Wasted Penguinz is an EDM group that has been – in our opinion – underplayed. The Wasted Penguinz consists of two artists; Pontuz Bergman & Jon Brandt-Cederhäll. These guys have given us great beatz and do not seem to get enough airwaves over the U.S. Their first Scantraxx release was on June 18, 2010, “I’m Free” and “Anxiety”, Their second release on Scantraxx Silver was in October 2010, containing the tracks “Hate Mondayz” and “Resistance”.

As they were improving their productions together, they got more knowledge of the hardstyle music itself. In 2009 the time had come to take the next step. Sending some of their tracks to various labels they got an answer from a smaller label called Bazz Implant Recordings. Their first release called ‘A Next Generation’ was a fact and got picked up by the bigger names in the scene. Not long after, the biggest hardstyle label in the world, Scantraxx Recordz, recognized their talent and signed the Wasted Penguinz. In 2010 the first two Wasted Penguinz were released on Scantraxx Silver 015 ‘Anxiety’ and ‘I’m Free’ where released. Their upcoming release ‘Hate Mondayz’ and ‘Resistance’ is about to be released on Scantraxx Silver 019.

“We’re not listening to hard style that much at all; we just make it and take inspiration from other music styles.”

Where comes the name Wasted Penguinz?

Our name comes from a beer-brainstorming session back in 2008 in the studio, haha.

How did you met each other?

We met each other on an internet forum. We we’re living in the same city back in Sweden and we we’re rivals on the forum trying to out do eachothers tracks. It was a battle who made the best tracks. But then we decided to meet up instead and start making music together. This is where WP was born.

Your track ‘Inner Peace’ is out. For a Hardstyle track, it’s something different. Can you give us some insights on how this track was born?

This track was born with the purpose of having no boundaries at all and to just make a track packed with our personal experiences portrayed throughout the music. No rules, like: no this part has to be this long or else the crowd will stop dancing, this has to be this bla bla. As a producer and DJ you have two different perspectives. From the producer point of view you just want to listen to a track and enjoy all the details and just get lost in the music and appreciate the quality of a composition. From a DJ point of view there are certain “unwritten-rules” while making a Hardstyle track. The more you travel and play around the world you know what works and what doesn’t on the dance floor and you can build your tracks around the things you have learned and experienced on the road. When it comes to ‘Inner Peace’ we just wanted to do a track meant for listening purposes. No rules, no specific buildups, just creating a piece of music.

In terms of your sound, it’s evident that “rawstyle” is a huge thing in Hardstyle. Does this affect your euphoric productions?

“Rawstyle” is the thing that’s in nowadays. This will change as hypes come and go. We like a few tracks, especially the ridiculously raw tracks; they go off hard on events, haha! We’re experimenting a lot nowadays since we’re a bit bored of making the same kind of stuff and we want to explore as an artist to evolve our sound.”FuckYeah”together with Rebourne is one of those tracks. We also have a lot more coming up that’s a bit out of our comfort zone which is really fun. What they all have in common though is that they’re all packed with emotions which is what we stand for.

What are you trying to tell the world through your music/ what do you want people to feel and think about when they hear you?

It’s different from song to song, but we want people to relate to something whether it’s a party track or it’s a euphoric banger. They all serve different purposes for people. Music speaks louder than words as they say. There’s nothing no one can tell you or help you with that will affect you the same way as a piece of art will.

What is the biggest fuck up you guys have had during a performance?

We haven’t really had that much fuck-ups. The mistakes we have made are probably mixing in the same track we just played and also missed or forgot to mix sometimes but we always managed to save it in the last seconds. Pontuz had a funny experience in Australia a few years ago – he had to play a gig by himself and had some friends on the stage with him and one girl fell and her boob made the music stop.

When you guys first started out, did you think that your sound would spread so far over the world?

We had a unique sound from the beginning. Hardstyle as a genre was already going more towards the melodic way back when we started, but when we entered the scene with our first releases like “Anxiety” for example we’d like to think we brought some more euphoric trance elements into it. We have seen that a lot of newcomers have been inspired by our sound which is amazing to know.

What has been your most memorable party so far?

Defqon.1 Holland Main stage last year was a big moment for us, as well as Hard Bass. These are stages that we’ve wanted to play since we’ve entered the Hardstyle Scene. There’s plenty of more memorable gigs also, but there’s too many to count on one hand.

You guys have seen a lot of success over the years, playing at Hard Bass, Defqon, Decibel, and many more. Was that a goal from the beginning or just an added bonus of your passion for making music?

You always have new goals you want to achieve. These events were major Milestones in our career.

What is the biggest goal of the Wasted Penguinz career?

That’s a hard one. As an artist you’re always reaching for bigger goals, we have a lot of them it’s too hard to just pick one.