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10 Questions with ... r3hab
May 27, 2014
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/r3habofficial
Twitter: https://twitter.com/R3HAB
SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/r3hab
1) Where did the name r3hab come from?
There is no special reason for it. I thought it was a really cool name. I made a record and I asked what should I call myself and rehab sounded really good, but then I thought rehab is pretty standard so I said let's change the "E" into a "3" and it looked really cool and then we made a logo r3hab.
2) Where are you from?
I was born in Holland; my parents are from Morocco I grew up in Breda, a small city in Holland, which is also whereTiesto and Hardwell are from. Hardwell and I went to the same high school. It is great to see three DJs from Breda right now doing so well.
3) Was your first production with Hardwell in 2008?
Yes, we were in high school together and we started working on some things together. Now we're both playing EDC NY, he's closing and I'm playing right before him, it's kind of crazy.
4) Afrojack was one of the first people to notice you. He signed you to Wall recordings. How did you meet him?
Electronic music was really blowing up in Holland. Afrojack, Hardwell, and Nicky Romero were doing well. Afrojack got big quickly with the single he did with Eva Simons, "Take Over Control," and he felt there were so many talented people from Holland ... "let me help them." He helped a lot of DJs; many people don't know that about him.
5) You have done remixes for Calvin Harris, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Kaskade... how'd you get into remixing?
One of my very first remixes was for Afrojack & Pitbull "Give Me Everything," the remix got really popular. Then came "Champagne Showers," Lady Gaga "Judas," Katy Perry, Jennifer Lopez ... It just kept on going. All of those mixes did well with the mix DJs.
6) As an Artist you just had a single out "Revolution" with NERVO & Ummet Ozcan" and your latest single "Unstoppable" features Eva Simons. How did the new single come about?
Pepsi came with a project for me. We wanted to make a record about triumph and being unstoppable. I started writing, and I asked myself who would be a great singer for this, and I said Eva Simons. She also had a massive single with Afrojack and will.i.am; she carries the weight, the force and emotion on it.
7) What are you working on right now and what can we expect from you in 2014?
I have a remix coming up on "Summer" by Calvin Harris that I did with Ummet Ozcan and there are a few remixes of "Unstoppable" coming with Vinai, Wildstylez, Will Sparks and Blinders. I'm working on a lot of good music ... more music, more remixes, more everything.
8) Do you have a favorite remix that you've done to date?
I'm very happy with the remix I did for "Summer" and I have one that I just did for "Wasted" by Tiesto that I love. I'm working on one for Beyonce.
9) With all these great people that you've worked with, is there someone that you haven't that you'd love to work with?
I would love to work with a rock band, the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Coldplay. Coldplay have a new album out so maybe they'll see this and ask me to remix one of their songs.
10) How did you get into DJ-ing and is there a favorite city you like to DJ in?
That sort of came together in Holland. I knew very quickly that you could get popular with DJ-ing and making records. The thing is there are so many good DJs, but you have to make yourself stand out by doing special edits and remixing classics and then your own productions. It was sort of a snowball effect for me.
New York is one of my favorites, great energy!, L.A. ... the big cities in the world have a special kind of energy; I can not really explain it.
Bonus Questions
If you could go out and hear one DJ spin, who would it be?
That's a good one ... I love seeing deadmau5 because he is always very interesting. Skrillex is very interesting as well; I haven't seen him for a while.
If you were to give someone a suggestion for a restaurant anywhere in the world what would it be?
There are a couple of them: there was an Indian restaurant in Stavanger, Sweden that was amazing. Mastro's in Beverly Hills is an amazing steakhouse and in Marrakesh City at the Royal Mansour, I maybe had the best food of my life. If you want to eat really good sushi, go to Singapore or Tokyo.
One must-have item when traveling?
My laptop, it's my baby, my sweetheart.
What do you do in your downtime?
I like watching movies, TV shows, I absolutely love House of Cards, Game of Thrones. I travel a lot on airplanes I love to watch movies
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