D-Block & S-te-Fan eagerly looking forward to the release of ‘Kamikaze’

When you mention D-Block & S-te-Fan, you’re talking about energetic, melodic music that you don’t forget that easily. One of those tracks that has been a hit since the first time they played it, is ‘Kamikaze’. Some of DBSTF’s fans already consider this track as the track of the year 2024. The Dutch hardstyle duo has been playing this track since Intents 2023, so it was about time to ask the guys some questions about the long-awaited release next Friday. 

What makes ‘Kamikaze’ a real D-Block and S-te-Fan track?

“We think it’s that combination of music and energy. The melody has so many different emotions in it, and by combining it with a solid mid that contains multiple elements in terms of energy level, it really is a rollercoaster ride. This is a signature for DBSTF.” 

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Diandra Faye made an impressive vocal contribution to the track. How did you work together to find the perfect balance between your hardstyle sound and her voice?

“Diandra has of course already provided several successful tracks, so we were really glad to collaborate with her. To be fair, we doubted for a while whether we wanted to keep the word kamikaze as a hook, but in the studio it felt like the right word and we left it that way. It was really cool that Diandra, as well as Mayke, with whom she writes, came up with a lot of solutions or other hooks. Very clever and that went in a really nice way.

Usually, we often write our own lyrics and create a track around them, but in this case we received this topline from Diandra and we immediately hit on the melody in it. This track gives us such a great feeling, and certainly the change to the second part gives it such a nice touch… Wonderful!”

‘Kamikaze’ has been a big hit since you first played it. What kind of reactions have you received from the audience?

“We don’t often have an Oooooh-moment in our tracks, because that is not something we are primarily concerned with when making music. But in this track it is there and that is funny to hear in our euphoric sets. People already know the melody and that is of course always really cool.”

Due to the hype that is already surrounding the track, we would not be surprised if ‘Kamikaze’ qualifies for the title of ‘track of the year’. What elements of “Kamikaze” make it a contender for this title in your opinion?

“Wow, that’s an honour but it’s quite something to say. We are very happy with the track and especially think it’s great that we can still reach a large audience with our own style. That is the best compliment, and a popularity poll cannot detract from that. We hope that there will be a lot of competition for the top spots in the lists, which means that a lot of great music will be made and that is the very best for hardstyle itself!” 

We are at the start of 2024. What are your goals for the coming year? What do you want to achieve?

“It will certainly be a challenging year. Many new acts have appeared, mainly on the harder side of Hardstyle. We have always made melodious music with an energetic edge, so we can go along with all the violence. Our fans, mainly of the euphoric sound, find it more difficult. If you go to an event in the Netherlands, you quickly experience a shift from melodic to just purely hard and loud. Hopefully that will balance out a little more. We will try to contribute to that by making some more purely euphoric tracks, such as ‘Fire’ for example.”

A recurring question on Hardstyle.com: what do you think of what hardstyle music looks like now and how it is changing? And how do you ensure that your own music becomes better and more relevant during this change?

“We always embrace whatever movements arise within our frameworks. We don’t necessarily like everything that happens, but it’s not about us at all. Producers should just make music that they are passionate about and that makes them happy, and people ultimately decide what they want to listen to.

It is a shame that sometimes the art is out of the music for producers. It all has to be done quickly, commercially, based on crowd reaction and that does influence the art form. It can also be done differently, but that is not easy and takes time and energy. But we also know that one moment or one track opens up a whole new world… that is ultimately the most beautiful thing about creating music!”

The long-awaited track by D-Block and S-te-Fan, ‘Kamikaze’, is releasing this Friday on Scantraxx. Download the track here. 

Images by Scantraxx, header image by LuisaArt