‘A chance to play in India may never come again,’ says Dutch DJ Don Diablo

Whether he’s taking the music world by storm or upping your street-style, the producer and DJ’s tour in India is one for his bucket list — and yours

June 22, 2018 02:58 pm | Updated 02:58 pm IST

 Dutch DJ Don Diablo wearing his Hexagon clothing

Dutch DJ Don Diablo wearing his Hexagon clothing

When one thinks of Don Diablo, the mind drifts to soul-stirring music and memorable collaborations. So naturally, after working on his third album Future for many years now, Don released it in early February to a global fanbase. “People were looking for Believe and there was no album for it, but when I did release it, it was a real career moment and I’ve been riding that wave till now and on December 8, I’ll be doing my biggest concert, Future XL , in the Netherlands which is going to be another great milestone.”

Speaking of tours, the Dutch DJ’s India Tour is another great career moment and when asked about it, he chuckles as he says over the phone, “This was supposed to be my week off. It’s been a crazy time leading up to the summer, and the summer itself is going to be crazier. While I needed my body to regenerate I looked at this potential set and thought ‘A chance to play in India may never come again’ and personally this was very important and high up on my bucket list.”

 Long time friends Don Diablo and Ansel Elgort collaborated on ‘Believe’ in Don Diablo’s latest album

Long time friends Don Diablo and Ansel Elgort collaborated on ‘Believe’ in Don Diablo’s latest album

Believe is one of the more revered tracks on the album for his tuneful collaboration with actor and singer Ansel Elgort, and will surely be played in Hyderabad on Saturday. “We became friends a few years ago and I saw him go from loving my music to me being really proud of him as he’s one of Hollywood’s biggest actors, where so many people want a bit of him. But we made the time for this collaboration and with just one day in the studio, we got Believe done. We didn’t want external or commercial interferences, we just wanted to make something we would be proud of ten years from now.”

When it comes to dealing with the multitudes of demands, Don deals with it all by “not sleeping ever,” he laughs again. “I sleep two to three hours per night. I don’t really have a private life either. Every moment and bit of energy goes into creating.”

‘A creative explosion’

For the 38 year-old future house savant, life has also gone beyond making music — he’s neck deep in running a record label named Hexagon as well as a popular and affordable clothing line of the same name which features fun and futuristic jackets and utterly edgy T-shirts sporting Don’s logo. “Doing all of these things turned into a creative explosion,” comments Don, “and I’m looking for ways to make the shipping more accessible for India. Through social media, I love seeing people enjoying the music but then to see them style the Hexagon clothes on a daily basis is really a bizarre thing in an exciting way. When I come to India, I may see a lot of bootleg merchandise made there but it doesn’t matter to me; I don’t do this just to make money.”

The DJ, whose real name is Don Pepijn Schipper, has a considerable social presence, with his 2.5 million Facebook fans and 1.4 millon on Instagram, with posts rich with travelogues. He’s moving to YouTube soon too, and then exclusively reveals to us that he’s currently working on a series called Hex Sessions wherein he’ll be playing music for an hour, which people haven’t heard on any of his sets or albums, explaining, “It’ll be visually stunning and quite artful and covering the purer side of DJ artistry.”

Expect equally stunning visuals too at Don’s performance this Saturday as he, for the first time, experiences an Indian summer, while trying some biryani and other Hyderabadi specialties.

Don Diablo will be playing at Ola Sunburn Season Closing on Saturday June 24 at 10:15pm at Beats Per Minute. Tickets are available online for ₹1500.

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