Fresh off of a performance at Italy's Home Festival, Martin Garrix landed in Philly for his set at Made in America. We sat down with him an hour and a half before he hit the stage to get the scoop on upcoming releases from STMPD RCRDS, catching Pokemon, and what he wouldn't do "In the Name of Love."
On playing Made in America this year: "I’m very happy to be part of such a cool, unique, diverse lineup and I don’t know what to expect but looking at how the crowd was pumped [for] the previous acts that I’ve seen, it’s going to be very, very fun.
To promote their new single, "In the Name of Love," Bebe Rexha and Garrix performed on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon." It was his first US television appearance and he brought out a guitar for the occasion.
On incorporating the guitar into his shows: "I don’t know if I’ll do it in my set but I will definitely start doing it more in my music. A lot of the songs that I’m writing right now literally started on guitar and then I’ll put them in a computer and do my thing."
On upcoming releases from his label, STMPD RCRDS: "Right now we’re in the phase of expanding the team, trying to get the right A&Rs in place and getting all the background stuff, contract bullsh*t done. I want to use STMPD RCRDS to launch new talent into the world. There’s so many artists that I’m listening to [...] One of the artists that I’m really excited about right now, who is going to release something very soon on the label, is Steve James. He did a super cool song called 'Renaissance' and I’ve been in the studio with him a lot and he’s so talented."
The inspiration behind the label's name came from his dad's stamp collection, since he owns an auctioning company that specializes in stamps. But what did Martin used to collect? Pokémon.
On getting kicked off of Pokémon Go: "I had this other app that I could change my location so I could get all the Pokémons. But then they found out and they kicked me off the app so… it’s a very sad story."
It's no surprise that blood, sweat, and tears go into Martin's stage production. He's showed off a bunch of new set ups this year, including one at Ultra, Billboard Hot 100 Festival, and now Made in America.
On creating incredible visuals: "I try to balance things out very, very well. Like if I’m in studio mode, I will be in the studio for 2-3 months just constantly working on music. In the meantime I will have a meeting with my creative team show-wise I’m like 'Alright guys, I’m working on this song. What would be cool visual wise?' And we start brainstorming, making raw sketches, raw renders, sending them back and forth with feedback, so it’s happening at the same time. We’re working towards this deadline and boom -- everything comes together. Then we start rehearsing the show and while we rehearse, there are still things we change."
Check out Top Three with Martin Garrix below.
Buy "In the Name of Love" on iTunes.
Photos: Rachel Kaplan for iHeartRadio