From Jumpstyle to the Shadow Realm: Nightcraft's Path to Hardstyle Mastery
Image Source: Nightcraft's IG
From Jumpstyle to the Shadow Realm: Nightcraft's Path to Hardstyle Mastery
Releasing music since 2008, Nightcraft has progressed from freestyle, jumpstyle, and dirty dutch house to producing the epic sounds of hardstyle under the main label, Scantraxx! Roy, aka Nightcraft, used to release under his alias, Royal S. He soon realized a necessary shift in gears to delve into his most recent alias, Nightcraft. Currently going full throttle with hardstyle releases, his journey comes with experience, pivotal moments, global connections, and authentic tips for the yearning hardstyle community. Let’s dive in!
“When did you start getting into producing… from the beginning?”
Nightcraft started out at age 16, in 2006/ 2007 with jumpstyle. His dad raved and listened to gabber and old-school hardcore and influenced Roy’s passion. His dad would ‘aux’ in Thunderdome CDs and “Explosive Car Tuning” CDs. It had a lot of jumpstyle and hardstyle on it. “I fell in love with the more 140ish bpm kind of music,” Nightcraft admits.
He wanted to experiment with that type of sound. His dad gave him the software, fruity loops (FL studio), which is what Nightcraft still uses to this day. It’s justified to say that Nightcraft owes it all to his dad for showing him the culture and the tools for music production.
“How do you start producing a track?”
Nightcraft states, “Well it depends. I always tell people that to start a track I have to have some type of inspiration . . . When I have inspiration I usually start with making the break, like making an arp loop . . . and, when I put a baseline under it…and [as] it gives me some sort of vibe or emotion, usually the melody just comes.”
“How important is music theory for beginners?”
“I’m going to tell you a secret... I don’t know sh*t about music theory,” he says and we all laugh. “I just do whatever I think comes right. And, if some notes are false, but sound good in your opinion then it’s good… So, it’s always nice to know some kind of theory . . . but . . . I just do what sounds good . . . when writing melodies. And, if it’s controversial, like, it’s not in the way that a melody “should be,” but it sounds good in your opinion, then why shouldn’t you do it?” He believes if everyone was drawing within the lines of music theory then it would be a boring gray world.
“How did you go about remixing tracks, for example, B-Front - Illusion?”
After hearing the original in his Spotify-recommended playlist, Nightcraft felt the urge to add more drive and energy to the melody. “I put the original track in the dock, and I just built the leads and the melody . . . I cut parts of the originals in my track, and I sent it to B-Front, and he was like ‘Oh, I like what you did there man’.” Nightcraft asked B-Front for permission to finish it. To honor the original, he kept the B-Front theme but laid over a fresh Nightcraft atmosphere, making the screeches rougher and making the mid-intros that much harder. B-Front’s approval validated yet another hardstyle gem ready for a play either in a car ride or a thematic DJ set.
“What is your favorite thing with producing and what about DJing?”
“Well, my favorite thing about producing . . . [is] when you hit that right atmosphere or right . . . drop in your track and you just get goosebumps or you just start dancing in your studio. Nightcraft says that there is a certain feeling when one just knows a composition is so natural it makes one feel beyond good about it. “That feeling is . . . [unmatchable] while you’re in the studio,” he adds.
“My favorite thing about DJing is having that same feeling about your track and seeing that the audience has the same feeling as you did in the studio . . . That’s my favorite part about DJing I think… [just] seeing the crowd response [the same way you do] . . . [with] your track.”
“Can you share a pivotal moment where you had to adapt or evolve your approach with music production… or any other pivotal moment where you needed to switch gears?”
“Well, the very first really big switch came when freestyle started to incorporate a lot more hardstyle. So, when I was playing as my alias [Royal S.] at . . . Pussy Lounge, it was like the first [few] hours were jumpstyle . . . but I heard a lot of DJs playing hardstyle in their sets.” He noticed the trend and mentions, “In my . . . latest Royal S. tracks . . . you already hear the hardstyle influences.” An example of this is his track called “Nightmare” under his alias, Royal S. ‘Nightmare’ comes with raw kicks, dark twists, and an impactful melody all at a jumpstyle pace!
“So I think 2018/ 2019 was . . . a really big change, so that’s when I decided to go to Fusion Records, and I released . . . [one or two] hardstyle-ish tracks on there.” (Check out Royal S. - 'Victory' for his pivotal release under Fusion Records from 2018!) This is how he came into contact with guys like Zany and Johan from Donkey Rollers. “I also sent them to guys that were getting big at the moment which was Rejecta [and others], and he [ended up playing some] of my tracks! So, then I got a call from the manager of Scantraxx. . . he asked me to join Scantraxx, but also to change my name . . . Dov, The Prophet, already knew my alias, but he didn’t want to have a jumpstyle artist on Scantraxx.” This was when Nightcraft realized he had to switch it up, go fully hardstyle, and didn't regret any second of it!
“How did you come up with [the name] Nightcraft?”
“So, like, even now, I’m at work, and… it’s nighttime here,” Nightcraft and Marcus both laugh. “Nah, just kidding . . . I’m really a night person. I’m really really productive . . . [at] night, and I’m also more creative . . . [at] night. So, I was like ‘night’,” as he makes a connecting hand gesture. “I like to work nights so it's kind of dark, and I need to do something with that.” After 6 months of forethought the name ‘Nightcraft’ just kept ringing a bell and kept coming back to his consideration. He decided to just stick with it, and after getting used to it, it naturally fell into place.
“As a really quick side question, since you were producing jumpstyle, have you ever danced jumpstyle in the past!?”
“YUP! Yup yup yup . . . I can still do it,” Nightcraft smiles. “When I was 14 . . . to 16 . . . back in the days we had a similar thing [to MTV] in the Netherlands but it's called ‘TMF’. It was like MTV, but Dutch, and they showcased jumpstyle videos on their channel . . . So, back then it was like, ‘Oh man! We need to shoot . . . jumpstyle videos and send [them] to TMF so we can . . . [get] on TV.”
Roy and his friends would vigilantly anticipate on the couch side during commercial breaks for that one moment when their jumpstyle videos would potentially showcase. The cultural times of the jumpstyle days had Nightcraft, his friends, and many other dancers on their feet waiting to become the next Patrick Jumpen, a renowned Jumpstyle icon from back in those days.
A fun fact about Nightcraft and DJ BL3ND:
Nightcraft gives a perspective to Marcus to do something unique and different and shares a treasured story. Nightcraft asks, “Do you know . . . DJ BL3ND?” Marcus eagerly says, “No way you're saying DJ BL3ND!" Nightcraft continues, “Bro, do you want to hear something . . . I have a collab . . . on another alias I had . . . ‘Trashers,’ and I did a collab with DJ BL3ND, and it’s called ‘Robot Sex’.” Marcus expresses his astonishment. Nightcraft explains, “He did something new, and he got . . . known in Texas for doing something that nobody else did.” He apotheosizes if one does a similar approach with short mixes for one’s community and does it uniquely then one starts growth, authentically and organically.
“Where do you see the hardstyle sound and community going in your area and around the world?”
“Well, In the Netherlands, the scene is going . . . extremely fast that we are getting subgenres . . . super fast. While America still has, I think, [some] getting used to even softer hardstyle.” He states that more ‘EDM’ hardstyle would work better in the U.S. Artists like Da Tweekaz, Primeshock and others that are a bit more euphoric would attune to the American population rather than immediately showcasing extremely raw sounds, he suggests. He further adds, “It’s good to see that there is change happening and that people want . . . new stuff again and not always going hard and hard and hard . . .” Nightcraft continues to explain, “What happens now in the NL is that the ‘raw’ from . . . 2014/ 2015 is coming back . . . with the dark kicks and the long screeches. That is coming back, but in … like, a new[ly] wrapped . . . new sounding hardstyle/ rawstyle [impression] but with the [nostalgic] vibe of 2015.”
He also noted Australia seems to go fully Gearbox Digital with zaag kicks, Asia is feeling more trance and melodic stuff and Mexico shows a big yearning for the harder styles!
Nightcraft shares an insightful theory about hardstyle in the USA:
“I have this opinion about American festivals, and I am convinced that if you put out a festival and put out big names like Hardwell, or whatever, or with W&W… like, big EDM names and let them play hardstyle only . . . people will actually enjoy it. I am convinced they will . . . you don’t have to label it hardstyle if you just label it like EDM or something and . . . a really big chunk of the crowd will actually like it . . . [or] maybe even look it up.” He continues to postulate, “I am actually convinced there’s a lot more potential in finding new fans in America, but they don’t know about it, they never heard about [it] and if you have the right providers . . . I think . . . there’s gonna be a lot of new fans.”
“What dreams/ goals do you have for yourself in the hardstyle scene?”
Like many growing artists, Nightcraft got one taste of playing the bigger stages of Intents Festival and even the main stage of Elektrum for the first time in 2023. He now has a dopamine surge for more prominent stages! “I think there is a big chance I will make it . . . if I continue like this, I’m sure people will recognize the hard work that I’m putting in . . . I’ve noticed there’s an audience for my music, so, hopefully, it will get acknowledged . . . and I will get my a** on stage pretty quick,” he humbly posits. He has a tangible goal of 5 years for solid authentic growth.
“What does the future hold for your fans?”
“Of course last year I started, at Decibel, my live show ‘The Shadow Realm,’ and . . . this year will be the last ‘Shadow Realm’ show. But, there [are] going to be . . . different stages of the live act so it’s going to be [at] different levels.” Be sure to catch an enigmatic twist for his last edition of it in ‘The Shadow Realm’ of Decibel. With a fair supply of releases and new bookings, expect to see continuous growth for Nightcraft within the hardstyle scene.
“What tips do you have for aspiring producers and DJs who want to get into the scene?”
“Well, my biggest tip is if you don’t know how to produce, get yourself to learn producing first. And, if you’re [at] a level [where] you can produce decent tracks, start putting out tracks and don’t expect things to happen from itself.” Nightcraft gives an exemplary anecdote, “I saw a lot of new acts fail because they put out music and then . . . wait like 6 months to put out another song then wait another 6 months and put out another song.” If one wants optimal exposure, Nightcraft poses to put out a competent amount of quality tracks while actively promoting on all social media. “Make use of your talent . . . if you really want it then you should work really hard,” he proposes.
Nightcraft, Marcus, and Ivan are greatly appreciative of each other’s time and agree on one thing, “If it sounds right, then f*ck music theory!” ;)
Check out the whole interview here!: Interview with Nightcraft
If you want to listen to or know more about Nightcraft, check him out here:
Spotify: Nightcraft
Soundcloud: Nightcraft
Instagram: nightcrafnl
Facebook: Nightcraft
TikTok: nightcraftnl
YouTube: NIGHTCRAFT
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Marcus is one of the leaders of San Diego Hardstylerz. He started listening to house, trance, eurodance, and freestyle as a kid. After a friend showed him hardstyle in 2010, he formed a passion for the scene and music ever since. His hopes are to help thrive the hardstyle scene throughout the states to the best of his ability.
Writer: Marcus
Co-writer: Ivan
Editor: Herlinda
Follow San Diego Hardstylerz:
Instagram: Sdhardstylerz
TikTok: Sdhardstylerz
Donation support: Vennmo
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