Until recently, Jeremy Olander could only dream of being a jet-setting DJ. As a 23-year-old kid from Stockholm with a love for dance music, he idolised the top electronic music producers of his country – global superstars like Eric Prydz – and he wanted to be like them.

He began making electronic music and DJing, and although Jeremy saw some small successes, he never really believed it would lead anywhere. 

Like many aspiring young people, as time went on the dream began to fade and Jeremy considered more realistic life plans. He enrolled at Stockholm University and started studying communications, not that he really cared for it but it made his parents happy.

He kept plugging away on his laptop and making music. He sent his tracks to Eric Prydz, the DJ and producer that he admired the most, hoping for some feedback or encouragement. He heard nothing.

And then one day, everything changed. By chance, Eric Prydz happened to listen upon one of Jeremy’s tracks that he had been sent and the Swedish studio whiz was so impressed that he asked the boy to come up with an EP for his Pryda Friends record label. Such an honour had only been bestowed before to established dance producers such as Felix Da Housecat, Axwell, Paolo Mojo, and Sébastien Léger.

What Jeremy Olander came back with dazzled Prydz so much that he immediately signed him for a three release deal, making Jeremy Olander the first ever Pryda Friends exclusive artist, and the first DJ ever to be officially endorsed by the chart topping producer.

As well as his music, Jeremy Olander was also signed to Eric Prydz’ management and will warm up for the superstar at every single one of his gigs throughout the summer, including the worldwide premiere of the Eric Prydz In Concert show (EPIC) in London on April 2nd. Under Eric Prydz’ wing, it is clear that by the end of 2011 Jeremy Olander will be well on his way to becoming a global DJ star.

With the release today of Jeremy Olander’s debut Pryda Friends EP ‘Evade’, we sat down with the youngster to hear his story. It is one that perhaps proves, never to give up on your dreams.

You’re the first producer or DJ that Eric Prydz has ever taken under his wing. How does that feel?

It’s pretty crazy. I couldn’t believe it when I heard it. It still hasn’t sinked in. The whole thing seems a bit unreal to me right now.

When Eric’s guys told me, my hands were shaking. I still haven’t realised what it all means to be playing alongside Eric and releasing on his label.

Every now and then you hear about how a big DJ will help a small guy out, and I thought ‘wouldn’t that be cool if Eric did that for me’, but I never actually believed it would happen.

But this is not just your ordinary superstar DJ helping an up and comer out in the studio. What exactly have you been offered?

The plan is to have me tour with him at every possible show and play before him at every gig. I’ll also be releasing music on his label, Pryda Friends. I have been signed for three releases.

That’s kind of the plan for now – to be a part of his team. And there are hopefully more options as time goes on. If I ever get to hang out with him maybe I’ll get the chance to remix him or work with him in the studio. One can always dream!

Well, considering the luck you’ve had recently anything seems possible. In all seriousness though, it wasn’t just luck that led Jeremy Olander to the door of Eric Prydz.

He heard one of my tracks in November, which he said was really good. I got really excited about it as it was always one of my goals to get his attention.

He said that he could hear a lot of himself in my music, but not in a copy cat kind of way. It was just made in a very similar way to how he’d make it and my music has a similar feeling to his.

There are a lot people out there who try to copy Eric Prydz, but that’s not the way to do it. It’s about finding inspiration not copying ideas or sounds.

How did you impress him so much?

A friend of mine knows him and sent my music to him. He had sent Eric some of my stuff a year ago, but we didn’t get a response then. I think he thought I needed to work on my sound more.

So then he got my track in November and he said he was impressed with the mixdown, arrangement, and the track itself, and said he thought it would be really cool for his label Pryda Friends, but as a B side.

He asked me if I had anything else, so I made the other two tracks for the EP and apparently he liked them.

Have you always been a fan of Eric Prydz?

It’s funny but I actually hated house music at the very beginning. I had heard some house stuff on the radio, like Benny Benassi, and I thought it was really silly.

But one of my friends said I had to get this Ministry of Sound compilation which he said was amazing. That’s when I really began to appreciate it, the whole energy of the music, and everything went from there.

When I discovered Pryda, I was blown away by how well produced his music was. His production was just next level.

Pryda was what got me into Prydz’ music in general. I saw him play for the first time in a small club in Stockholm called the Cocktail Club.

Every time he played in Sweden I was there. After every show I’d walk up to him and tell him how much I loved his music. I did that a lot, so after a while he probably recognised me as the freak who always followed him around!

How old are you?

I’m 22. Actually, no I’m 23! Sorry, I don’t really keep track anymore.

What have you done with your life, apart from DJing and production?

I was studying, but when all this happened I dropped out.

How was that?

I was studying communications at Stockholm University. I went to university to satisfy my parents mainly, and to feel like I was doing something worthwhile with my life. I thought that maybe I should start to look somewhere else as music wasn’t really working for me.

I wasn’t really that motivated at uni though, as it wasn’t what I wanted to do. I was hoping that one day my music would take off and I could leave, but that was beginning to look like an unrealistic dream. When I dropped out a couple of weeks ago it was pretty satisfying.

Have you had any jobs before?

I’ve had some jobs, you know, like random jobs in clothing stores and restaurants. I moved to New York City in 2009 to study music production, but when I got there they said the course was cancelled, so I didn’t know what to do. I ended up staying for six months and working in a clothing store.

Why was the course cancelled?

There were too few participants, they said. Stupidly I thought that I’d only enroll when I get to New York. So I worked in this store instead, and continued to make music on my laptop.

In the end, it was for the best because I think it’s actually better to discover how to produce music on your own, rather than be told or shown how to do it by someone.

Where did you live in New York?

In Manhattan for a couple of months, and then in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Williamsburg has a pretty thriving arts and music scene.

Yeah, living there definitely influenced me and inspired me. When I was living there, I began to see some real progress in my music.

How did you get into music production?

One day my friend showed me how to use Propellerhead’s Reason, and I was really impressed by how quickly you could make a bassline sound good.

So I started playing around with music production five or six years ago, and then started focusing properly a little more than a year ago. Unlike a lot of dance music producers, I actually started with production not DJing.

So what’s the biggest crowd you’ve ever DJed for?

I’ve only DJed in Sweden. My last gig was in September, when I warmed up for Dirty South at a club called Ambassador in Stockholm. There was probably about 800 to 1000 people there.

Now you’re going to play at the 02 Academy Brixton in London, at the world premiere of Eric’s EPIC show. That venue has a capacity of about 4000. Are you feeling a bit nervous?

Yeah, very nervous, but in a good way, you know. It’s helping me keep focus. The hardest part will be pressing play on that first track. Once I get into the flow though, it should be a lot easier.

To be honest, I can’t wait, I’m completely psyched! The line up is so sick. I never thought I’d get to play on the same night as Adam Beyer, Funk D’Void, or Eric. And this is just the first show of the summer!

What’s your preferred DJ set up?

In a club, I’d use the regular Pioneer CDJs, and a DJM-800 mixer. I want to try incorporating FX boards and other DJ stuff, but I haven’t had a chance to do that yet. The DJ set up I actually have at home is a bit crap.

What do you have?

I have some ancient Pioneer CDJ-200s and a DJM-400 mixer. The CD players have small jog wheels, which I actually like. I think it’s no bad thing to learn how to mix off crap gear, because when you get to use good gear in a club it’s a lot easier. I can only imagine how easy it was for vinyl DJs to move from vinyl to CDs.

Have you ever used vinyl?

I’ve played around with it at friends’ houses, but I guess I was a bit too late for all that.

Have you ever been to Ibiza?

Yes, I went there for the first time last year. It was sick. I was only there for a couple of days, but it was so much fun. I didn’t get to see Eric play though, which was disappointing. Now I’m going to be warming up for him every week at Amnesia [laughs]!

Did you ever think that would happen?

I had hoped that maybe in five or six years time I might get to play regularly in Ibiza, but I never dreamed when I was there last summer that the very next year I’d be warming up for my idol every week!

Let’s take a second to think about all of this. You’re 23 and have only ever DJed in local clubs in Sweden. Now you’re going to play every single week before Eric Prydz, in one of the world’s biggest and most famous nightclubs. Do you think that maybe it’s time to upgrade your DJ set up at home?

[laughs] Yeah, maybe it’s time!

Have you thought about what you might play before Eric?

I’ve been figuring out what mood I should play. I’ve spent a lot of time looking around for new tracks. I’m also working on some of my own music that will fit into my warm up sets that are deep and calm.

A lot of warm up DJs play way too hard in my opinion. My job will be to set the mood for the night, and to not go too crazy. I also want to use my sets to show people what my music is about.

The EPIC show in London will be your first gig with Eric. Have you planned that set?

I think it’s going to be 50/50, with maybe the beginning and the end of the set planned, and the middle open to how the night goes. I want to leave some space to see how the crowd reacts.

Apart from Eric, are there any other DJs that you admire?

I try to go to as many shows as I can in Stockholm, although the scene isn’t that big. A lot of the DJs that I want to see – guys like John Digweed, Sasha, Paolo Mojo, and Nic Fanciulli never come here.

So you like the British sound?

I don’t know why, but I really love British DJs. The way Digweed builds up his sets or Paolo Mojo, they build up the mood really nicely and subtly, for like four hours. That to me, is exciting. When you go and see a big commercial DJ play, they go bananas right from the first record until the very last and I find that quite boring.

I guess I like the more progressive approach, and I try to start my sets smoothly, and build up over the night.

You mentioned progressive. Is that how you would describe your music?

I find it really hard to explain my sound to people. I try to use as much melody as I can, so I guess it is quite like progressive house, although I use lots of different rhythms, like techno beats or house grooves.

What sort of music do you listen to at home?

I listen to a lot of dance music to get inspiration, and when I’m trying to find new tracks to play out. I listen to movie scores, a lot of 1990′s hip hop, and Radiohead – I love their new album. It’s always hard to tell where you get your inspiration from though.

Name some of your favourite labels and producers.

I love all of the music on Bedrock Records. Guy J is a really, really good producer – I love his stuff. I like Chymera. I caught one of his shows here in Stockholm a couple of weeks ago. Outpost is putting out some really good stuff at the moment – that’s Funk D’Void’s new label. I also like some of the Cocoon techno.

There’s a producer called Egbert who is putting out some really good stuff at the moment too. Pig & Dan are great for their melodic sound, and of course there’s always Eric.

How much contact have you had with Eric?

I haven’t spoken to him much, just when I’ve bumped into him at nightclubs. He’s always so nice, and always takes the time to talk to you for like 30 minutes.

A lot of the DJs that you want to talk to don’t have the time and I totally understand that, but Eric always takes the time. That’s really inspiring.

Your debut EP on Pryda Friends is out today. Tell me more about that.

It’s a three track EP called ‘Evade’, which is the lead track.

There are two tracks – ‘Riots’ and ‘Evade’ – which are more clubby, peak hour, and another cut which is deeper and not too crazy. That’s called ‘Chronic’ and that’s the original track that I sent Eric.

The other two tracks are more like bangers.

You mentioned earlier that you didn’t want to copy Eric Prydz’ sound, but at the same time you wanted to sound like him. That must have been hard?

The hard part was that I didn’t want to sound like Eric, but I wanted it to sound like something he might play. A lot of that is in the mixdown. Also, I wanted to make my sound unique.

I do a lot of the synthesis myself. That’s the best way to do it, as you can create your own sounds and tweak them for every track. It might sound shittier than presets the first few times, but eventually it sounds good.

How did you learn music production?

I taught myself. I changed my mind after what happened in New York, because I realised I didn’t want to be schooled. It’s more fun to experiment by yourself.

I used to hang out quite a bit on Laidback Luke’s forum as he gives a lot of feedback to aspiring producers on there, and that taught me a lot of the basics, like side-chaining and how to do a mixdown. I learnt a lot on that forum.

I’m still learning though. Every day something inspires me, and makes me want to experiment in the studio.

What’s your studio set up like?

I only use my laptop and Logic Studio. I’ve always worked in my bedroom in my pajamas. I like working that way.

I’ve read some interviews with Eric where he has said that he makes most of his music on his laptop sitting on trains, so that’s why I stuck with the laptop. Now I’m comfortable with it, I don’t see the point of getting a big studio.

How do your friends and family feel about all of this yet?

I’ve told a couple of them about it. I don’t really like talking about it, because I don’t want to seem like I’m bragging, even though I’m really excited. My parents are being as supportive as they can. They’ve always been a bit unsure of my future in music so they encouraged me to study, but now that this is all happening they are thrilled for me. I’ve told them all about Eric, so they know how big of a deal it is.

My girlfriend is a little worried but I’ve told her there’s nothing to be worried about.

What’s she worried about?

You know, about all the girls and everything. She thinks that all girls want is to meet DJs, and she has this image that every DJ drinks Jägermeister from the bottle and stands on top of the decks waving his arms around.

I’ve told her that’s not how we roll. Eric’s never been a rock ‘n’ roll type of DJ, and I never will be. I don’t ever jump around behind the decks, showing off.

If there’s one thing I’ve always been clear about it’s the music, and how I want to do it. I always dreamt of working with Eric, and I never thought that it would happen, so for me to have the chance to work and play alongside him is a dream come true. I just want to play and make good music, and that’s all I care about.

Finally, what has changed for you since all of this happened?

I quit school, and I guess, I’m a much happier person.

Jeremy Olander ‘Evade’ EP [Pryda Friends]

Download Jeremy Olander ‘Evade’ EP from Beatport