Quintino, who performed at Pangaea recently, shares his musical influences, turning points in his career and the evolving EDM culture in India
Discovered by laidback luke, at the age of 18, Quintino wasted no time in marking his territory. Taking inspiration from some of the biggest names in the industry, he found himself performing at landmark gigs and festivals, such as EDC New York, Residences at lIV (Miami). In 2011, he decided to join forces with Sandro Silva and continued his ascent into the Dutch Dance Music elite with the release of Epic on Tiësto’s Musical Freedom label and became the continent’s most booked DJ. Quintino says that release of Epic was the life-changing event. “One career changing moment was the release of Epic. I knew it was a great track, we worked really hard on it. But the kind of reaction it got just blew me away. It was a great feeling to know that my fans loved what I was producing,” says the DJ. Quintino performed recently at Pangaea.
Talking about his music and his early influences, the DJ says, “One of my biggest inspirations is DJ Tiësto and when I saw him playing at the Olympic Games in 2004 it made an impression on me. last year I did several gigs with Tiësto on his college tour in the US. That was really amazing.”
Quintino says that he enjoys the process of production as much as he enjoys being behind the console. He adds, “There’s no better feeling than to be a DJ playing your own music and watch the crowd go wild.”
For his shows, he never have a pre set. He knows which tracks he’s got and the rest is decided by the kind of audience he is playing for. “The biggest change in the DJ scene from now and when I started is the popularity of DJs and how people look at them. Ten years ago a DJ would be at a party to support a rock band or pop stars. These days the DJ is the headliner and it’s all about his or her music. There are so many talented musicians out there, so the key is to give people something new. You can’t afford to let the crowd lose interest for even a second because we have great DJ’s coming up every second day. There is immense pressure behind the decks, therefore we as DJs have to work harder and always try and give your best performance,” he says. Quintino met luke at a party were he had to DJ after him. luke stayed during his entire set and just seeing him watch made Quintino nervous. “After my set he came to me and told me he really liked my music and had a great time. He told me to stay in contact, and that’s how it started. That’s still one of my best days in my life,” he says.
EDM has picked up big time with the Indian audience and Quintino says, “YouTube has made music available and more accessible to everyone around the world. For an artiste this means your reach has become much larger and people at the other side of the world listen to your music and know who you are, even though you have never been there. Now EDM is all over the world and one of the most appreciated genres as well.”
Apart from constantly working on his music, Quintino has been travelling a lot. “I am really excited to be in India. I know India has great capacity and there are so many talented musicians here,” he says.
On his future plans, he adds, “I never want people to think I’ve taken a back seat, my music is my top priority and I only want to get bigger and better. The last couple of years have been going really well, and I am looking forward to producing some great music in the coming years as well.”