Saturday Night Session 020: DVBBS
Few moments are more sacred than the reprieve Saturday night provides from the daily grind of school and work. Its importance is meant to be emphasized, and thus, a feature dedicated to “doing the night right” was born. Saturday Night Sessions are set around energizing mixes meant to get the party started. New or old, each episode has one cornerstone thing in similarity: they serve as the perfect backdrop for the weekend pregame.
Those who have been electronic music fans since before the boom of music festivals and commercial crossover releases will long be acquainted with electronic music duo DVBBS. Born Alexandre and Christopher van den Hoef, the brothers released breakout single ‘Tsunami” in 2013 and haven’t looked back since. For the past three years, the brothers have balanced playing over 250 tour dates a year amidst releasing a stream of hit singles, including “IDWK” with Blackbear, “I Love It” with Cheat Codes, and “Without U” with Steve Aoki ft. 2 Chainz.
The duo have now released a new track “GOMF” with a thumping bassline that paves the way for friend and vocalist BRIDGE to paint a melancholic vocal storyline. The track builds into a house drop with echoing vocals, all of which has seemingly been manufactured for club play thanks to its bumping backdrop and infectious builds.
Alex and Chris speak about the release, explaining the title and the meaning behind it. They state, “It’s simple … ‘GET OUT MY FACE.’ Haha don’t take it (the song) too seriously. This one is for everyone that just needs to know YOU are fucking awesome, and NO ONE can get in your way and stop what you have coming for you in your amazing lifetime.”
The track is only the beginning for them this year according to the brothers, who state 2019 will yield “The most amount of DVBBS music you have ever heard in a year … period.”
While the brothers are seemingly mainstays in the industry now, they are the first to comment on how much the industry has changed since they got their start. When it comes to their personal fulfillment as artists, the industry’s commercialization has encouraged them to give up producing music they only see becoming a ‘hit,’ and focus on releasing music that is fulfilling for them as artists. The clutter has encouraged them to ‘just do them’ as they would put it.
Chris and Alex are discuss how much streaming has impacted not only artists, but how the industry has monetized and functions as a whole. They comment, “The business suits in the industry still control a majority of artists, BUT I do see and pray for movement in the way things are handled in the music industry and what is right and what is wrong. Just like many other movements and voices being heard, I truly think it’s time for the artists themselves the musicians themselves stand up and get what they deserve.”
When it comes to artists getting what they deserve, the brothers do a good job painting a picture for fans as to what this means, and how complicated it can be for them behind the scenes. They state, “Because no one else other than those real true raw emotion filled artists are sitting 18 hours in blacked out rooms and bedrooms creating art that can be ripped away from them or turned down in the matter of minutes because they aren’t fully educated on what their options are.”
DVBBS has certainly found a way to balance the complicated industry, but even they admit that it takes time to adjust to the crazy lifestyle. The duo have crafted an energetic hour long Saturday Night Session that is the perfect soundtrack for a night out. They take the listeners on a hectic journey, leaving everyone wanting for more.
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When did you first start listening to electronic music, and what inspired you to start producing?
Electronic music was instilled in us before we even knew… we spent some time growing up in Greece, and even all the amusement parks or what they called ‘luna parks’ just had trance and euro beats cracking all night long hahaha
I would say we truly got into electronic music when we were around 17 years old and started producing it a few months later … I remember having talks with Chris about not being a band anymore and almost remolding how we performed and crafted music, which turned into DVBBS.
What is the best and worst thing about working together as siblings?
Best thing is that we are blood and nothing can come between that 4 life —- worst thing, things can get brutally honest and flip the switch real quick.
What can we expect from you in terms of new music in the coming year?
The most amount of DVBBS music you have ever heard in a year … period.
Craziest fan story?
Our fans are our family, but we’ve definitely experienced a few crazy ones …. I guess this has happened a few times now, but when people stalk your hotel room and end up banging on it all night until you answer or security comes. There was one incident in China where some random girl was completely naked trying to rip out the wires from where you put the key to your room and trying to break in , meanwhile it was 5am and I was half asleep. My own tour manager thought I was playing a prank on him when I called him tripping out.
Hahaha I don’t know for the most part everything is pretty harmless and we got love for everyone …
Can you tell us about your new release “GOMF” – particularly, what does the title mean?
simple … GET OUT MY FACE
Hahaha don’t take it too seriously, this one is for everyone that just needs to know YOU are fucking awesome and NO ONE can get in your way and stop what you have coming for you in your amazing lifetime.
The electronic music industry has changed a lot since 2013, which is when you all released hit ‘Tsunami.’ As an artist, has your experience transformed as much as it has seemingly changed for the fans and listeners?
Was is 2013 or 2014? Haha I don’t know anymore, man so much has changed with the scene and just even with us as artists and producers
I guess for us, we truly make music for ourselves now. We love that our fans love it, but this shit is therapy to us now, and we are so blessed to be able to just create vibes and be the soundtrack for the world.
Industry wise —- the real survived and the stale ones died off, and everything is pretty much Spotify/Apple/streaming platform based releases —- the business suits in the industry still control a majority of artists, BUT I do see and pray for movement in the way things are handled in the music industry and what is right and what is wrong. Just like many other movements and voices being heard, I truly think it’s time for the artists themselves the musicians themselves stand up and get what they deserve.
Because no one else other than those real true raw emotion filled artists are sitting 18 hours in blacked out rooms and bedrooms creating art that can be ripped away from them or turned down in the matter of minutes because they aren’t fully educated on what their options are.
What kind of a Saturday night is your ideal Saturday Night?
My perfect Saturday night is a relaxing home cooked dinner, and just enjoying the simple things life has to offer now … obviously we still love to go out with the fam and day ones, but things are feeling really good at the moment, just balancing this crazy roller coaster of a life DVBBS, and a personal life.
And then just creating every night of the week, like I said it’s like therapy and a blessing, and we wish to only continue being this blessed forever.
Photo Credit: Paul Capra
