We all spot the newest track’s in our own way. Some of us search them by checking the top 100 list at websites, others follow channels on YouTube and Facebook. As Hardstyle Mag we like to cross-over and chat with other platforms which are in this business. Some of them are growing day-by-day and even hosting events! Well that sounds interesting right? We want to introduce you to Rawstylenation!
Hi Guys, pleased to have a chat with you about the event and your channel, but first let me ask, how are you?
We’re very good, thanks for asking! At the moment we’re very busy with organising everything for our event on the 18th of June!
For our readers, can you give us a little introduction about Rawstylenation?
We are a YouTube channel that focusses itself on uploading the newest raw-hardstyle tracks. The main goal for us is to give beginning artist a bigger platform on which they can show their producing skills.
We just love to see the progress that the talents make as soon as they gain a little bit more popularity in the scene. A good example is Beatfreak, we uploaded his ‘One Man Army Tool’ because he had participated in a contest to play at the ‘One Man Army’ at the HMH in 2015.
After that he grew enormously in the scene. The satisfaction of giving these artists the chance to promote themselves is just amazing!
The support we get from labels is very nice as well, we’re currently working together with Theracords. We have our weekly so called ‘Theracords Tuesday’, on this day we only upload Theracords tracks and the audience seems to love it! We’re having very good contact with other labels like Gearbox, Fusion, EOL & Minus is More as well.
Rawstylenation sounds like it’s a channel for the rawstyle subgenre only, is that so?
This is true! We focus on the rougher side of Hardstyle.
We noticed that this genre is rising very fast at the moment and we just dig it enormously!
We all love raw-hardstyle to the max and at the moment our channel is going very well without other sub-genres, that’s why we like to keep uploading raw-hardstyle tracks only.
How did you guys came in touch with hardstyle music?
Well, all of us came in touch with it on a different manner.
Actually it started pretty early and that was with Jumpstyle, the genre that was pretty hot around 2006, 2007 & 2008! After that we started to dig the Angerfist Megamixes, that was around 2009 & 2010. But the thing that really made everything come together for us was Hard With Style, that was the podcast that made us love hardstyle!
When did you decide to upload the tracks on a YouTube channel?
About two years ago it was pretty hard to find all the raw-hardstyle tracks on Youtube.
That’s why we decided to start our own channel! This to make it easier for everybody to find the tracks they love!
Olivier and Joey were the two persons who started it, when it started to grow pretty fast they decided to add some new crew-members.
That’s when Calvin, Tim and Thymon joined Rawstylenation.
This combined so well that we are not only ‘colleagues’ but we became a group of very good friends!
We often see live streams from you guys where you are mixing yourselves, ever thought of being a DJ? Or is this something that is on your wish list already, haha?
We just love to play some tracks for fun and that’s what we do almost every weekend actually. To be a DJ or an act ourselves would be pretty cool if you ask us.
We are planning something for the future but unfortunately we can’t announce something about it yet. The only thing that we can tell you guys is that it will be pretty exclusive!
Last year you guys did host Rawstylenation 1.0, the 18th of June Rawstylenation 2.0 will take place in Loft XL, Hengelo. Can you tell us something about it?
Of course! This event will be all about the raw-hardstyle that is still a little bit underground. The anthem that Rooler made for our event together with MC Invalid is almost as rough as it gets. That’s what a lot of people dig at the moment, just going all the way! That’s why we decided to put Delete, Rooler & Malice, Sub Sonik, Bestia, Beatfreak, Faye & more on the line up.
The line-up of this edition describes Rawstylenation perfectly, a few big artists and a lot of talents who will bring total destruction to De Loft XL!
There are some big names in the line-up but also some rising stars and big talents will perform at this edition. Which talents do you recommend to keep an eye on?
Last year there have been so many talents that are rising in the raw-hardstyle scene.
We as Rawstylenation just love to give the beginning artist a bigger platform on wich they can show their skills. That’s why we’ve opened a talent stage as well.
It contains artists like Beatfreak, Bestia, Argos, Resist & more.
On our latest podcast we decided to ask Re-Mind for the guest mix. We totally dig his style and he is on a roll lately with his productions.
If you love fresh but rough sounds, you should definitely keep an eye on Re-Mind!
Rawstylenation 2.0 will take place in Loft XL, can you tell us something about this location?
It’s a very awesome location right in the centre of Hengelo in Overijssel. It’s a club that focusses on all genres in electronic music.
The stage and sound system on this location are top notch! The response we got from the latest Rawstylenation event was just amazing. The atmosphere that De Loft breathes is just perfect for the events we are organizing.
As we all know we have sub-genres in the harder scene of dance music. Today these sub-genres blend more often, we see cross-overs in collabs etc. Some people like it, some are against it. What is your opinion about this?
We think it’s good that producers are experimenting with new sounds and that they are trying new stuff to keep their music alive.
Lately we’ve seen collabs like Sephyx with Hardwell and Warface with Mark with a K.
Our opinion on this is pretty easy, when the music is good, why don’t just appreciate the experimental part in it instead of criticising.
Besides all that, Hardstylemusic is gaining popularity, what do you think about that? Is it losing its DNA?
It is definitely not losing its DNA. The DNA is changing and people stick with it, or people leave. You’ll always have that.
The change that you you’re experiencing lately is that people love the rougher sound.
We think that’s why our channel is growing so much lately.
Hardwell coming from house to collab with Sephyx, the big ‘mainstream’ EDM artists are closing their sets with hardstyle more and more.
People think hardstyle should not be moving to the bigger public, but to keep the music alive, this is what it eventually needs.
We just care about the quality of the music, in the end that’s what is most important.
We did already chat a bit about talents, we often see very unknown talents at your channel. How do you guys spot these talents?
We know a lot of talented producers personally and they always send us their tracks to take a listen.
There are also producers that we have never heard of, that’s why we’re scouting on Soundcloud a lot to seek new and fresh sounds.
We also get tracks submissions from producers that send them to us! We will check them and give them feedback about the track and we always say when or if we will upload it online.
For all the talented producers out there, do you have any tips?
Keep making your own kind of music. If you love the sounds that you are producing but it still isn’t reaching the public, don’t freak out.
Keep busy on producing the sound that YOU like.
Not everybody was keen on Raw-hardstyle in the beginning as well but look where it is now!
Final Question: Do you guys have anything left to say, a final shout-out?
We are very proud to see the progress of our channel but we couldn’t have made this progress without the guys at Theracords and especially Pieter Heijnen (a.k.a. DJ Thera).
He helped us with Theracords Tuesday, he played at Rawstylenation 1.0 and the contact we have with him is just amazing.
Without his tips and help we couldn’t have been able to establish such a channel.
Thanks Pieter!