Nightlife

Henrix reps Miami while reaching for new creative ground

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Major razor: Henrix gets ready to show off his cuts at Light.
Al Powers, Powers Imagery

Born in Brazil and raised in Miami, DJ Pedro Henriques began calling himself Henrix after Tiësto mispronounced his name while playing one of his tracks on Tiësto’s Club Life radio. That only partially explains why Henrix seems to have come out of nowhere. He’s a passionate performer who has most recently been banging out tracks on Kaskade’s Arkade and Steve Angello’s Size labels, while hitting the Strip for his residency at Light and Daylight.

You’re from Miami and you’re a huge basketball guy, so I have to ask: Was there any joy for you in LeBron’s Finals failure this year? Good question. I’m a Heat fan first, so I go for my team before anybody. I was disappointed he left, but I know what he was trying to do, to bring back Cleveland in a bigger way. I get that part. But I don’t hate on the guy. We had four title runs and two championships. And it hurt a little to see him put in that performance [for Cleveland against Golden State] and go down. As a basketball fan, it was tough to watch.

You represent Miami in your music. What are the characteristics of the Miami sound? It’s not just one thing. Obviously we have the Latin community here, but we really have everything, so it’s more a variation of a bunch of different genres. I used to be focused on one type of sound, but I love music as a whole. Classic rock is my favorite genre, but I grew up with Latin and hip-hop and Brazilian drum music. One sound bores me, to make the same thing over and over like some of these guys do. If you look at my last six or so releases, none sound similar, other than maybe they’re 128 beats per minute.

You just did a contest with the release of “Acid, Rave, Sex” in which fans won a trip to come to Vegas and party with you. How important is it to interact with your audience? It’s a big thing, and a lot of artists don’t really interact. This industry is full of egos. I try to respond to everybody on Twitter, but sometimes I miss a few. These are the people that make you. You can work all you want; if you don’t get their support, you’re not going to go anywhere.

You toured a lot last year and spent more time in the studio recently. Where does Vegas rank among the cities you’ve been playing? It’s up there. The crowd is very open. Vegas gave me the opportunity to try different things and see what people like. You’re not going to drop some old-school hip-hop in Ibiza, or in an underground club in Miami. But I love that.

Where is your music going next? I just did a collaboration with Laidback Luke, and we’re putting the finishing touches on that, and then there are some secret side projects, playing with a whole new genre, that kind of thing.

You have to explain. It’s something that you’re not even going to know is me. I can’t talk much about it. We’ll see how the reaction goes online, then after that announce what it is. It’s really fun and it’s something I’ve been trying to do for a while now, bringing back an old-school sound, kind of old rock from the hippie era with a new twist to it. It’s very trippy stuff.

Henrix at Light August 8, 10 p.m., $30+ men, $20+ women.

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Brock Radke

Brock Radke is an award-winning writer and columnist who currently occupies the role of editor-at-large at Las Vegas Weekly magazine. ...

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