A lot can change over the span of just a few months. Maurice West knows this quite well. Last July, we talked to the Dutch phenom about his career to that point. Collaborations with big talents like Kenneth G and Maestro Harrell were just the beginning. 2016 proved to be just the beginning for West, who clearly is ready to take over 2017. Just take a listen to “Yin Yang,” and you’ll be able to tell just how talented he is. We checked in with Maurice West on what 2016 was, what he has learned and where he wants to go in 2017.

If you could choose any word to define 2016 for you, what would it be?

Warmup.

We had the chance to chat last summer. What has been the biggest change for 
you since then?

The biggest change is that I’ve started playing shows. I signed to David Lewis Productions right before ADE last year, which felt like an amazing accomplishment. They’re a great team and I’m super excited to be a part of it. There’s a lot of cool shows planned for this year!

Maurice West playing O2 Academy in Glasgow, Scotland with W&W in October 2016.

What experience in your musical career have you learned from the most?

I can’t really think of one specific experience that helped me the most. I rather think I got to where I am today by being able to work and talk with people that have been in this scene for a very long time. There’s so many mistakes and wrong roads you can go down trying to make it in this industry. Being around people that already dodged those bullets really helps. Of course I’ve been getting advice from W&W for a while now but recently I’ve been talking to R3HAB over Skype a lot. He’s a really inspiring and insanely hard working person and I’m glad he shares some of his wisdom with me.

You collaborated with MOTi and DBSTF last year. What was it like working with 
each of them on “Disco Weapon” and “Temple”?

I really learned a lot working with both of them. The things I learned from each one were very different though. I had a full version of TEMPLE ready before W&W pitched it to DBSTF. Months later, when I had almost forgotten about the track, they sent me their version of it and it was completely out of this world. I made my version so long ago and I think the quality actually sucked, so being able to sit down with them in their studio and finalizing the track together, seeing their methods and workflow etc. was really helpful for me. On the other hand, Disco Weapon with MOTi was a quite different process. We only had a drop for the track and it took some time for us to figure out what the break had to be like. One day I started messing around with retro / daft punk kind of sounds and made a sketch for the break. Timo (MOTi) and I were both instantly sold on it and were able to finish the track super fast after that. We sent it to Tiësto as fast as we could so he could test it. He also seemed to love it! I think he still plays that first version we sent him and not the actual final, haha.

If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?

That’s a tough one. I’ve never really worked with vocalists or songwriters but instead have always tried to do everything myself by sampling vocals and such. If we’re talking about producers I’d still definitely say W&W. I’ve been getting a lot of questions and comments about us collabing and I can finally say that we’ve planned to sit down together and work on a track soon!

A lot of producers have been coming out with full length albums. Would you ever 
consider doing that?

I would at a further point in my career. I think it would be way too early to try and do something like that now.

What would you say is the toughest part of life in the dance music industry?

I’m not the kind of person to complain about stuff to be honest. I’m very happy to even be able to take part in this industry and work with so many talented people!

What is your biggest goal for 2017?

I’m always trying to get better at everything I do and I feel like there’s so much more to learn for me as a producer and DJ. My main goal is to keep expanding my audience and make more and more people happy with my music.

What would be your biggest piece of advice to young producers and DJs?

Be yourself and stay humble. Make the music that makes you happy. Work hard. Don’t give up. That’s all for now 😉

What’s in store for Maurice West for this year? Any secrets you can let us in on?

I’ve been working on my own sound and trying to expand it to different styles, which is really working out well. Also, I’ve been working on music with names I didn’t even think I could reach. Finally, as I said I’m playing really cool shows this year so keep an eye on my socials / tour dates!

About Thursday Thoughts:

At Dance Rebels, we strive to bring our readers as close to their favorite artists as possible. One of the best ways to make that connection is to discuss a wide range of topics with the biggest names in the dance music scene. If there is an artist that you think we need to talk to, reach out to us on Facebook or Twitter!