Showtek And Tell

Are Showtek – brothers Sjoerd and Wouter Janssen – the hardest working DJ/producers in electronic music? Not only have the Dutch hardstyle stalwarts established their own “brand”, but they also help the likes of Tiësto to engineer and produce music.

It's 10am in Eindhoven and the younger Janssen,Sjoerd, feeling “fresh”, is conducting interviews ahead of Showtek's return to Australia. Today he dropped by the studio at 9.15am – normally it's 8.30am. “We are diehard producers, so we have to start before nine,” Janssen says in a distinct accent. It can be “heavy” after the FTS combo play out on the weekends – and travel. But they have a strong work ethic – and a sense of self-preservation. The day prior Janssen played squash with his “lover” and won, even if his legs ache. “I feel fit, though – that's good.” Showtek are just wrapping a record for another act Janssen declines to identify. “Yesterday we finished a Showtek track – not a new track, but we made a little edit for the show,” he assures fans.

Janssen loves the challenge of co-producing material with such figures Marcel Woods. In fact, the Janssen siblings started as “studio freaks”, not DJs. When their Save The Day blew up, they were approached to DJ “out of the blue.” “I had never, ever touched any turntable– anything – so it was just really weird to be on stage finally.” They've come far since then. In 2007 Showtek presented a now seminal LP, Today Is Tomorrow. They have smashed down barriers for hard dance, presenting a BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix. Showtek were ranked at #58 in the 2011 DJ Mag poll, up over 30 places. And they've developed a semi-live DJ show with visuals, inspired, Janssen reveals, by Deadmau5's “OTT” production. He gets on the mic – and Showtek “mash-up tracks live.”

Given Showtek's studio acumen, they could easily produce pop-dance, David Guetta-style. As it happens, they've just cut a track, Hell Yeah!, with the trouse Tiësto that will be released formally as a collab for the first time. “It's actually gonna be 'Tiësto Vs Showtek',” Janssen says. “It's a mash-up of his sound and our sound, so it's a little bit slower than usual, but it's still very nasty – in a good way. It's still bumpin' and crunchy. Okay, [Tiësto] is maybe not a pop star – [but] he has the allure of a pop star. When he enters somewhere, he's like a pop star. I think David Guetta's a bit more poppy than he is. But that's a big step for us to do that.”

Increasingly, Showtek want to “extend” themselves – and widen the parameters of hardstyle. The pair have the potential to transcend, if not revolutionise, the genre. “We always have been a little bit more diverse than other hard dance DJs,” Janssen holds. “I think we showed a lot of guts by doing things that people never expected.”

What's more, with the explosion of EDM in the US – and globally – audiences are being exposed to, and digging, a myriad of styles. Janssen himself is into Pendulum's sideproject Knife Party – electro dubstep. “I love their stuff!” Consequentially, dance types are “free” to mix up genres – and “experiment”. “Sometimes it works and sometimes not – but that's why you're an artist... Now we can fit between the other names like Steve Aoki and Skrillex.”

Showtek were meant to be plugging a third album this year, but those plans have been pushed back due to their schedule. They'll be touring the US solidly in the summer. “It's really hard to finish an album in the bus,” Janssen points out, possibly secretly preferring to indulge his Angry Birds addiction. However, he promises ”a lot of cool collaborations.” Indeed, Showtek really are, as Janssen underscores, taking things to “the next level”. Watch this space.