Exclusive Interview: Mr. Belt & Wezol
This Dutch DJ duo Mr. Belt & Wezol (Bart & Sam) have taken upon themselves to create such a unique sound in dance music, portraying themselves as the innovative duo through their first track release "Homeless" in 2013. Their recent release "Somebody to Love" has taken their creative vibe and has gained them a phenomenal reputation in the dance music industry, also gaining support from Martin Garrix, Oliver Heldens, Avicii, and many more.
Here at EPIC, I was lucky enough to interview these two masterminds!
Sam (Wezol): It really just started from nothing actually. Rob (Freejak) and I were just chatting on Facebook one day and since I really love his sound and he loves mine we just decided to try and do something together. As my last track “Finally” did really well in the charts I wanted to try doing another rework on a classic take. Within no time I found Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody To Love” and the track was complete a few weeks later.
Sam (Wezol): Usually I wake up early, take a shower and get myself some good breakfast (since I tend to forget to get lunch later in the day). Since my studio is in my home I usually take some small breaks every now and then to prevent ear fatigue. But if I’m in a good flow I can work for hours straight. I had this crazy studio day once where I got into the studio at 9am and came out at 10pm, without going to the toilet once or eat or drink anything. Not the healthiest day, but it sure was a productive one!
Sam (Wezol): I guess it’s a lot more accessible than a lot of other tracks I’ve done in the past; it has more of a pop-song structure to it. It's also a bit mellower than a lot of tracks.
Sam (Wezol): Clearly I now have this thing going on for classic vocals in my last two tracks and I’ll keep trying to maintain that in future projects. We also play a lot of classic stuff in our sets, remixes of course but still.. Bart (Mr. Belt): It’s really fun to see the crowd recognizing a vocal when we mix in a remix of a classic track.
Sam (Wezol): They’re great. Because of my use of classic samples a lot of clearing needs to happen with my tracks. This is always a tricky thing for a lot of labels. But Spinnin’ can fix it within a few weeks, usually even faster.
Bart (Mr. Belt): Well, back in the 80's they used a lot of pop and Hip Hop samples from old records and I think that's something you hear a lot in UK House as well. I guess there's not a very big difference right? The main focus point is always the groove.
Sam (Wezol): I’ve seen and experienced a lot of different movements when it comes to dance music. I’ve been to hardcore/gabber events as well as “A State of Trance” or techno events and have been listening to all of that music very intensely over the last decade. I think in my way of producing I’ve taken some elements from all of those genres with me. For example: hardcore is a really extreme and hard genre of electronic music, but in the breaks of hardcore tracks there’s always this amazing (often dark) theme going on which makes every track tell a certain story. I try to do that with my tracks as well.
Sam (Wezol): I thought it was really cool to receive support from Sister Bliss from Faithless, it can’t get more classic than that!Bart (Mr. Belt): Also Avicii supporting "Somebody To Love" was huge news!
EPIC PRODUCTIONS: Where do you see the future of your music career?
Bart (Mr. Belt): Well, we hope to release a lot of cool music and do a lot of gigs in different countries. We can't wish for more than that :-)
These two are such an inspiration and such a creative mindset in the music industry that I am super excited for their upcoming successes. Be sure to check out the video to their hottest new release!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s5M0dJdqrM
AUTHOR CREDIT: ALEXANDRA SHAFRAN