Interview: Joyhauser

Belgium’s Joyhauser duo are no doubt at the front of the pack for the next wave of techno’s emerging artists, they’ve played to crowds at Tomorrowland and Awakenings, and their production arsenal includes releases for Respekt, Kraftek and Terminal M.

We spoke with the pair about their recent performance at last weeks Drumcode Festival, how they felt to be chosen for an official remix for Amelie Lens and what they have coming up in the future. Grab the full interview below.

Stijn and Joris! How are things? Have you enjoyed summer so far?

It’s been a great summer so far. It looked a bit terrifying at the beginning because of the heavy schedule but we had so much fun doing it. Three months went by so fast!

Let’s talk about your recent release with Second State, how did you react when you were asked to remix a track from Amelie Lens?

It was a real honor to do a collaboration as fellow Belgians and it certainly has been a big success so far. We noticed people recognized it really quick, as it has that certain Joyhauser key sound to it. We still play it almost every set!

And you’ve also released with Respekt, Terminal M and Phobiq, what labels might you be adding to the list in the coming months?

Well there are quite a few things in the running, but we can’t tell anything about that yet. We’re only just beginning to release on bigger labels and our main goal has always been not to release on too many labels and just stick to the ones we really like. We know what we want quite well so just keep your eyes open, there will be some news soon.

We saw that you played a 12-hour beach set, how did that come to be?

We’ve already played a few all-nighters in the past but mostly those were only 6 to 8 hours long. We’ve never played a 12-hour set during the day. We were very excited but also a bit nervous because of the busy weekend. Once we went on stage we forgot about everything and just went with the flow. It was nice to showcase a different aspect of ourselves and play music that we hadn’t played in a long time. After the 12 hours we even felt we didn’t get to play everything we wanted.

And the Drumcode Festival line-up included Joyhauser, were you excited to be sharing the stage with some of techno’s biggest names?

Yes of course! The gig was really great. We were the second DJ on the timetable and the tent filled up really quickly right after we started. The vibe and atmosphere of the whole festival was just awesome. Like a ‘one big family’ feeling. Victor Ruiz took over after us and he smashed it as well.

Besides those two, what other gigs are you most looking forward to?

In October we’re doing a North American tour. After that there’s Amsterdam Dance Event where we will play at the Second State Showcase at De Marktkantine and also at Verknipt at Amsterdam Studios. In November we’re heading over to India for one week for our debut there! And last but not least we just confirmed our dream booking but you’ll hear about that later.

And before we head off, is there anything else you want to mention?

Next year is going to be a real exciting one as we will start working on a full album. We will portray a different side of Joyhauser combined with our signature sound. Our fingers are itching to get in the studio!