‘Hardest On The Block’ – Lowriderz talk Trap x Hardstyle, Wolf Clan & more!

In the competitive Hard Dance scene, it’s easy for artists to fall into the tactic of placing their creativity inside of a box to gain more exposure – for Belgian duo Lowriderz, this has never been an option. Beginning their musical adventure producing Jump and Tek, Nick Kraft and Bjorn Aerts recently uncovered a whole new edge to their sound as they encompass the very best that Hardstyle and Trap (yes, Trap) have to offer.

Bending all the rules and giving the middle finger to genres, these guys have thrown the scene into a curveball with diverse releases such as “GET LOW,” “Hardest On The Block” and their recent release “Jungle Warrior” in collaboration with Skellism. We recently caught up with Lowriderz for an exclusive interview to talk about the Trap x Hardstyle movement, their hectic summer and their opinion on the growth of Hard Dance music. 

– Hey guys, thanks for the interview! First of all, how’s everything going?
Yeah, everything is going great! It’s been a great summer and we’re happy with how things are going. Music started as a hobby for us and something fun to do on the side, so if we look at where we are today we can only be happy about it.

– 2016 has been a huge year for you guys. Would you mind sharing some of your biggest highlights with me?
Sure! It’s almost been two years since we left Jump/Tek behind and made the switch to Hardstyle and Trap. This has been a huge development for us as we’re feeling so happy and motivated to create new music. Performance-wise, we’ve been fortunate enough to score gigs at huge parties such as Reverze, Tomorrowland, Defqon 1. and The Qontinent – we even jumped on stage with Coone during his set at Tomorrowland which was a huge highlight for us!

– You guys just mentioned that you used to produce Jump/Tek. Was it hard to make the transition over to your new sound?
It wasn’t too hard because Jump/Tek simply wasn’t interesting for us anymore and we had this zest to pursue a new and innovative sound. We felt like we had to play Jump every week, but we didn’t want to – so for us it was easy to make the switch because we just wanted to play what we really love. Of course it was a little difficult, as the real Jump and Tek fans were upset with us, however we feel as though we made a slow enough transition over to Hardstyle and we’re very happy that we took this step.

– Was it hard to get yourselves known in the Hardstyle scene and build up new contacts and fans?
Yeah, it was a little hard, however it’s not like we’re entering a completely new territory. We had so many friends from the Jump/Tek scene and were also playing at Q-dance and Bass Events parties, so we had plenty of contacts. Each week our fan-base is growing, which we’re extremely happy about!

– Let’s now talk about your track “Hardest On The Block.” It was received very well within the scene and has a nice blend of Trap and Hardstyle. Can you speak a little more about the track and the inspiration behind it?
When we made the track we wanted to combine the best of both worlds and use influences from Trap and Hardstyle, which is what we aim for with most of our tracks. We don’t want to be hanging onto one specific genre, so we blend different genres and look for new sounds and vibes that we like. The vocals and title were inspired by the fact that we are the ‘hardest’ in the Trap scene, seeing as we use Hardstyle kicks, making us the hardest on the block!

– You guys are pioneers of the whole Trap x Hardstyle movement. What’s the idea behind it?
We love both Hardstyle and Trap and want to combine both of them without having to choose just one. It seems like the people also like it, so that’s a good sign.

– Do you feel as though the Lowriderz sound is a good bridge between the ‘outside’ world and Hardstyle?
We hope that our music can draw in new listeners who are unfamiliar with Hardstyle. It’s now 2016 and artists have a lot of freedom to do whatever they want and the people in the crowd also don’t want to hear the same tracks over and over again. Guys like Carnage and Yellow Claw are blending these styles and it’s great for our scene, because the people listening to Trap or other genres can start to get involved with Hard Dance music.

– You guys also recently released your track “Jungle Warrior” with US duo Skellism. How did you get in touch with the guys and what was it like working with them?
Yeah, it was about a year ago when the guys remixed Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike’s “The Hum” and it was the first time we’d ever heard of the guys. When we listened to the track we were blown away – it was the hardest Trap track we had ever heard! We eventually got in contact via Twitter and we both liked each other’s music, so after sending each other tracks for about a year we decided to collaborate. The collaboration was a bit difficult seeing as they were in the US, so we split up the workload and it ended up taking us about five months to complete. Now it’s finally released and we’re really happy with the result!

– In Hardstyle, you’ve probably noticed that the fans prefer categorising their music into sub-genres. As an act that gives the middle finger to genres, do you ever worry that your approach to music will confuse the Hardstyle fans?
Yeah, we think it will confuse the Hardstyle fans, but on the other side we just want to make music that we love. We know that the Hardstyle scene likes to split up their sub-genres and we’re so sick of it – it’s almost like a war between all the genres, but for what sake would we do that? In the beginning when we made the switch it was hard because the people were thinking “What are they doing? Trap? Or Hardstyle?” but now we think that most fans know what they can expect from us.

– You guys are really open-minded. Which other artists in Hard Dance music do you feel share the same vision as you?
We are very good friends with Coone and know that he’s very open-minded and supports our music. Also, LNY TNZ is another example of an open-minded act that is doing really well.

– Let’s talk about Wolf Clan! Can you tell our readers a little more about the label?
Wolf Clan is a sub-label of Dirty Workz and it’s devoted to music that’s not ‘pure’ Hardstyle. The label boasts total creative freedom; if a track has quality and drive then it can be released – we can even release a Trap track if we want to! Basically, Wolf Clan is the outlet for the eclectic sound within Hard Dance – a lifestyle not generally linked with Hardstyle, yet intertwines the rough exterior that is Hard Dance and the fresh diversity of everything beyond.

–  What do you think Wolf Clan will do for the Hard Dance scene?
What it will do, we don’t know but we hope that the Hard Dance scene will start to become more open-minded and stop thinking inside of a box.

– Speaking of open-minded, what’s your opinion on Hardstyle and Hardcore growing to the point of huge House artists playing it on mainstages and even making it?
We can only be happy with this development. If the big names are only playing radio songs then there’s never going to be a bigger movement for Hard Dance music. Now it’s growing so fast and is getting bigger around the world, which makes us really happy. When you see Carnage opening his set with a Hardstyle track, it’s a big middle finger to everyone and that’s so great to see.

Of course the fan-base is extremely protective and don’t want to see Hardstyle turning into a ‘commercial’ genre, but we feel as though it’s never going to become something mainstream.

– As a duo, can you speak a little more about your dynamics?
It’s great to be a duo because when you’re making music and have a lot of things to do you can split the workload. We’ve been doing this together since the very beginning and cannot imagine ever doing it alone. Both in creating music and performing on stage, we are a team with different qualities that merge to create something better than we could do as individuals.

– Who are some of your closest friends in the Hard Dance scene?
Guys like Coone, Mark With a K and Hard Driver are all great friends of ours. We go to festivals and party together!

– What’s been your most ‘turnt’ festival experience?
Ai, that’s a good one. We had quite a busy schedule this summer so we were not able to crash after each set, but partying at The Qontinent’s Sunday was pretty damn awesome with all colleagues and friends!

– Before we wrap things up, do you have any news you’d like to share with our readers?
Yeah! We’re busy working on new solo tracks and are looking for different vibes and rhythms to keep things fresh. We definitely want to drop a new solo by the end of the year. It will contain everything that makes up the Lowriderz signature sound, so we hope it’s going to be a big one for 2017! As for collaborations, we recently released our track with Skellism and we also have plans to work with Crisis Era for example. Besides that, we’re regularly talking with artists outside of the Hard Dance sphere; our vision is that we shouldn’t pigeonhole ourselves to only work with Hardstyle artists. Finally, we hope that our sound continues to grow and reach new fans across the globe!

Thanks to Nick and Bjorn for this interview! We wish you guys the very best of luck for the remainder of 2016 and hope to catch one of your gigs soon. For those who haven’t yet been infected by ‘the hardest on the block,’ you can follow Lowriderz through the social media links below.

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