Exclusive Interview: Julian Jordan

Since exploding onto the Spinnin’ lineup in 2012 with “Rock Steady,” Julian Jordan has become a festival mainstay and reliable source of some of the dopest drops in the global electro house scene. The 19 year old Dutch DJ has garnered respect from he likes of Tiesto and Pete Tong and been noted as one of MTV’s “Artists To Watch.”

Despite his international success, Jordan stays grounded by bringing his mom along on tour dates and staying in touch with his school friends—many of whom have since joined the Spinnin’ roster! We caught up with the 19 year old Dutch DJ following his huge set at Spinnin’ Sessions’ bash at Nikki Beach, Miami.

EPIC PRODUCTIONS: Thank you so much for being here and for interviewing with us

Thank you for having me.

EPIC PRODUCTIONS: So you Are 19.

Yeah, true.

EPIC PRODUCTIONS: How does it feel to be so successful in this industry at such a young age?

Well, it’s funny to see because I’ve been in this scene for a few years now. Three or four years. I started like really young. So back then, it was really special and now it’s just like a family. So, I don’t see it. Most of the times when I see that I’m so young, it’s when I compare it to my friends at home who are working normal jobs in the supermarket or who are still in school and I’m like ‘I’m really lucky to be playing in Miami at 19 years old.’

EPIC PRODUCTIONS: What does your mom think? Does she come see you play?

She loves it. She really likes it. I took her with me to Barcelona, to a gig there. She didn’t know what tour life was about or what it’d be like so I wanted to take her with me and show her how it is and she really loved it. She really supports me. My dad does also.

EPIC PRODUCTIONS: What do you think you’d be doing right now if you weren’t a DJ?

I think I’d still be in college. I was going to art school and a musical school. I quit it because I was already too busy with playing, but I really enjoyed going to school because it was really good for my creative process. There are a lot of other artists around. I think I’d still be in that school just to do some creative stuff. I am not really an office guy.

EPIC PRODUCTIONS: Besides this, what would your dream career have been?

This is my dream career. Besides this, I don’t know. I wanted to be an architect for along time. Designing buildings and all that.

EPIC PRODUCTIONS: So How much preparation did you put into your MMW set?

I don’t prepare a set for the week. I prepare a few tracks that I want to play, but most of the time I improvise. I give the crowd what they want. Sometimes they want a little bit harder, sometimes they want to go a little bit groovy.

EPIC PRODUCTIONS: So you just wing it.

Exactly.

EPIC PRODUCTIONS: Do you find that stressful at all?

Well I really like it because you’re playing with the crowd. I think that’s the whole art of DJing — that you can see what the crowd likes. I started in a club in Holland and that was like the hardest crowd there was. They wanted to have trap, hiphop, house all at the same time. That was one of the hardest things. You see people leaving and you’re like ‘Okay, let’s switch it up.’

EPIC PRODUCTIONS: We’ve heard from some of the other DJs that because the scene has been alive longer in Europe that it’s harder to captivate a crowd. Whereas in America, there’s a youthful energy to the scene and people are just so excited.

True, that’s true. Yeah.

EPIC PRODUCTIONS: What’s caught your eye most in America?

I think when I first came here, everything—and this sounds really cheesy because everyone says it—but everything is so big. Big cars, and everything. In Holland, when you have a Range Rover, it’s like the biggest one you can have. I was in New York a few weeks ago and I saw this Range Rover and I saw this HUGE car driving the other way which was so much bigger. It was a perfect moment where you had Holland’s biggest and America’s biggest driving in opposite directions.

EPIC PRODUCTIONS: Also, I know in Europe drinking ages are lower. Is it weird coming over here?

Yeah, especially in Vegas. They are really strict there. I have to go from my room, to the club, and back. Five minutes before my set, I leave to play and then five minutes after my set I have to get my stuff and go back to the room. It’s really, really strict, but also can be fun to see because you can be in the club if you’re 16 in Holland.

EPIC PRODUCTIONS: Festival season is approaching. This is sort of the kickoff. Do you like playing these types of intimate events or huge festivals?

I like both. I really love playing festivals. I can test my new stuff and see what the crowd thinks of it. But I also really love to play at beach parties and small clubs. The other night I played the Firebeatz & Friends party at the Delano. It was really cool. The crowd was really close to the beach, so I played a whole different set. It’s really cool to play those events too because you’re really connected with the crowd. In the festivals you’re really far away from the crowd. it’s good to do both. I prefer big festivals though because you get better feelings when you play a new track. I really love playing underground clubs, though, too. Sadly it just announced it’s closing, but I really like playing Trouw in Amsterdam. I was going there to go out, but yeah, it’s closing. It was a really cool club and the scene in Amsterdam is really big right now and it’s coming up all over in Europe right now. The whole underground scene in Berlin. So that’s really cool. The DJ Scene in Holland is a really small community, because when you play a club, you can have a big headlining act next to you or playing after you. So when you’re unknown you can get this huge exposure because the country is so small, you have access to everything. That’s, I think, the power of a small country to have a lot of creatives coming together and growing at the same time?

EPIC PRODUCTIONS: Who are some DJs you respect?

I really like Diplo right now. He’s one of my inspirations because he’s doing something else. Every track, he’s doing something different. He can be doing reggae tomorrow. I think that it’s really cool to just experiment with music and do different things and try to combine styles together. He has so many side projects. JackU, Major Lazer, his own stuff.

EPIC PRODUCTIONS: And he also produces so much pop music. It’s insane.

Yeah exactly, that’s what I really like about him.

EPIC PRODUCTIONS: What are you looking forward to most this week.

I’m really looking forward to Martin Garrix and friends, because we are good friends. Also Jay [Hardaway], we’ve been touring a lot and we don’t see each other too often. We used to see each other a lot because in school we were in the same class. It’s really cool to see the change from two years ago meeting in class and now we are meeting here in Miami.

EPIC PRODUCTIONS: Do you guys play back to back at all?

Yeah, we do a lot when we’re playing together.

EPIC PRODUCTIONS: Do you have any new projects in the works?

I played two new tracks today to try out and tease the crowd with. So look out for those.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud

AUTHOR CREDIT: ALEXANDRA BLAIR PHOTO CREDIT: ALEXANDRA BLAIR INTERVIEW CREDIT: ALEXANDRA BLAIR, AINSLEY ASHTON, KIMBERLY PHAN