On average, how many days out of the year would you say you are touring?
Between 80 and 100 gigs in a year. During the summer it’s a bit more busy, but it really just depends.
What sticks out to you right now as the most beautiful place your travels as a DJ have landed you?
I love Bali in Indonesia. I love Brazil, Australia, I love all the countries! I really like Toronto though in Canada. Do you really enjoy playing in front of a home-crowd in France?
The house music scene in France is a bit different now. Three-four years ago it was completely crazy with all the bookings…all the DJs wanted to play there. Now, it’s more commercial and I’m actually not a big fan of playing in my country. Speaking of commercialization, recently Avicii, whom you’ve worked with, made some comments about being concerned with the commercialization of the whole EDM scene. What are your thoughts on that?
EDM is the new world. It’s too much for me but Avicii is now so big so it needs to have some commercialization. In the new world, EDM is fashion, and in two years it is going to be completely different – maybe it’s going to be the comeback of hip hop or R&B. Right now house music is the big scene especially in the U.S. so we’ll see what happens. Can you tell us what gear you have used throughout the years in terms of producing?
Cubase 6.5—But maybe, I’m going to move to Studio 1 because it’s a mix between Logic, Cubase, and FruityLoops. Logic— you really know Logic, it’s good but it’s a bit slow when you are just a beginner. FruityLoops—quick and easy to work with, we made “My Feelings for You” with it. It’s good to start with FL, but if you want to have a bigger and better sound then move to Cubase.
Madeon is also from France, and has obviously been doing a great job. He has his own unique sound. Have you gotten a chance to work with him at all?
No—I’ve never met him, but he’s a really talented guy. He doesn’t do something completely different, but it’s definitely unique. He came with the pad on the song “Pop Culture” and everybody saw this video and he’s now gotten very big. He has a great social media presence and very good tracks. He’s young, talented, and has a very good face [laughs].
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To date, what has been the craziest thing that a fan has ever done for you?
[Chuckles] A girl held her underwear up to me. I took it and said, “Okay, thank you.” I don’t know, I would say that this has probably been the craziest thing. I mean I was happy.
As you said earlier, Madeon has done well when it comes to social media. What are your thoughts on the importance of social media in expanding your connections and popularity?
Before, we started with Myspace and then now we have Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. They are all different from each other. Facebook is for the new link of all your tracks, Twitter you can tell everybody what you are doing every minute, and Instagram is good for pictures. I use Soundcloud as well because of the link for your new work, it’s very important. YouTube is good for the videos. I mean you really have to use all of them.
What can we expect from Sebastien Drums in the future? Do you have any upcoming shows, tracks, or collaborations that you would like to share?
I’ve got a lot of things. I have a new remix with Whelan and Di Scala coming out for a track called “Abash” from my friend Rob Adans. It’s going to be released in the middle of December. It’s very good, I’m really happy about this remix. I’ve got my follow-up with Whelan and Di Scala and Mitch Crown because “Here I Come” has had a lot of success from DJs and Beatport charts so we decided to do another song together. Then I’ve got a track that’s going to be done soon with the singer Erik Hecht, who did the song “Walking Alone” with Dirty South. Lastly, I’m going to be doing some touring here in the U.S., Brazil, Europe, and Australia again. I think I will be playing Winter Music Conference and possibly Ultra Music Festival in Miami.
Since you have a good amount of experience in this industry, what advice would you give to up and coming artists about making it “big” in the EDM world?
EDM is now so big and popular that a lot of the music sounds the same. You must find a way to be unique from everyone else. It used to be where there were only a few DJs around who played at clubs, but now on Beatport you can find thousands and thousands of songs. You have to remember that it’s about quality not quantity. Some DJs are doing exactly the same remixes just changing some chords and they keep the same bass…I prefer to work on something different on every track. Just try to be a bit different and make people see that your sound is unique.