Coined by Laidback Luke as the sound of the near future, Oliver Heldens has been making a rapid rise to top for his unique style of deep-house. He just scored his first UK number 1 hit with “Gecko (Overdrive), a track set to be this summer’s big hit. We caught up with the rising talent at EDC Las Vegas for a chat about music, festivals, and more, check it out!
How was your set at EDC?
It’s an amazing stage. It was a big honor to play there.
You’ve got a lot of new music right now like the vocal version on “Gecko (Overdrive).”
Yes, it’s now going really well in the UK. It’s going better than expected. Next week we will see how high it will go in the charts.
I think it’s gonna do really really well, it’s been play-listed by BBC Radio 1.
Yes, it’s on the play-list for BBC and it’s on the play-list for a lot of radio stations in the UK. Also, it’s gonna start in the rest of the world but mainly now in the UK.
Photo cred: Facebook
Photo cred: Facebook
You’ve been making this new sound, this kind of phat deep-house that’s starting to take off did you ever expect that it would become so popular?
I was experimenting with stuff like that a lot just for myself and not really to play at gigs because back then I played the harder EDM stuff and it didn’t fit with that. But then with “Gecko” I sent it to Tiesto because I saw that Tiesto was playing deep-house on his Club Life Podcast. In 50 minutes I got a reply that he wanted to sign it and he thought it was really good. Then the next week I met him in Amsterdam in his hotel room and it was a really nice meeting.
It really blew up, every DJ had it play-listed and was supporting it. When it first got previewed it was uploaded as an ID, how was it keeping it a secret?
It was really hard and also there were people guessing it was me or Tchami or Disclosure. There were a lot of guesses but I think it was nice that people could also hear it me because back then I just had some tracks on Spinnin’, CR2, and Ferry Corsten’s label Flashover. They weren’t really famous tracks but there were still people who heard “Gecko” and thought that could be from Oliver Heldens.
Now you have a lot more people who already know your style. This summer you are playing a lot of festivals.
Yes, I’m playing a lot in the summer.
What are some of the biggest gigs that you’ve got coming up?
Creamfields, Electric Zoo, Tomorrowland two times, Tomorrowworld main stage – really looking forward to it. July and August the madness starts. In July I have 60 gigs in more than 11 countries.
Where are you looking forward to most?
Australia. For music the UK because they really like my music over there.
Photo cred: Facebook
What are some upcoming tracks you have? You have a collab with Sander van Doorn.
Yes I have a collab with Sander van Doorn which is more techie, techno-like. We’ve both been playing it every set for a few weeks now and it’s been going really well, good reactions from the crowd. I have a collab with Zedd’s Dead and some remixes. A remix for Dr Kucho and Gregor Salto, it’s a 10 year old house track and I made a rework of it. I also made a remix for my favorite pop band but I can’t say who it is yet.
If you could work with anyone, who would be your dream collab?
Pharrell or Disclosure.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I used to play hockey but nowadays I’m always busy with music and following music. If I do have free time I spend it on music.
Be sure to check out Oliver’s full EDC LV set below!
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