Gaming, Dominator and Performing Naked – Catching Up With Sub Sonik.

Raw, ruthless and full of ‘fuck’ are just a few words that sum up next-generation superstar Sub Sonik’s music. His approach to all things rough and raw has gained a plethora of positive recognition from some of the biggest players in the scene and also from hardstyle lovers worldwide. With hits such as “Go Fuck Yourself” and “Look At Me Now” under his belt, we just HAD to catch up with this upcoming raw hardstyle genius to find out more about his fast rise to fame, playing at Dominator and what he really thinks of EDM.

1. Hey Ilmar, thanks for the interview! First of all, how’s life treating you?
Thanks for having me! Life’s great, everything’s going really well! I have a lot of great gigs, including Dominator last Saturday which was a huge performance for me.

2. How’s your Summer been? Did you go on vacation anywhere or do anything special?
My Summer has been pretty good, unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to go on vacation because I’ve had gigs every weekend but I think I will go on a holiday in September 🙂

3. So as the man behind the fast rising name Sub Sonik, can you tell me a little bit about some of your highlights from the festival season?
Sure! First of all, I kicked off the season at Fantasy Island at the Adaro stage which was huge! Then Intents Festival followed as well as Emporium and Defqon.1 which had to be one of the highlights from this season. I played in the Indigo area and judging by the atmosphere and the crowd’s response I think it’s safe to say that it was one of my best sets! Most recently I played at Dominator in front of a huge audience, the vibe there was great and I really enjoyed it! 🙂

4. Speaking more about Dominator – what are your opinions about having a raw hardstyle stage at a hardcore event?
I think raw hardstyle is really close to hardcore, the kicks and sounds are almost identical and one of the only differences is the BPM. At Dominator, the raw stage was packed from the beginning to end which really says something – it need to be there and was an important part of the festival.

5. Can you tell me about your first ever gig?
My first gig was at a birthday bash in March 2014 and I was invited to play there b2b with a friend of mine. When it came time for me to play I went to put my USB in the CD machine and it didn’t work because I forgot to format the USB! Unfortunately I couldn’t play any of my tracks but it wasn’t too much of a fuck up.

6. Have you ever had a really bad fuck up?
At Qapital last year I had a bit of a fuck up… I was playing and the follow up dj was talking to me from behind the decks during about 1-2 tracks towards the end of my set. When the outro was playing I went to press play but it was the wrong CD and the music stopped all together! If you listen to the live-set you can probably hear it but I did my best to fix it quickly. The best thing about these mistakes is that you make them once and you remember to never make it again. Like the USB situation, since that happened I always remember to format my USB’s!

7. Your track “Go Fuck Yourself” is undoubtedly a huge hit with loads of energy. Is there a story behind the track?
To be honest, when I produced it there wasn’t a huge personal story behind it, however I really associate this track with my breakthrough which is quite personal for me. When I produced it, I came across the vocal sample from an old rap track and really loved it! The track ended up coming together really well and I’m really happy that it’s reached so many fans and gained a lot of support. For the fans themselves, they can interpret the track in any way they like and can really relate to it and find meaning in their lives.

8. I just want to talk a little more about your artwork which is your photo with like cracks and melting metal – why did you choose this artwork and how does this represent you and your music?
I contacted a guy who’s good with Photoshop and let him run wild on my press picture. He started by drawing the sketches by hand and worked from there. The final product turned out to be something really different, it really represents my raw music and it’s also still a little abstract.

9. Since you signed with WE R Raw in 2014 you’ve experienced quite a quick rise within the scene, why do you think you have become successful in such a short amount of time?
Good marketing is one thing that I always try and aim for. I like to be active on my social media and connect with my fans by posting a lot of videos, photos and statuses. I also talk with a lot with the big guys such as Brennan Heart and Adaro who are artists that I really look up to. Other artists such as Artifact and Jason Payne rose quite quickly too which is really nice to see because we’re all close friends and support each other’s music.

10. Can you tell me a little bit more about what you are aiming for with your new productions?
Less ‘fuck.’ *laughs* Everybody always says that I use the word ‘fuck’ too much in my music so I’m sure they’d be impressed that one of my new tracks doesn’t have the word fuck in it, but it contains another synonym instead. 😛
I am aiming to work with some more melodies in my upcoming tracks too. In the past I’ve worked a lot with screeches which are really fun, but I’m ready to take it to the next level and make my music more musical and complex. I’ll keep my hard kicks in of course!

11. How did you get ‘discovered’?
I was speaking with Warface for a while over Facebook and at Bass Academy he played one of my tracks. After that I got really great responses from a lot of people and within a few days b2s contacted me and then booked me for Loudness. From there things went really fast, when I started making music I just played around on a computer for fun, it’s really cool to be where I am now.

12. What music did you listen to whilst growing up (any CD’s you collected etc)?
I listened to Happy Hardcore when I was around 12-13, after that I listened to Rap & Rnb and then House. From 2008-2009 I started listening to hardstyle which was right in ‘the golden ages.’ At that time I was still too young to go to parties but I loved watching videos from parties and listening to the music.

13. What was the first hardstyle party you went to?
It was a small party in my home-town in a small club with Headhunterz, Abyss & Judge and Shadowfax, who was a huge talent at the time.

14. What’s the stupidest thing you’ve done whilst drunk?
I was too drunk to remember… 😛

15. Can you tell me more about some of your upcoming productions, collabs or any exciting news?
The exciting news is that I’m playing live at supremacy! I’ll be playing a lot of new music, mash-ups and live edits. I also have 2 new tracks that I played at Dominator which are “Go” and “Straight From The Underground” which will be released soon. As for collabs, there’s some big ones planned however I can’t say anything about them… yet 😉

16. Would you rather perform naked or perform a cheesy EDM set at a raw stage?
I’d definitely do it naked!

17. Apart from hardstyle, what other music do you love/do you attend any other festivals?
At the moment, I don’t have time to attend other festivals because I’m performing most weekends however in the past I’ve visited a lot of different parties. As for music, I really love what Oliver Heldens and Headhunterz are doing – it’s great music to listen to when you’re chilling out at home.

18. What’s your favourite food?
‘Boerenkool met worst,’‏ it’s typical Dutch food.

19. If you weren’t making music and performing what would you be doing?
Nothing! Probably just gaming on my computer…

20. What’s your favourite game of all time?
Call Of Duty 4!

21. Finally, what did you eat for breakfast today?
Bread and chocopasta, I pretty much eat it everyday!

 

Thanks Sub Sonik for chatting with me! We can’t wait to hear what you’ve been cooking up in your studio, even if it doesn’t contain the word ‘fuck!’ For those of you looking to tear it up with the man himself this weekend, you can catch him at CRAFT in the Reckless Area or at We Are Hardstyle.

Connect with Sub Sonik:

FACEBOOK   |     SOUNDCLOUD