MORTEN Uncut: From Youth Clubs to Tomorrowland Mainstage

In this candid interview, Danish DJ and producer MORTEN reflects on his journey from spinning vinyl at youth clubs in Denmark to headlining global festivals. He shares how an early DJ class at a youth center sparked his love for electronic music, and how that passion evolved into a career that now includes high-profile performances, chart-topping tracks, and a growing fashion brand, BBA.

MORTEN talks about memorable moments like cutting his hair live on stage at Ultra and his upcoming orchestral show in Copenhagen, where he’ll perform 25 years of music with a 50-piece symphony. He also dives into recent collaborations like “Culture” with ARTBAT, the energy of the Danish rave scene, and the excitement of playing AMF at Johan Cruyff Arena and solo at Tomorrowland’s main stage.

What was your earliest electronic music memory? How did you get into electronic music in the first place?

That’s a good question. I grew up here in Denmark, and in Denmark, we have this system where children in their youth, between 12 and 15, can go to a youth school after school so they don’t get in trouble, but they have a place to hang out. I went to a youth school where there were different subjects you could learn about.

You could be a camera guy, you could learn how to cook, you could learn how to draw, you could learn how to play pool and darts, and whatever. And then there was this guy called Kim from New York, and he was DJing. So, this is 30 years ago – DJing was not something very normal. We were DJing on vinyl.

So, I joined this DJ class, which was really cool, because once a month we would host a party in the youth club and 500 kids would come. So as a 13-year-old kid, I would DJ on vinyl in front of 500 other kids, and everyone knew each other.

We have to talk about the haircut song! Tell us about what happened at Ultra, what’s the story there?

Well, for a long time, I’ve been wanting to cut my hair. I told my manager many, many years ago if I played Ultra, I’ll cut my hair on stage. But it was kind of like a little bit of a joke.

I wanted to cut my hair for a long time and we were working with this organization to see if we could make something for charity. I had this idea that if I went live and said, “I’m gonna cut my hair if you guys collect this kind of money,” I would do it live and then I would give the money to charity.

So I talked to different organizations, but we couldn’t really find a solution that really worked. And then we just wanted to make some fun out of it and had to grow some balls and do it on stage. That was a pretty wild moment. And the song I played is “Take Me Home” with Bon that’s gonna be released on Tomorrowland Music on June 20th.

You have a very successful fashion brand, BBA, It sells out. What’s it like running your merchandise? Are you designing all of that, by the way?

No, that’s my manager who does that. We partner up on it. I’m part of the process of like, “What do we think about this? What do we do about that?” But he’s the creative director, if that’s how it sounds in 2025.

It’s cool. It’s just fun. It’s a cool way to engage with the fans. I walked the street here in Copenhagen today and I’ve seen two people wear my gear. It’s just fun. It’s just a different way of expressing yourself. And I always liked fashion and street styles.

Let’s talk about a few major gigs. One of them recently – let’s talk about the Johan Cruyff Arena, and it’s on Saturday, 25th of October. You are on the lineup for AMF. How you feeling about that?

I feel like that is crazy. Amsterdam every year it’s like, “Oh, what party you gonna play? What are you gonna do?” And now it’s just like you’re playing that one, you’re good. It’s just so cool that I’m very excited for it. It’s becoming the mecca of electronic music, that arena is.

Let’s bring it to Tomorrowland main stage. You are on the Saturday 26th – MORTEN solo main stage?

I am solo, and it’s a big set time for me. It’s the latest set time I’ve ever played Tomorrowland main stage. I have an amazing relationship with the people of Tomorrowland. All the fans of Tomorrowland have an amazing relationship with Tomorrowland that’s been building over the years.

I’ve been coming to Tomorrowland as a guest for as long as I can remember. I have videos of me being in the crowd 13 years ago, pointing at the stage, saying, “It’s gonna be me one day.” And it’s just one big family. I think that Tomorrowland… it’s funny because I played EDC Las Vegas three weeks ago, and one guy interviewed me and asked me, “What’s the difference between EDC and Tomorrowland?”

And right away, I was like, “You can’t compare. It’s like two different things.” Tomorrowland is like a fairytale. It’s like you walk into the forest and it’s just a fairytale for adults, and you have the best artists on the planet perform, and everyone brings their A-game. I’m very excited about Tomorrowland this year. Very, very excited.

Speaking of EDC, I wanna talk about your track with ARTBAT called “Culture” that came out on Insomniac Records. Can you tell us a little bit about what the inspiration was behind that track, and what it was like playing that at EDC this year?

It was cool. We’ve been playing it in our sets for a little bit. I had this idea – I wrote a vocal and played it for the boys, and they worked a little bit on the track. We played it in our sets, and it’s just been like a weapon for us. It’s been a super fresh, good energy record.

I’ve been surprised about the support that it’s gotten. Calvin Harris DM’d me last week like, “Hey bro, can I have an instrumental?” Like, Calvin Harris wants that one. So, it’s just been a fun record to release. It’s been a fun record, a cool record to play in our sets. I think it has the right amount of energy, and it sounds fresh with this kind of vintage vocal we have.

I wrote the vocal. It was just an idea that… I don’t know, it’s just… I think it’s a cool track. I think it’s dope.

I’ve never been to Denmark. What’s the electronic music scene like in Denmark? What’s the rave scene like?

It’s growing a lot. They have a big – I wouldn’t say underground, but they have a big techno culture here. The young people like to listen to techno music, different music. Copenhagen is a little bit the Scandinavian Berlin or Amsterdam, if you want. People here like to smoke and wear a black hoodie.

And this is one of the only places in the world where you take a bicycle to the club, and you have 50 euros in your bank account, and you bring home a supermodel, and she knows every underground electronic artist in the world. This is the vibe here. It’s very, very cool.

And the music scene here – I was very, very lucky that EDM exploded when I came up, and I became like the electronic artist of the people. I was the first crossover and played the big festival’s main stage. I would close after the Depeche Mode festivals.

I’m actually doing something extremely cool. The reason I’m here is because on Saturday, I’m doing something with the city. It’s like a celebration of the city where I sold 12,000 tickets in nine minutes. But what’s really interesting and what I’m doing is that I’m playing all the music I have released in the last 25 years with a 50-piece symphony orchestra.

So, I’ve been practicing classical music with them for the last four months. And we are performing that on Saturday and everyone I have ever met in this country is gonna be there. So, it’s nerve-wracking and very exciting for me.

What was the inspiration behind working with an orchestra? Have you done that before?

They brought it to me. They had this concept of making… I did this thing with David Guetta called Future Rave, and they wanted to make something special with me in Denmark that was different than just me coming to Denmark and playing a big festival. Because I used to come in and play one or two times a year.

So, they wanted to make this concept called “Future Meets the Past.”

It’s cool for me to attract a different audience than just the usual young people who go to the club at the festival. Because here, my mom brings 30 of her friends and my dad has half of the people he ever met in his life come because they also want to hear my music played as a classical version. So, it’s exciting.

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