Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike’s path from celebrated DJs to dominating the electronic music industry has been a constant, upward trajectory. This year saw the duo claiming the prestigious #02 slot in DJ Mags Top 100 Poll, voted for by fans world wide, no accolade is regarded higher than this with in the scene. Whether wreaking havoc across the United States, Europe, Asia, South America or Australia, ripping up the music charts with immense original tracks, unbelievable collaborations and huge remix cuts from the A-list elite, or playing their part in the incredible rise of the Belgian mega-festival Tomorrowland, the award-winning brotherly duo have become leading lights in the new wave of international dance music currently taking the planet by storm.
Their electrifying live combination of DJ sets and crowd-busting MCing has propelled them towards party notoriety. Having been on the road since the mid-2000s and as each year has progressed, so their profile has become ever more significant. Scooping the hotly contested ‘Breakthrough DJ’ award at the 2013 International Dance Music Awards (IMDAs), Dimitri & Mike are fast becoming major players and highly sought-after producers. That same month (March) the duo scored what was their first ever Beatport #1 with the Moguai co-production ‘Mammoth’ (which secured the impressive position of ‘most played single’ throughout the 2013 edition of Ultra Music Festival). The pair then repeated the feat in April with their second #1, the huge GTA/Wolfpack collaboration ‘Turn It Up’. And the chart dominance didn’t stop there as the boys went onto score a further five Beatport #1’s with singles ‘Ocarina’ (which went Gold in Belgium), ‘Chattahoochee’, ‘Project T remix’, ‘Stampede’ and ‘Eat Sleep Rave Repeat’, bringing their total to seven #1’s in 2013 – and which saw them both close 2013 and open 2014 with a #1 single in the chart! More recently their collaboration ‘Tremor’ with man-of-the-moment Martin Garrix scored them another Beatport #1, as well as picking up heavy support from guys like Zane Lowe, Danny Howard and Pete Tong on Radio 1.
Fast becoming one of the go-to acts for major recording artists, the demand for Dimitri and Mike’s editing skills has gone through the roof. From having remixed for arguably the biggest artist in the world right now, Lady Gaga, who requested the boys’ take on her single ‘Marry The Night’, a remix that within hours of completion was scooped up for Radio 1’s peak-time Friday night show Ready For The Weekend. The duo have also scored edits for everyone from Billboard royalty Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull, LMFAO, Snoop Dogg, Sean Paul and more.
But it’s not just their music that continually hits the spotlight. Their incendiary imprint Smash The House has taken a life of its own and with it uncovered a string of earworm releases that include Dimitri & Mike’s own ‘Wakanda’ (officially the most highly played track of Miami Music Week), Bass Kleph’s ‘Tommy’s Dream’, Yves V & Chuckie ‘Oldskool Sounds’, as well as releases and remixes from the likes of Bassjackers, Basto, Felguk, Dada Life and the pop piercing cut of Ginuwine and Timbaland’s ‘Get Involved’. Highly regarded by the industry and fans a like, Smash The House delivers up front club bangers on a weekly basis, giving a platform to some of the freshest up and coming talent to shine. The success of the label coupled with the ‘Smash The House Radio’ show now being broadcast on stations worldwide and often clocking up over 100k plays via their YouTube channel, it is apparent that their reach and influence is forever expanding.
As music selectors they remain one of the most in-demand acts anywhere in the world right now. With their unique arena-smashing brand of entertainment the duo have become a constant headline feature at the planet’s biggest and most prestigious stages week in, week out – including their recently announced residency at the incredible LIGHT venue in Las Vegas, conceived and created by the technical wizards behind the world famous Cirque du Soleil. From legendary clubs like Pacha Ibiza and NYC to Mansion in Miami, London’s Ministry of Sound and Brazil’s epic Green Valley, to Mysteryland, EDC Las Vegas, Ultra Music Festival, XXXperience and closing the mainstage at this years Creamfields plus many, many more, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike regularly illuminate the top billboards of the hottest tickets around. Testament to this statement is the soaring number of views that their first ever solo ‘Bringing Home The Madness’ event has achieved to date – currently at 10 million views, the video received over 1.5 million views in its first week alone. Performing to a packed house of 36, 000 people Dimitri & Mike hosted their debut event, on home soil, at Belgium's most legendary venue: Sportpaleis Antwerpen to what has been referred to as “one of the country’s most impressive arena shows”.
Yet of all the events Dimitri and Mike bring their act to, it is with the critically acclaimed Tomorrowland that they are most closely affiliated. Enjoying a massively successful partnership that stretches back over the past five years, Dimitri and Mike were bought on board by organisers ID&T after the seasoned industry veterans were blown away by the natural power of the brothers’ debut performance. Since 2010 the boys have been responsible for creating the festival’s musical centrepiece, the much-celebrated Tomorrowland Anthem, and each year have taken the task to greater heights – the collaborative dynamite of Dada Life and Tara McDonald with ‘Give Into The Night (Tomorrow)’; the 2011 Beatport-topping Afrojack and NERVO co-production ‘The Way We See The World’; and the 2012 solo track ‘Tomorrow Changed Today’, which made history as the first ever non-Avicii release on the LE7ELS label and struck immediate chart gold. This year’s festival was no different as over 400K flooded the festival over the course of the two weekends with 40,000 people crammed in front of the main stage, the most in the history of the festival. Such is their relationship with the now global brand, their hit, ‘Tremor,” which was created alongside the prodigious talent of Martin Garrix, proved to be the most played track at the festival. Following closely behind this was ‘Waves’ created alongside W&W, it was the official anthem of the Tomorrowland festival.
The pick-up from all this is their swelling fan base which is as impressive as their release schedule. To date the duo have amassed over 5.6 million ‘Likes’ on Facebook, over 1.2 Million (collectively) on Twitter and received in excess of 100 million YouTube views across their live DJ streams and music videos. More recently the pair won the 2014 Beatport Award for ‘Artist of the Year’ and ‘Track of the Year’ with their rousing club hit ‘Mammoth’, claimed the prize for ‘Best EDM DJ’ at the EMPO TV awards in Mexico, as well as won the awards for ‘Best Artist (Group)’ and ‘Best European DJ’ at the 29th Annual International Dance Music Awards (IDMA’s) ceremony. Alongside scoping two IDMA’s the Belgian brothers were also recognised with the imperious Gold Award for their smash hit track ‘Find Tomorrow’. As well as this, their most recent compilation ‘Bringing Home the Madness,’ stormed its way to a Platinum record as Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike backed up huge crowds with equally impressive record sales. This was proven once more when Body Talk (Mammoth Vocal Version.)
Over the course of the summer Dmitri Vegas & Like Mike have been holding down one of the most in-demand residency’s in Ibiza. Taking over the Amnesia Terrace every Sunday, Dimitiri and Mike have introduced their ‘House Of Madness” concept, a decedent fun house is created and packed out with all the signs off madness and the DJ booth is adorned with a gigantic, manically grinning monster. Already proving successful with the party selling out on a weekly basis, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike have been joined by some of the scenes leading talents, including ‘Diplo,’ Steve Aoki, Steve Angelo, Fat Boy Slim, Yves V, Wolfpack and Chuckie. Once again the guys are demonstrating the popularity and global appeal as they pull colossal crowds in one of the industry’s more saturated scenes.
It has been without doubt an absolute fairytale story that has emerged from this talented and grittily determined duo from Belgium. With their latest ‘Bring The World The Madness’ tour concept, with stops being dictated by their fans, launching in Antwerp in December as well as a huge run of major hits too come from Dimitri and Mike, these two titans of dance music show no signs of abating. As the summer of 2014 moves through to the autumn season, their story will continue to grow and develop, effectively establishing their place in the pantheon of modern dance music greats.
