Melbourne Bounce is clearly taking over. Just a couple weeks ago two bounce tracks sat atop the Beatport top 10. Now, with one of Bounce music’s most promising talents, Will Sparks, touring North America, the genre’s future internationally looks more promising than ever. I had the chance to catch up with Will before his performance at Pacha NYC. Melbourne Bounce, from Melbourne, Australia, is absolutely huge down under. Will told me a bit about what the genre is like in his home country.
Melbourne Bounce has been around for 5 or 6 years now. It has progressed a lot. Bounce used to be so much more underground but then everyone started recreating this sound because they loved it. There are a lot of tracks that have charted like Whats Up Suckaz and such but there is a lot of music in Melbourne that the rest of the world doesn’t know about. That is what I want to show to the world, and I am now lucky enough to have that chance. In Australia, everyone is all over the Melbourne sound. It is just huge. Everyone is a DJ in Melbourne, everyone copies each other.
Will Sparks is an example of something we are seeing more and more of these days; young producers that blow up seemingly overnight. At only 20 years old Will is traveling the world bringing his massive bounce sound with him.
I have been traveling around Australia a lot so I am never really home. I am really embracing it. I am young but I think I am old enough, I am really independent now. Before I started doing all this traveling I wasn’t really comfortable with it. But now I have definitely gotten used to it and I love it. I am still the same kid in my bedroom that I think I have been for my whole life. None of this has sunk in yet. I mean you look at it, you celebrate it, you embrace it. It is just a crazy feeling. I can’t even begin to explain it.
I really hope that people love my US tour. I just want it to take off, to be honest, so I can bring all my boys back in Melbourne around the world with me because a lot of them are really talented.
In an EDM world with big room house and big kick drums Will wants to bring something new to the table.
I am making something different. I think you have to do something different. EDM at the moment is just all very similar. I respect what everyone is doing, they’re smashing it with all these festival bangers, but I just want to bring something different to the table. I have a lot of unreleased tracks and stuff I play in my sets which makes them unique. I also always play my music. A lot of people aren’t really confident in their own sound.
I have seen and heard in America that it is all about that big room house with big kick drums and the “epic” kind of tracks. I like them but it has become a big trend, everyone is doing it. Hopefully this bounce that I am doing will grow. I am not sure how far it is going to go.
One of Will Sparks’ biggest hits to date has been his remix of the pop song Blurred Lines. He took the popular summer hit, threw a massive bounce beat on it, and made it into a proper dance floor destroyer.
The Melbourne tracks back in the day, when it first started, were all about that kicking bass with rap over it. When I heard Blurred Lines I was like “Easy! Just like the old times.” I broke it down, put a bit of the original in, made a build-up and the drop. It was very simple, but sometimes simple is more effective. It isn’t about complexity all the time.
Along with his USA tour, which will be followed by another in Europe, Will is working on some exciting things in the studio, collaborating with some of electronic music’s biggest stars.
I am working on some collaborations. It takes so long to get music out these days with labels and stuff, there’s a lot of business involved. There are some collabs I am working on. I have been talking to Laidback Luke a bit. We are thinking of doing something. He is really supporting the Melbourne sound. I have been getting a lot of support from big guys too. R3hab hit me up which is really cool because he is absolutely smashing it, and even though he has a completely different style he likes it. After the USA tour I have another one in Europe. I have only been producing for about 3, 3 and a half years. If you had told me a year ago that this is where I would be, I wouldn’t believe you.
Will Sparks is simply a natural at what he does. He has not been producing for long but he’s prepared to take dance music by storm. His ability behind the decks matched with superb work in the studio will propel the young Australian straight to the top of electronic music.
It is all about your creativity in the end. I just sit there, be a weirdo in my chair and do my thing.
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