Gil Glaze / GLZ.
Two names. More room to explore.
Gil Glaze on starting GLZ, leaving a prepared set behind and finding a different connection with the room.
Gil Glaze
A new project can open a door, but it does not tell you what will happen on the dancefloor. With GLZ, Swiss DJ and producer Gil Glaze gives his club-focused ideas their own identity. In five questions, he traces that decision back to opening sets in Zurich, explains the freedom of working under two names and recalls why his US shows took a different turn from the one he had planned.
Gil Glaze is a Swiss DJ and producer from Zurich. Alongside his vocal- and melody-led work as Gil Glaze, he explores club-focused production as GLZ. His answers below describe how the two projects differ in the studio and behind the decks.
A new name for new ideas
What was the first piece of music that made you feel GLZ needed to exist as its own project? Take us back to the session — what were you doing differently, and when did it start to feel like a separate direction?
I actually started playing this kind of sound quite a while ago. Back when I was doing a lot of opening sets and hosting my own events in Zurich, I was playing quite a bit of tech house and more minimal sounds. At the same time, I was also doing a lot of open-format parties, so I was constantly switching between different styles.
When I was opening for bigger names, I always wanted to find a sound that was my own but wouldn't take away from the energy of the headline act. I was really into artists like Animal Trainer, Solomun and Eric Prydz, but also loved a lot of the experimental stuff the Dirty Dutch guys were doing.
Lately, I've been making more music than I ever have before, and I started noticing that a lot of it just didn't feel like the typical "Gil Glaze" sound anymore. When I started working with Kapuchon and Miss Monique, it really clicked. I felt like I couldn't approach these records as Gil Glaze. They needed their own identity, and that's really how GLZ came about.
Groove, bass and a proper sound system
You describe GLZ as a darker side of your sound. What does that mean when you’re actually making a track? Could you talk us through one choice in the drums, bass or arrangement that captures it for you?
For me, GLZ is really about focusing on the production and pushing boundaries a little more. I want to experiment with sounds, arrangements and ideas that I might not necessarily use on a Gil Glaze record.
I wouldn't put GLZ into one specific genre. It's purely focused on club music, and I want to have the freedom to explore different directions without feeling restricted.
Gil Glaze is naturally more commercial. I love working with vocals, melodies and making records that people can connect with beyond the club. With GLZ, it's much more about the production itself, the groove, the bass and creating something that works on a proper sound system.
I think having both identities gives me a lot more creative freedom.
The plan and the room
When you prepared for GLZ’s US debut, what did you want people to discover about the project? Was there anything in the room’s response that made you rethink how you’d present the music?
It was actually quite tough, to be completely honest! We played Phoenix and Denver, and both were big rooms with almost more of a concert atmosphere than a traditional club environment.
I had prepared a set beforehand, but I ended up going completely off script both nights.
Initially, I wanted to go much darker, but I quickly realized that the crowd also wanted moments where they could sing along and recognize something. So I started playing more of my own edits and remixes, leaning into a more electro direction without necessarily having those huge festival drops.
Towards the end, I brought it back into some techno.
It was definitely a learning experience because you have to read the room. You can have a whole vision for how you want to present a project, but at the end of the day, you're still a DJ, and your job is to connect with the people in front of you.
Where does an idea belong?
Now that you have both Gil Glaze and GLZ, how do you decide where a new idea belongs? Has a track ever started out in one world and ended up in the other?
I think the distinction has become quite clear for me.
Gil Glaze is about making music that people can sing along to and dance to, whether they're driving in their car, at a club or just listening to their Spotify playlist. I love that crossover between electronic music and something more accessible.
GLZ is really for the DJs. It's where I want to push the boundaries of production and experiment with sounds that might not necessarily work as a commercial release but can be really exciting in a club.
Sometimes I'll start working on an idea without really knowing where it belongs, and as the production develops, it becomes obvious which project it fits better. I think having both identities gives me a lot more creative freedom.
Learning something new again
You also share your experience through teaching. What part of starting GLZ has made you feel like a beginner again — something you’ve had to work out for yourself rather than rely on what already worked?
The DJ side has probably been the biggest challenge for me!
I've had to go back to doing a lot of crate digging, discovering new artists and building completely new playlists. It's almost like learning a new way of DJing because the way you structure a set and build energy is quite different.
I played Nordstern in Basel a few months ago and honestly had the best time. But I also spent days preparing for it, listening through so much music and trying to understand how I wanted to build the night.
It's also a completely different crowd. People aren't necessarily there to sing along to their favorite songs. They're there to feel the music, the bass and the energy.
And then there's me standing behind the decks with my hands in the air like I'm playing a festival. Haha! I definitely had to get used to that.
But that's also what makes it exciting. After doing this for so many years, it's refreshing to put yourself in a situation where you're learning something new again.
Gil Glaze / GLZ
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