This past EDC Las Vegas, two of dance music biggest DJ duo’s, Firebeatz and DubVision, combined forces to play one explosive set. Since then, the four have become known as METAFO4R and they aim to bring a complete main stage show with “a new beginning for house music”. What makes the combination of them so exciting is how their contrasting sound of progressive house and hard-electro work so well together. At Tomorrowland Weekend 2, they took things to the next level by playing yet another phenomenal main stage set. There, we got chat with the four and get insight on what they’re all about.
First things first, What came first? All of these ID tracks you guys have been playing or the outfits?
The IDs for sure. Not all of them though, because we have new IDs all ready for the next show. We had the idea to do this group and to stand out from the rest of what’s going on right now in the scene. We thought to ourselves, first we’re going to make music and then we gotta think about the show as well, like looking a little bit different with colors. Everybody has all their own colors, as you could see. That’s all the rave colors. That’s our thing. We rave!
When did this plan come about to join forces?
Firebeatz: EDC Las Vegas. Actually we were booked as a back to back session, but we had so much music laying around and it didn’t really suit our own profile. Then we went into the studio and created so much new music. It was a different kind of sound and we were like, “we need to put a name on this and make it an act actually”. That’s how it started.
What exactly is the sound you guys are going for?
I think it’s a bit more harder, more rave. It’s a little edgy, definitely rough. It’s definitely just like new progressive…new future progressive kinda sound. It touches base with a lot of acts we love as personal artists, but we are going to take it to the next level.
Were you inspired by the reunion of Swedish House Mafia?
Actually we created this before we heard about that. Definitely, they make great songs but we have a lot of different inspiration for years – Daft Punk (especially old school Daft Punk), Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, Prydz. A lot of different influences added to our own way. That’s the way we conveyed our theory.
How do your two groups compliment each other in terms of the musical styles you bring to the table?
DubVision: We are more melodic. We come from a progressive background. These guys (Firebeatz) are a little bit more electro, a little bit harder…a little bit more groove as well. Those two styles combine really well.
What can we expect to hear from your set today?
A lot of new stuff! 24 new tracks, 25 new tracks. Actually we have more new tracks but we couldn’t fit them all in one hour. That was hard. You get like a distilled version of the EDC set which had like 30 tracks. Now, it’s gonna be like 21 so you get the best! We made some new ones the last two weeks, there’s a new intro. We’re gonna do some live elements in the show. It’s also the very first time we’re doing that so we want to expand that in the future.
How does it feel as a new group to premiere on the mainstage of EDC and then Tomorrowland?
It’s crazy, unbelievable. I think I like almost cried, he (Firebeatz pointing at DubVision) was crying. We’ll leave that there!
What’s next for you guys?
We have a show in December so we’re going to do a New Year’s Eve Party. We’re going to try to have a huge party and build towards that show. We also have a first release so we are going to put out a track soon. Everyone has been asking us on social media,”When is the music coming out?”. It’s in the next couple of weeks you can expect.
Do you have an album in the pipeline?
We have enough stuff for an album so who knows, who knows. We’re gonna take it track by track and at the end we might come out with an album but we don’t know yet. We might be!
