Las Vegas weekly interview

Martin Garrix answered some questions from Las Vegas Weekly. Here is the article and interview published this morning.

At 26, Martin Garrix is considered one of the youngest and most ambitious DJs/producers across the electronic dance music landscape. That has been the case for a decade.

The Dutchman’s CV reads like a DJ hopeful’s bucket list: Make DJ Mag’s Top 100 list, secure a residency in Ibiza, start a successful record label, become a household name in Vegas.

For years, the only thing missing was a debut album. But in April, Garrix released Sentio, a club-driven LP shivering with dancefloor-stomping energy, cold basslines and enough electronic anthems to keep house heads hoppin’.

“I feel so much when I listen to music, and my main goal was to make people feel something,” Garrix tells the Weekly. “To feel good, to feel euphoric, to feel joy, happiness.”

The album opens with “Follow,” a sense-tingling track Garrix cut together with fellow Las Vegas resident DJ Zedd, whom Garrix has known for about 12 years. “It was really fun, but I think because we’re such good friends it was even harder to finally finish the song, because very often we would say, ‘Oh, let’s go to the studio,’ and then we’d end up just chilling, talking about life, catching up.”

Garrix splits his Vegas time between Wet Republic and Omnia Nightclub, which makes playing Sentio live that much more interesting.

“Some of the more aggressive songs work better at the pool party, and some of the more melodic, euphoric songs work nice in the nightclub,” he says. “Every week there’s a different crowd, [and] you can do different tricks to keep them interested and engaged in the set. Every week, it’s a new surprise, a new journey to take people on.”

One Sentio song that really stands out is “Good Morning,” featuring Matisse & Sadko. Walk us through the process behind that collaboration.
Martin Garrix : I don’t think I’ve worked with anybody else as many times as the guys from Matisse & Sadko. We’re basically an extension of each other’s brains. Whenever I’m stuck on something, I send it to them, and the other way around. The moment I started working on it, I knew I wanted this to be an intro. It’s the intro at the live show, and we call it “Good Morning,” because it’s kind of a wake-up. Immediately you start with energy.

Sentio is rich with collaborations. Why did you prioritize teamwork over going solo?
Martin Garrix : All the guys who are on this record, they’re signed to Stmpd Rcrds. It’s like a family. Some of these songs are ideas that I’ve had for a while, that I never finished, that I sent to some of them to finish. Some were the other way around—they sent an initial idea then I jumped on it, we polished it and I made it sound like Garrix.
Whenever I’m stuck on something, I tend to not spend too much time anymore, and I just start something new. So for me to be able to get someone with fresh ears to listen to it and work on it … that’s perfect, especially with the club songs. All of the collaborators on the album I’ve worked with in the past on songs together, so it was a lot of fun. You’re doing it with friends, having fun in the studio, visualizing being able to play live together, imagining how the club will respond. It’s a very joyful project.

The album finale, “If We’ll Ever Be Remembered,” is all about legacy. What legacy do you hope to one day leave behind?
Martin Garrix : I want to leave behind joy and songs for people to create memories to. Many years from now, they’ll be able to go back to a certain memory or a certain moment in their life and remember how one of my songs hopefully helped them. My legacy will be based on the shows and the music. I want to continue it for the rest of my life. I also want to produce for others more and write for others because there’s so many melodies and chord progressions in my head.

"There’s some really cool side projects in the pipeline where I’m working on music not as Martin Garrix but for others as a producer, as a writer. It’s all about creating moments, joy and memories for people."

Las Vegas Weekly - July 2022