"Hardstyle is more than just a music genre": An interview with Singaporean DJ duo ParaMercy

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"Hardstyle is more than just a music genre": An interview with Singaporean DJ duo ParaMercy

Next week, Singapore will be the site where local and international DJs who peddle the hardest and heaviest sounds in the spectrum of dance music will gather. At Afterdark Singapore, you'll be graced by the turbocharged power of Dutch hardstyle kingpins D-Block & S-te-Fan, as well as that of local heavy-hitters. And from the latter group, Singaporean duo ParaMercy is deepy committed to delivering the hardest and most dynamic sounds.

Below, we interview the pair to find out how committed it is to the hardstyle cause. 

Tell us a bit about yourselves. Who are you and what do you do?

ParaMercy is a duo act specialising in raw hardstyle and consists of Paranoid and Swave Emercy, two out of the hardstyle veterans in Singapore. The combination of our styles gives our fans a unique, electrifying performance on stage.

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Why hardstyle?

Hardstyle is more than just a music genre. It means so much to us as well as many others out there. Paranoid grew up in the era where Jumpstyle was still active and Swave grew up with friends who dance to hard music. The influences we had in the past brought us to where we are today.

How did you two begin producing together as ParaMercy?

We were local DJs when we first met, Swave was a band musician who decided to take on the world of electronic music and Paranoid was a student studying audio engineering and who was inspired to be a electronic music producer. Our common interests brought us together, hence, the launch of the duo act Paramercy.

How does it feel to be flying the hardstyle flag in Singapore?

It feels great! Though the hardstyle scene in Singapore is still new, the love and support for the genre is overwhelming. The unity stands strong in this scene where most hardstyle fans are diehard. The numbers started out as low, but the dedication brought the scene to where it is now and that's what we love and will never stop loving.

How do you think or expect the local dance community can be more supportive of the harder genres?

Always support your local hard dance acts. Every artist would be nowhere without the support they have. As artists, our aim is to give our audience a unique experience with the genre we love. And we believe that is what makes hardstyle special.

What’re your hopes for hardstyle in Singapore in 2019?

For the scene to thrive and, hopefully, in future, to bring in more international hardstyle acts to perform in Singapore.

What do have planned for 2019? 

It's been about a year since our performance debut, we are working on a few projects and, in 2019, we will start releasing our original tracks. Watch out for them!

AfterDark Singapore presents D-Block & S-te-Fan is happening on Saturday, 15 December from 8pm to Sunday, 16 December, 5.00am. Get your tickets here.