“It is always good to see when true artists and musicians get the credit they deserve.”
Interview by Dan Prince
Daniel, Chris welcome to DMCWORLD…where in the world are you right now?
“Hey there, nice to be here. Thank you very much for having us. Right now we are currently locked away in our studio in freezing Minneapolis, working to finish off new music.”
An incredible start to 2015 for you thanks to your remix of Clean Bandit’s ‘Real Love’…a superb dreamy show opener of a mix. Please talk us through the history and sound of your rework…you must have been chuffed with the Grammy win at the weekend?
“Yeah, the Grammy win for them was fantastic. It is always good to see when true artists / musicians get the credit they deserve (shout out to Beck… haha). The fact that Clean Bandit took a different approach to pop music, and was rewarded for it, shows that there is still hope for musical innovation in a world saturated with commercial approval. With that being said, we were really happy when Big Beat reached out to us of all people to remix their latest single “Real Love”. Jess’ vocal work is extremely powerful and it demands audience attention; so we wanted to build a dance track that would showcase her vocal talent at the forefront. We also wanted the remix to work well with radio and in clubs, so we decided to go with a crossover approach using melody and rhythm to be the foundation, and let the vocal do the rest. When remixing a song, we tend to keep everything we like about the original, and then create the track around that. With Real Love, we loved the vocal and the piano, so we used those two elements and then build the rest from scratch. In the end, we felt it was a success, as many DJs from all types of genres ended up supporting it.”
A massive night for you last week playing the Anjunabeats party with Ilan Bluestone in your home town no less! What were some of the highlights from that little soiree…
“We’d have to say that playing “Real Love” for the first time to a live crowd was the highlight. We had finished that remix over 3 months ago and to finally see the reaction on everyone’s faces when they heard it…it was priceless. Also, it is always good seeing Ilan. We’ve met him quite a few times before, and he always brings a good vibe wherever he goes…both on and off stage. So it was really fun spending time with him again.”
A cool photo of you on Facebook this week of you with London Grammar…what was all that about?
“Haha! There’s a long story behind that, one that we’d be happy to tell outside of a written interview, as I’m sure your viewers don’t have time to read a 10-page response. But in short, we met London Grammar last year when they first came to Minneapolis. Right before their show, Daniel randomly ran into Hannah near the bathroom area, told her and her manager about our remix. They were kind enough to bring him backstage after the gig and had a chat about music and whatnot. Just recently, when London Grammar came back to Minneapolis, they remembered who we were and we were able to catch up after the show. Dan, Dot, and Hannah are all extremely down to earth, and some of the loveliest people we’ve met. We wish them the best, and hope to work with them in the future.”
What are the big 5 tunes in your box this weekend…please give us a few words on each…
1) Ilan Bluestone – Tesseract
llan has really grown over the past couple years, and you can really hear that in his productions as of late. Tesseract is a really fun club tune that has a fantastic melodic groove as its foundation. We really like what he has been producing these days, and Tesseract is probably our favorite thus far.
2) Fatum – Mandala [Anjunabeats]
Another brand new track forthcoming on Anjunabeats, Mandala is the perfect club tune for peak moments in your set. This is a duo you will want to be looking out for in the future. And you might be hearing a collaboration from us and them soon… *wink wink*
3) London Grammar – Wasting My Young Years (Maor Levi & Kevin Wild Remix) [White]
We are pretty good friends with Maor and Kevin, so when they gave us a sneak peek to their latest remix of London Grammar, we were blown away. Maor and Kevin know how to make dancefloor hits, so when you combine their talent with Hannah’s voice… it ends up being pure magic.
4) Fehrplay – Rattata [Zerothree]
Fehrplay is the man. He really knows how to take something groovy and deep – and make it sound huge in the club. Rattata really work both on radio and on the dancefloor, so we highly recommend having this in your arsenal.
5) Filterheadz – Flying Colours (Toolroom Trax)
When we first heard this tune, we were driving in our car a few hours before our gig with Ilan in Minneapolis, and we were like… “We’ve got to play this tune tonight.” It’s so groovy and lush; it’s impossible to not dance. It is definitely our favorite underground type tune right now.
“That moment when you hear the perfect melody” – when was the last time that happened to you?
“Easy – when we heard the vocal melody for “Superhuman” by Andrew Bayer. The chorus gives us shivers every time we hear it.”
Chris – you are a big gamer. What is the game you just can’t be beat at…?
“I haven’t had a ton of time to play games of late, we’ve been so busy in the studio…but I think there’s only a handful of people out there that can beat me in a Mario kart race, both for n64 & Wii. Destiny for the ps4 is another game that I’ve gotten pretty good at recently; if anyone wants to challenge just email me your gamertag!”
A celebrity you would not want to get stuck in a lift with?
“Kim Kardashian.”
When was the last time you pressed rewind and listened to a track over again because it was so damned good?
“When we heard Andrew Bayer & Asbjørn “Superhuman”. This tune is unreleased, but can be heard from Andrew’s live set from Madison Square Garden at ABGT 100. It has everything we love about music, all wrapped up in one track. There are not many male vocal tracks that we fall in love with, but of course Mr. Bayer never ceases to amaze us.”
Tell us 3 bucket list adventures you wanna do in your lifetime?
Travel to every continent (minus Antarctica, we get enough snow in Minnesota)
Do a BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix
Lord of the Rings Tour in New Zealand
A tune nestling in your set that just won’t go away from last year?
“Michael Woods – Ctrl [Diffused]
“This tune is still one of the biggest tracks in our live DJ sets. It does lean a bit more towards the commercial side, but it destroys the club every time.”
It’s your birthday. 3 DJs you invite to play for you…
“Dusky, Above & Beyond, and then Dusky again.”
Some DJ dates in your diary you cannot wait for this year…
“To be honest, we have just started working with an agency within the past few weeks, so they will be helping us get our touring schedule up and running for the 2015 season. As of right now, we mainly will be playing in Minneapolis with other big acts trance acts, but we will be sure to everyone posted with any tour updates outside the Twin Cities.”
What is coming out next from you studio wise?
“Oh man. We are in the middle so many different projects at the moment. Two collaborations with Kevin Wild (one of which is complete), a collaboration with Fatum (which is almost done) and two brand new original productions. Plus many more that we simply haven’t had time for or cannot mention just yet! Last year was a great year for us, as we did a lot of remixes. But this year we hope to do a lot more original work, so that has been the focus as of late.”
The last GREAT studio toy you bought yourself?
Daniel: “Our Adam A7x studio monitors are a Godsend. They completely changed the way we produce and the overall quality of our productions.”
Chris – “We just got a Roland JD-990 which has some great sounds to layer with our pads, as well as a few old sounds from the 90’s that are just begging to be brought back to life.”
What would you say are each other’s greatest qualities as producers’…?
Daniel – “Musical composition and engineering.”
Chris – “Songwriting and sound design.”
When was the last time you had a massive argument over music?
“Not for a while actually. We’ve been moving around from project to project so much, that we haven’t had time to really disagree over many creative ideas. We both find something we like, and then run with it. If it starts to sound like something we don’t like, then we just stop and change it. The only thing we tend to disagree on is whether we should be drinking coffee or tea while working.”
And finally, what is the main objective you want to achieve in 2015?
“We’d like to get a few originals out on Anjunabeats. We’ve been working with them for the past year and they have been truly amazing with all the support and guidance they’ve shown us. We’d like to continue our musical journey with them in 2015 and put out tracks that represent our big room style.”
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