D-wayne Details

Dwayne’s career has taken off at lightning speed and there’s no stopping him.

He remixes Tiësto, Enrique Iglesias and Jennifer Lopez. He is a star at festivals and in clubs. His records are released on Nervous, the oldest house label in the world, and on Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak, Spinnin’ Records and currently on Wall Recordings, Afrojack’s record label.

• 2014 is D-wayne’s year! It will see lots of his own productions, remixes of his musical heroes and up and coming stars, projects with various artists, and a slew of gigs at festivals and clubs both at home and abroad.

And, of course, a world tour with Afrojack.

• Dwayne Megens was born in the Dutch city of Eindhoven in 1994. He was named after Wayne Rainey, the famous American Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. D-wayne’s parents weren’t real motorsport fans – they just loved the sound of his name. That’s what D-wayne loves as well – things that sound beautiful. Together with his father he would listen to the radio, from the classic rock of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple to the electronic wizardry of Kraftwerk. D-wayne absorbed it all and taught himself more, spurning formal music training.

• D-wayne started DJ’ing at school parties and from there, he progressed to playing in local clubs.

Much as D-wayne loves the records of stars such as Tiësto, Laidback Luke or Axwell he wanted more. “I thought, wouldn’t it be much better to create dance floor euphoria by playing my own stuff? So I did what many producers have done and downloaded Fruity Loops. I soon got the hang of it. Motorcycle’s track, As The Rush Comes, was a huge inspiration, it keeps you spellbound from beginning to end. That is what I want my own productions to be – riveting and constantly surprising.”

• D-wayne sent Afrojack one of his first tracks. “He responded after a while, saying he didn’t only like it very much but wanted to release it as well!” The list of D–wayne productions has now grown considerably;

Punk’d and Eponym on Aoki’s Dim Mak label, Kampala and Neon on Nervous, Ammo, Gravity and Crackle on Wall Recordings. Additionally, there are remixes for R3hab, Natali Yura, Enrique Iglesias, Jennifer Lopez and Afrojack. Now DJ’s such as Armin van Buuren, Tiësto, Nicky Romero, David Guetta and Gabriel & Dresden play his records. D-wayne also produced a remix of a Gabriel & Dresden track. Together the three of them produced the track Shatter. With this things came full circle – for it was Gabriel & Dresden behind the Motorcycle pseudonym. They produced As the Rush Comes, the record that inspired D-Wayne to start making his own music.

• D-wayne cares deeply about his music. “Just like a film director chooses images, each with their own meaning, I carefully select all the elements of my music. I want to tell a story. Africa, one of my most recent tracks, is inspired by the people of Africa. Even when misery seems insurmountable, they draw strength from their music.

I want to project that strength in my music.” Signs of that strength are evident when D-wayne is playing records at festivals such as 7th Sunday and Tomorrowland, in clubs in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal, in The Mansion in Miami, in Hakkasan Las Vegas.

“I want to produce that one record that will make everyone in the club or at the festival say: that was the absolut high point of the night.”