Red stage

Thilo & Evanti (NL)
Coone (BE)
Charly Lownoise & Menthal Theo (NL)
D-Block & S-te-Fan (NL)
Wildstylez (NL)
Frontliner LIVE (NL)
Brennan Heart(NL)
Headhunterz (NL)
Noisecontrollers (NL)

Hosted by MC DV8

Blue stage

Deepack (NL)
Second Idendity aka A-Lusion & Scope DJ (NL)
Tatanka (IT)
Digital Punk (NL)
Slim Shore (NL)
B-Front (NL)
Nitrouz (AU)
Alpha Twins & Beat Providers (NL)
Psyko Punkz LIVE (NL)
Zany (NL)

Hosted by MC Villain

Orange stage

A*S*Y*S (DE)
Bootek aka Phil York (UK)
Nik Fish (AU)
Kutski (UK)
Stana (SE)
Dimavi (SE)
Kamui (DE)
Fausto (NL)

Hosted by J-B

Purple stage

Bioweapon (AU)
Hectik (AU)
The Yofridiz (UK)
Frequencerz (ML)
Waverider (NL)
Artic (NL)
Atmosfearz (NL/CAN)
Titan (NL)
DJ Ezteq (NL)
Soul-T (NL)
Intactable One (NL)

Hosted by MC V

Black stage

Nosferatu (NL)
The Playah (NL)
Endymion (NL)
Partyraiser (NL) & Unexist (IT)
E-Ruption (NL)
Traxtor (IT)
Outblast (NL)
Neophyte (NL)
Art Of Figters (IT)
MC Da Mouth Of Madness (NL)

Grey stage

The Prophet (NL)
Vince (NL)
Robin ‘Jaybee’ Albers (NL)
The Viper & Panic (NL)
Yves ‘Special Club X set) (NL)
Promo ‘Files set) (NL)
Pavo (NL)
Fierce Ruling Diva (NL)
Delirium (NL)

Hosted by MC Da Syndrome (NL)

White stage

Dov Elkabas (NL)
Dustin Zhan (USA)
Dock 45 (NL)
Arjen T (NL)
A*S*Y*S (DE)
Darren Mase (NL)
Night Stalkers (NL)
Isaac (NL)
Pavelow (NL)

Silver Stage

Stormtrooper
Bryan Fury
Mindustries
Mental Wreckage
Mez vs Torsion
Simon Underground
Drokz
Negative A
Tymon
Hosted by MC justice

Green Stage

Miss Djax
Boris S
Bold
Hilarious
Fernandia Martins
Mike Drama
Daniela Haverbeck
Virgel Enzinger
Audio Slayer
Hosted by MC TMC

Brown Stage

Demoniak
Transfarmers
Fenix
DarkE
Dr.Phunk
Playboyz
Davdddi
Jones
Ruthless & Coone
Hosted by MC Chucky

In a recent article in the Australian magazine 3D World, Showtek gave an interview publicizing their upcoming Australian tour, during which they mentioned “We’re not going to stay a hardstyle act.”

Woah, what?

So, maybe it isn’t as dramatic as it seems, they add: “We are really working on our own sound and I think we’ve already accomplished a lot. Tiesto, for example, is not a trance DJ – but his music sounds a bit trancy. He’s just a brand nowadays, and, with Showtek, it’s actually the same”. They follow it up with “We are not going to make house or trance. We are going to develop our sound even more – tracks like Electronic Stereophonic is really our stuff. You’ll see”.

So how did we get here? Firstly, it’s not surprising that Showtek are breaking away from hardstyle. Showtek have always been a strange brand, an outsider, a Dutch duo far more embraced worldwide than in their homeland. The most recognizable and arguably the most successful hardstyle act ever, yet they do not garner the respect amongst the hardstyle faithful that other legendary artists do. Their sound is one of the few to break free from the constraints of hardstyle, one of the few hardstyle brands recognizable in pop culture.

And their split from hardstyle has been further facilitated recently with Showtek deciding to split with the Platinum booking agency to form their own booking agency to handle them and other Dutch Master Works artists, after a rumored falling out with Platinum refusing to book them at a certain hardstyle festival (for those who don’t know: Platinum booking agency handles most big names in hardstyle, and Q-Dance almost exclusively books through Platinum, leading to allegations of corruption, shady dealing and anti-competitive practices).

Showtek are one of the few hardstyle acts who have the crowd pulling ability to do this (as they effectively waved goodbye to ever playing at a Q-Dance event again), and they have an unashamedly popular, worldwide sound. No massive name in hardstyle could afford to not be booked at Q-Dance parties; but Showtek are not trying to be a massive hardstyle name, they are trying to be a massive name full stop.

So what will this Showtek actually sound like, if it isn’t hardstyle? Obviously their recent album is a good indicator, especially the track “Electronic Stereophonic”, of which I have never seen a producer beat off to their own track as much as showtek have with this one, mentioning it in almost every interview since the album came out.

Ultimately, it seems like a more accessible sound, without as much of the “distorted and aggressive sounds” that accompany most hardstyle, to use Walt’s words. Think a softer “hard dance” sound that blends genres, coming from a hardstyle direction but containing elements from different genres like rock, trance, house and pop. It’s still undeniably Showtek, with their sound almost instantly recognizable from their productions. In fact, it’s really a sound that is just more Showtek, and less hardstyle, to sum it up.

And so, we see this positioning makes sense in a wider view of Showtek trying to really forge their own place, their own niche in the hard dance scene – not limited by any genre expectations, producing whatever they want, playing at what parties they like, globetrotting worldwide. Analogue players in a digital world, anyone?

Discuss this in its thread on our forum.

Update: ScuL has chucked in the towel and globalhardstyle.com is now closed.

In amongst all this, I’m proud to introduce that which has risen from the ashes of all of this event, The Harder Forum.

The Harder Forum, or THF, is here to meet some needs as a forum that some others seemingly cannot provide, such as unbiased management and free discussion of all topics.

If you’ve followed this site long enough, you’ll probably be aware that this is our second attempt at creating a sustained forum, however unlike last time, we have an enthusiastic management team and a lot of support behind it. All we need now is you, the members, to create a positive and interesting community based around the music we enjoy so much.

Sign up at The Harder Form.

All the cool kids are doing it. Don’t you wanna be cool?

Having earned their merits at the legendary Qlubtempo parties in the early 00s, slowly conquering the world from there on, Arjen and Anco Timmerman can be considered one of the most constant factors in the hardstyle scene ever since it was born. With performances all over Europe and, recently, even in Australia, their dark sound slowly conquers more and more souls worldwide: this is the story of the Alpha Twins.

Making their Q-Dance entry at the very first Qlimax event held in the Heineken Music Hall, these brothers have seen a small promoter evolve into the Netherlands’ biggest hardstyle event organizer. Playing almost every first edition of what are now world-famous festivals, they have always buffeted crowds with dark melodies and evil themes. “It’s a matter of taste,” Arjen says. “We both happen to like dark, raw hardstyle. It’s always been like that, really – there’s no particular philosophy to it, although it is a way of setting ourselves apart, in a sense. Of course, this doesn’t mean we don’t play the more accessible stuff; there’s really good tracks in that department too, and it can often be very useful during a 2 hour set.”

The twins, who aren’t actually twins at all, often team up with others for their releases. “Of course, solo releases are very important, but we do like to collaborate with other artists. Besides the social aspect, which is always a lot of fun, we also learn a lot from it. Other artists always tend to have a different approach to things. For instance, we recently did a new collab with Wildstylez, producing a new track we named ‘Atrocious’. A collaboration with Zatox is also in the pipeline.”

Gaining a steady crowd of followers over the years, Anco & Arjen never really had a home base. After releasing various records on labels such as Mythica and Sys-X, and even the Qlimax 2006 anthem on Q-Dance Records, they finally decided to set up their own label. With the April 2008 release of ‘Nowhere to Hide’, A² Records was born. “It’s something we had been planning to do for quite a while. Of course, it’s cool to have your own label as an artist, but we mainly see it as something that completes the picture,” Arjen comments. “The good thing about having your own label is that you can plan your own release schedule: no more waiting for those other two releases before it’s your turn. We’ve known the other artists on our label for a long time. 2-Sidez already were somewhat popular but didn’t have a home label yet, and we thought their sound fit ours. The same goes for Ran-D, although maybe he wasn’t as well known at the time.”

Even though the boys are running a label, producing, and performing every weekend, they still have time for other activities. “We both like to play tennis and you may find us at the golf course from time to time.” Whereas Anco lives off the music business, Arjen works from 9 to 1 four times a week. “Because I enjoy doing it, and because it helps me keep a healthy day/night rhythm.” He also confesses to be guilty of producers’ sin #1: “I regularly meet with friends at Friday night to play some games.”

Earlier this year, the guys decided to join up with what is probably the world’s famous hardstyle label: A² Records became a sublabel of Scantraxx. “They already had a bunch of sublabels, but none of those represented the harder sound. Of course, we did and Scantraxx asked us to team up with them. Things went rather fast and we quickly agreed on everything. The only thing really important for us was that we could keep our own identity, separate from the main label. Of course, joining Scantraxx has certain benefits. We’ve been getting quite a few extra bookings abroad lately.”

According to the Timmerman brothers, the future of hardstyle is looking bright. “At big events, you still see loaded hardstyle areas every time. And they’re often the biggest areas, too! We also notice hardstyle is on the rise abroad. As we said, we get quite a lot of bookings and so do our colleagues. The great thing about these booking is that in other countries, an event is still a ‘special’ experience.” Personally, they have achieved pretty much everything there is to achieve: bookings all around the globe, a Qlimax anthem, mainstage at all big events. Still, their work is not complete: “One of our goals was to play in Australia. We’ve recently accomplished that, and with great success: Defqon.1 Australia was unbelievable! Of course, an X-Qlusive Alpha² would also be great. It’s simply a party that’s all about you as an artist: you get to decide what the night looks like, you decide who gets to play. Besides that, we’d like to continue crossing the globe. We’ve already played in quite a lot of countries, but there’s a lot of other ones where we would like to go, to see if we can spread the hardstyle virus over there, too.”

Arjen also has some plans outside of the hardstyle world. “It’s nothing concrete yet, but recently I have been working on minimal, techno and tech-house and even performed with these style at the Q-BASE freestyle area,” he says. Don’t worry that he might leave the dark side, though: “I’m not sure yet if I’m actually going to do anything with this. Of course, Alpha Twins will always be more important.”

Of course, the British enthusiasm hasn’t go unnoticed with the brothers. “We’ve had the privilege to perform in England numerous times, and it has always been a blast. The crowd goes on and on and they’re extremely enthusiastic.”

As a parting message, they have one more thing to say:
Check alphatwins.nl , myspace.com/alphatwinsnl , facebook.com/alpha2 , twitter.com/alphatwins to follow the latest news!

And with that, these busy brothers return to their work: delivering some of the darkest sounds in the scene to us!