Hard News
By Hard News

Since the launch of Brennan Heart’s label WE R Music it has rapidly turned into a respected Hardstyle label, with artists like Code Black, Outbreak and Toneshifterz. The label looks back at a successful year and will therefore release a WE R Music 2014 Yearmix. We asked the gentlemen a few questions about themselves and the new CD.

WE R Music has grown to become a respected Hardstyle label, how did you come up with the idea?
Well the idea originates a couple of years back in time, seeing that WE R Music has known predecessors in MiDiFy and Brennan Heart Music. So I’ve already had a few years of experience with owning a label and finding out what the advantages and disadvantages are. I’ve also learned which elements are crucial for achieving a successful label.

Why is it that you only asked Code Black, Toneshifterz and Outbreak for the launch of the label? They’re all from Australia, so did that have something to do with it?
Well the reason is obvious; they are all very good at BBQ’ing ;). When they joined me in the studio it soon became clear to me that we share the same vision. Besides that they are all very passionate and talented DJ’s and producers, and I recognize that passion and ambition in myself. So if that’s the case it doesn’t matter if you’re from Eindhoven or Sydney, or from Canada like Crisis Era.

The label has 30+ releases already, which one is your personal favorite?
It’s very hard to pick a favorite out of all those tracks. Of course you love looking back at all the tracks that did very well, but I rather look ahead at the tracks that are finished now and waiting to be released. You’ll definitely hear them in the next few months.
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You look back at a very successful year and that’s why you’re releasing the WE R Music 2014 Yearmix CD. Can you tell us a bit more about it?
The CD’s contains an annual review of the best Hardstyle records of 2014: a lot of our own releases, but we also picked tracks from friends and tracks that we love to play ourselves. It varies from melodic to raw, and from talent to established names; it’s a perfect reflection of what WE R Music stands for.

3 of the 4 teams at Hard Bass 2015 contain at least one member of WE R, which is incredible. What is the power behind WE R according to you?
It all starts with good music, because that’s always the foundation. The fact that a lot of us are performing at the same event is just a mere coincidence, or is it… We all work passionately on our music and raise the bar every time. That way the level of all producers in the team gets lifted and thus we keep challenging each other. If you look at it that way, working from a label can lead to a higher level, which results in more bookings for the artists.

We love the fact that you support new talent with your sub-label ‘WE R Tomorrow’, how did you pick these artists and will more follow soon?
We get a lot of demos and take a lot of time to listen to all of them. After that it’s a matter of listening to more tracks from the same producers to find out where their unique qualities lie and discussing their plans, ambitions and goals.  WE R Music can offer unique guidance regarding music and business. Artists like Crisis Era and Aztech are the perfect example of that and that results in the attraction of more new artists.
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Code Black: You collaborate a lot with Atmozfears. Where does this connection come from and how do you ‘complete’ each other in the studio?
Tim has the same feeling for hardstyle as I do, we connect with the same taste for euphoric hardstyle. Collaborating with Tim was done in seperate studio’s for the most part & both of us played different roles in both of the tracks we did.

For one of the tracks i did the lead melody and the chords and for the other track Tim did the lead melody and the chords. Naturally as we both really dig each other’s music and we connect musically, we both really liked what each other had done and the collabs just worked out really good.

Outbreak: You’re the front man of ‘WE R Raw’, what can we expect from you in the near future?
I’m currently working on a lot of new solo tracks and collaborations so it has been busy in the studio. Label wise we are looking at welcoming a new artist to WE R RAW. I am really excited about this new artist, I really love all his tracks and can’t wait for him to be part of the WE R team

Toneshifterz: You were having serious health issues a while back. Could you give us an update, because we can’t wait to see you more in The Netherlands again?
Yes this is true, in 2012 I got very ill whilst living in Holland, and I went back to Australia to get back on track with my health. But now 2 years on I’m fit and healthy, and I’ve been touring quite a bit again here in Australia but also in Europe twice a year and also my first South American show a couple months back which was amazing.

Now I’m doing great, and I’m just really settled in Australia at the moment. I do think about coming back to Holland again to live, it’s always in the back of my mind, but right now I’m pretty happy where I am; producing and building a healthy hard-dance scene in Australia. But I will be back in the Netherlands this coming February for Hard Bass and a few other bookings!

We’d like to end the interview with your vision on 2015, for both WE R and the Hardstyle scene.
Happiness, health and love; those are the universal themes that you think about when you’re on the verge of a new year. Especially health is very important; it had a very important impact on our team and its surroundings the past few years, both in a positive and negative way.

Let’s enjoy as much as we can, the same goes for the music. Hardstyle is an important source of energy, to charge yourself, but also to discharge yourself. It’s important to treasure that!

The WE R Music 2014 Yearmix is available for pre-order here: http://smarturl.it/WERCD001iTunes

Win a WE R Music 2014 Yearmix CD!
The only thing you have to do is place a comment below, telling us why you should win the CD. We’ll announce the winner on December the 19th.
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