The Evolution of Headhunterz: From Hardstyle Heavy to Main-Stage Maestro

The 2012 Vegas edition of Electric Daisy Carnival represented the first time the powerful hardstyle sounds of Q-dance debuted on US soil, with the Dutch brand hosting its own stage. It also signaled the beginning of hardstyle’s stampede into EDM culture. One of the artists performing that weekend was Willem Rebergen, aka Headhunterz—a titan of the genre, who for years had reigned supreme as a headliner at some of the world’s biggest hardstyle parties.

For Headhunterz, though, change was afoot. While he was tagged as the unofficial hardstyle ambassador to the US, he was also experimenting with a sound that would merge these harder, faster beats with the familiar sounds of EDM. It was a shift that saw him graduating to play the main stage of EDC in 2013, the first of many main-stage adventures we’ve seen since then. The end of 2013 saw Headhunterz unleash his collaboration with Krewella, “United Kids of the World,” the next stage of his artistic evolution that sees him now living “between worlds.”

Rebergen spoke with us last month at Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), a week-long conference and festival on his home turf in Holland. We started by asking about his recent collaborations with fellow Dutchmen and main-stage performers W&W, with whom he collaborated on two singles this year: the heavy-duty “Shocker” a few months ago, and the more recent and even heavier “We Control the Sound.” With W&W themselves rising from the trance scene, there are definite parallels.

“I started making music being guided by what I enjoyed, and that’s how it should be. That’s art. Art comes from within and it goes out, and not the other way around.”

There’s a similar career trajectory for Headhunterz and W&W. You both brought elements of your different scenes with you.
I think in terms of our personalities, we’re both pretty different, but we’re definitely walking a similar path. They obviously come from the trance scene, and they also made the decision to break free from the expectations of that scene. That requires a lot of courage. I’m going through something similar, where I’m reclaiming my creative freedom. That definitely got us really inspired when we worked with each other; it got the conversation going. We had been fans of each others’ sound for quite a while, which is something that we didn’t even know.

We actually bumped into each other in Canada while we were on tour, and we immediately decided to collaborate with each other. It’s actually a double collaboration. There was “Shocker” earlier this year, and then there is the one coming out that is called “We Control the Sound,” which for me—and for them, I think—is the better of the two. It definitely shows our different musical sides coming together in a really cool way.

For so long, you were positioned in such a high place in the hardsyle scene. Did it take a lot of guts to break free of those expectations?
Yes, absolutely. After all these years into your career, you build up certainty, and you build up your fanbase. It definitely takes courage to say, “I’m willing to sacrifice what I have now and start all over again new if that would be necessary.” Not that it necessarily would be the case, as there are also probably a lot of people in the phase of their lives where they’re ready to move onto something new, and these are the people will keep on being interested in what I’m doing in the future. But you are definitely required to surrender to that possibility. And you need time to build momentum, and to build the courage to actually take that step.

The hardstyle scene has very specific expectations, and even when you were part of that scene, you were making people angry because you defied their expectations.
Definitely. The hardstyle crowd is very dedicated; the style is their lifestyle. They identify with it; it’s part of them. So they feel that I am responsible for representing their style. As soon as I start to mold that into something new, they definitely feel like I’m fiddling around with part of what is theirs. But obviously, I don’t want to feel limited like that. I started making music back in the day being guided simply by what I enjoyed doing, and not to please anyone. And that’s how it should be. That’s art. Art comes from within and it goes out, and not the other way around. It takes a lot of self-reflection to really come to that conclusion, and to really gain the power to actually act from within, and not let the outside opinions and projections get you off your path.

So where do you see yourself as an artist now?
I live between worlds. I’m actually in a grey area at the moment, but it’s a very exciting place to be, because I’d been living with certainty for the last couple of years in my career, and that’s actually something that, to be honest, doesn’t suit me. Because when I look back on my career, the early stage is when I felt the most excited, during the time when I was completely unsure of what was going to happen. That is what triggered me creatively. Obviously, to regain that creative flow, I had to recreate a similar situation where I would not be on top of the mountain defending my spot, but instead be in a position where I’d be able to look up to certain producers again, to be uncertain of what is going to happen. This really makes me feel free, and to have dreams again.

Are you happy to stay between the two worlds?
Oh yeah. It’s inevitable that people are gonna put labels on you again. Right now, people don’t know what to make of it, but it’s inevitable. Over the years, I learned more and more to deal with that, and I’ve tried not to label myself so much again as I have done in the past. Because I’ve obviously identified myself with hardstyle in the past, but I will try to keep that more open.

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