Montreal-born House DJ and Producer, Andrew Pololos, has and still is making a name for himself through Montreal’s nightlife and House scene. Pololos has played at several prominent Montreal venues; he’s currently the resident DJ at La Voûte, and works at Soubois and New City Gas. He is also an official DJ for The Yacht Week.
Over the years, Pololos has shared the bill with artists like Tiësto, Steve Angello, Sonny Fodera, Franky Rizardo, Dada Life, Bakermat, Sam Feldt, Bob Sinclair, Dyro, Slander, Sultan + Sheppard, Borgeous, Disciples, and many more.
Pololos‘s love for taking the stage as a DJ started from a young age, drawing his inspiration from his father. What started out as a part-time passion project, while completing his studies, became a full-time career—and there are no signs of stopping any time soon.
We’re very proud to say that Pololos’ success originated in Montreal, which also made us curious to know more about his past, his experiences, and his ambitions.
When did you first start off as a DJ?
I’m 26 years old, so it’s been over ten years now. When I was younger, I started with my father, since he was a DJ, and later my cousin Steven and I started throwing our own parties. We threw our first party when we were 15 years old and it was so fun. From there we started doing all of the Sweet 16 parties. I actually lied about my age when I was 17 to start working in clubs, so as soon as I was 18, I was more than ready to work in clubs. And then I started as an opening DJ; for example, if the night is 10pm to 3am, then I would start at 10pm, when no one is really there. Eventually you work up to be the headliner.
What or who inspired you to pursue this profession?
Definitely my family—my parents especially. They’ve been super supportive. My mom tells everyone she meets, “You must know my son, Andrew Pololos, the DJ.” Also, when I was growing up, Tiësto was an inspiration too. He was big and the first to sell out an arena—I was amazed by that.
How long have you been working as a producer and what inspired you to pursue that?
I started producing about six years ago because I wanted to take it to the next level. Nowadays, it’s really hard to differentiate yourself as a DJ since everyone is doing the same stuff. So in order to stick out, you need to make your own music—create your own style, your own sounds. And that’s eventually how you’ll break out, make a name for yourself, and get people to come see you. Producing music allows me to also learn something new every day; there are always challenges.
Would you say that having a good support system, for example: family, friends, etc., is crucial in your field?
Definitely. If I didn’t have my family and friends continuously supporting and encouraging me, I wouldn’t be doing this. My friends have been coming to see me DJ in clubs since we were 18 years old and they still come to see me almost every weekend.
You’re a House DJ and Producer; however, are there other genres of music you enjoy working with or would like to work with in the future?
My goal is to really brand myself as a House DJ, but there are other people that I would definitely collaborate with. There are so many singers I would love to work with, such as Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine and Hannah Reid from London Grammar. Working with singers like Adele and Rihanna would be cool too—I’m super open-minded about that; I love every style.
How do you feel when you’re playing?
It’s hard to describe. It’s an amazing feeling though. I feel like I’m on a natural high. I continuously chase that feeling because it’s so awesome. I want more and I’m working more to continue feeling that feeling.
Since we went over the pros of your field, what would you say are the cons?
Nothing immediately comes to mind. When I take a step back and think about everything and what I’m doing, I feel super blessed.
But if I have to mention one con, it would be the lack of job security, in the sense that in the music industry, one day you’re hot, one day you’re not. You can become obsolete super quickly. You have to really continue grinding and working at it. Another con that I thought of would be that there is a lot of competition out there; it’s a saturated market. On the flip side though, there’s always a party happening somewhere, so there’s a never-ending demand.
How does it feel to play alongside another DJ, for example, one of your good friends Evangelos Pavlis at La Voûte?
It’s awesome. We have an amazing chemistry together. We don’t even need to say a word; we can basically read each other’s minds. We read the crowd and then know exactly what vibe and flow we need. There have been instances where you work with someone and there isn’t chemistry, which is normal. Sometimes styles won’t mesh. It hasn’t happened with Evangelos, but it’s happened with other DJs.
Given that you’ve played at The Yacht Week as well as in Greece, can you tell us how you felt about those experiences? Would you say that there’s a difference in crowds?
The European market is much more accepting of House music. So for me, it was amazing. It’s actually the same in Australia. They love house; they love the energy. Europe, for me, was a dream. Also, in Europe you have trendsetters like Ibiza and the UK. The UK has the craziest clubs and many big names play there. Montreal is a bit behind unfortunately. Playing in Croatia and Greece were the best experiences of my life.
Even though you’ve already shared the stage with several DJs known across the globe, is there one DJ in particular that you would like to work with in the future?
So many. It’s hard to name them. Definitely Tiësto because he’s a legend and an icon. Everyone he touches and brings up basically explodes, like Hardwell and Martin Garrix. These guys became the top DJs in the world. I also LOVE underground music and DJs like Danny Howard, Franky Rizardo and Mark Knight. There are definitely a lot of people I’d want to work with.
On a more personal note, where do you see yourself in five years?
Where do I see myself in five years? The short-term goal for me is to keep doing what I’m doing and grow. Grow my followers, grow my support and grow internationally. Medium-term, I’d say would be to start playing the big festivals, obviously, like Tomorrowland and Ultra Music Festival and play the biggest clubs in Ibizia, in the UK and all over the world basically. And long-term, I want to make good, timeless music like many legends have done before me.
During the summer of 2017, Pololos had 5 weekly residences in Montreal and considers himself fortunate to have played in over 10 beautiful European venues, such as Carpe Diem Island, in Hvar, Croatia, Nikki Beach, in Porto Heli, Greece, Akrotiri, in Athens, Greece, Highlander, in Santorini, Greece and Fort George, in Vis, Croatia.
You can check out Pololos‘ 2017 highlight reel here. For those who are curious to see what Pololos has been up to, you can head over to his Spotify and SoundCloud accounts to hear more.
While Pololos continues to work hard at creating music and playing in Montreal’s hottest nightclubs, the most important thing to him is to enjoy the journey.
