Oliver Heldens’ Music Has Fans Kissing His Shoes

Holland continues their domination over house music with artist breakthroughs headlining large-scale festivals across the world. Tiësto's label Musical Freedom has become aggressive in releasing big room hits over the past couple of years and the young signee Oliver Heldens is quickly becoming one of the greats to come out of The Netherlands. He's only been active in the scene for a couple of years and is already getting major bookings across the globe.

His hit single "Gecko" is attracting house music lovers of all kinds and he plans to maintain his signature sound by moving forward with his recent release "Koala."

Heldens went all out for his debut in Canada at VELD Music Festival in Toronto, Chasing Summer in Calgary and Ibiza Summer Festival in Montreal. I caught up with him before he made it rain at the main stage of VELD.

THUMP: How are you today?
Oliver: Very well! This is my first time in Canada and I'm really thankful to all the people who've come out to the show and I can see everyone is really excited to be here. On Twitter I received so many messages from fans expressing their excitement for my set.

You played a lot of big gigs this year; which one has been your favourite?
Hard to say, they are all different. Sometimes I'm playing for the small crowds where it's more laid back and other shows where everything is crazy. The UK seems to stand out in my memory the most at the moment. I think Canada will be on the crazier side [laughs].

So do you prefer festivals or clubs more?
I like how you can reach a wider audience at festivals, so career-wise the festival is a better setting. The clubs are great to play due to their ambiance.

What are your thoughts on big room house?
Some people think big room house will die off, but everyday there are new fans that get into it so I think it will continue to exist while it gets louder. The genre is also branching out sort of like my stuff and a lot of big EDM DJs play it so I think that says something.

Any favourite releases this year?
I really like the stuff Chocolate Puma and Mr. Belt & Wezol have released at the moment.

What do you listen to personally?
I listen to a lot of different stuff; Zeds Dead, Flume, Kaytranada, Netsky, Lorde, Sam Smith and Disclosure. I even listen to hardstyle sometimes.

Give us some insight into your production style.
Deep house is too soft for me to play, so I wanted to make something uplifting and groovy. I'm inspired by the tunes that Fedde Le Grand and Bingo Players used to make and also the new deep house sound.

It seems to crossover a lot.
I don't like to put one name on it, as some people call it "electro deep," "main stage deep house" or "future house." I just like to say it's just uplifting house music with a lot of groove to it. However, main stage deep house seems to describe it well since it does well at festivals.

Where do you see house music five years from now?
There are a lot of sub genres now, but it will continue to develop. Five years ago I was really into what Fedde Le Grand was doing, and what I do now is similar to that so you never know.

Tell us how you discovered electronic music.
In The Netherlands there are a lot of roots in dance music stemming from the '80s through the '90s and you still hear hits from then on the radio to today. I really got into it because of the school parties and I remember Hardwell played at one of the parties when he was younger.

Which track did you hear on the radio then that got you really hooked? 
I remember when I was about six years old hearing the song "Rhythm of the Night" and the group, 2 Unlimited.

What's the weirdest thing that's happened to you while on the road?
A fan drove about four hours to hear me play and when I went into the crowd to get pictures with the fans, one of them asked if he could kiss my shoes if I promised to play a festival in his city. He did it, but I don't remember if I played in that particular festival.

Ani thinks geckos are cool and koalas are cute; follow him on Twitter @AniHajderaj.