Dual Damage’s debut at REBELLiON! (Interview)
By far the biggest talents of the year: Dual Damage! We asked them about their past year, future collabs and what we can expect from them in 2024!
Hey guys, what’s up?
Hey! We’re doing super good at the moment!
2023 must have been a real rollercoaster ride for you. Can you describe how your journey through this year has been so far?
True, 2023 has been a rollercoaster so far! Less than half a year ago Jesper was still in school and Thijs was still working somewhere else haha, yes life can be strange sometimes. So much has happened that we could write a book about it, but let’s keep it a bit general haha. Since REBiRTH Festival the hype has actually exploded and we have been working hard to this day to keep growing and maintaining the hype. That hard work has brought us to where we are today; a perfect mainstage debut, Get Wrecked (our own event) selling out in 10 minutes, founding our own label (Ravage Records) and we could name many more! We enjoy it every day and are grateful every day to our fans for the support they give us 🙂
What are some of the most memorable moments you’ve had this year?
There have been a lot of great moments this year, but we will try to mention a few; Rebirth (first time on a big stage to show our sound to the audience), we did a mainstage for the first time, our own event ‘Get Wrecked’ got sold out in 10 minutes, and we did many more event which were completely packed with a great atmosphere!
2023 has certainly been the year of Dual Damage. But where did it all start? When did you guys first meet and what led to the creation of Dual Damage?
Doesn’t matter how many times we tell this story, it’s still a fun story haha. We have actually known each other since junior high school and became friends there. We started listening to raw together, think MF Psycho by Sub Sonik 😉 Then we did not see or speak to each other for about 4 years because we were no longer in each other’s classes until Thijs sent Jesper something he had produced and Jesper thought it was cool. Since then Jesper got involved and about 3 years ago we started working together in the studio, just for fun. Until about 1.5 years ago we got the idea to organize Get Wrecked. Of course, we also had to have an act together and from there Dual Damage was born. A little boyhood dream come true for both of us you can call it!
What do you think makes Dual Damage so special compared to other acts?
We think that has a few reasons;
1 We are a duo that complements each other perfectly. Thijs knows about music and Jesper knows about business and marketing, so we have a perfect division of labor within our act 🙂
2 We have a unique sound which distinguishes us from other artists and is refreshing in the scene.
3 We are still relatively young and have a lot of ambition.
You’ve made some real bangers this year, like Hiding and your remix of Nowadays Music. What does your process look like when making a new track?
The process of our tracks is actually always different. Sometimes we start by coming up with a cool theme we want to work with, sometimes we have a melody that we want to build a track around and sometimes we find cool vocals that we want to use in a new track 🙂 For big shows, for example, we make a plan in advance and determine which and what kind of tracks we want in the set and then we start working towards that.
You have already collaborated with several other artists. Can you tell us a bit more about your favourite collaborations and what you learned from them?
Yes, that’s right! We have already had the opportunity to collaborate with several talented artists 🙂 In general, we have learned some production technical aspects from them, but especially interesting facts about, for example, the arrangement of tracks that appeal to the target group.
If you could pick any artist, who would you ever want to make a collab with?
We still want to go into the studio with many artists! So we’re not going to make a choice here haha :)
What advice would you give to fans dreaming of a career in the hard dance scene? Are there any particular steps or lessons you have learned during your own journey?
Our biggest tip, which is actually related to our latest release ‘Unbreakable’, is that you shouldn’t always worry about what other people think about you. Furthermore, it is super important to stand out from other artists and build your own fan base 🙂
This year, you will make your debut at REBELLiON on the Mainstage! How does that feel like?
How does that feel? Unreal sometimes haha! It all happened very quickly and to be able to immediately debut on the mainstage with your debut at REBELLiON naturally feels like a dream! We are really looking forward to it 🙂
What can we expect from your set at REBELLiON and why should fans definitely not miss this set?
As our fans know, our sets are always full throttle! Or I could better say, full KLOENKING. Expect an energetic set with many unreleased Dual Damage tracks, like every set of us 😉 Make sure to be there!
With REBELLiON being one of the last events of the year, what can we expect from Dual Damage in 2024?
In 2024 we will continue to work hard to achieve our dreams 😉 This includes our own event Get Wrecked and many other cool things that unfortunately we are not allowed to say anything about yet haha sorry guys xxx
Thank you guys for making time for this interview, we can’t wait to see what you have in store for us at REBELLiON 2023!
Thank you guys! We are looking forward to November 26 and would love to see you there!
Houdoe AKA see you soon!