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Lost Frequencies Talks ‘Less Is More’ and The Chainsmokers at CRSSD Fest [Exclusive Interview]

March 22, 2017 By Bianca Benjamin

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As the clock hit 5:30 PM, sweet melodic music flowed from the Ocean View stage at CRSSD Fest. Felix De Laet, better known by his moniker Lost Frequencies, captured the hearts of main stage attendees as the sun set over the beautiful Waterfront Park.

After witnessing the majority of Felix’s set, I made my way over to the artist area, eagerly awaiting the talented producer at his tent, while he closed out the set. The young Belgian producer arrived, instantly welcoming me, and putting my nerves at ease with his humble nature and sweet personality. We spoke about all aspects of his career; opening up about his dream of building a live set, his debut album, and his guest spot on the upcoming Chainsmokers tour. Felix’s enthusiasm while discussing his music was quite inspiring and it was an immense honor to speak with him immediately following his performance. Check out our exclusive interview below:

RR – Congratulations on the success of your debut album, Less Is More. My personal favorite single on the album is “What Is Love”. Do you have a favorite track?

LF – No, I don’t. (laughs) I like all of the tracks, but “Are You With Me” is my first one, so it’s a special one. Also, “Reality” is a confirmation of the whole project. Every track has a special meaning to me, so I don’t have one favorite.

RR – So how did the title of the album come about?

LF – When I went to do radio promo in Belgium for the first time, one of the guys from the label told me, “your music, “Are You With Me” and “Reality”, is really less is more because they are small productions, but still really big tracks.” About one year later, I was thinking about a name for my album and thought back to this discussion. It fits perfectly and is a description of my music.

RR – Your latest release “All Or Nothing” has been very successful. You had posted something on Facebook about it being selected in the Ultra top 10?

LF – Yeah, it came in as the biggest climber in Belgium. I’m always happy to see that people supported it in my own country. For me, if it doesn’t work in my own country, but it works outside, it’s a little bit weird. It’s funny because here in the U.S., I’m less big than in Europe, but I feel like my album is bigger here. When I play in clubs here, all the people know the tracks from the album and sing along. In Europe, I have that sometimes, but not all the time. Here, I’ve had it at every gig. It’s really amazing to see that people here really follow me, they follow the album, they follow the music, and I’m so thankful for that.

RR – Where do you draw inspiration from when producing new music?

LF – I draw inspiration from listening to a lot of music. For example, tonight I’m going to listen to other artists and get inspiration from them. I’m going to see how people react to their music and see what the high points are. Maybe try to incorporate this into my music, while still keeping it melodic because that’s what I like. I get inspiration from all around me.

RR – How has your time been at CRSSD Fest so far?

LF – Well I just arrived one hour before my set. I saw Giraffage, since he was playing right before me, but just a little bit because I had another interview before. I had an amazing time on stage. People were dancing and singing along, it was really cool!

RR – Are there any sets that you’re going to see tonight?

LF – Of course, I’m going to see 2ManyDJs, because they’re also from Belgium and I know the guys. They’re really nice, so I’m going to go support them for sure. I really want to stay until tomorrow because one of my favorite artists is Flume. I’ve been a big fan of his for 3-4 years now and I really love his music. Plus the guy is amazing, so I would love to see him. Unfortunately, I fly out back to Europe really early tomorrow, so it’s a shame.

RR – You’re hosting your own stage at Tomorrowland again this year. What goes into hosting your own stage? Do you have complete control of curating the lineup?

LF – Yeah, I do control the lineup, but I also talk with the guys in charge of the festival because they know how their festival works. For example, they told me, “do not put yourself at the end of the lineup, otherwise you’ll be against really big names on the main stage, and stuff like that.” Last time, I put myself like three slots before the closer. There are really big artists on my stage like Duke Dumont. I don’t want to put them before me because they’re really big. I’m really happy to be able to choose my lineup. Also, what I like the most is to be able to support up and coming artists because I was an up and coming artist just two years ago. If someone hosting a stage at Tomorrowland would have told me, “hey come play at my stage,” I would have been like crazy. So now, I get the chance to do that for other people. I can do like four up and comers, but otherwise I have to get big names because I have a big stage and people have to come to the stage. The people are really excited and I’m really happy to be able to give that to someone.

RR – Do you have any pre-show rituals before hitting the stage?

LF – Usually, I like to drink a gin and tonic, but now that I’m on tour in the U.S. with a big time schedule, I drink a beer. (laughs)

RR – I once read in a interview that you would love to eventually build a live show. Is that something currently in the works or something we can expect in the near future?

LF – I would love to do it, but I’m always gone. At some point, I have to make a choice, but with my ‘Less Is More’ album, it would be a little complicated to do live because I have so many different singers on it. I think it would be impossible to get everybody on tour. But I did just make a deluxe album, which is a like a remix of every single track, so I may be able to go on tour with that and do some kind of live show, bring a keyboard with me and do some stuff on Ableton. I’ll see how to get to it because I’m leaving all the time, and it’s hard to. I see a lot of upcoming artists trying to be everywhere, and I cannot be everywhere and have an amazing show.

RR – Have you ever done a live set before?

LF – Yeah, I’ve done it a few times. I do it for promo radio. When I do radio shows, I play live and bring along singers. I also did it for the album launch party. I managed to get almost all the singers and that was really fun. I had a keyboard with me and Ableton Push, and was doing a lot of stuff live. It was like a hybrid DJ/live set with singers. It was really fun!

RR – Congrats on scoring a spot as a special guest on The Chainsmokers Memories Do Not Open arena tour. Have you worked with them before?

LF – I met the guys last summer on tour when they were in Germany. They are really simple guys. They were just hanging out, and I went up to them and introduced myself, and they were like “hey, we know your music, it’s cool to finally meet you because we talk about you in the shows”. We hung out for like 20 minutes, talked, and drank a beer. They were so nice! Now that we are in the same agency, they managed to put me on the warm up. We send emails to the guys, and just saw them two weeks ago when they played a show in Brussels. I’m really looking forward to going on tour with them!

RR – Speaking of The Chainsmokers, if you could choose one Chainsmokers song to remix, which would you choose to remix?

LF – I think I would go with “All We Know”. I really like the vibe of that one. My favorite is still “Roses” and I love the new one with Coldplay. I’ve played it a few times in my shows in Columbia. But I think I would still go with “All We Know”. Plus, I would be scared to remix Coldplay. (laughs)

RR – “Don’t Let Me Down” is a great song too?!

LF – I play “Don’t Let Me Down” in my sets. I made a special edit for my sets, but I don’t play it anymore because you know people want to hear new stuff. I loved playing it, especially the last part of it because it’s melodic.

On behalf of RaverRafting, I would like to thank Felix and his team for being so welcoming and taking the time to chat with us!

Lost Frequencies has an exciting tour and festival season ahead of him. Be sure to check him out at Tomorrowland, The Chainsmokers Memories Do Not Open tour, and his Miami Music Week event this weekend!

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