2OVER: “Our First Dream Just Became Reality”

It all began with a simple introduction between two 14-year-olds from Breda and, somewhat unusually, with a sleepover. Miel and Jop had barely exchanged a few WhatsApp messages before making music together, ending up spending the entire night in the studio. More than a decade later, that same friendship remains at the heart of 2OVER.

For the duo, making music has always been about having fun, following their instincts, and not worrying too much about genres or trends. That approach has now led to their first official release, “I Wanna Know,” on Black Hole Recordings. Taking a sharp turn from the groovy house they had been making, they pushed the track to 145 BPM, chasing the euphoric energy of a festival set.

We caught up with Miel and Jop to talk about their friendship, musical influences, “I Wanna Know,” and what’s next for 2OVER.

Q: You guys met when you were just 14, thanks to a friend who said, “I know another guy who makes music.” What do you remember about that first meeting and did you know straight away that you’d make a good team?

Jop: Miel lived in the north of Breda, and I lived in the south. We were both fourteen, so it wasn’t exactly a great idea for him to bike 30 minutes home late at night. When we set a date to make music together for the first time, he asked if he could stay over.

Looking back, it’s pretty funny. You meet someone who’s basically a complete stranger, and the first thing you do is have a sleepover. We ended up making music the entire night.

I think what makes us a great duo is that we immediately felt the same thing in the songs we’re making. So when Miel changes the bass notes in a song, I have the feeling that they should be where Miel is putting them, before he even does it.

Q: You’ve been friends ever since, and friendship seems to be at the heart of 2OVER. What’s the best and maybe the funniest part about making music with your best friend?

Jop: From my point of view, I think it’s that you get to share something you’ve started from scratch with your best mate. This might sound nerdy but the feeling of finishing a song gives a certain euphoric feeling, which is amazing to share together rather than sitting alone next to your studio monitors.

Miel: For me, the best part is that you can never do something “wrong”, everything is okay. And if we don’t have any inspiration or things don’t go the way we want, we just chill and maybe turn on the PlayStation and forget about music for some time.

Q: Are there any producers or artists you both really look up to? What is it about their music that makes you think, “We’d love to be able to do that”?

Jop: Growing up I was a real big fan of Avicii, The Chainsmokers, Hardwell and Martin Garrix. I really felt like they were making music rather than just putting out songs to make a name for themselves. Also Finneas O’Connell outside of the EDM genre inspires me a lot.

Miel: For me, Martin Garrix has always been my biggest inspiration. He’s just a melodic genius and he inspired me to download FL Studio (my music making software). And of course, Tiësto, especially his album ‘Elements of Life’. Outside of EDM I found and still find a lot of inspiration from bands like Linkin Park, Twenty One Pilots and Radiohead.

Q: You’re both from Breda. Has growing up there had any influence on your musical taste or the kind of music you naturally gravitate towards?

Jop: I think growing up in Breda really puts the pressure on you if you’re trying to get into the EDM scene. The guys like Tiësto and Hardwell really did set the bar for kids from Breda haha. No, but really, it does make it somewhat attainable to become a DJ/producer yourself. It gives you a feeling like: Those guys came from the same city and did make it, so why couldn’t we?

Miel: As Jop said, the bar was set high, haha. But it also makes me proud that we have such a “successful” city in terms of developing world-known DJ’s and they are the evidence that it is possible.

Q: You’ve said you’ve made everything from “bad projects” to “weird projects” to “cool projects,” simply because you enjoy it. What’s the weirdest 2OVER idea you’ve actually turned into a finished track?

Jop: I think the weirdest one was the song where we tried to only make a song with stuff from Miel's bedroom. We turned squeaky chairs, intro drum loops and weird noises into melodies with that one.

Miel: The one that comes to my mind quickly is the time we challenged ourselves by trying to create a full track within an hour and every 2 minutes we had to switch who touched the computer. So, I made something in 2 minutes, then Jop had to take over and continue building for 2 minutes, and so on. After an hour, we actually created something we both were very proud of.

Q: After making music together for so many years, how would you describe the 2OVER sound today and how different is it from what you were making when you first started?

Back in the day, we just made whatever we felt like doing. And over time that changed, because we wanted to break through and follow our inspirations. And after years of not really making anything we were proud of, we decided that we needed to go back to what we did before; just make whatever we felt like making.

We try mainly to put the feeling that we are feeling when producing a song into that certain track. We’re not trying to put other producers down really, but sometimes it feels like songs nowadays are just tricks we try to repeat over and over again. We don’t like to make the same sort of music or define ourselves in one genre.

The things that really define our music are high energy, festival feeling and touching melodies.

Q: Let’s talk about your upcoming release, “I Wanna Know.” What was the idea that started the track, and when did you realize you might have something special?

The idea started when we said that we were done with making this 122-125 BPM groovy house. We mainly made these songs for ourselves and our friends to enjoy when we were just chilling in the summer. So instead of 122 bpm, all of a sudden, we started this project at 145 BPM and just went from there. We wanted this song to project an energy of standing in the middle of a festival and, as we would love to do once, show a crowd with this song that we’re going down a route of euphoric energy with our set.

Q: You played it to your friends first, they told you to get it out there, and then Black Hole Recordings wanted to release it. Can you take us back to the moment you got that news?

Well, it was a bit weird to be honest. This was our first song ever at 145bpm, and there were multiple labels interested in this one which was already crazy. We just dreamed of releasing a song on a label once in our lives, and suddenly there were multiple interests. But Black Hole Recordings has an history in Breda, and it just clicked from moment one. They were also the first to see us, so naturally we wanted to release with them.

When we signed the release contract, we were over the moon! Our first dream just became reality.

Q: Going from two 14-year-olds making music together to releasing it on Black Hole is quite a story. Did you ever imagine something like this back when you first started?

Well, I think what kept us in music so long is that we just love to make music. Of course, you dream of making a living out of your hobby, but that’s so far away that speaking of that right now just doesn’t feel like the right time. We have always believed in ourselves and believed in the music that we make.

We always hope someone connects with our music the way we do.

Q: The name 2OVER has an interesting story behind it. How did you come up with it, and does its meaning still reflect who you are as a duo today?

The name 2OVER comes from golf, which we both love playing. When you hit a +2 on a hole the name for that is a “double bogey” or “2 over Par”. +2 On a hole is not good, not bad, just very average. We see ourselves as two average guys from Breda whose dream just came true, so yes, it does still reflect us as a duo.

Q: So what’s coming next for 2OVER? More music, more experiments, or perhaps a few more “weird projects” we should know about?

You never know what’s coming. Releasing this song with Black Hole has given us an immense amount of energy to continue what we’re doing. We have some tracks already laying around which need a final touch, but we hope to start and gain some momentum on releasing. But first we’re going to enjoy the release of “I Wanna Know” :).

Get it on Beatport