ON THE FLOOR ON THE GRID TOUR WITH BASSJACKERS
In the world of electronic dance music the terms DJ and producer are often seen as one in the same by fans that are newly introduced to the genre. In order to become a successful and respected artist in the scene, most are required to master both roles. Rarely is there a case like the duo Bassjackers, where Marlon Flohr is the DJ, and Ralph van Hilst is the producer.
Before their pre-destined collaboration, Marlon was well defined in the art of spinning house and progressive tracks while Ralph had just begun taking baby steps towards understanding the challenging process of creating electronic music. Quickly after meeting and realizing their individual talents, they made the wise decision to come together as one. They called themselves Bassjackers and immediately began making huge hits such as Mush Mush and Beat Cut. The duo has spent their time together efficiently by having Marlon travel the world exposing thousands to their unique sound while Ralph stays home in the studio fine tuning their next big track.
Back in February Bassjackers released their collaboration track entitled Grid with up and coming producer Dyro. Their progressive-electro direction resulted in an immediate hit that climbed to the number one spot on Beatport’s Top 100 chart almost instantly. This didn’t just call for a celebration; it called for an entire tour. Bassjackers, Dyro and Henrix joined forces to cause mayhem on dance floors across the United States. The Grid Tour was spread throughout the month of April, starting in Orange County, CA and ending in Atlantic City, NJ. While Marlon was on tour, Ralph was kind enough to answer some of our questions and share his personal thoughts about Grid.
Seeing that Marlon is out on tour right now, does this mean you are cooking up some new productions in the studio?
Yes! Love the process of working in the studio by myself, sending it to Marlon having him test it and then he giving me feedback on Skype. Later when Marlon gets back home, we fine-tune it together.
What was it like working alongside Dyro for the production of Grid? Can you tell us about the tracks success and how the tour came to be?
Working with Dyro was a lot of fun. Jordy is a very talented producer and since he 60
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also works with Fruity Studio it was very interesting to see how he worked. The track eventually did very well and we’re very proud of all the support it got. Since Jordy became a good friend as well, we talked about how much fun it would be to tour together; we’re glad our agents made it happen.
You and Marlon have different roles as the Bassjackers; Marlon is known as the DJ, and you as the producer. What exactly is your role behind the scenes and how do you work with Marlon to create such a unique sound?
Marlon has his views on music as a true DJ, while I look at it as a pure producer. The difference is he wants an effective track, whereas I want to create good music in terms of listening. We discuss music a lot and we find our sound in between what we both want. I think that makes our tracks unique.
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