Once the debauchery we all know as the 2012 Ultra Music Festival came to a end, late-night Miami came alive once again as we caught up the Netherlands’ most hypnotic electro-trio, Nobody Beats The Drum. After walking out of Eve Miami being blind-sided by performances such as Big Gigantic, GRiZ, and Keys N Krates, Nobody Beats The Drum proved to be one of the night’s most mind-altering, brain-tweaking, booty-jukin’, deep-bass experiences. We had the chance to discuss their tour, the upcoming festival season, and some things to look out for in the coming months. Read more now!
IMFmag: First and foremost, how was SXSW and Ultra for you guys?
NBTD: Quite mad! Straight from the down&dirty-missing-tooth-rock&roll vibes of South By into the Ultra-crazy-pool-party-paradise of Miami. But whatever the surroundings, we were able to party and play great sets at both festivals. It was our first real tour experience playing for large US crowds and the power & energy we felt going on out there was incredible.
IMFmag: Playing alongside Big Gigantic, GRiZ, Keys N Krates, and the late-night (6AM) Miami crowd at the Ultra After Party must have been delightful?
NBTD: We had a blast! They are all super nice guys and it’s great they’re doing so well. For us it’s also very interesting to see how electro is developing here in the States, compared to the sounds we’re used to back home.
IMFmag: As your tour progresses and festival season is now here, what are you looking forward to most while playing to the festival crowds?
NBTD: We are really looking forward to present the 333 to the American audience. It’s a visual installation of nine screens that covers all of the stage. It’s the biggest stage-setup we ever had. We’ve toured with it in Europe, now we had the whole thing rebuilt in Philadelphia to bring it to the US festivals.
IMFmag: For you guys, are there any standouts in the upcoming stretch of festivals?
NBTD: It’s a great list of festivals. We’re very excited to play the now sold out Sasquatch Festival. Governors Ball in NYC is going to be awesome and Spring Awakening in Chicago will be inside Soldier Field. Both are selling like mad. We’ll travel up North for Electric Forest and the Montreal Jazz Festival, we’ll go down to Wakarusa, Arkansas, we’ll be all over the place.
IMFmag: Seeing you perform in Miami, we noticed your involvement with the crowd. What are your thoughts on how the crowd in the States has embraced that unique Dutch sound?
NBTD: We realize a lot of people that come to the show will probably see and hear us for the first time. That makes it extra exciting to play our tracks, feel the build-ups and make the drops work like bombs. We need to communicate what this is all about. It’s a lot of fun.
So far the reactions have been amazing, but we feel that we still have to prove ourselves. I think we can add something new to the broad spectrum of electronic dance music. We want to do things our own way.
IMFmag: You guys incorporate very particular visuals into your performances. Are you working on any new visuals for the rest of your tour? Anything fans should be on the look out for?
NBTD: Nobody Beats The Drum consists of three members, 2 musicians/producers (Jori and Sjam) and 1 visual artist (Rogier). It has always been very important to us to combine sound and visuals. We’re always working on new stuff to spread online and to use in the livesets. Rogier often disappears into the woods at night to take pictures and make new stop-motion animations for the live-set. Haha. In the coming months there will be new music video’s, tracks and tour diaries. And of course we’ll be back in the US the whole summer: see you at the festivals!
