After years spend transiting in and out of the UAE airports on the way to gigs, dance music duo Wolfpack will finally perform their first show in Abu Dhabi.
As part of the In The Mix Festival at Zayed Sports City, the Belgian spinners, Ruben Khaza and Steve Braet, will showcase their vibrant brand of progressive and electro house to UAE fans on Saturday, February 1. Speaking to The National hours before their gig, Khaza discusses Wolfpack's burgeoning fan base in China and their latest remake of a 1990s pop classic
Let’s talk about a couple of your new songs. First up Arabian Bounce is a banger and has the great vocals of Fatman Scoop. How did that collaboration come together?
The guy is a legend and we love working with him. He has such a voice that even if he read out a phone message it will sound amazing. We did a few songs together now and this one is fun and it has that has cool Arabian melody there that we enjoyed composing.
Another song that has been doing the rounds on the radio is Be Strong, which found you guys covering Gabrielle’s 1993 hit Dreams. What made you take on that pop classic?
That song came together with us working with a fellow Belgian DJ called Vinnie. He had a bunch of cool vocalists he was working with and one of them was this singer called Joshua Kane. We heard Joshua sing Dreams and we thought he sounded so good and even better than the original. That gave us the idea that we should work with him and do something with it.
Wolfpack ranked an impressive 38th place in the 2019 DJ Mag Top 100. How important are such rankings in your career?
It doesn’t feel like a competition for me. In my experience, the whole scene is friendly and family like. We meet other DJs in festivals or airports and we talk music and share advice. As far as I am concerned, we as Wolfpack just focus on creating the best music that we can. The charts just reflect other DJs enjoying what they are doing.
Wolfpack spent a lot of 2019 touring various cities in China. What is your impressions of the growing EDM scene in that part of the world?
It is so much fun to step into a new scene. The people there are just like everyone all over the world. They want to spend time together, celebrate with friends and enjoy good music. As DJs it is also fun as we can do things that we can’t do any more in Europe for instance. An example would be playing older tracks that we like. We can’t get away with that in Europe because there are different expectations. In China, the fans just appreciate it and we have fun as well.
Finally, Wolfpack are one of the rare dance music duos operating today. What is the best part about creating music with a partner?
It makes for a better concert experience I find. When there is two, you can focus more on the crowd. One of us would go to the front of the stage and work with the crowd while the other one is mixing. It’s good feeling to go out there and be with the crowd knowing that you have your partner having your back when it comes to the music.
Wolfpack will perform at In The Mix Festival at Zayed Sports City, Abu Dhabi. Doors on Saturday, February 1. Doors open from 5pm. Tickets are Dh50 from abu-dhabi.platinumlist.net
