Axel Christofer Hedfors in town to meet Bollywood bigwigs

PicSayed Sameer AbediPeople in America live in a bubblerdquo says Axel Christofer Hedfors aka Axwell also an artiste formerly known as Swedish House Mafia formed of Axwell Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso and currently also known as Axwell Lambda Ingrosso ldquoThey said a year ago that Electronic Dance Music was dead What happened to that statement By the time someone puts that in print and a person reads that the genre has already reinvented itselfrdquoWe are sitting at a Lower Parel fivestar talking music as Axwell has been brought down by Tanaaz Bhatia of Bottomline Media who also brought down the Vamps last year in India for a gig and to meet a few Bollywood bigwigs ldquoI am meeting Shankar Ehsaan Loy today This is the first time I am getting time to think about doing stuff here Usually itrsquos touch and go and I havenrsquot got into it But yes am now here and open to collaborationsrdquo says the fourtime Grammy Awardnominated and twotime DJ Awards Best House DJ winner The Stockholmresident really started making waves in 2004 with the massive hit Feel The Vibe Later he formed Swedish House Mafia whose biggest hit was the 2012 charttopping Dont You Worry Child After they split in 2013 he as Axwell Lambda Ingrosso has given hits such as On My Way and This TimeWe now live in a world where the lines between commercial pop music and EDM HouseTechnoTrance have blurred considerably in the past few years with artists such as Justin Bieber jumping on to the Tropical House bandwagon and almost every pop singer having at least one dance track in their repertoire But Axwell thinks its just a good thing ldquoThings are moving so fast these days If you have a sound from the underground thatrsquos attractive pop stars are going to want to jump on that for their next pop fix If there is like one Skrillex who has a certain sound then there will like 100 Skrillex making the same music All sounds and genres are open now and that is kind of nice Because before when you made house or progressive house you had to be inside the lines But now itrsquos more freerdquo says the 39yearoldAsk him if that may lead to an EDM burnout and he doesnrsquot seem pessimistic ldquoThere will be people who branch out and experiment and go ahead And there will be people who will take their place and do what they used to do So itrsquos a cycle it keeps going on Itrsquos like a living organismrdquoAxwell who started playing the drums at the age of 9 says he grew up listening to the likes of Dire Straits the early albums of Michael Jackson and Europe ldquoI was listening to music that was good to play drums tordquo he smiles It was when he was 13 that he shifted his attention to the computer and computer game music ldquoI used to play a lot of computer games and the music that formed the background on such games was attractive to me I am sure people were doing electronic music then and people like JeanMichel Jarre doing some synth stuff but I didnrsquot know that music My introduction to electronic music came from computer music And then I decided to replicate that on the computer And it was hard almost impossible to recreate the melody Now I can create whatever I want but that road was very longrdquo he laughsHe has come a long way from Feel The Vibe which was a poppy light dance song to songs like Barricade and Canrsquot Hold Us Down which are darker and harder ldquoSometimes you want to make songs like that which are more aggressive because when you play for bigger arenas you need a sound that can fill up the audience Lighter songs donrsquot do that wellrdquo But he does admit that his sound has softened now and he mdash surprise surprise mdash likes Tropical House ldquoI like the softer vibe People heard Tropical House and realised EDM can be softer EDM is like a wave it changes soundrdquoAs far as India goes he thinks this is where the future of EDM exists He calls the fans crazy for the music and hence the best type of people to play for ldquoAsia is where itrsquos at mdash India and South Korea specificallyrdquo he says To end he parts with some wise words for all electronic music DJs and thatrsquos to live life like he does in his own musical bubble ldquoDonrsquot copy people or follow a trend Just do what you have to Thatrsquos the best way to make the best musicrdquo