Dyro: ‘To Be at the Top, You Have to Spend All Your Time Making Music’
The 24-year-old Dutch electronic music producer discusses work-life balance, his label and the India show.
Dyro performs at the Sunburn Festival’s Pleasuredome in Mumbai on May 22nd 2016.
Photo: Bryan Daniel
An hour before his debut performance in Mumbai, Dutch electronic producer Jordy van Egmond aka Dyro is cheerfully socialising in the lobby of The Lalit, Mumbai, the gig venue. Amidst soppy selfies, brisk meet-and-greets and gushing fangirls, the 24-year-old spares the time to sit down for a quick chat with ROLLING STONE India.
“If it’s a completely new city and [a show] as big as today, I get nervous sometimes” says Dyro. “But it’s a good kind of nervous,” he adds quickly. Later that night [May 22nd, 2016] at the Sunburn Arena’s Pleasuredome, the trap/drum ”˜n’ bass DJ played an energetic set that kept fans pumped up for the entire duration.
Dyro has worked with big names in EDM including homies Hardwell, Dannic and Tiesto. He launched his own record label Wolv Records in 2014 and released his first EP Set Me Free earlier this year.
“It was a very big risk,” Dyro admits about leaving Hardwell’s record label Revealed Recordings to launch Wolv. “Hardwell was number one in the world, so I could have just stayed and been comfortable, but I chose to do something that made me happy, and that was good for my career in the long term.” Since then he has signed several promising electronic artists to Wolv, including Dutch DJ Loopers, Italian producers Goja, Russian duo JuicyTrax and many more. “Sometimes you have to move on and take a step back to take three steps forward,” he says.
Producing Set Me Free via his own label allowed Dyro to take more creative liberties with his music. Filled with hip hop and trap influences, the EP features collaborations with artists like reggae singer-songwriter Le Prince [on “Surrenda”] and hip hop duo Dope D.O.D. [on “Predator,”]. “I personally enjoy R&B coming back,” says Dyro. “I think the darker electro sound that I’ve been doing combined with R&B works very well.” He also cites Dutch electronic trio Noisa and American electronic music biggie Skrillex as artists who inspired this darker sound plus his exploration of traditional dubstep and trap on Set Me Free.
Although he’s had an eventful year so far playing at festivals around the globe and collaborating with peers [Miami electronic duo GTA, Los Angeles-based DJ Party Favor and more], Dyro acknowledges that working non-stop takes its toll. With Swedish producer Avicii recently announcing his retirement from touring to lead a more stress-free life, Dyro admits there are moments where he feels like doing the same. “The music scene is moving very quickly and it’s changing very fast,” he says. “There’s all these kids who are literally spending so much time making music. I used to as well but I have a girlfriend now and I want to see my family… If you want to be at the top of the world you have to spend all your time making music. And sometimes it gets lonely and depressing.”
But he is quick to assure that at this point in his life he still loves what he does and is excited about his upcoming releases. “It’s going to be a lot of fun,” he says about the track with GTA which he previewed to big cheer from the crowd at his show in Mumbai, “I was in LA and we literally made the song in one session. I’ve been playing it a couple of shows and it’s been working so well.” He reveals he is also working on a track with Delhi-based producer Siddharth Sharma aka NDS whom he met while performing at one of Sunburn’s previous festivals. “It’s funny you know, whenever a country picks up this electronic dance music thing,” he says. “Indian producers have a different background, culture and taste in music, so that combined with the electronic dance music of today is really interesting and exciting.”
Photos: Bryan Daniel
[nggallery id=311]
