Sam Feldt, A Young Talent With An Old Soul Astonishes Fans At Coachella 2016

Sam Feldt, A Young Talent With An Old Soul Astonishes Fans At Coachella 2016
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Photo By: Akash Das

Sam Feldt, runs where there are no paths and has created his own lane. Feldt's profound journey of creating a successful platform at the mere age of 22 set the tone for an incredible conversation. I had the opportunity to catch up with Feldt in his trailer at Coachella. Inspired by his calm cool demeanor, and his gift for building up the crowds energy, its no wonder why Sam Feldt has taken off. In his own words "I love to see the crowd go crazy. I react to that and the creative process is happening on stage there and not before".

M: When did you realize that music was your thing?

SF: Well, music has always been a big part of my life. I played the piano from a very young age for 8 years or something. I started producing when I was like 11 or 12 years old but like just for fun-- just for like messing around or something. DJ'ing has been a thing from a young age as well with my dad. We use to go to all of these parties and play for like other kids my age. So, I don't know, you could say that it has always been a big part of my life music in general.

M: How has it transpired into a career that has taken off?

SF: By accident actually, I was like playing and DJ'ing and Producing under a different name and for quite some time-- but like never really reached the top. I was just like swapping gigs and just like playing bars. I never got signed and then I kind of got tired of what I was doing and playing. I was playing all these EDMs big room tracks and after a while I was like is this really the music that I want to be producing and playing and it wasn't?

M: When did you start to make that shift?

SF: I just started Sam Feldt as like a side project just for fun for me, for my friends, my family. Making mixed tapes and making tracks that I genuinely liked. And the first track that I made I didn't actually send to any label, I just put it online as a free download and after a while one of my friends said hey why don't you send it to spinnin? I was like nah, they're not signing anything like this. They're signing like big room tracks. After he pushed me I sent it and within a couple of hours I got an email back from them saying we really like this. I was in school, I still remember that moment. I got an email from Yorn and I had been sending him tracks for so long. Never got a reply! I was like this is going to be it and Nothing---and now I sent a track that I didn't think was going to get signed at all. He sent an email, yeah we want to sign the track we want to assign your management. I was like whoa fuck! This is great. So that's how it went actually.

M: So technically "show me love" was not really your breakthrough so to speak?

SF: Well, I've counted it. I have released in the past 2 1/2 years I have released thirty two tracks and people know me because of show me love but I did a bunch more. I did a lot of remixes a lot of originals a lot of collaborations. So, it just grew brick by brick. I built up slowly and of course show me love was a big accelerator in my career and its helped me play at stages such as this and Ultra and stuff like that. But, I don't think my career is built only on just that track its just a catalyst.

M: If anything you can say your career was built from playing the piano so young and going to shows with your dad.

SF: Yea, of course. Everything adds to it.

M: Now that you have this large platform-- are you going with the flow of your success seeing that its all happening so fast? Or do you have a execution plans within each year? Like this is where Sam Feldt is going to be end of 2016 and by 2017 I want to do XYZ or is that just to much?

SF: I do have a plan in my head. Of course everybody thinks of where do I want to go next year and what other stages do I want to play and what do I want to achieve. But, its mostly like dreaming and working hard to get to that point and get to a new level in my career. But no, I don't have a plan like month by month day by day. I kind of like go with it. I've got a huge schedule like tour schedule so I am trying to give my best at all the shows and still produce and still come up with cool music so its hard work but its fun.

M: For your set today what was your creative process? With each thing you know are you looking to create an experience? Or do you just go out and do Sam Feldt?

SF: Umm, kind of a mixture between both. I thought about what elements like live elements I would like to add to the show so I brought Justin my Sax player along today. I brought the singer of "Shadows of Love" my new single. I brought Tony from my previous single "Drive you Home" so I thought about these elements and that I wanted to incorporate that in my set and for the rest, I just go with it. I'm a DJ and I started DJ'ing not producing so thats what I love and I love to see the crowd go crazy and then I react to that and the creative process is happening on stage--there not before. I just think about the elements that I really want to put into the show.

M: You can get quoted for that " The creative process is happening on stage and not before"!

SF: Oh yea, cool quote me!

M: Quoted, it's happened!

SF: Cool!

M: Aside from your passion for music and DJ'ing and producing-- what are things that you enjoying doing that we probably wouldn't even expect?

SF: I love traveling, I love meeting different people from different cultures. I love good food. I'm not a big sports guy. A lot of people think--- because I'm from Holland I enjoy soccer but I really don't. I just enjoy the social aspect of it drinking beer and hanging out. Like my biggest passion is and always will be music and playing, thats when I get on stage I forget everything and it's just energy.

Keep up with all the Sam Feldt at http://www.samfeldt.com/
To read more Coachella interviews by Melissa Mushaka go to http://www.melissamushaka.com/

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