Many good things have come out of the Netherlands: the eccentric-yet-highly-talented Vincent Van Gogh, world-renowned producer/DJ Afrojack, 2012 women's Olympic gold medalist's field hockey team (seriously, take a look), and the weed "capital" of the world, Amsterdam. However, another thing has appeared on our radar, and it goes by the name of Vicetone.
Consisting of Ruben and Victor, this fast-rising electronic duo deliver highly infectious energy and a musical savviness in each track they put out, whether it be a remix or an original. Building off a highly successful 2012 and having recently surpassed 100,000 fans on Facebook, Vicetone wanted to celebrate by releasing an all-new original track titled "Strike", as well as an instrumental package that consists of some of their originals and remixes.
Ranging from their bona-fide hit remix of "Clarity", to their inspirational remix of a segment of President Obama's 2012 presidential victory speech, to their exquisite and energy-building remix of Adele's "Someone Like You", grab the download pack below and get to know the minds behind the creations of Vicetone in an interview that details how they got started to their upcoming move to the United States.
With Vicetone's latest track, "Strike", Ruben and Victor lay the groundwork in a quick-driven beat that induces your foot to tap as if they had a mind of their own. As new elements are introduced, the main structure of the track is precise and functions with a specific goal in mind. Rattling synths emanate from your speakers with an intense desire to change your foot-tapping into a full-blown body shake with absolute zero regard to whatever environment you may be in.
Maintaining that highly infectious energy that I had stated before, "Strike" has all the necessary qualities to be filling DJ sets through various festivals around the world. So stay ahead of the game, and grab the remix below.
Vicetone---Strike-(Original-Mix)--EM0313
Download: Vicetone - Vicetone - Strike (Original Mix)
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EARMILK: Tell us a little about how you two met and got started DJing?
Vicetone: We met in high school when we were both 15 years old. We immediately became friends over our mutual love of dance music, and we had a similar taste even back then. The music that we listened to in that time was the old euro-dance stuff, trance, and house tracks that were popular on the radio back then. We used to make long DJ mixes together when we were 16 or 17, record them and listen to them on the way to school (and during classes). We listened to an insane amount of dance music during our teen years, and we believe that to this day, it still helps us with producing our own music.
EM: What's your musical background? Do you play any type of instruments, or did you just want to try your hand at production?
VT: Ruben played a bit of piano beforehand, but only for a couple of months. We don't really have a thorough classical training, we were both just very obsessed with collecting and listening to as much electronic dance music as we could find when we were teens. When we first tried our hand at production in 2012, there were a lot of songs that we already wanted to remix, since we felt like we could improve on certain tracks that we heard. This drive kept going stronger and stronger, and we ended up learning everything about music production,both technically and creatively, and creating our own sound and style. So all of our knowledge about music production is self-taught.
EM: Who are some of your inspirations, whether they be musical or personal?
VT: I'd say Eric Prydz, Tiesto and all the Swedish House Mafia are inspirations for us, especially because we used to listen to the music that these guys made since we were teenagers. We've been listening to their stuff for so many years and their older stuff still release inspire us.
EM: You are currently based out of the Netherlands, but are making the move to the States in June. How does the music atmosphere/scene differ between Holland and the US? What's the club atmosphere like over there?
VT: Well, Ruben just turned 21 a couple of weeks ago and Victor is still 20, so we didn't really go to any clubs in the USA yet. We can't wait to play the first shows over there though!
EM: What cities, places, and festivals are you looking forward to hitting once you get Stateside? Any tour plans in the works?
VT: We'd love to play the huge cities like Miami, Las Vegas, LA… but really, we'd like to play everywhere in the USA. It's such a huge scene right now and dance music is getting really popular there, so we hope to play at as many places in the USA as we can!
EM: You guys have just released a remix of Cazzette's "Weapon" and a collaborative track with Collin McLoughlin titled "Heartbeat", so it's safe to say you've been pretty busy. Any plans to slow down and get back in the studio, or what other releases does Vicetone have coming up (if you can say)?
VT: These last two tracks have done really well, with both tracks going straight to #1 on Hype Machine, and the Cazzette remix receiving support from Nicky Romero, Dyro and other DJs. "Heartbeat" was recently released on Monstercat and has done really well on the Beatport charts, which we're pretty happy about! We've been working hard in the studio every day for the last months, so we have a ton of new material coming out soon that we're very excited about. We can't say anything yet right now, but keep a close eye on our Facebook to see what our next release will be!
EM: What tracks or remixes of yours have been the most difficult to really pull together? Likewise, what are the tracks/remixes that you've had the most fun coming up with?
VT: "Heartbeat" was actually a difficult track to put together at first, for a couple of technical and creative reasons. We didn't have the clean, syncopated gate synth drop in the beginning.When we started out with the idea, it was first all sustained (continuous melody) which bored us after a while. We also changed the whole arrangement after working on it for a week, since we felt it could be improved to make it more interesting, so we continued to change up the track while progressing with it. It wasn't easy to fit the solo arp melody in there as well, but we worked really meticulously on the details and the sound, so in the end it came together nicely. And of course, Collin's vocals fit the track absolutely perfectly; collaborating with him has been a great experience.
EM: Finally, how would you describe your sound to new listeners?
VT: Big room, stadium anthem house.
EM: Any final words to the EARMILK audience?
VT: Thank you for your continuous support, and thank you for being the best fans that we could ever wish for!
Comments
I LOVE VICETONE. I really, really want to see them live.