At this very moment, Gettoblaster is likely to be in a dark, overcrowded room somewhere, pounding out their raw breed of dance music to a mob of house and techno heads. If you find yourself reading this instead, report to their dancefloor immediately. More than just a DJ duo, this set of tastemakers are leading a movement, raised by the underground and determined to keep it alive. Heavily influenced by the sounds of Chicago and Detroit’s underground scenes, they’re taking it back to the fundamentals – to what made dance music so damn good in the first place. This year is poised to be their biggest year yet, with the release of their single “Get Dat”on Dirtybird, followed by a guest mix on Claude VonStroke’s Birdhouse Radio hosted on Sirius XM in February. With their addictive hooks, crisp percussion and fat, room-shaking bass lines already being heard in sets from legends like Roger Sanchez, Claude VonStroke and Shiba San, Gettoblaster will soon be the name that’s on everyone’s lips…
Hi guys, thanks so much for chatting to us here at DMCWORLD. The last year seems to be very full on and exciting journey for you with Get Dat released on Dirtybird and now the release of ‘’Booty Work’. Can you take us through how you got into the house music scene in the first place?
Paul (of Gettoblaster): Growing up in Chicago it was very easy to get interested in house music. My early memories were as a young 5 year old hearing it on the radio with the original Hot Mix 5 which was most of the guys responsible for house music genre in general. Growing up later to be involved making mixtapes (which was a culture in Chicago) which made me an in demand DJ in the underground rave/warehouse parties.
Zach (of Gettoblaster): In college I got exposed to it, and from there I discovered warehouse parties in Detroit. Which then led me to want to buy records, and start DJing…
How would you say the scene has changed since you first started DJing?
Gettoblaster – Originally mixtapes were how you got booked. We handed out mixtapes to get noticed. These days it’s like the only way in is to make music, and have a strong social media presence. We believe in the old school way still, as we like to actually shake hands and meet the people we work with. But, things are very digital these days.
You guys must have a good relationship to have been a duo for so long! How did you guys meet?
Gettoblaster – In the late 90’s (Zach of the group) threw events in Michigan and booked (Paul of the group) a few times, and stayed friends throughout the years. Then after many years went to Miami Music Week together to discover new things and it was at DJ Sneak’s pool party after listening to Felix da Housecat and Josh Wink that we decided to start this group and bring our sounds back to what we originally loved about house music.
Your new song Booty Work featuring DJ Dagwood is out now. What inspired this track?
Gettoblaster – Makin booty’s bounce at parties….is what we do best…everyone is so serious about music these days, we always want to remind people it’s a party and let’s have a good time….and….well booty’s “workin” always makes for a good party…DJ Dagwood sends us a bunch of verses….and we cherry pick what we like and what makes us want to write music… sometimes he gets mad we don’t use the whole rap verse…but we generally like hooks not whole verses…this way it works with techno / house / and tech house…we like everyone playing our music…
How would you describe your music?
Future Tax ….sometimes they have words…. sometimes they don’t…but the original sounds of Chicago & Detroit which is we are both from is what our music is all about. We keep the original format of the music we grew up with; Trax Records, DJ International, Underground Resistance, Relife Records (circa 90’s), Dancemania Records, Metroplex – these were all big influences to our sound….you listen to any of these things and you will hear our music too. It’s where we gain our most inspiration from….with a touch of modern stuff.
Your music has been supported by the likes of Claude VonStroke, Roger Sanchez, Shiba San, Claptone, Heidi, DJ Sneak, Treasure Fingers, Patrick Topping, Boys Noize , Gene Farris, what does this mean to you?
It makes us very happy that they all support our music and our movement. All we are trying to do is preserve what we grew up listening to and making it relevant to todays sounds, as kick drums and mastering is bigger and better then ever… we say away from the plastic sound of massive white noises or huge risers, we try to keep things on that level a little more under the radar is we use that stuff…. generally, we try to make our stuff sound analog, and we use some analog so that helps…
When was your first rave and where?
Paul – 1995 Warehouse in Harvey, Illinois. Line up: DJ Sneak, Frankie Bones, the chick from Dee-lite…I had been to many house clubs before this tho….
Zach – 1996 a Detroit warehouse and on the line up was Stacey Pullen and many others…
Finally, what’s next for Gettoblaster? More singles, albums, touring, world domination …or?
In 2020 we are super focusing on our own label We Jack with some really amazing releases, collabs with DJ Deeon, DJ Funk, Kid Enigma, Missy. In the up coming months we have Gettoblaster & Missy – Money Moves coming on Sinden’s House Line label with a remix from Bad Boy Bill. We have a DJ Deeon & Gettoblaster project called ” 302″ on Patrick Topping’s label “Trick” , we have a collab of Gettoblaster & CZR – Dip That featuring Malik (of the Outhere Brothers) on Mason’s Animal Language label, a collab of Gettoblaster & Mad Villains featuring Missy on Desert Hearts, another single with DJ Dagwood on Code’s new label Holy Mole’, oh….. and a remix for Roy Davis JR on Chicago House Legend Steve Silk Hurley’s S&S Records. And last but not least a remix for our brother Paul Johnson on his new label!!!! A lot to look forward to… we are sure we are missing a few things…. but keep your eyes open…. we out here workin!!
Gettoblaster feat. DJ Dagwood ‘Booty Work’ on Farris Wheel Recordings is out now…
