Racquel Goldy and Natasha Salehi, interview Martin Garrix at South Florida’s DAER Dayclub & Nightclub at the Seminole Hard Rock “Guitar” Hotel in Hollywood Super Bowl LIV weekend. He shares his thoughts on his rapid success in the EDM world, his favorite places to perform (one being in Miami), and an exclusive on his upcoming collab with Zedd. Maybe we will see them share the MainStage at Ultra Miami 2020! Full video below.
Racquel: You learned to play guitar at a young age. How has that helped you with producing?
Martin: I played flamenco and Spanish guitar. Whenever I write songs, most of the time it starts on the guitar. “High on Life”, “No Sleep”, those songs, they all started with grabbing guitars. With Bonn, we just started playing some chords, jamming a little bit, humming melodies, and then we’re like oh this melody is sick! We did “No Sleep” literally because we couldn’t sleep after a show, so we grabbed the guitar, we were playing. We wrote “I don’t need no sleep ’cause I’m already dreaming”. For me the guitar helps me a lot.
Racquel: Top 3 venues you love to perform at.
Martin: I love Bayfront. I’m so happy that Ultra moved back there. It’s going to be magical. I’ve had some of the craziest shows of my life done in Downtown Miami. That one is very high on the list. I love Coachella. I played parties at the Gorge. It was beautiful. I have goosebumps thinking about it. There’s so many more beautiful locations. What I like so much about playing all these locations all around the world: Every location is different. Every place is unique. I’m very grateful, very happy, very thankful that I get to visit all these places, see the fans, and party with them.
Natasha: The internet has been going wild about a possible collaboration with you and Zedd. Do you have anything to share on that?
Martin: Zedd and I, we have been talking about doing a song together for 7 years maybe. We’ve sent all these ideas back and forth, but then when we’re together we just end up partying or chilling, or explore the city that we’re in. I just sent him an idea 4 weeks ago. It’s a crazy, very weird, different chord progression, but because it’s so weird and different, he was like, “Man I love this! Send me this!” I sent him the stems, so now I’m waiting on what he’s gonna do and what he’s gonna send back to me. Then it’s going to be like ping pong with the idea until we have a version that we feel like ok, let’s play it at Tomorrowland or Ultra.
Natasha: Did you have an expectation with your big boom happening as quick as it did? With Tiesto getting invested in you so soon, did you think it would take a lot more time to get to this point?
Martin: The craziest thing is I never really thought it would happen. I was of course wishing. I started making music because of Tiesto because I saw him at the Olympics, and I was like, wow that’s crazy! I love it so much because music moves me. Making music is almost a way of therapy. You can write down whatever. Writing in general is good. Lyrics, things that I feel. I’m playing melodies that I have in my head and combining those. It started as a hobby, and it still is a hobby. That’s the craziest thing. I started in my bedroom at my parents house late at night making music when I was 13-14. Then I got signed. I was like, whoa this is crazy. When I was still going to school I released “Animals”. I was like, what the fuck is happening? This is crazy! Suddenly, I went from one year being in the crowd at Tomorrowland, to the next year playing the MainStage. Same thing with Ultra Miami. I was there in 2013 in the crowd and Fatboy Slim played a song of mine. I had goosebumps everywhere. I thought, this is the fucking coolest thing ever! Life can’t get any better. It was very surreal. I was in the crowd with my childhood friends. We’re finally at Ultra. Then I hear the intro from “Registration Code” or “Area 404”. I hear it being mixed in. I couldn’t even move. And then “Animals” released and one year later it was a MainStage booking. It’s very crazy. I can’t even talk about it. It’s like a rollercoaster and the rollercoaster still hasn’t stopped.
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