If you live in America, you probably don’t know who Boris Daenen is. You may not even know his stage name, Netsky. It’s about time you learned his name though, because it looks like he’s going to be one of the DJs/producers everyone is talking about in the near future. Why? Well, because in much of the rest of the world, the 26-year-old Belgian is already a pretty big deal. 

Netsky is one of the most prominent drum and bass musicians in the world. While the sound hasn’t quite caught on with the mainstream in America yet, Netsky’s fan base continues to grow larger each year on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean as electronic music becomes more popular and more diverse in the States. 

With the release of his long-awaited third album set for early 2016, Myspace caught up with the young turntable master for a beer and to chat about Diplo, the international electronic scene, and what Americans just don’t understand about his brand of electronic music. 

You’ve done a few different Mad Decent Block Party events now. What’s it like to work with Diplo at those shows? 

He’s such a big name in the music industry right now for electronic music, [so] to be working with him [at MDBP] or in the studio, it’s really great. He’s like LA for me—that’s Diplo. If you want anything done in LA, you better call Diplo. He’s always been super supportive, and he might be like the one guy here who really believes in my music because it wasn’t always popular like this. It’s not super popular right now either, but he’s always really believed in it and I really appreciate it from him.

How does the American electronic music scene compare with the European one? 

Well in Europe, people love drum and bass, and over here a lot of people are hearing it for the first time. Apart from that, I think that sometimes American people can really appreciate concerts and music festivals and they don’t take them for granted. They really look forward to them for months and months in advance like, “This is going to be the night when I forget about work.” It’s an escape for them. Especially in Belgium, we’ve got so many festivals and so many good shows that we get jaded every now and then. We take it for granted. People are just like, “Oh yeah, I’m going to this festival next week and then another one next month,” so it becomes less of a festivity in a way. I can really feel that fresh atmosphere at these (American) festivals a bit more sometimes.

As someone who’s been doing electronic festivals for so long now, what would be your advice to someone who is just starting to perform at festivals? 

I think what’s important is that people step out of their comfort zone. They do a lot of smaller festivals that are very genre-based or scene-based, and I think festivals like the [Mad Decent] Block Parties mix it up very well where they have some rappers and some house DJs and everything from proper Mad Decent stuff to drum and bass, which is very important. There are a lot of festival promoters who forget about that. They deliver the hype and it’s going amazing, but then a few years after when it loses the hype, then they’re gone. 

If someone hasn’t heard drum and bass music before, how would you explain to them how it’s different from a lot of other electronic music? 

I like to think the main reason I like drum and bass is that you can combine energy and fast beats with melodies and really beautiful music without losing that energy. Like sometimes in house music when you use really nice kind of jazzy chords, you lose energy. With drum and bass, you really don’t have that. You can just keep going and have this amazing music in the background without losing the energy. I think that’s the main difference. 

You’ve been spending a lot of time in LA recently, how does it compare to Belgium?

I’m going back home tomorrow, and I wish I wasn’t. I’ve been staying in LA for two weeks now, and it’s the first time I’ve stayed in a house. I’m staying in Studio City, so it’s got a more chill vibe. I really got a touch of what it must feel like to live here and I got the bug, man. I want to try to do this for like six months or something and see how it goes. I might hate it after six months or I might love it. I really want to give it a chance. It’s the first city I’ve ever been to that I really think about that way, because I really love being with my friends and family back home and this is a big step to move away from that. I think I’m going to try it. 

I was supposed to be finishing my album this week, and that’s actually a really big deal for me, but I rented a house with a pool and it got a little delayed. I’ve got another week at home now to finish it and I’m really proud of it. There are some really cool collaborations with people I’ve always wanted to work with. There are some really cool American collaborations as well, but I can’t say anything about it, obviously. It’s exciting times. I’m excited for the collaborations and to start bringing it on the road and playing it live with a band and other times with DJ sets.