Our Pre-Boomtown Interview with Parov Stelar

As Boomtown, our favourite pop up city, is only three weeks away we thought it was time for an interview. The festival has nine distinct districts, each with its own sense of style, personality and genre. However, every city needs a Town Centre, a stage that stands separately from any district, showing off the best of all districts ‐ a melting pot of all the different sounds on offer.

With this in mind, Boomtown had to bring back Parov Stelar, the electroswing artist who set the dancefloor alight with his performance back in 2014. Parov Stelar is the biggest seller in electroswing not just in his country, but also the UK. He has sold out multiple UK venues and leaves his audience members breathless after every performance.

We caught up with him ahead of his 2016 headline slot at the festival:

First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to do this. The crowd loved you at Boomtown in 2013! The festival is known for being an immersive, theatrical and engaging experience that leaves punters with lasting memories. What is your favourite Boomtown memory and why?

The people there were in an unbelievably great mood. There was this Mad Max kind of vibe on the entire festival. And then our backline never got picked up by a Cadillac Oldtimer before. Very well thought out and just cool!

Boomtown is one of only two of your UK performances ‐ what has brought you back to the festival again this year? What do you like most about Boomtown as a festival?

The most important thing at a festival are the people ‐ and these fans at Boomtown powered us to show all that we’ve got.

Boomtown’s known for having a very diverse range of music, no genre goes unturned. How did your swing jazz/electronic fusion begin?

It’s funny, but it happened by accident…I put a Billie Holiday record on my old – well back then new – 1210 turntables and it got stuck. It sounded like a great loop – you know, like a vocal sample on repeat. Cool I thought, fired up my computer and started working on a beat for that. It all worked out great and that was a bit of a magic moment for me. And I thought, that’s the direction I wanna go! Then, I heard Mr. Scruff, ‘Get A Move On’ and I thought to myself this could be a new sound for me because I love both ways; the retro nostalgic feeling but also to be here and now with the modern electronic beats. So I did not think too much about it, it just happened.

What can the citizens of Boomtown expect from your live show this summer?

I bet there will be a few surprises, because we have three brand new and unreleased tracks in our set list this year and there are new visuals. It will be a full new package of energy, so get ready to be dancing and sweating!

What do you think the necessity is for a show with a full band?

The people out there deserve something ‘real’, they wanna see the music, not just hear it. Many people are fed up with our ‘super fast’ digital and advanced world – so again ‐ they want something REAL. And as an artist you don’t want to use the easiest way, because the easy way is a bad teacher.

There has been a very positive reaction to you returning this year, what are you most looking forward to?

I’m looking forward to the vibe at the festival again. Boomtown also always has a very special and diversified lineup. I hope to catch a few bands.

Very limited tickets left for Boomtown! Available at http://www.boomtownfair.co.uk/.

See you on the streets citizens.