bootleg in the beginning, I think it was a bit too laidback for him (laughs). But obviously it went pretty well; I think some people even thought the track was an original release.

I: A couple of years later you had your first charting in DJ Mag, #24 in 2011. That’s a pretty impressive debut!
H: I was really excited about that! I was kind of disappointed I didn’t enter the list in 2010 actually (laughs). I had done a lot of big tours already so I really wanted to make sure in 2011 I was the highest new entry, so I was really happy about doing that.

I: Well you went from #24 to #6 to #1 in 2013 – that is a pretty huge rise. Interesting because that is the exact same progression that Tiesto had!
H: We had exactly the same positions! He is my role model and we work so close together and are really close friends so that was really unbelievable.

I: How did you guys become friends originally? What do you think it is that made you two click?
H: Well we have exactly the same tastes in music, and when we DJ back to back we have a really great connection. Besides that we have exactly the same background, we are born and raised in the same city and share a lot of studio time together, so I guess that kind of led to us becoming quite close.

I: With both of your hectic travel schedules, is it hard to find time when you are both in the same place?
H: We probably see each other around once a month. Even if it is hard with our schedules, we still try to catch up every month.

I: You started a label called Revealed Recordings – a few other guys heading to Future are also on it. How did you get that come about?
H: It probably started about 3 years ago. I wanted to start my own label because I did not want to deal with the big record companies. I wanted to be free, I wanted to release a track whenever I wanted and wanted to decide what the art should look like. I was always aiming for really good dance floor records, whereas all the labels want to make it as commercial and radio friendly as possible, they want to make a lot of money out of it. I did not want to do that. I just wanted to have good club records and that is why I started Revealed Recordings. It has been really inspiring to work with all those new talents. Dannic is one of my best friends and is super talented, and I have been working with Dyro for the last two years. We have also signed so many other great new artists like Kill the Buzz, and all of them are making really good music and doing really well on the Beatport chart – I think Revealed Recordings has had 20 Beatport top 100 hits now.

I: In terms of choosing who to work for with Revealed, do you like finding young, new talent and help them get a start?
H: Definitely, I think it is really important to push new talent. Everybody needs a push sometimes in their career and when we created this platform in revealed it became the perfect start for a lot of new artists. I want to be like a role model for these guys and give them a platform to release their work.

I: I read that you ghost produced a top 10 track recently.
H: Yes that is right – and the track was not released on Revealed, let me make that clear (laughs).

I: Can I ask you what it is?
H: I am not allowed to say! But I do ghost produce sometimes, it can be quite fun to do and I like to help out my friends with a record.

I: So I might be listening to one of your songs and not even know it!
H: Yeah that is right, it can definitely happen (laughs).

I: You have played Future Music Festival before in 2013, you looking forward to coming back in 2014?
H: Definitely! I always have a good time and I cannot wait to back. I mean, I had a great time a Future in 2013 and 2014 will be even bigger. It will be great to have Dannic and Dyro coming with me, and Deadmau5 and Martin Garrix should be awesome as well.

I: One of the things I have noticed in your sets is how energetic you are on stage – such positive vibes.
H: It comes pretty naturally to me, it’s just the way I feel the music, you know? It’s not that I perform an act or something (laughs), it’s just exactly the way I feel about the music. It’s great to be able to let the energy roll and have a good time and party with the crowd rather than just playing for the crowd. I think for a DJ it’s really important to stay on the same level as the crowd.

 I: I am interested to hear what your favourite tracks were from 2013.
H: My favourite tracks? OK:

1. MAKJ & Hardwell “Countdown”

 

2. One Republic “I Lose Myself” Alesso Remix

3. WandW “Thunder”

4. Dyro & Hardwell – “Never Say Goodbye”

I: So can we expect to hear those tracks when you come to Future?

H: Definitely! You definitely will!

I: Thanks for chatting, what have you got planned for tonight?
H: I am going into the studio for the whole day, working on the new tracks, you will probably hear some of them at future.

 

 Interview materials were taken from http://www.futuremusicgroup.com.au