Just Us

Steven Lee and Carl Kennedy, better known as Just Us ,have spent the last decade touring the best clubs across the globe with residencies in Ibiza, Bangkok, Sao Paolo, Sydney, Las Vegas and New York to name a few. The duo released ‘Cloudbusting’ last year, a reimagining of Kate Bush’s 1985 single which earned Annie Mac’s ‘Hottest Record In The World’ and Danny Howard’s ‘Future Anthem’. The duo are now back with new single ‘I Need Good Love’ feat. Daniel Caplin…DMCWORLD checks in…

 

Hey guys, thank you for taking the time to speak with us. How is everything going?

DMCWORLD, what’s up! Good to speak to you guys again, everything is rocking, thanks.

The new single ‘I Feel Good Love’ was recently released on Polydor. How are you feeling about the reception the track has received thus far?
 
CK – The reception has been unique and great at the same time. ‘I Feel Good love’ is creatively refreshing from our end, and the response is equally refreshing as in people from every genre are loving the record, so we really are enjoying the response and how its building, plus working with the Polydor and Interscope family is amazing for us.

Daniel Caplin who provides a knockout vocal performance. How did you link up with Daniel and did you consider other singers to feature?

SL – Daniel is an up and coming singer songwriter here in New York and was the first vocalist we invited in to record and after the session we knew that this kid is a natural talent. And it was serendipitous that Daniel had a family connection to James Brown’s wife Tomi Rae Brown which helped with clearing the sample.

James Brown’s timeless ‘I Feel Good’ was sampled to create the track. How did you approach adding a new spin to a song that is so beloved and well-known?

SL  – When you think about it, most people would just expect a 4×4 to the floor bootleg style house mix so we decided to take the most famous James Brown line ever and and do something unexepected creatively. The original James Brown song is energetic and pretty fast whereas I Feel Good Love has a chilled and laid back vibe. It shouldn’t work but it does.

What songs or artists would you like to sample in future? Do you have a particular track that you imagine would be intriguing to sonically dress up in a fresh fashion?

CK – As artists I feel we are always being creative and hearing old and new material but as always being DJ’s that’s part of our DNA. We’re working on wholly original new material but we can’t help revisiting the records that inspire us from our past. Right now we’re just finishing up a new take on 90s house classic with the original singer re-recording the vocals. Steven has brought in an 80s acapella that we’re putting a fresh take on. All will be revealed soon enough.


For those who are anyway, how and why did you decide to put the duo together?

SL Even though Carl is from Birmingham, we both started our careers in New York and both had success with our first records. Carl with ‘The Love You Bring Me’ and and me with ’Shake It’. We were both on road touring and always getting back to talk about the weekends and the unbelievable experiences and we always said we should do something together when the time was right. We didn’t quite realize it would be about 15 years later. But that’s evolution and it’s all about the right timing, and here we are.

As individuals you’ve both amassed notable success on your own projects, so when working as ‘Just Us’ are there any expectations to match or best your previous accomplishments?

SL – Not really. The past is great but the drive and hunger we have now is on new goals and achievements. Right now we are really comfortable in how we are moulding our two energies and collaborating on our shared vision for Just Us.. We just want to be proud of what we are making as we were with our individual releases in the past.

Since forming the duo, what new insights, tastes or techniques have you grasped from each other? Do you feel you have both grown as singular entities?

CK – We’ve been brothers and mates since we were 21 so we can be incredibly honest with each other when working in the studio as we both bring ideas to the table. We just get each other and that’s great for a duo like us. What’s interesting is that whereas I veer more towards house music having grown up in the UK, Steven has a more radio friendly pop sensibility that reflects how dance and electronic music has crossed over in the US over the last 15 years or so.

You’ve just began a weekly residency at The Gospel in New York City, tell us what the day to day process is like when putting together each show?

SL – Yes Gospel is brand new club which Black Coffee is also involved in. It’s an intimate room with the DJ booth right on the dancefloor – which we love. And we play a variety of styles and tempos which means we can try out some of our new productions in a live setting. And we’re having guest artists perform. Daniel performed ‘I Feel Good Love’ on the opening night which went done really well. So in one respect our process is as DJs making sure we have a full dancefloor but also having the soundtrack to the night reflect what we’re producing as Just Us.

What can people expect from you for the rest of the year and further into the future? A full-length project perhaps?

CK – We’ll be releasing some club tracks to complement the more radio targeted singles and we do envisage a full length project in the future in some form. Right now ‘I Feel Good Love’ is our main focus and we’re just putting the remix package together and we’ll be dropping those mixes later in the year. Wankelmut has delivered a stunning mix and we look forward to sharing that one and the others.

Thanks for having us. Peace from New York City.

 

I Need Good Love’ feat. Daniel Caplin is out now on Polydor

www.facebook.com/JustUsNYC