Dimitri Vegas is embracing a new creative chapter, with fresh music, a growing interest in acting and a renewed love for harder, rave-inspired sounds.

As one half of Belgian DJ duo Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Dimitri Vegas has become a major force in electronic dance music, known for high-energy festival sets, chart-topping releases and collaborations with some of the biggest names in the industry. From dominating the mainstage at Tomorrowland to exploring harder, rave-inspired sounds, he continues to push his sound in new directions while branching out into the world of film and acting.

Ahead of his set at the first-ever Don’t Let Daddy Know London at Drumsheds, we caught up with Dimitri to talk new music, his plans for the future and his growing passion for acting. We also put him to the test with a quick-fire round covering dream collaborations, guilty pleasures and the tracks that first sparked his love for electronic music.

You’re about to play at the first Don’t Let Daddy Know in London. How do you feel?

Super happy! London is one of my favourite cities to play, and Don’t Let Daddy Know is one of my favourite events. So it’s a great combination!

The lineup is quite diverse tonight. How do you usually prepare for a set when there are so many different sounds?

I absolutely love playing on diverse line-ups. I think they bring out the best in artists and give you more creative freedom. But I don’t really worry too much about who’s playing before me. I just focus on the crowd, feel the energy and do my own thing.

You’ve explored some different sounds this year. Is there a particular direction you’re excited to take your production in next?

I’m really loving the harder, ravey stuff right now, so I think I’ll be sticking with that for a while.

Looking ahead, what can fans expect from you?

Lots of new music! Both as Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, and with our solo projects, there’s a lot of new material coming up. It’s still a goal of ours to release an album at some point as well. And of course there are plenty of shows coming up. Oh and alongside this, I’m working on some movie projects.

What kind of movie projects are you working on?

I’ve been doing quite a few auditions lately, but I’m also developing a couple of movies myself. It’s a slow process but I’m learning a lot about the creative side of filmmaking, so hopefully I’ll have some news to share about those soon.

Could you see yourself moving into acting full-time?

I’d love to do more acting but I can’t ever see myself stopping DJing. They’re two very different worlds with very different creative processes. For example, I’ve got a part in The Man with the Bag, a new Christmas movie coming soon with Arnold Schwarzenegger. That was an incredible experience for me and such a bucket list moment to work with one of Hollywood’s most iconic figures.

But on the other hand performing on a stage like Tomorrowland is a unique experience unlike anything else. It’s such a big part of who I am. So, no I can’t see myself ever stepping away from it.

How did your interest in acting come about?

It’s always been a passion of mine and over time, I started getting opportunities to audition for different projects and eventually landed some roles. It’s just evolved naturally from there.

Quick-Fire Questions with Dimitri Vegas

What’s your dream collaboration?

I think Eminem has to be right up there.

What’s one track every DJ should have on their USB?

It depends on the vibe you’re going for, but if you want to get a party started, you can’t go wrong with ‘Freed from Desire’.

What’s your guilty pleasure track?

Probably ‘Freed from Desire’!

What’s the first song that got you into electronic music?

Growing up in Belgium, electronic music was everywhere, even if we didn’t necessarily realise it at the time. Take ‘Freed from Desire’, for example. That was a massive record, but back then we didn’t really think of it as electronic music. It was just pop music!

I think it was albums like Daft Punk’s Homework and The Prodigy’s The Fat of the Land that really made me realise how much I loved electronic music. I remember hearing those and thinking, wow, I love this music!

That was the thing about growing up in Belgium in the ‘90s. So much of the music in the charts was electronic, but we didn’t necessarily think about it in those terms like we do now.

Is there a particular track or era of dance music you wish you’d been a part of?

There are so many, it’s impossible to choose just one. I think a lot of it comes down to growing up in a generation when people experienced music differently.

Look at Daft Punk, for example. Their albums had a life of their own, sometimes lasting for years, with multiple tracks becoming huge records. People would keep going back and listening to those albums, and I think that’s why so much of that music still connects with people today.

So it’s not necessarily about wishing I’d produced one particular track. It’s also about having a real love for that era and the way people experienced music back then.