Big Lean - My Year In Hard Dance

What's been your biggest achievement of the year?

To be honest, this years been a bit of a quiet year as I have kept my head down and been learning a lot about improving my production skills, so dont really have any MEGA achievements but if I had to pick one it'd be my track 'MKN - Lose Control (Big Lean remix)' Staying in the Trackitdown Hardstyle top 40 chart for over 2 months, was very happy with that :D

What moments will you never forget?

Hopefully I'll never forger all the things about production I've learnt this year!!! :D

Who's been your favourite newcomer of the year?

Dont really know if you can class him as a 'newcomer' but here it goes. Code Black has to be the guy thats impressed me most this year, I know he's been around a while with bioweapon, but since the split I think he's made some really great tracks and in a short space of time has got a real name for himself in the Hardstyle world, I think partly cos of his AMAZING kicks, and obviously his wicked production aswell, I think this guy will go far!

Who's been the artist of the year for you?

Very hard to choose, so I'm picking 2 :D First up has to be Scope dj, in my opinion this guy can do no wrong, the undisputed king of reverse bass! this guy's tracks suit my style to a tee, and I dont think I've ever played a set that hasn't included at least one of his tracks! I think his production and originality is getting better and better with every tune he makes, be it a solo track or with second identity! Secondly has to be mr Frontliner, this guy has always impressed me with his sound all the way back to the days he was abject, as I feel he was one of the first to make the 'nu/raw style' kicks that are used in tracks today, but whats made me choose him this year over anyone else is his first album 'a producers mind' I think this is possibly one of the best Hardstyle albums to date, the originality and diversity in his tracks are immense, and he is not affraid to put his neck on the line with some tracks that may not go down well with some people, but for me there is not one bad tune on the album.

What's been your favourite label of the year?

I'd say scantraxx (the obvious choice) not only for 'scantraxx' but for all its sub labels and sister labels, these guys really dominate the Hardstyle scene, and there aren't many labels out there that can stand toe to toe with these boys!

What do you think has been the best track of the year?

Again a tough one!!! but I'm probably gonna have to say............Zatox - Unborn, since its release I've played it in every set I've played, and it goes off every time, this guy is a BEAST and I'm so glad he's finally getting the recognition he deserves!

What's been your favourite event of the year?

It'd probably be Bionic last march with D-Block & s-te-fan, when they where in the Millenium Music Hall, I thought that place was a wicked venue and I was gutted to hear it had closed down, but what made that night special was dbstf set, they tore the place apart, one of the best Hardstyle sets I've seen in a long time, playing a mix of old and new!

What's the funniest thing that's happened to you?

This has to be when me and DJ Y.O.Z filmed our 'digital junkies road to somewhere' video, it was made after the tidy boys had posted there 'tidy boys road to nowhere' video on youtube that contained some 'choice words' about Hardstyle and the scene etc, which in turn angered quite a few people, so we thought we'd make a bit of a joke out of the situation and did a parody of the video, we had such a laugh recording the video, and I think that comes accross in it, especially when yoz had to record a scene where he was dancing in a random farmers field with loads of cars driving past, slowing down to take a glimpse at a demented bald headed beast prancing around a field to complete silence!! good times!! :D

What do you have planned for the next year?

The next 12 months are gonna hopefully be MASSIVE, me and DJ Y.O.Z have been working on our side project (digital junkies) and we have almost completed our album which will be out early this year on Bionic Digital Recordings, so all going well we will have a tour off the back of that, and also I've been working on my solo tracks, which have had some interest off some BIG labels, so hopefully very soon I will have some good news label wise. other than that I'm gonna stop wearing womens underwear and turn to boxer shorts, I plan to die my hair green and change my name to Jorge Villalobos. :D

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