Exclusive Premiere: Vicetone Remixes Dillon Francis, Sultan & Ned Shepard's 'When We Were Young'

Dutch duo Vicetone have attained commercial success while taking creative liberties with their music, a rare feat in an increasingly formulaic big room format.

Following releases on such top-shelf labels as Ultra, Spinnin’ Records and Hardwell’s Revealed Recordings, Vicetone have delivered a dynamic main stage-sized rework of “When We Were Young,” the lead single off Dillon Francis’s new album Money Sucks, Friends Rule.

Showing off their studio skills, the producers buoy The Chain Gang of 1974’s radio-ready refrain with throbbing pads and a plucky bass line in advance of the track’s euphoric drop, replete with ascendant synthesizers and pulsing sub bass.

Billboard caught up with Vicetone to discuss their remix and creative approach.

How did this collaboration come together?

Dillon reached out to us on Twitter to do a remix swap. We were familiar with his sound and we thought it would be very interesting to mix.

What was your creative approach on the collaboration?

We started out with just the vocal, and not listening to the original too much. We wanted the vibe of the chords to give a melancholic and nostalgic feeling, since that resonates with the vocal well ("To live again, like when we were young"). Matching the feeling of the instrumental to the vocal was the most important thing for us starting out our creative approach.

Where do you believe the big room format is heading?

It is constantly developing and changing, but the energy will probably stay consistent in the near future. Our own sound is developing and evolving naturally and we expect the genre itself to keep evolving as well.