Will Clarke Gives His View On The Scene And Dirtybird In iEDM Exclusive Interview

Day three at Imagine Music Festival, Dirtybird players took over the Disco Inferno stage and closed out the festival with a flame. The label welcomed Will Clarke to the family in 2014 and brought him out to throw out and amazing set at Imagine this year. 

Before his bringing down the house, we had the opportunity to chat with him about music and his involvement with Dirtybird. Here is what he had to say. 

iEDM: You're playing the Dirtybird player stage. Tell me about your involvement with Dirtybird.

Will Clarke: I signed to them back in 2014 and it evolved from there really. They're the best people to work with and more like a family than just a label. When we get together you’ll have fam just come up and check that everyone’s cool, and ask if they need anything. It’s really nice.

iEDM: You guys have a Dirtybird Campout coming up. What are you most excited for with that?

Will Clarke: Everything is so fun. It's like a holiday weekend, although it's not because you barely sleep. I only play once the whole weekend. So, I don't have to travel anywhere. I've got some of my best friends coming to stay with me. It's the only festival where I stay for the whole weekend. Pretty much all the artists stay for the whole weekend, and we all just chill and hang out.

iEDM: I see you have a back to back set with Kill Frenzy. How do you go about preparing for a back to back?

Will Clarke: We don't prepare. It’s really just off the wall. Kill Frenzy and I play quite similar music, or used to to an extent and we're good homies. We'll just see what it is. It's kind of like a battle really to see who can do better. Obviously, I always win.  

iEDM: I read that you transitioned from DJing to producing. How did you find your style?

Will Clarke: I don't know, you just find it over the years. I still don't think I’ve found my style. I don't think anyone ever finds their style, personally.

iEDM: Do you think it is an ever changing thing?  

Will Clarke: It's evolving. If I just did one thing my whole life, I'd want to kill myself. It's just boring writing the same shit. So, I think if you're truly an artist, you just do your thing and write what you want to write that day. Obviously, I'm known a little bit for boomie house stuff, but I don't play that so much. And I don't write that so much anymore. It's kind what I was writing when I started, but it's kind of evolved to different stuff really.

iEDM: Your release on Anabatic Records helped you break into the scene. How did you get connected with Worthy?

Will Clarke: We just sent him some music. The biggest record on the release that broke through was actually the record that I wasn't going to sign. He just asked for a B side and I had it lying around, sent it to him, and it was the biggest record.

iEDM: You've played a lot of shows in Europe and you did a big US tour. What do you think of the US EDM scene?

Will Clarke: It's evolving and very different to the Europe scene. I feel that people are a lot more open. It's not as cliquey, but it's still evolving. So, there's still a lot of growing to do. The clubs aren't the same as Europe. I wouldn't say they're necessarily worse or better, but there's not as many very good clubs here compared to Europe, if that makes sense.

It'll get there. I know it'll get there. It just takes time. EDM is so big here, and the sound quality sucks ass. Venues will be realizing, "Oh wait we need to spend some more money on this venue and invest and make it a nice cool club.”

I noticed that the licensing here is different to the Europe. We can party til nine o'clock in the morning in some places. Normal is five, six in the morning. Whereas here, a lot of places, unless you're in New York or Miami, you have to stop serving alcohol at two.

So it's kind of different, but there's no better or worse, it's just different.

iEDM: What are you working on now?

Will Clarke: Well we're just on tour at the moment, and just working on music really.

iEDM: Any new releases coming out?

Will Clarke: Yeah I've got a new release with Huxley coming out, Defected, which is due out on the sixth of October. Just had a release which I remixed Becky Hill, and that's just come out. I've just signed a EP to Salado's new label, but I don't know when it's coming out. We got another release coming out on Dirty Bird at some point. There's a remix of Bib Gigantic which I've done. There's a lot in the works.

I like to work with artists that are different so that I can put my own spin on it.

Thanks for chatting with us Will! We had an amazing time at the Dirtybird Players Stage! Have a great time at the campout! Check out his SoundCloud HERE. 

Check out more iEDM exclusive interviews HERE. 

Check out the 10 Highlights of Imagine Festival HERE.