Cutting-edge productions, booming live sets, and boundary-pushing attitudes. Dirtcaps are without doubt House music’s cream of the crop. Since starting their quest for global domination in 2008, these guys have overloaded the scene with a signature sound to die for and conquered some of the biggest club brands in the game with their dashing live shows.
From thriving at the world’s biggest festivals (e.g. Defqon.1 in Chili, Tomorrowland, Tomorrowworld, Mysteryland) to remixing industry hotshots such as Hardwell and W&W and collaborating with the industry’s elite (e.g. DJ Carnage, Laidback Luke, Coone), Dirtcaps have proven their worth twenty times over. Renowned all across the globe through full-scale tours in the US and Australia and smashing gigs in South Korea, Malaysia, and more, Dirtcaps have taken the Trap House sound to the next level and are not afraid to show it. They have grown way beyond the status of next big thing. They are the buzz of today. They are Dirtcaps.
Dirtcaps is a Dj/Producer Duo. How did you meet each other and where comes the name “Dirtcaps”?
We are friends since we were young. We met in our childhood town “Haarlem” and started playing/making music together on a young age. It’s really cool to tour the world while we are friends since we were very young 🙂 The name Dirtcaps came from a very dirty snapback. We thought it was a dope name to adept as an act.
Since you have been DJing and producing for so many years, how did you career actually start?
We think the “Start” of our professional career was around 2012. That was the year we released “Money on my Mind” which became a hitsong in our country The Netherlands and some other countries in Europe.
You did collab EP “Eastzane Warriors” with the world’s most famous trap group Yellow Claw. How did you get into this collaboration?
We are making music with Yellow Claw for a long time. We shared a studio for years and are family for eachother. So it was a matter of time that we made something together. Besides the EP we also did a few other collabs.
https://soundcloud.com/barongfamily/sets/eastzane-warriors-ep
Your tracks have been getting lots of supports from artist like DVBBS, Yellow Claw, GTA, DJ SNAKE, Diplo just to name a few supporters of your bangers. Do you have regular habit for creating a new song& how do you get inspired?
It’s really awesome to get support on stuff we created. We don’t really have a regular habit, we get inspiration from various things. We both listen a lot to Hip Hop so we love to infiltrate elements from Hip Hop in our music.
In my personal opinion Dirtcaps could be the next BIG thing in the EDM-scene. If there’s someone reading this blog who haven’t heard of you, which is the song to listen first from you?
Thats a huge compliment! We just released our new track “Baritone” on Ones to Watch/Mixmash. That would be a good example of our sound.
Your music is very unique with the attitude of not caring about the genres. You have been playing in world’s biggest festivals like Defqon1, Tomorrowland and Tomorrowworld. What has been the most special gig for you?
Last year we played Defqon 1 Festival in Chile. That was something else. The people from Chile stole our hearts! Amazing energy! Also our first tour in America was very special! it’s one of our goals to come to Finland this year!
Last year you did a guest mix for Diplo & Friends and it was a huge! Now you are working on a guest mix for Let the Bass Get You. What can we expect from it?
It’s a mix with all kind of genres, because that is what we are! You’ll also find some unreleased Dirtcaps stuff!
What was the initial inspiration behind ‘Need A Friend’?
We all have that one friend going through a hard time. Sometimes it is so hard to let them know you just want to be there for her/him. That was the biggest inspiration for this song. We all separately experienced something like that in the recent past and felt like this should be the subject for a track.
What about Jantine’s voice stands out to you the most and why did you guys feel it was so well suited for this track?
We’ve known Jantine for a few years now, and she can sing, write and produce, so we are creating stuff together in different ways. She’s both vulnerable and powerful at the same time and that’s a combination we really love. That also really suits the subject and the approach for this song in particular.
It seems you’ve gone into a more melodic direction with ‘Need A Friend.’ What is it that drew you to this, as opposed to all your harder music?
We started doing it a few years ago to broaden our music – we decided to really make what we feel and like. We were tired of only making one specific genre. So we made music in every range. Pop, Trap, Hardstyle etc. Everything is possible now and that gives us a lot of inspiration. Every studio day is different. The thing that stays the same is how we start. That’s most of the time with chords. This track is a further “study” into more melodic music for us. We are really happy with the result.
What’s next for you guys? Anything exciting you’d like to share with your readers?
We are running our own label now, KLASH, with the Armada team. They let us do what we want creatively and that’s what we want to offer to other artists; a place that is not genre bound. A label that can put out our music in a way that allows us and our artists to be proud and say what they want music wise. We are currently working on the selection of our second KLASH Dime Pieces. Of course there will be a Dirtcaps track or 2 on it as well! Collab wise we can finally say that our collab with Flosstradamus is coming soon. And we are going to tour USA, Asia, Europe and Australia later this year!