Cashio is the brainchild of two undercover producers who formed a partnership through a shared love for House music, the many trips to Ibiza and undiscovered disco samples from years gone by. Trawling through an inherited and much loved vinyl collection, the pair have created a wealth of new music based on hidden gems that would otherwise been forgottenAfter sending out ‘Dancing (With Me)’ to a few select tastemaker DJs ahead of WMC 2019, they knew they were onto something when support started picking up from the likes of The Black Madonna, Weiss, Paco Osuna, DJ T, Riva Starr, Tensnake and Severino/Horse Meat Disco. The record soon found its way into the hands of Annie Mac and Danny Howard who both started playing it on their respective shows on BBC Radio 1. Despite being made in the depths of winter in a freezing Peckham studio, ‘Dancing (With Me)’ was designed for the big sun-soaked Ibiza moments. Infact the protocol was “will this set off the massive confetti cannon at Elrow?!” The answer has proved to be a resounding “yes”…
Hey guys, How’s it going? Describe your current surroundings…
It’s going great! We’re both currently in transit, one of us is on a train back to Lon-don having just spent the weekend at Green Man Festival and the other is at Gat-wick airport en route to Jersey for a quick break.
You have a release out on Toolroom called Dancing (With Me) that came this month, how long did it take to write and what was the process of pro-ducing it like?
DWM actually came from another concept which we wanted to make a clubbier version of. We had quite a clear idea of where we wanted to take it so it actually came together in an evening! The hardest part was making tunes in a freezing Peckham studio in the depths of winter and not being able feel our fingers.
When’s the next release out and what can listeners expect to hear from it?
It’s currently in the works, but you can expect very similar vibes to ‘DWM’ ! We want to keep improving with each release – we enjoy putting that pressure on our-selves clearly aha!
We heard you are experienced producers already, so how did you come together to form Cashio?
We were introduced at a studio about 5/6 years ago. We got on really well and had quite similar influences but also different musical backgrounds which made for a great combo. We started working together regularly and these sessions formed the basis of the Cashio sound!
Is making music as a duo more rewarding than working on solo projects? Why?
We love making tunes as a duo. Sometimes you can hit a brick wall with a demo by yourself but when there’s two people you end up bouncing ideas off each other and the record can progress in such a way that wouldn’t have happened on your own. Working as a duo is a great way of bettering studio skills – we always have a right laugh too which is mega important!
What are your musical backgrounds? Did you learn instruments growing up or did you venture straight into electronic music?
J: My musical background came from DJing at various house, D&B and hip hop nights growing up in Cardiff. My first foray into production was hip hop, I was play-ing Busta Rhymes accapellas over my beats and creating ‘remixes’ essentially – they haven’t aged well !
N: I learnt classical piano from the age of 5, but then I got bored of all the practis-ing and convinced my parents to buy me a drum kit by the age of 12. They really regretted that. Going into my early teens I fell in love with UK Garage and D&B and then discovered House music by the time I moved to London when I was 18. I re-member going to Toolroom Knights at MOS and being absolutely blown away by the music. Funny how things have gone full circle with this release on Toolroom!
We previously mentioned your single has come out on Toolroom- how does it feel to be part of the Toolroom family? Would you like to release future music with them?
Toolroom have done great work with ‘DWM’ – having a single as part of that back catalogue is a real honour for us! We’d love to continue working with them, they’ve welcomed us in and we already feel like part of the family.
As Cashio is a new project we assume you have not played out together yet- can you give any indication about what your live shows/ DJ gigs could sound like?
Our DJ sets will contain a lot of strings, pianos and amazing vocal moments – we want to evoke big smiles and fun on the dancefloor. There’ll be contemporary tunes in there, a few classics and a few of our own edits and bootlegs we’re sure.
Do you remember the first gig you played? How did it go?
J: First time I played out was a drum and bass night in Swansea. I started the first track at the wrong speed, things improved slightly after that – probably because it could’t get much worse. It was awful.
N: I played a club called Pure in Jersey. I think there were about 5 people in the venue. Last month I played the O2 Arena to 15,000 people. If you’re just getting started in your DJ career and struggling to get bigger and better gigs, remember we all have to start somewhere!
Can you list any artists/bands that influence Cashio’s sound?
The influences are so broad but a few that spring to mind: Masters At Work, Ar-mand Van Helden, Chic, Weiss, Pete Heller, Eric Morillo, David Morales, The Sha-peshifters . . . the list is literally endless!
What advice can you offer to producers wishing to start a duo together?
Don’t follow trends, trust your gut, trust your instincts and focus on strong ideas rather than getting caught up in the technicals at the early stages. Try and offer the world something different to what everyone else is doing. Be unique.
Final question so let’s make it random- if you had to eat one cuisine for the rest of your lives what would it be?
Without a doubt… Kurdish. We often do a post studio visit to a restaurant in Peckham called Yadas. It’s tucked away down an alley under a bridge and is an emotional culinary experience – plus they tend to play amazing tunes, we’ve actually Shazam’d tunes in there to sample!
Cashio – Dancing (With Me) is out now on Toolroom…
