Thursday Thoughts 026 – Nicky Romero on the Road to Life in Color: Manchester

Life In Color, “the world’s largest paint party,” will inject a sea of colour to the 5,000 capacity Victoria Warehouse in Manchester on Saturday 4 February 2017, with its unique mix of big room house and paint cannons. Featuring on the lineup, is Dutch superstar Nicky Romero, who stopped by Dance Rebels for a chat…

Hey Nicky, welcome to Dance Rebels! How are you? For those who don’t know who you are, where are you from, and how long have you been a DJ/producer for?

Hey, I’m Nicky Romero, I’m from the Netherlands and I have been a DJ for about 10 years!

What inspired you to pursue your career in the music industry? Did you have to make any sacrifices en-route to stardom?

It actually all started when I was working in a bar called Scoob back in my hometown. I was actually working the cloakroom at the time and I became fascinated with how the resident DJ was able to work the crowd. One day, he kindly gave me half an hour of his set to play and it was such an amazing feeling – I never looked back!

This year you’ve released big hits including ‘Novell’, ‘Future Funk’ and ‘Ready 2 Rumble’. What’s been your favourite release? Why?

I can’t answer that! I really don’t think you can ever pick a favourite as they each mean something to you and those three are all so different. ‘Future Funk’ was obviously an amazing experience because it gave me the opportunity to work with the legend that is Nile Rodgers and that’s something that I will never forget!

The music industries trends are always changing, in terms of the ‘most popular sound’, so, for 2017, what music will your imprint; Protocol Recordings be looking to sign?

I don’t really like to define it that way, we’ll always be true to our signature sound. However we do like to think out of the box and allow our talent to showcase different sounds. Like we have done with Blinders in the past and with our next release with Raiden. Our main focus is to only sign and promote music that we really believe in so I wouldn’t want to be too restrictive as to limit us to just one genre.

On the 4th of February 2017, you’ll be returning to Life In Color Manchester in the UK, how excited are you for this event?

So excited! I love coming to the UK and last year was epic so I have high hopes for this one!

As previously mentioned, you’ll be returning to LIC, how was last year’s performance? What was the crowd/atmosphere like in general?

It was crazy! The crowd, the atmosphere, there was paint absolutely everywhere! I think it really helped to make everyone feel free and really let loose which, for a DJ, means you have so much great energy to feed off.

The ‘unique selling point’ of LIC is it’s the world’s largest paint party! Do you have anything specially planned within your set at this event too? A new ID maybe?

Haha, that would be telling 😉

As a DJ, how would you describe your style? Do you like to pre-plan your set? Go with the flow and see how the crowd is feeling? Or does it depend on the type of event you’re playing?

It depends, I think you always go in having an idea of how your set will go but then you also have to adapt to the crowd and that can means you end up going in a completely different direction.

Do you have any pre-gig rituals or traditions too? AN21’s #1 rule is always take a pee before your set haha!

That’s a good one! You know what, if I’ve got time I like to try and have a nap or just a bit of time out beforehand to get in the zone. Other than that, I wouldn’t say I have any rituals.

Finally, if you could invite another DJ who is not on the lineup with you at LIC, who would it be, and why?

I’d take Raiden with me. He’s a super cool producer from South Korea who is about to blow up. He’s releasing a track on Protocol this month and we’re all really excited about this release so watch out😉

Date: Saturday, 4^th February, 2017

Time: 9pm – 5am

Location: Victoria Warehouse, Manchester, M17 1AB

Tickets: http://bit.ly/2fV7aWr