Born Artem Stolyarov, ARTY is the darling of the EDM world and also extremely successful. In fact, just a few months ago, the DJ/producer cinched a spot as one of the world’s top 100 DJs. At #28 on DJ Mag’s Top 100, ARTY might be one of the youngest of the lot but he’s also an emerging titan in the studio, earning him much respect and adoration from his fans, peers, and the older EDM maestros alike.
Just last week, ARTY was in Kuala Lumpur for the second consecutive year to play at Zouk Club Kuala Lumpur. Minutes prior to his bangin’ set, we spent a little time with him and grilled him on how being ARTY has been treating him.
Hi Arty! So good to be speaking to you. When did you get in?
“Hi! I’ve been here for three days, I think? But it’s pretty nice to come to a country before the show and not go to straight the venue to play the set. It’s a little bit different that way and it makes me more excited.”
So, this is your second time back in Kuala Lumpur. What were you looking forward to the most prior to coming back?
“Definitely a better party than the last show. The last show (last year) was pretty good – I really liked that. I enjoyed it. You know, the thing about last year was that it was pretty crazy. But tonight, I’m looking forward to a good reaction from the tracks and I’m really looking forward to playing some new stuff. It’s gonna be a good night, I’m sure.”
You’re really, really young but also really, really successful. What are some of the challenges that you’ve faced as a DJ/producer at such a young age?
“Thank you! Uh, I don’t know. It’s good to be my age and doing this. I think it’s harder to travel around the world every day from country to country and from club to club. To not sleep properly, to not eat properly, to not get good and proper rest. It’s good to be doing this at like, an early age because when you become older, it’s harder to do stuff like this. There are no challenges but the main challenge is you – you just need to fight the you inside to be on top of things.”
Let’s talk about your radio show, “Together We Are”. What made you start that up and how do you go about choosing what or who to feature on your show?
“It’s coming into a year, almost. I started it up because, it’s just me wanting to play music. I usually go through promos or I’d find some cool track from a movie or from some, I don’t know, really random spots. Like when I’m shopping and if there’s some cool music playing then I’d Shazam it on my iPhone and find out what it is to put on my radio show. Of course, usually I’m just going through all the promos that come in through my mail. And they might not be something I could use for my live set but it could be something I just like because of the melody or the cool sound. So the songs that I feature on ‘Together We Are’ are the songs that I like to listen to and enjoy listening to, and I just want to share that feeling with the listeners.”
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What are the best and worst parts of your job?
“The best parts of my job are the energy of the people, the passionate crowd, the amazing shows, and the reactions to my music. The worst parts of my job are the flying and traveling because it just makes you really exhausted sometimes. But it’s part of the whole package so I can’t just drop that – it’s just something that I need to do so I’m pretty used to that.”
So many aspiring DJs/producers would like to study under you. Now, if the roles were reversed, do you wish you could’ve been a protégé of any of the DJs/producers today?
“Me? I’m still the same guy who’s still learning. I’ve learnt a lot from Axwell, I’ve learnt a lot from Eric Prydz. I started making music because of deadmau5, because of his tracks. I started listening to trance in 2006 and my entire journey..the whole way to becoming a DJ/producer, I’ve been learning about a lot of things such as production, how to be a good DJ, how to work with the crowd, how to work with the programs, how to make a track better, how to be a better musician, from those DJs/producers. And it’s also all dedication. Constant dedication! There’d be no steps forward without that.”
Last one for the road now before we head off to catch your set – what is Arty’s ultimate dream?
“Ultimate dream..I have a lot of dreams! I know my ultimate dream but I can’t share it (smile) – it’s really hard to pluck my ultimate dream out of my mind and share it with you because it’s a really complex thing. It’s really complicated. I would tell you if I could, but I do have an ultimate dream.”
One could only wonder what that is!
Needless to say, his “Fired Up Fridays” set at Zouk Club Kuala Lumpur didn’t fail to impress. Thank you, ARTY for speaking to us. And special thanks to our awesome friends from Zouk Club Kuala Lumpur for setting up the interview!
For more information on ARTY, hit up his website or his Facebook page. He’s also on Twitter so follow him for more timely updates!
