Check out this one on one exclusive pre-event interview with Daniel Wanrooy, sees him talking about his latest music production and his shoutout video message to all his fans in the upcoming Rising Music Festival at KL Tower.
1) Hello Daniel. How are you doing?
Hi, I am doing great! Especially with the thoughts of my Malaysia debut coming up.
2) It is very exciting that you’ll be coming to Kuala Lumpur soon for Rising Music Festival. What goes through your mind when you found out that you’ll be taking over Jacob van Hage’s spot?
At the first place I feel bad of course for Jacob, I am sure he would have loved to go as much as I do. But the fact I now can be part of a fantastic festival in Kuala Lumpur makes me really happy. I will do anything to be a great replacement for him.
3) We hope it is not too late for us to congratulate you on your solo album ‘Slice of Life’. Do you have a personal favourite in this album?
Never too late for that guys, Terima kasih! (Ok, Google did that for me.) To be honest I have heard it a zillion times during the whole producing/mastering/finalizing process, so that’s a really hard question. But for me my track with “Elliot Johns – Put Yourself Through This”, still stands out, because it’s really different and his voice is amazing. In my opinion it’s one of these tracks you hear for the first time and you think “hmmmm, not sure about this one”, but when you listen the album a couple times you start to love it. At least, that’s how it works for me. These tracks always last the longest.
4) Tell us more about ‘Slice of Life’
After I played my set on Trance Energy, we had a couple drinks with the Black Hole recordings crew and that’s where the first “album” words where mentioned. Of course I really loooved the idea, this was my chance to do my own album…. WOAAAAAAAA! So yeah, I started to make ideas, tracks and updated them during the process. I searched for vocalists I wanted to work with, and everything fell in the right place. Of course this whole process took me more than a year. With all the ideas that did not make it to the album I can almost make 10 other albums ;)
While I was watching one of my favourite tv-shows “Dexter” I suddenly saw the name of his boat “Slice Of Life”. And since this this album is a slice of my life, I knew the title was there right away.
One of the highlights during the production was to collaborate with the USA Idols finalist “Blake Lewis” and Tiësto’s producer Dennis Waakop Reijers. I even flew to LA, to shoot a music video for my track “Stay In The Moment” with Blake Lewis. I really learned a lot!
5) Any new track coming out soon?
My new track Alcohol Abuse, together with E&G will be out the 4th of February. The remix is already played in ASOT, and it’s supported a lot. And there is a lot more coming this year!
6) When you’re all set for your gig, what elements make it enjoyable and fun to play?
Well first of all, I love travelling. The fact that the music brought me to the other side of the world again is amazing. I have seen so many great places of the world already, sometimes I really have to pinch myself “Dude, you are now in Malaysia!”, for example.
The best element of the gig is the audience of course! No doubt about that. Nothing better to see them cheer during your set, goosebumps all the way.
7) What are the five essential items that you usually carry with you while travelling?
I-pod, phone, USB’s, headphones and my mankini
8) What inspires you when it comes to music production?
Travelling the most I think. But everything can be inspiring, the weather, (well, in Holland it’s rather depressing than inspiring tho) movies/series, small things you experience during the day.
9) Describe ‘Daniel Wanrooy’ in one sentence.
Out of the box.
10) A short message for your fans in Malaysia.
I can’t wait to see you all the 16th of February and thank you already for the great messages and kind replies I already get. Also big thanks to the crew for the interview. See you!