The kings of the infamous “ID – ID” – Clockartz chats Roughstate ventures, collabs & alcohol!

Hailing from the alpine terrains of Northern Italy, Konstantin and Sebastian, aka Clockartz are amongst one of the hottest (literally) exports of the country! Aside from chatting in a weird AF dialect that nobody understands, these dudes specialise in creating zesty Hardstyle beats that, especially in recent times, have been spreading like wildfire!

Most recently, they’ve just claimed their ownership of a savage “ID” track that sent the scene into a frenzy! Titled “Rockafellah,” this number is set to be released on Roughstate next Wednesday and in lieu of this huge track we decided it was time to catch up once again with Clockartz!

– Boys, it’s nice to catch up again! 🙂 Last time I saw you was at Qapital and we were all a little turnt, haha!
Hey Cassi, thanks for having us! Indeed; last time we caught up was whilst you were partying hard at Qapital, haha. Always nice to see you!

– Alright, let’s get down to business! You guys had quite a moving month and the entire internet blew up over your new track “Rockafellah!” However, nobody seemed to know that it was created by you… Care to share your story?
Last month was a moving month for sure.  After we premiered our new track at Qapital we received immense support from the Roughstate artists. They played the track at pretty much every booking afterwards and online everyone was also talking about the track.

Some Facebook videos generated thousands of comments and it also got quite a lot of attention on big forums like Hardtraxx and Harderstate. It’s fucking awesome to see how the buzz this track has caused – we can only feel excited and proud!

– Good stuff, guys! Something I noticed is that you chose to stay silent about owning this track until today! How come you didn’t speak out earlier?
Well, it took us a while to realise that the track generated so much hype! When we started reading the comments online we saw numerous hilarious guesses about which artist produced it – I think every artist ranging from Mental Theo to Radical Redemption got mentioned as the producer of the track.

We didn’t formulate a particular plan regarding the track, so we decided to wait a little longer until we knew what we wanted to do… Meanwhile, we enjoyed reading the comments when we had some spare time, haha!

– The official preview was just released and you guys will be dropping it on Roughstate, making it your second release on the label this year. Are you guys planning on signing to the label, or just dropping sporadic releases?
The guys at Roughstate have been giving us a lot of support recently. Of course Ran-D invited us to play twice during his X-Qlusive event in the Heineken Music Hall and Frequencerz, Adaro and B-Front have also been supporting our music. It’s totally surreal to see such huge icons supporting us and in ‘real’ life they’re also really friendly guys.

For now, however, we aren’t really sticking to one label. By the end of this month we’re also releasing a track on Scantraxx and at the beginning of June we’ll be dropping a track on Digital Punk’s label.

– Free birds for life, right? Anyway, aside from these pioneers supporting your music on-stage, you’ve also had the opportunity to work in the studio with some of them! How has that been?
Well, as we speak we’re actually working really hard on a collab with Digital Punk, which we want to finish before Defqon. We have a lot of ideas together so we’re trying to figure out what will work.

For us it would be really nice to make a track containing some old-school Digital Punk sounds, similar to the time where he released on Seismic and TiLLT. However, with that said, tracks from back then were quite monotonous and slightly difficult to dance to. As we mentioned, we’re currently figuring out what sounds work best, so hopefully we can show you more of this collab soon!

Working with Ran-D is like playing a World Cup final. He has such a fine ear for detail; he hears everything and wants to perfect every sound and loop. It’s not a coincidence that his tracks are considered to be amongst the best in Dance music.

In the studio, Ran-D really knows that he’s doing and always strives for improvement. We really learnt from him that you have to work harder than hard if you want to make it in the music industry. Besides that, Randy is a great and funny guy; you should scroll through some of our Instagram posts from a few months ago – we had a great time in his studio!

– And, when can we hear more about this stellar collab?
We’re still working on some final details. The vocals need to be done again, but aside from that, we think the track is pretty much finished. It’s got a really epic vibe and is all about being ‘victorious.’ We don’t want to say much more about it, but I can assure you that you’ll be the first to hear it if you visit our set at Defqon.1, haha!

– Speaking of Defqon.1, you guys have been travelling quite often from Italy to The Netherlands. How do you keep the momentum high during these long trips?
It all depends on our mode of transportation, haha. When we go by plane we’re usually able to sleep a little, but sometimes we travel by car. It’s ‘only’ nine hours of driving and we usually spend the trip discussing music.

Most times we’re together, we’re in the studio working on music, so when we travel together we have the opportunity to discuss plans and other things. For example, when we’re on a long road-trip we scroll through new and old tunes and discuss what we shall play at the next event.

Trust me, when you are passionate about Hardstyle like us you never get bored talking about it!

– Alright – enough travel talk. So, last month at Qapital you opened your set with a seriously emotional track. Can you tell me a little more about this one?
Konstantin: Of course! The track is called “No Tomorrow” and it’s about hearing that you only have one day left to live. Like, what would you do if you hear that there’s no tomorrow…? It’s a situation that’s so abstract that you can’t really imagine what you’d think or do…

Sometimes when browsing the internet we read stories about young and healthy people like us that suddenly hear that their lives or the lives of the people they care about will stop. At moments like this, we realise that we’re really happy with what we do right now and that we should enjoy life to the fullest. You never know what will happen tomorrow.

Sebastian: “No Tomorrow” is not only about life or death, but also concerning events in people’s lives that have a huge impact. Like people that lose their job, relationships that suddenly end or saying goodbye to people that you love.

Konstantin: Yeah, or like that time you were farting in the studio. I really thought there would be no tomorrow after that…

– Haha, on the topic of relationships, I bet that many of our female readers are wondering if you boys have a girlfriend. So, are you boys available, or taken?
Sure, of course. Sebastian has already been in a relationship for like 20 years, but Konnie is free. So ladies, take your shot! 😉

– Now, for a few random questions! Biggest nightmare as a DJ?
Our biggest fear is definitely that our USB sticks don’t work. We had some issues with them when we played on the mainstage at Loudness and damn, it felt so bad to rely on this stupid stick…

– Ran-D or Digital Punk
Definitely a threesome on this one!

– If you could invite 3 other artists over for a party. Who would you invite and what would you cook?
We would invite Deadmau5, Headhunterz and Borgore. We would make a big-ass BBQ with a lot of beer. They would never come if we invite them anyway so more meat and beer for us. However, if they would come it would be great to talk with them about music. All three artists are very strong personalities and great musicians – it would be interesting for sure.

– So I know you guys love your beer, but can you also run me through some of your other favourite weapons of choice?
Beer, wine, Bacardi, whiskey… We are Italian – we like all alcohol!

– Before we wrap things up, can you tell our readers what you’re currently working on in the studio?
Sure thing! We’ve got some exclusive things for the readers of Alive at Night, hehe!

At the moment, we’re working on a remix for Zany & Frequencerz. Besides that, we’ve been experimenting with a few ideas for a follow-up to “Rockafellah” and we also made a special track for Defqon.1. This one is really close to our hearts, so we hope you also appreciate and like it!

Alright boys, let’s wrap it up with our signature question. What did you eat for breakfast today?

Konstantin: A strong coffee and some Italian bread!

Sebastian: A plate of rice and chicken. I need all the energy I can get for our long studio days.

Huge thanks to the Clockartz boys for this interview! First up, we’d like to congratulate the guys with the preview release of “Rockafellah,” what a bangin’ motherfucker of a track – we can’t wait to experience its collateral damage this summer! Further, we’d like to wish the Clockies all the best in the studio and can’t wait to catch them for a cheeky wine this summer.

These dudes are bringing their A-game, so be sure to hit them up at their socials below!

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