The Swedish superstars doing it their way
Great to grab you after a massive Miami week, you are over in Los Angeles right now?
“Yes we are running around getting things sorted for Coachella which is only two weeks away, we have a big weekend coming up in Washington and Dallas, so it’s all systems go.”
A great Miami week, people are saying it’s the best yet…?
“We can agree with that, it was our third time there and it was so much fun. Ultra was just amazing, the energy in our tent was incredible, we thought at one point it was going to explode.”
Heathrow Airport was like a warfield yesterday, people coming back back from Ultra were saying it was like a football game with all of that chanting.
“That’s exactly what it was like, thousands of people screaming DJs names, it was a brilliant event and we are so happy to be part of what will definitely go down as a piece of musical history.”
And the weird thing was, the majority of the crowd were not on drugs…
“Strange isn’t it, there was so much energy but it is a completely different vibe to other places. It’s so much fun and we are all lucky to be part of it. We are one of the EDM artists who are lucky enough to be riding this wave in America and the great thing thing is that there is nor particular genre, you can do whatever you want and as long as it’s good, the people love you. It’s amazing to be doing something that everyone over here hasn’t seen before, a great feeling.”
You are two crazy producers who seem to be made for each other – you both started out as solo acts, how did you hook up in the first place?
“We just went out for dinner one night – Dan you know how much we love our food, and had a chat about doing something together. We looked at it initially as a side project as we both had other things going on. That kind of changed quite quickly when we realised that it was more fun being a duo, you have someone there to brainstorm with.”
If you hadn’t got into music, was there anything else you could have ended up doing?
“Probably not. We were just two kids messing around with computers from an early age, always looking for new gear to experiment with. It was always going to be music. It’s strange though, one of us was into the whole big room, German DJ Hell vibe and the other into the more trancey sound, we have just gelled so well.”
Where does all this enthusiasm come from. What’s more important – the tunes or the fun factor?
“Haha. For us, we just want to keep this high energy and we go into the studio and see what comes out. Dan, we go on stage and have a great time for two hours and afterwards people will come up to me and say, ‘what was that tune you played half way through’ and I’m like, honestly, I have no idea. Once we are on that stage it’s all a blur.”
Tell us about the little Salt Lake City disaster…
“Wow you do your research! I was causing mayhem on a table on stage and the table just gave way. I had nasty fall but it could have been a lot worse!”
So the whole studio set up where you just close the door and see what happens, is that the way forward?
“Well at the moment, everything musically is all mixed together, everyone is in bed with each other making tracks. We feel that all of the bedroom producers out there think too much about what they are doing, think too much about what FX and synthesisers they’re using and casting their eye on everybody else instead of creating their own sound. That’s the impression we’re getting from all of the demos we’re getting. That philosophy won’t get you anywhere today.”
You are spending a lot of time in America at the moment, the studio back in Stockholm must be gathering dust!
“Ha ha. We have set up a studio over here in Santa Monica which is where we are at now but our main studio set up in back in Sweden. But it’s time now to head back home and get back to work there most definitely.”
Your home country is finally stepping up the plate, some great producers making waves. It’s taken a while…
“What you have to remember is that there is no real scene in Sweden. No big clubs, no festivals, nothing. And that’s why all of us have had to go outside of the country to make a name for ourselves. Hopefully that’ll start to change over the next few years.”
We hear you have a barrel load of tunes ready for release this year…
“We have around 15 songs ready to go, enough for a great album. We’re just tweaking a few things and then we’re ready to roll. “
And who does what in the studio, who’s great at what?
“It doesn’t really work like that, we’re both as good as each other, both proficient in the same areas and compliment each other. It’s funny, some of the tracks we make we finish and we look at each other and say, ‘shit, who else could play this?’ – but we don’t care. We like it and know we can play it ourselves, hopefully other DJs will like it and it’s a bonus that everyone seems to like it.”
You spend a lot of time together, surely there are arguments?
“Of course we argue, it wouldn’t be natural if we didn’t. But the funny thing is we argue over the silliest things, nothing major. We have a our good days and our bad days put it that way!”
Any major plans for Ibiza this Summer?
“We are looking at our options, we’re not headlining our own nights or anything this year, we will just be appearing at some of the big nights over there. Watch out Ibiza!”
