Alan Walker Talks Touring and His Start in EDM

Rikkard Häggbom

On September 16, Alan Walker hit Colombo, Sri Lanka on his worldwide tour. If you’re unfamiliar, Alan Walker blew up in 2015 at just the age of 18 with his hit Faded, and now at 21 he is one of the worlds most recognized DJ’s. Before he hit the stage, he sat down and talked a little bit about what touring is like, the reason behind his signature mask, and gave some advice to aspiring artists.

How are you liking tour? What’s that like?

I think touring is fun. On this run we’ve gotten the opportunity to see new countries, new cities that we’ve never been to before. We were in Myanmar yesterday, and now here in Sri Lanka. I’m really excited- I’ve never been to those places before and seeing so many people out there tonight is gonna be incredible.

What’s the place you’re most excited about going to?

I would say every place because it’s always exciting to go back to somewhere you’ve already been or to a new place you may never have been before so I know there’ll always be a new adventure to seek there.

What made you choose EDM music? What made you decide to go down that path rather than pop or any other genre? What appealed to you about EDM?

It dates back to when I started making music. I know it’s because I was interested in house music- or techno, which is also a sub genre of basically EDM. EDM is not just necessarily one genre, it’s hundreds of genres and I think that’s kinda what caught my taste of music and therefore I wanted to make that as well. And ever since that it just evolved into more like electro-house or whatever.

Why do you wear the mask? What’s the story behind that?

Well the mask is more like a symbol of unity and I’m not wearing it because I want to hide myself. I just kinda wanna symbolize that anyone can be an “Alan Walker” and it’s just you put on a hoodie and a mask.

What would you say to anyone who wants to pursue music or the EDM genre or any of the sub-genres of EDM?

Well, what I would like to say if you are an aspiring, upcoming music producer or DJ- I would like to say never ever give up on your dreams. Anything is possible to achieve. I started off with nothing and just watching Youtube tutorials and ended up getting where I am today. And I think someone else can also do and relive the same story as I did, it’s just a matter of time. I think you need talent, effort, will, and yeah. Never ever giving up no matter how you feel because there’s always going to be this point of your career where you feel like giving up- where you feel like you’re going nowhere and you may never know because at that moment you may be closer to huge success than you think that you are. And that’s kind of what happened to me because I just put out a song. I had like 1,000 followers on my Youtube, SoundCloud, and Facebook in total and then I put out Faded and all of a sudden it just blew up and that’s kinda like after 3- 4 years of work. It’s all about never ever giving up. And I think it’s really important to like find yourself- find a way to define yourself through the work you do and a way that people could- by listening to your music- identify you as well.