Leaving a mark on charts, dance floors and music enthusiasts the world over, Dutch born, Australian raised MaRLo has established himself as one of the worlds most in demand DJs.
We caught up with MaRLo at Comio EVC 2017 and spoke to him the birth of his baby boy – River, launching his own label and plans for 2018.
Akshay – How has 2017 been for you?
MaRLo – Absolutely incredible. The most important thing that happened is that I had a baby boy, little River, so that’s been life changing for me. Besides from that, I have been in the studio a lot as well and did some incredible shows. I’ve got my own concert show called Altitude. This was the second year in a row and all the shows sold out. And it’s the first time we went into Asia and took it worldwide so hopefully next year I can expand this even further.
Akshay – So ever since the birth of your baby boy, how has touring and producing life changed for you?
MaRLo – I took a few months off at the start when he was first born but I’ve still been touring a lot to be honest, especially at the later part of the year. I’d been doing a lot of studio stuff so I’ve already finished 5 songs, which will come out next year.
Akshay – Specifically talking about your show Altitude, it’s your conceptualised live show. You have also started your label called Reaching Altitude, with Armada Music. There seems to be a lot of focus on the term Altitude, right, what is the message there?
MaRLo – Ok, so, Altitude is the name of the first event that I ever played at and I was a struggling artist & DJ for a very long time.
Akshay – When was this?
MaRLo – This was long time ago, like 13 years ago. And nobody wanted to book me, nobody wanted to book me anywhere. I kept trying, I kept sending demos. Nobody cared so I got very fed up so I started my own event, with 3 friends of mine and we invited all of the university crowd and it was 8 dollars entry.
Akshay – In Australia?
MaRLo – In Australia, in Sydney. And that event was called Altitude. And after about a year of being very successful, all of the shows were sold out. Other promoters started booking us, which was good because suddenly we built a name for ourselves but after a bit over a year, we got, we went through some legal action cause someone else owned a bar named Altitude so we couldn’t use the name anymore. And then when I started to want to launch my own concert ideas, we looked into the trademark name and it was available again cause the other bar had gone down so it just seemed like perfectly fitting, like a full circle, that the event where I had my first show, my own event, and it’s really close to my heart, is now back to life and it’s the same logo as I used back then.
Akshay – Talking about the times that you were a struggling artist, what made you stick to Trance. Like what made you decide that you want to be a Trance producer?
MaRLo – To be honest, I’ve never really thought about what genre I am producing but it seems to come out as Trance so cause I love it, I really love Trance. I think it’s because I like the chords of the melodies where it’s very dramatic and the shift going from major to minor and that sort of emotional feeling that you get. And I also think that Trance is the one genre that no other genre has whereby, people from all different cultures, all different backgrounds can be together in the same room and share a moment together with their eyes closed and their hands in the air. And that moment, to me, is what I fell in love with.
Akshay – Typical Trance moment, right?
MaRLo – Yeah! And that’s what I fell in love with when I first started going out before I was producing music and it’s still what I hold on to now.
Akshay – You’ve already started your label and you also have your live shows, what are your plans for 2018?
MaRLo – Expand on that so I’ve already signed 23 tunes for the label. We got big plans for the Altitude events, to spread it more worldwide so 2018 I feel like now that my baby boy River’s a little bit older as well, I’ve got more time and more energy to really take it to the next level.
Akshay – Perfect! Thank you!
MaRLo – Thank you!
