DallasK (Dallas Koehlke) started producing electronic dance music when he was 15 years old. Now age 20, he is quickly becoming one of the most talked about young producer and DJs. DallasK straddles the worlds of electronic and pop music, creating catchy hybrids that have earned him many noteworthy collaborations, allowing him to challenge himself creatively as an artist.
He constantly excites crowds all around the country with his live sets that draw influence from all genres of electronic music. DallasK has shared the stage with artists including Steve Aoki, Wolfgang Gartner, and Nero. Currently, he is producing and remixing for other artists as well as having several scheduled solo releases.
Recently, DallasK unveiled his latest collaboration with Nicky Romero on “Sometimes.” The future house single features DallasK trading vocals with LA-based singer XYLØ. The breezy and melodic, pop-infused single addresses a topic that anyone can relate to: missing a significant other. Talking about the meaning of the single, DallasK explains, the following:
‘Sometimes’ is a song that we wrote about the push and pull between your past and present. Almost everyone has had someone come into their life who made such an impact that they lingered well beyond the end of the relationship, and this is a song for those people.
DallasK
DallasK presently has upcoming singles in the works with a dynamic array of artists including pop icon Celine Dion, Zedd, Zara Larsson, Dove Cameron, Tove Styrke, NOTD, LAUV, and more. Previously, DallasK also provided remixes for The Chainsmokers, Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Martin Garrix, and many others. He is a versatile producer who also contributes to lyric and melody. Additionally, he previously released four singles on his own. In fact, all of them have been featured on Spotify’s New Music Friday, Pop Rising, and Mood Booster playlists.
We had a chance to sit down with DallasK for a conversation before his appearance at Nicky Romero’s set at Jewel Nightclub as part of EDC Week.
What are some of your upcoming projects?
I have a lot of new music that I am releasing as DallasK that I have been working on. More collaborations with DJ’s in the next couple of months. Also, I work as a writer and producer with a lot of other artists. One of my good friends is 3Lau. I’m working on his project a lot. There’s a couple of records I’ve been working on as collaborations with pop artists. I’m mainly focused on writing my own stuff right now doing some DJ collaborations and some solo records and a little mix of everything.
Who is your favorite artist that you have already collaborated with?
It’s hard to say, but. I think one of my favorite people is Tiësto . He’s just a good friend now. I think of him as a friend and a mentor and he’s always an awesome dude to hang out with. We always have a fun.
What are you most excited for about your set tonight?
Well this will be the first time that we will be preforming the song “Sometimes” with all three of us. With Nicky Romero, XYLØ, and myself. I’m excited to get everyone in one room to do it together. We did it at Ultra, but it was just Nicky and I. So it will be great to have everyone together.
What is Nicky Romero like as a person?
He’s cool. Really cool. I’ve met him before in passing playing shows. He is really cool about the whole process of working together. He had the demo that I had written with the two songs originally. It was kind of like we didn’t have the production so him and I collaborated on finishing the production. Even though it was mostly long distance, it was all a pretty easy, seamless process.
How would you say it was seamless?
The communication was always quick. There wasn’t days at a time where we wouldn’t hear anything back. We figured out what we wanted to do and just went for it.
Who are your biggest musical inspirations?
I would say my big three are Daft Punk, a french band called M83, and musically I respect Kanye West a lot. As a person he is kind of all over the place, but his music throughout my childhood has played such an important role in me and the music I make now. So those are my big three.
What do you like to do when you are not producing music or DJ-ing?
I get this question so much, and I always come up blank. I love to run. I’m a pretty avid runner. There’s a lot of trails by my house in Los Angeles. I go hiking. Swimming in the summer. I play golf. I grew up playing golf. My dad is a professional coach. I grew up doing that quite frequently. But every day of my life is mostly music oriented. Whether it’s making it for myself or for somebody else. That’s a lot of what I do.
What do you like most about making music?
The process of making something: When you start with nothing or a blank slate, and at the end of the first day you have a song or an idea that didn’t exist before. It’s you by yourself or you with collaborators and you make that piece of music that didn’t exist before. Being in love with that feeling is the main thing that I really love about making music. No matter what the outcomes are of that piece of music that you sat there and created- I think that is what has drawn me to producing music.
How would you describe your musical style
It’s all over the board. I would say the main theme is stuff that you can dance to. There’s a really powerful production element, even at a slower tempo thing. It’s never thin or weak, always very powerful. Usually, it’s something that you can dance to for the most part. However, I think my new stuff is definitely more vocal oriented. It’s a little bit of a toned back version of some of my older big room stuff. It’s always dance-oriented and I think it will remain that way for the foreseeable future.
Tell me one thing about you that most of your fans don’t know about you
If I hadn’t ended up making music I would have been an architect. I love architecture. It was always something I was obsessed with as a young kid. If I didn’t make music that would have been my career.
Are you currently signed to any labels
A: I actually have my own label now. I do stuff with different labels but I’m not tied to any labels. I release a lot of my stuff through an independent distributor and have partnered with them to do the releases. It allows me to be my own label and in a lot of ways and my own boss. It’s been interesting learning that process and being more hands-on with the releases and understanding the parts of different teams needed to bring together as well as what marketing aspects are needed from the outside and from the PR element. Also, it made me the captain of my own ship in terms of whether a release does well or not. It’s been really exciting to learn that whole process, rather than handing it to a label and letting them do whatever they want with it.
What do you think of Las Vegas and EDC week and EDC as a whole?
EDC is a festival that I have always had a really good time at. It’s a little far out there, but once you get there, it’s definitely its own world. I think that is what is so special about it. It’s something people look forward to their entire year. Vegas in general: I always loved playing shows here. The more time I have spent here, the more I like Vegas and coming to it. Living so close to Los Angeles, I have been able to come here quite a lot. It’s a great escape from everyday life. Even if you aren’t gambling or partying, you can go to the spa, hang out by the pool. It’s really nice.
What’s your favorite venue here?
I like Hakkasan a lot.
Is there anything else you would like our readers to know about you?
I think we covered it: Music, architecture, running. That’s basically the gist of it. Keep a lookout for all the new music that is coming out this year.
