We sat down ‘Put Your Hands Up For Detroit’ creator, DJ & producer Fedde Le Grand, to talk about his career highlights, most memorable moments and how he spends his time away from the decks.
Who influences you musically?
Funk dominated my musical upbringing, nowadays I’m still very much into it, especially guys like Jamiroquai, Bruno Mars.
Name three artists you had on your playlist growing up…
Funk and soul was everything in my family growing up, so that’s definitely been my main inspiration. The likes of George Clinton and The Parliament, Michael Jackson, James Brown, they all were regulars in our household.
When was the pinnacle moment you realised you could make a career in music?
For me it always was about the music, but scraping together my last change to buy a new vinyl were definitely less attractive days than nowadays. When ‘Put Your Hands Up For Detroit’ blew up, everything just got kicked into 6th gear.
What’s been your biggest career highlight so far?
That’s a difficult question. I’ve had so many. I mean first off just ‘Put Your Hands Up For Detroit’ blowing up, but more recently for instance realizing my own show called ‘GRAND’ which has been something I’ve dreamt of my whole career definitely is way up there as well.
If you could collaborate with one other artist, past or present, who would it be?
Michael Jackson! I imagine feeling like a kid in a candy store when I got to work with the original outtakes, brought over in a very secretive suitcase, to remix ‘Love’s Never Felt So Good’. Closest I’ll ever get.
Where is the most memorable venue you’ve ever played?
That would have to be Dutch Royal Theatre Carre in Amsterdam. It’s a historic venue that has never allowed a DJ in neither before nor after, and I got to host my very first edition of ‘GRAND’ there – selling out six consecutive nights – it was legendary.
What/Who/Where is the most memorable performance you’ve ever seen?
6hr set of Laurent Garnier in Space Ibiza.
What song are you playing on repeat at the moment?
What’s been your summer highlight of 2017?
That’s a difficult question! My summer is always so packed, I don’t think I could pick just one. There are many return shows I pretty much do every summer, those are not only super fun but everyone kind of turns into family as you keep coming back to the same places. Palmesus definitely is one of my favorites every summer, and off course Ultra Europe which is just one of my many Croatia summer stops. Sensation doing the MegaMix live which was kind of nerve-wracking but very cool, Neversea Festival, Tomorrowland, Arenal Sound, and then I’ve also been to Asia this summer for some amazing shows like Music Circus in Japan and Cass Blue in Korea.
What’s your guilty pleasure track?
UB40 – Rat in Mi Kitchen.
What does a day in the life of Fedde Le Grand look like? How do you spend your down time?
In my studio making music. Haha It’s true though, I spend so much time traveling that I’m just happy to catch any moment in the studio I can.
Favourite film/TV series?
I recently binged Mind Hunter on a few long flights and thought it was super interesting.
Drink of choice on a night out?
Water or vodka on the rocks, depends what kind of night out.
Can you give us your best/cheesiest pick up line?
It’s not mine but the funniest one I’ve ever heard would translate into something like “You’re not a dragon but you light me up in flames”.
Describe yourself in three words?
Mother f*ckng awesome.
What’s next for 2017?
Right now I’m actually already with one foot in 2018, but there definitely are a few nice things happening before the end of the year still. Like the release of my polished up version of Let Me Think About It. It’s already been 10 years since the initial release, and myself and Ida figured we couldn’t let this pass by unnoticed.
What advice do you have for aspiring DJs?
Keep going and only do this for the right reasons, you’ll have many of setbacks along the way and you won’t pull through if you’re not a genuine music nutcase.
Check out Fedde Le Grand’s latest collaboration mix here.
Thanks for chatting to us Fedde Le Grand!.
