No one messes with these Italian Phunk superstars
Dino, Stef welcome to DMCWORLD guys, your single ‘Critical’ has just climbed to No.12 in the Official Top 100 Beatport Chart and No.2 in the Top 100 House Chart, while ‘From The Dust’ sat at No. 1 for past three weeks in the Techno Top 100 [# 24 Official Top 100] Did you expect these tracks to jump so much …?
“We hoped they would do well, our projects are always very thought out and targeted, but we didn’t expect this haha! We would like to thank everyone who has been supporting and buying them.”
The Buzz Chart people are jumping through hoops concerning your new tune ‘Time Together’ coming out on Hotfingers. Talk us through this dancefloor smash, what has the reaction been like?
“Thanks! Well we’ve taken the 80’s/70’s sound and given it our tech touch. It’s a sound to suit everyone! Its only just been released so right now its hard to gage but the promo went down really well, hopefully everyone else will like it as much, if not more, than Critical!”
You have had an astounding production career to date. But let’s go back to the beginning. Tell us about your childhood and when you started to discover music. Did you come from musical families?
“Yes absolutely, both our parents were artists, so it runs in our veins. We listen to all kinds of music from the 60’s right up to today’s EDM, and love being in the studio creating music from our soul!”
When did you realise that you wanted a career in music, what were the first steps in the industry?
“When we did ‘Flawless’ for The Ones and George Michael after, we realized that we wanted to distinguish them with a sound completely new and innovative. The first big steps were to work with the majors such as Sony, Virgin, Universal, Warner, Mercury, which really gave us great visibility within the musical world and got us noticed.”
What were the early clubs and big DJs you first encountered and loved?
“There are so many…in particular the great Carl Cox! We have great memories of St. Petersburg in Russia, where we played in an arena to 20,000 people. This was one of our first experiences with a huge P.A. – it was incredible!”
Your first big smash was the club hit ‘Flawless’ which led to work with some huge names including Danny Tenaglia, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Faithless, Roger Sanchez and Way Out West. How would you describe your production style, what makes you different from other producers…?
“One thing we never do is copy anybody else. This is how we differentiate ourselves because our sound is unique and exclusive to us, this is attractive to the people we work with and the people that buy our music!”
What is the big 10 you are spinning right now?
Phunk Investigation & Schumacher – Critical – (Great Stuff)
Tomy DeClerque – Raw (Intec)
Phunk Investigation & Schumacher – From The Dust (1605)
Hitchcok – Aestival (Miniaturesrec)
Sharam – Que Qubano – Nicole Moudaber Remix (Yoshitoshi Recordings)
Jay Lumen – Teach Us (100% Pure)
DJ Lion, luigi Rocca – Repeat Repeat (303Lovers)
Phunk Investigation – Time Together (Hotfingers)
Superdrums – Sisko The Dog (Piso Records)
Jewel Kid – Kukz – Mauro Picotto Remix (Alleanza)
You were in Miami for the WMC – dance music has exploded in The States after all these years. Firstly, what were the highlights of Miami for you?
“Definitely the Ultra Music Festival, there were over 200,000 people there, it’s a great organization, the people were beautiful, playing for them was wonderful!”
And secondly, why do you think it has taken so long for EDM to crack America?
“The EDM scene has always been for a limited audience in US because the musical culture has historically been about pop, country, r&b, hip hop, rap etc. – maybe this is just a refreshing and exciting change!”
Who is the one artist from around the world that you would love to collaborate in the studio with?
“Boys Noize – their sound is outside the box.”
Who brings what to the studio, in other words – who is good at what when you are in production mode?
“It’s equal. The studio’s our life…our home, we sleep, we eat and mostly we dream there!”
You obviously spend a lot of time travelling and working together. What are each other’s faults!!!!?
“We don’t want to cause any offense here haha…”
What is the finest record you have played to a dance floor?
“So many to choose from but the best were in the 1980’s because of the high-energy…”
And what do you think has been the greatest piece of production you have created?
“Stellar Project – Get Up Stand Up – for truly innovative sound.”
What other producers from around the world are you giving high fives to at the moment?
“Timo Garcia, Schumacher, Dino Lenny, Tomcraft, Tomy DeClerque, Christian Cambas, Alex Di Stefano, PHNTM and many others.”
What are the plans for summer 2012? What festivals are you appearing at – and are you joining us in Ibiza this year?
“We’re busy on tours across the USA, Mexico and South America, we got gigs around Europe as well and we’re looking forward to headlining Heavyweight House in London @Proud2 in the O2 dome on June 23rd. On top of this we have loads more releases, collaborations and remixes scheduled for you all to enjoy!”
What genres of music do you listen to other than EDM?
“Funkyyyyy.”
Not many people know this, but Phunk Investigation are really good at…
“Cooking haha!”
What has been the proudest moment of your career to date?
“They are all happy times with ups and downs”
And finally, what is coming next from the PI studio?
“We are working on so many projects right now including the new 2012 remix by Danny Tenaglia – elements for the legendary Tribal America, remixing Timo Garcia’s – Blondie – Atomic Blonde, for Skint records UK – Fat Boy Slim’s Label!!! Loads more great things…you can follow all of our releases and news on our Facebook page.
Thank you Dan Prince DMCWORLD Magazine for your support!”
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Phunk-Investigation/73693371789
For EU bookings artist@ukrox.co.uk
