Sub Zero Project open up about 4444 OF A KIND, 'Our World' & pushing hardstyle beyond its borders
Fresh off a high-octane set at MARQUEE Singapore, Sub Zero Project are showing no signs of slowing down. More than a decade into their journey, the Dutch duo of Nigel Coppen and Thomas Velderman continue to push hardstyle in new directions, pairing their unmistakable sound with increasingly ambitious live concepts and collaborations. That momentum has carried through Our World, their latest audiovisual live concept, as well as 4444 OF A KIND, their four-man project with D-Block & S-te-Fan. Their growing presence across Tomorrowland and recent collaboration with Steve Aoki on 'Promises' have also placed them firmly within a wider electronic music conversation at a time when, as the duo put it, genre boundaries are beginning to fade. Following their explosive performance at the Marina Bay Sands megaclub, Bandwagon caught up with Sub Zero Project to talk about 4444 OF A KIND, their approach to hardstyle, the creative freedom behind their live concepts, working with Steve Aoki, and more. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Marquee Singapore (@marqueesingapore) You’ve spent more than a decade making music together. When you listen back to your earliest productions, what do you hear that is still unmistakably Sub Zero Project today? We hear the same drive to experiment and push the boundaries of hard dance that we still have today. Of course, our sound has changed a lot over the years, but we always want to come up with something fresh. We believe that this is what has made our sound recognisable over the years. You’ve worked together for so long that fans often experience Sub Zero Project as one creative unit. What are Nigel and Thomas individually bringing to the studio that the other person probably couldn’t replicate? Even though we always work together on music, we definitely have different strengths in the studio. Thomas is more focused on melodies and the musical side of a track, while Nigel has a strong focus on the technical side, like kicks and other small details such as sound design and creative ideas. Those different strengths complement each other really well and are a big part of how we work together. You’ve built Our World around four distinct visual worlds alongside new music created for this chapter of Sub Zero Project. How did you come up with the concept, and how does building a narrative-driven live show affect the way you create music in the studio? With Our World, we wanted to show people what “Our World” actually stands for, which could be anything, just like our music. Instead of coming up with one specific theme for our show, we wanted to combine very different themes and styles into one show. The same goes for our music. It was a really fun creative process setting up this show and creating all the music that came with it. We brought the show to so many incredible places like Antwerp, Gothenburg, Mexico City, Paris, and many more. You’ve created several distinct live concepts over the years instead of simply touring the same DJ show. What have these concepts allowed you to express that a normal Sub Zero Project festival set cannot? The biggest difference is that our live concepts allow us to bring our full vision to life. It’s not just about the music anymore — it’s the visuals, production, and show coming together as one experience. It also gives us a different way to work on music. We’ve always been at our best if we have a certain direction or theme that we can dive into. 4444 OF A KIND brings you together with D-Block & S-te-Fan as a dedicated four-person team rather than simply another collaboration. Its debut single, 'Waiting 4', arrived in June, following years of history between both duos. At what point did you realise there was enough chemistry between the four of you to build an entirely new identity around it? We actually already knew this back when we made our first collaboration, 'Darkest Hour', in 2018. The chemistry was instantly there. Fast-forward to the end of 2025, when our management came up with the idea to build a new identity between Sub Zero Project and D-Block & S-te-Fan called 4444 OF A KIND. We already knew it was going to be a smooth and fun ride working on new music. We spent three days at a writing camp together and made more than 10 songs, which was an amazing experience. 'Darkest Hour (The Clock)' already showed how naturally your two sounds could meet. With 4444 OF A KIND, however, you’re creating music specifically as one project. What happens differently in the studio when four producers with very established identities have to decide what a new artist should sound like? Complete creative freedom happens. With 4444 OF A KIND, we don’t go into the studio thinking, “We have to make a new Sub Zero Project or D-Block & S-te-Fan song.” Instead, we just have fun, come up with cool stuff, and see where the process takes us. This new project is about pushing the boundaries of hard dance and play
Black News Fresh off a high-octane set at MARQUEE Singapore, Sub Zero Project are showing no signs of slowing down. More than a decade into their journey, the Dutch duo of Nigel Coppen and Thomas Velderman continue to push hardstyle in new directions, pairing their unmistakable sound with increasingly ambitious live concepts and collaborations.
That momentum has carried through Our World, their latest audiovisual live concept, as well as 4444 OF A KIND, their four-man project with D-Block & S-te-Fan. Their growing presence across Tomorrowland and recent collaboration with Steve Aoki on 'Promises' have also placed them firmly within a wider electronic music conversation at a time when, as the duo put it, genre boundaries are beginning to fade.
Following their explosive performance at the Marina Bay Sands megaclub, Bandwagon caught up with Sub Zero Project to talk about 4444 OF A KIND, their approach to hardstyle, the creative freedom behind their live concepts, working with Steve Aoki, and more.
You’ve spent more than a decade making music together. When you listen back to your earliest productions, what do you hear that is still unmistakably Sub Zero Project today?
We hear the same drive to experiment and push the boundaries of hard dance that we still have today. Of course, our sound has changed a lot over the years, but we always want to come up with something fresh. We believe that this is what has made our sound recognisable over the years.
You’ve worked together for so long that fans often experience Sub Zero Project as one creative unit. What are Nigel and Thomas individually bringing to the studio that the other person probably couldn’t replicate?
Even though we always work together on music, we definitely have different strengths in the studio. Thomas is more focused on melodies and the musical side of a track, while Nigel has a strong focus on the technical side, like kicks and other small details such as sound design and creative ideas. Those different strengths complement each other really well and are a big part of how we work together.
You’ve built Our World around four distinct visual worlds alongside new music created for this chapter of Sub Zero Project. How did you come up with the concept, and how does building a narrative-driven live show affect the way you create music in the studio?
With Our World, we wanted to show people what “Our World” actually stands for, which could be anything, just like our music. Instead of coming up with one specific theme for our show, we wanted to combine very different themes and styles into one show. The same goes for our music.
It was a really fun creative process setting up this show and creating all the music that came with it. We brought the show to so many incredible places like Antwerp, Gothenburg, Mexico City, Paris, and many more.
You’ve created several distinct live concepts over the years instead of simply touring the same DJ show. What have these concepts allowed you to express that a normal Sub Zero Project festival set cannot?
The biggest difference is that our live concepts allow us to bring our full vision to life. It’s not just about the music anymore — it’s the visuals, production, and show coming together as one experience.
It also gives us a different way to work on music. We’ve always been at our best if we have a certain direction or theme that we can dive into.
4444 OF A KIND brings you together with D-Block & S-te-Fan as a dedicated four-person team rather than simply another collaboration. Its debut single, 'Waiting 4', arrived in June, following years of history between both duos. At what point did you realise there was enough chemistry between the four of you to build an entirely new identity around it?
We actually already knew this back when we made our first collaboration, 'Darkest Hour', in 2018. The chemistry was instantly there.
Fast-forward to the end of 2025, when our management came up with the idea to build a new identity between Sub Zero Project and D-Block & S-te-Fan called 4444 OF A KIND. We already knew it was going to be a smooth and fun ride working on new music.
We spent three days at a writing camp together and made more than 10 songs, which was an amazing experience.
'Darkest Hour (The Clock)' already showed how naturally your two sounds could meet. With 4444 OF A KIND, however, you’re creating music specifically as one project. What happens differently in the studio when four producers with very established identities have to decide what a new artist should sound like?
Complete creative freedom happens. With 4444 OF A KIND, we don’t go into the studio thinking, “We have to make a new Sub Zero Project or D-Block & S-te-Fan song.”
Instead, we just have fun, come up with cool stuff, and see where the process takes us. This new project is about pushing the boundaries of hard dance and playing with different genres, without limiting ourselves to one specific sound.
This year, you had a huge presence at Tomorrowland — playing the Mainstage, hosting Sub Zero Project & Friends, performing as 4444 OF A KIND, and going back-to-back with Hardwell. From your perspective, is hardstyle having a broader global moment right now, or are the boundaries between hardstyle and mainstream electronic music simply disappearing?
We definitely feel that boundaries are fading more and more. People don’t really think in genres as much as they did back in the day, which is a good thing in our opinion, and it makes it easier for certain EDM artists to play harder songs.
For us, this is an incredibly exciting time to be a music producer.
Finally, collaboration with Steve Aoki, 'Promises', reimagines NERO’s 2011 track. What made you want to revisit that particular record, and why was Steve Aoki the right producer for you to team up with?
We absolutely love the original, so once we started chatting with him, we both agreed we could do something epic with this song. We have a good connection with Steve, and this collaboration was long overdue. We’re very happy we could finally make it happen.
