By Chesney Hearst, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Up-and-coming Dutch DJ and producer Kill the Buzz will perform as part of the lineup during the Rio Music Carnival festival’s final night, February 9th. Currently touring with fellow Dutch DJ, Hardwell and one of the artists on Hardwell’s Reveal Recordings label, Kill the Buzz recently took a moment to speak with The Rio Times via email about his career and his thoughts on his upcoming show.
The Rio Music Carnival is part of the Rio Music Conference, and runs concurrently with the main celebrations of Carnival on February 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th.
“I have to miss Carnival in my own hometown, which is different from Brazilian Carnival, but I’m really excited to coming back to Rio!” Kill the Buzz, who like Hardwell, is from Breda, Netherlands, told The Rio Times. “The reception in Brazil for the house music is really good, they’ve been supportive since my first track ‘Party Hard’ which I released on Revealed Recordings back in 2012.”
No stranger to the city, Kill the Buzz was last in Rio de Janeiro when he joined Hardwell in December 2014 as part of the Go Hardwell or Go Home tour. Once again touring together, Kill the Buzz will perform before Hardwell on the 9th.
When speaking about touring with Hardwell, Kill the Buzz told The Rio Times; “We have been friends for over ten years! We met at the Escape in Amsterdam and after a couple of beers and chatting, we noticed that we got along really well. He invited me to join him at his club shows in the Netherlands and we spent several years as friends before he began encouraging me to produce, with software, samples and VST’s [Virtual Studio Technology]. He liked a couple of tracks of mine and helped me realize what to pay attention to. My first track ‘Party Hard’ came and then I played several shows with Dannic which was a lot of fun, I enjoy touring.”
Kill the Buzz had originally entered the world of music when he began playing the keyboard at age ten. At the age of fourteen, he began exploring digital music production.
“My early musical influences as a piano player were Alicia Keys & John Legend,” said Kill the Buzz. “I started listening to electronic music when I discovered Daft Punk and later on, I was hooked on trance. Hardstyle was a genre in the Netherlands that became very popular and was one of the sounds that I could really enjoy, those are all basically still the influences for my music and the “big room” sound really fits the genre that I used to adore. I like to put euphoric moments in my music.”
In addition to touring the world with Hardwell, Kill the Buzz has begun to work with well known artists. A chance meeting with Jason Derulo in Las Vegas led to a popular Kill the Buzz remix of “Want To Want Me.”
Speaking about his Kill the Buzz said; “I started DJing after producing but I first started making mixtapes, besides practicing my production skills. A friend I knew from the city in Breda asked me if I wanted to play at his party called Luxaflex. Then I became a resident at the house club ‘Brooklyn’, also in my hometown of Breda. I learned how to DJ for small crowds from twenty people, to a full packed out room up to about 200-300 people. It all happened really organically and I was really fond of making music, then DJing followed.”
When asked what he loved about DJing, Kill the Buzz said; “The reaction of the crowd and the smiles on their faces while they are dancing, is the best feeling I can get while DJing. My drive is to get that excitement and happiness at every single show.”
What: Kill the Buzz at the Rio Music Carnival
When: Kill the Buzz show – February 9th. Festival Rio Music Carnival – February 5th through February 9th, Rio Music Conference – January 27th through February 9th.
Where: Festival Rio Music Carnival, Av Infante Dom Henrique, s/n Marina da Glória.
Entrance: R$90 + for Rio Music Carnival shows. Packages are available. See more information on the website and here for the Rio Music Carnival.