Franklin van Beek, better known as RSCL (pronounced Rascal), is making a name for himself in the house scene. The twenty-five-year-old Dutchman started releasing music under his alias RSCL three years ago and since has since growth that some artists would only dream of. With a signature sound of funky basslines, techy drums, the endless M1 organ sound, and catchy vocals, his music has reached millions of listeners and his fanbase is every growing. We had the pleasure of speaking with RSCL on a number of topics.
Hey RSCL, thanks for speaking with us, how are you doing today?
I’m doing great, thanks! It’s been a bit quiet music wise the past months, but I’m really looking forward to all the cool things coming up.
Let’s kick things off with your latest milestone of crossing 1 million monthly listeners, how does it feel to cross this milestone?
It feels absolutely unreal. I still can’t believe that so many people are listening to my music at the moment. It feels like a big compliment, and it makes me even more motivated to come up with new music and let the world hear my sound.
Happening only 3 years after making your debut, was this a target you had in mind?
To be honest, I didn’t dare to dream of this. The goal I had in mind was just doing what I love the most: make music that I really like myself and giving people the best time possible during my sets. The most important thing for me was that I stood one hundred percent behind the music I released. I wasn’t that focused on streams yet, but my first release “Do It To Me” did great already, so that was the first time I recognized people liked what I did.
How has it been to see your audience grow in such a short amount of time?
Unreal. After my collab with Mr. Belt & Wezol called “Way It Is” my audience grew already. It continued with the release of “Lost” which I made with it’s murph & Twin Diplomacy and Jack August on the vocals. I’m still super thankful that Hardwell and the Gemstone team had so much trust in this tune. We hoped that people liked it of course, but I personally didn’t expect that Lost would blow up like this. It became BPM breaker on SiriusXM too, which felt unreal and super cool of course.
2022 was a major year for you, looking back on it now, what are your thoughts on that time?
2022 was my biggest year yet. I spent lots of time in the studio and I think I finished nearly 10 tunes which are coming out. I did many cool shows in the Netherlands and did my first shows abroad too. I think that my headline show at SpaceClub Firenze in Italy was my highlight of the year, but I did some cool shows during ADE too, so it’s hard to choose.
Is that new music coming soon?
Yes, after a bit of radio silence music wise, I’m super stoked that my new single called “All About U” with my friend Marco Nobel will be out on Armada, April 21st. It’s a super groovy tech-house track with a super catchy vocal and I’m super excited to hear what everybody thinks of it. And after this one I have lots of new music which is planned for release already.
Your style is certainly that of a groovy and vibey deep house feel, what about this style resonates with you so much?
I think I can describe my sounds best as a bridge between the more underground minimaltech genre and the more “commercial” tech-house and deep-house. I think there’s a gap between the underground and the commercial side of tech-house. I really like both sides, so started to combine the elements I liked for each side. So, synth wise it’s a bit more minimal and drum wise it’s a bit more “techy”.
And how important do you feel it is to have a signature style as a producer and artist?
I think that, as a producer, you should make music that you like. Develop a sound that feels good for you and stick to it, even when other sounds are popular at some times. It’s not a bad idea to use influences of new popular sounds or genres of course, but for me it’s important that when I release a tune, people can hear that it’s me who made it. I think that when you stick to your own style, it makes you original and you’ll stand out.
If you were to release a track from another genre, what would you choose?
Hmmm that’s a tough question. I actually listen to all kinds of music. I think it would be cool to make a melodic techno tune which also has a hard kick and heavy bassline. Maybe that will come in the future as well, who knows!
Thanks for taking the time to speak with us, do you have anything else you’d like to say to our readers?
Thank you guys for the interview! To all of the readers, if you want to follow my journey: make sure to follow me on my socials and on Spotify. There’s lots of new music coming this year, also a follow up for Lost which I just finished. Hope to see you at one of my shows this year too!
Stream RSCL‘s latest single ‘Lost’ below and watch his SLAM mix here.
