Column: the making of Pursuit of Thunder

By Rik Houwers 26 January 2017

It’s one of the most wanted albums of this time. We’re talking about Phuture Noize’ Pursuit of Thunder. In this column, Marco explains how he made the album and why. Also, the reasons why the promotion is done differently, just to make sure the listening experience is as good as it can get.

The pursuit
So, I never intended to write this album as just another Hardstyle album. I wanted to wait until I was at a point in my career where I was fully confident that I was able to make you feel something new with my music. After having a turbulent 2015, all I wanted was to get back on my feet and teach myself how to do so.

The goal
This is the goal I set and once I figured out where to start, I began the writing process of the album. Hence, for me, the name is symbolic, as I had to go through that storm of finding and teaching myself. Also the most important part for me in actually making the choice to write an artist album, is that you need to create a story – a feeling that will stay with the listener for a long-time. To strive for creating future nostalgia for the listener. The kind I experienced while listening to, for example, the Project One album. And I wanted to strive to destroy dancefloors yet still being exciting to listen to in the car.

Fire
“‘Fire’ was originally called ‘We Are The Fallen’. The track was built around the concept of us hardstyle lovers being the “fallen” of society and looking for something more intense than ordinary life.

Funny enough I came across these vocals at the same time I was writing the lyrics for the track. I still have them somewhere.. Anyway, I did think these vocals fitted amazingly well with the atmosphere I was trying to create and just used these instead.”

To create
To write music that has the power to create memory and nostalgia is most likely one of the hardest parts of this album. I was looking for and researching ways how to create memorable music and the bottom-line is with that music, is uniqueness. Realizing that, the most important thing for me was to create a unique feel for every track. I started writing the album outside my DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), so I actually put down the tracks already on paper before even starting to produce them. This way I didn’t just glue together some random cool elements. With that concept in mind, I created a unique story for every single track I made for the album, which I’ll try to explain while promoting the album.

To prepare
Before I spoil the whole thing, I really wanted to create a way of promoting this album that underlines the enjoyment of listening to it. That’s the whole reason I promote my album the other way around instead of what’s common in Hardstyle. So before I’ll give away the full story, I will release the track list and open up a pre-order link in the following weeks. Whatever Hardstyle you prefer, I made sure you going to have one hell of a Pursuit while listening to this album. Keep an eye on my social media pages!

The ‘Walls crashin’ down’
“I wrote this track as one of the first for the album last year. I wanted to write a track about my realization of how many amazing moments I just forgot to or let’s say couldn’t enjoy, because I was so focused on the wrong in my career and life. The vocals in the track are sampled from True Detective where that exact feeling was put down in words so well. Enjoy every good moment while it lasts people!”

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