Tim Bergling aka Avicii rise to stardom has been very impressive. Only months after he started producing he released his own track on Strike Recordings after which he won a release on Pete Tong’s Bedlam imprint. More recently he did a Strictly Rhythm compilation which has been released two weeks ago and occupied an impressive four slots during the Miami Music Week. Time for us to go for a chat with the Swedish producer and jock.
Hey Tim, thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions. How is life treating you lately? Life is great! I’m really happy to be able to travel the way I am and to be able to do what I love!
Your Strictly Rhythm compilation has just hit the streets, can you tell us something about it? How did you and the guys of Strictly Rhythm came into contact? I have no idea! It was all done through my management and I just got the news while I was on the road and jumped straight into it!
How did you go about the track selection for this compilation? Obviously you had access to the whole Strictly Rhythm catalogue and your own tracks but what standards did those tracks had to meet? Well the compilation had to represent both mine and the Strictly sound! When looking through the Strictly catalogue there were so many tracks that surprised me, I had no idea they had been released on Strictly!
What did you use to record the compilation? Do you use the same set-up as for a live DJ-set? No, I use FL studio for my compilations and podcasts. I DJ off USB's on the CDJ 2000s!
Talking DJ-sets, you had three slots during Miami Music Week a few weeks ago? I think that’s something that has never happened before, at least not without including own hosted parties, how did you do that? Again it’s my manager Ash haha. And actually there was a fourth appearance for a selected few at the Heineken Dome tent! ;) I was so happy with this year’s MMW though, such an amazing experience and it was great to finally play Ultra!
Those three performances at MMW are kind of an indication of how popular you are while you are only DJ-ing three/four years or so. Does it ever get a bit overwhelming or too much? Not really, I try to not think of that stuff and just go with the flow. For me it’s all about the music and has always been about the music!
You started producing before DJ-ing, which is somehow a bit unnatural as oppose to most jocks out there. How come? Why were you drawn to the producing side of things? Well I started producing before I even listened to house. I was just playing around doing loads of different genres and I wasn’t that familiar with the DJ scene in general. Then I got into house and the way I looked at music and when I met Ash he got me into DJ’ing almost overnight.
What do you like more? DJ-ing in front of thousands or producing a track of which you simply know it will be massive? I would say dropping that track that I really love for the first time in front of a big crowd. That’s the feeling that made me fall in love with this scene and the music.
Looking back, what has been the absolute highlight of your career to date? Career-wise it has been meeting Ash. We have a very unique team and wouldn’t be anywhere near where I’m at today if it wasn’t for him! Experience-wise I think this year’s Miami week has to be the biggest for me personally!
Looking at the future, what can we expect of Tim Bergling? Where are you heading, world domination? DJ Mag Top 100 #1? Haha, yeah fingers crossed! To be honest my manager's the one with the master plan. I'm just going to try and keep doing what I’ve been doing so far, keep touring, working with Ash and keep on producing and releasing tracks!
Any cool projects you have scheduled this year? Can you give us a sneak preview? Oh I have loads, not sure on what I can say at this point though but there will be some big collaborations with both producers and singers!
