Envine – Interview At The Hardstyle 2000 Countdown

The Magic Show Label Showcase

From the 28th of December until the 4th of January, Revulsion FM has done the honourable task of putting on the biggest countdown show consisting of the top 2000 hardstyle tracks of all time! This week isn’t only about the countdown however, there’s a lot to keep your eye on such as interviews, guest mixes and who could forget about the label showcases!

On a very hungover New Year’s Day, I caught up with newcomer melodic genius, Alex Snoeren or better known as Envine. After his guest-mix that was pumped with ‘feels’, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Envine to have a chat about his musical journey, euphoric productions and his future plans in the world hardstyle!

1. Thanks for chatting with me Alex! First of all, I’d like to ask you – what did you eat for breakfast?
Ahh… I ate two slices of bread with some chocolate on it. I wasn’t that hungry because of all the alcohol on New Year’s Eve, but I had to have something!

2. Can you tell me a little bit about what led you to start producing hardstyle? What other genres of music did you experiment with beforehand?
I used to listen to all kinds of electronic dance music growing up. I used to love Basshunter when I was like 12 and then I got in touch with with hardcore after that and was really into it for about two years. After that, I discovered jumpstyle and hardstyle and I was instantly hooked and decided that I wanted to make my own productions. My best friend was also a producer back then and asked me if I wanted to produce with him back then (he has now quit) but I continued and here I am!

3. What type of hardstyle artists inspired you when you began producing?
The first records I heard were from D-Block & S-te-Fan, that sound from 2007-2008 was when I started listening to hardstyle and making it. Wildstylez, Headhunterz and D-Block & S-te-Fan were huge inspirations for me.

4. Do you like to fold in a lot of your first inspirations into your tracks today?
Um… I do that sometimes. If I listen to older hardstyle I get inspired so quickly and even though the sound is completely different as compared to today, inspiration-wise the ideas are just great.

5. And speaking of sounds, your sound is quite mysterious and euphoric, do you feel as though with the big rise of raw hardstyle that you feel restricted or a little unmotivated sometimes?

No, I think the opposite actually! It gives me more inspiration and motivation to make quality music! I really feel like I produce how I am feeling at the moment and most of the time I am a happy person so I try to make melodic music. 🙂 Of course I also like to produce more ‘raw’ tracks sometimes

6. Yes, you can see that you ended your set there with a few raw sounding tracks – do you do that often in your sets?
I try to do that a lot during my sets, the crowd wants to hear different things and they want a progression throughout. If people keep listening to the same type of music it will get boring and I like to change the energy and vibe of my set.

7. You’ve had support from huge artists such as Wasted Penguinz, how does it feel to have your idols support you?
Yeah for real! I met the Penguinz about half a year ago, they used to live in the same city as me. From that moment we started talking, they asked to hear some of my tracks and they really liked them and asked to hear more! It’s really cool to see Wasted Penguinz supporting my music, I looked up to them so much and it’s really crazy to see that they like my productions! 🙂

8. Speaking of idols, if you could collab with one artist from any genre, who would it be and why?
Hardstyle-wise, I would have to say Noisecontrollers because his sound design is so crazy and the quality of his tracks are unreal!

In terms of other genres, I think that Deadmau5 uses older hardware and sounds to make his tracks, I really like it!

9. In 2014, you had some great releases such as “Light To Dark” and also “Summer Gone” and you also played a new track today “Essence Of Life,” how were the response on these tracks? Are you also happy with your new track?
First of all, I’m really happy with the new track, it’s completely different to what I’m used to doing. It has a lot of emotion, however it isn’t as melodic as my other productions. It has a lot of instrumental stuff in there which I have never done before. I think its great to make different sounding tracks every now and then. In terms of my releases, I got great feedback and a lot of people supported it. I saw on forums that many DJ’s were playing the tracks in their sets.

10. Coming back to your new track, are you hoping to experiment more with your music in the future?
Yeah definitely! I don’t want to stick to one thing, I want to produce whatever I feel like and not be restricted. You can make whatever you want, as long as you are having fun doing it! I want to try and do a lot of different things in the future with my music.

11. Speaking of the future, we just stepped into 2015 today! Can you tell me some of your goals and plans for music this year?
Um.. Make a lot of new music, some cool collabs maybe. I want to also have as many gigs as possible, I played abroad last year and would love to do it again!

12. Speaking of abroad, if you could play at any festival on any stage, which one would it be?Hmm… The best thing would be EDC I think. It’s miles away at the moment, but who knows!

13. Finally, if you were a flavour of ice cream, which one would you be?
I think that I would be strawberry, it’s very sweet – just like me!