Martin Garrix Interview
18-Year-Old Music Phenom Martin Garrix Talks Life, Music & DJing
"He's without a doubt the hottest DJ on the planet," says the manager of another major electronic act as he references the 18-year-old French prodigy Martin Garrix. While this manager asked I not identify him, everyone else can't seem to become associated with the hitmaker fast enough.
Ed Sheeran, Avicii, Usher and the like have all held recent studio sessions with Garrix and Vegas' Hakkasan Group has managed to land an exclusive residency with the wunderkind (he plays their brand new Omnia Nightclub inside Caesar's Palace on May 23, June 21 and 27 and their Wet Republic pool party on May 24, June 14 and 19).
We caught up with the busy producer backstage at Coachella to chat about his incredible rise, opening Omnia with Justin Bieber, what's to come and some on the road shenanigans. Here is our unadulterated conversation:
AskMen: I know we kept trying to meet up in Miami, but it was so crazy this year.
Martin Garrix: Miami was the busiest week I've ever had in my entire life.
AM: Your Ultra set was amazing.
MG: I've never been so nervous in the ten years I've been playing. I played an entire set with only my own music. I was nervous as fuck.
AM: It's been a crazy decade for you… You told me some time ago that Tiesto's 2004 Olympic performance was pivotal in inspiring your career.
MG:That's totally correct. He did so much for the genre. He introduced me to the electronic stuff. It's fun. I was just with him [backstage at Coachella]. We were hanging out over there. He's here. It's crazy. He's the guy who inspired me to start producing electronic music.
AM: You were only seven years old when he played the Olympics. Was that really when your career began, at seven?
MG: No, no. It didn't begin, but I started to listen to his stuff and I was playing guitar at the time. When I was nine, ten, I was super young, but I installed a program on my computer so I could start producing music. I just started messing around. Then, after a couple of years, I got better. I actually learned some tricks, so I knew what I was doing instead of just messing. I'm still messing around, but the more you work in the program the more you learn from every song and even your mistakes. For me that has been a really interesting process. After a couple of years I received some recognition from various people at labels and Martin Garrix started.
AM: You actually studied at a performance academy.
MG: Yes, it was a producing academy and I was there for two years. I already was producing five years before that, but I learned a lot of stuff there. The nice thing about being there was I was in class with people who were also producing music. It was a great environment that was very creative and inspiring.
AM: Your parents have careers that are a bit more in the mainstream.
MG: My mom is a doctor and my dad is an auctioneer.
AM: Were they supportive of your decision to go into music?
MG: They were super supportive. They knew how happy music makes me and how much it means to me. When I was in a more traditional school and had an hour break, I would run to my parents' house with some friends and we would work on tracks before going back to school again.
AM: Was your school supportive with all of your touring demands?
MG: In my second year they were really supportive, because I produced "Animals." I released "Animals" when I was almost done with the first year and that's when the touring really started. I was still in school, but I really wanted to finish. Together the school and I made a schedule. Certain weeks I really had to be at school to keep up with all the tests. We scheduled a bunch of tests during the week I was in town and after I completed them I could go and tour again. Together, with a lot of communication, we made it happen.
AM: Tim Bergling [Avicii] mentioned the two of you were on tour together in Australia and spent some time in the studio as well.
MG: Yes, Tim is a really, really good friend of mine. I love that guy. We went to the studio together and made made a track. We are both really, really happy with it. We have a bunch of other ideas which we came out with in the studio and there's a bunch of new music coming out.
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