The new kids on the house block – A DMC exclusive…
Chris, Steve welcome back to London…
Chris: “Yo bro, thank you, this is our third time in the UK, your country kicks. We got here yesterday and we’re raring to go.”
So where else have you DJ’d at before over here?
Steve: The best gig we’ve done here was the Southport weekender
Don’t tell me you had to stay in of those minging chalets?
Chris : “Ha ha ha ha. No we were privileged to be put up in a hotel thankfully. It was dope. Amazing line up, Jazzy Jeff, Kerri Chandler, Danny Krivit…inspiring.”
Big party dropping our way on Saturday at The Ministry of Sound for the Strictly Rhythm 20th Party with label boss Simon Dunmore and friends entertaining the masses – beforehand rocking it down the River Thames at the Strictly Birthday Boat Party – you must be looking forward to getting your hands on the famous Ministry sound system…?
Chris: We have heard so much about it, it’s crazy we are going to be playing it tomorrow night.”
Your father, an inspirational figure, making sure you get to your gigs safely, taking care of the financial side of things and more importantly, making sure you got to school the next day okay. He used to party with New York’s finest at such legendary clubs’ as The Paradise Garage. Have you ever caught him dancing around the living room when no one is looking?
Steve: “You know what Dan, our father has no shame and if we walked in on him he would just carry on, it’s one of the many, many things we love about him.”
So, Chris, Steve – an incredible start to a career for two DJs who started out so young. Without doubt the youngest dance superstars to feature in the DMC Magazine. I have seen you DJ at Pacha in Ibiza and was blown away by the sheer energy of your set. It’s like you two are joined at the hip, as if you know what the pair of you are thinking before you put the next record on. You remind me of two Erick Morillo’s behind the decks – has the connection always been there from day one DJing wise?
Chris: “Wow, what a compliment. Well at the end of the day, we’re brothers and it all comes second nature to us, we just feel the groove together and know where it’s going. It’s not like we prepare a rehearsed set, we just go with the crowd.”
What did you think about Pacha in Ibiza – and did you stay at the Pacha hotel? My bank manager hates me staying there…
Steve: “Ha ha ha. Yes we did, what a dope hotel. We loved Pacha the club, cannot wait to go back there this year, off the hook.”
You moved from The Bronx in New York city to Monroe. In the UK we have a saying if we think a DJ is too commercial and plays bad records – we call them cheesy. So how does it feel now living in a town that has a nickname in America as the Town of Cheesecocks?
Chris: “Dan, you really do your research man. Everyone loves cheese, we even have a cheese festival back home- it’s sick man.”
I hear you tried to keep the whole musical career under wraps from your school friends firstly…why was that?
Chris: “We weren’t ashamed of what we were doing, but you know, living in the Bronx we just thought better to keep it cool – we didn’t want to come across big headed or anything. When we moved up state it was different because a lot of the kids in our neighbourhood were going to clubs in the city. This one time we were DJing at Pacha in New York and this girl came up to the booth and said “oh my god, I live in Monroe.” That was dope. It wasn’t until the article in the New York Times came out did everyone see what we were up to.”
How important in your life has Dennis Ferrer been to you? How did that all begin between you three and how did he help influence your career?
Chris: “Dennis Ferrer, has been extremely instrumental in all of this. Not only on the music and production, but also on the business side of things and on life in general and he’s become really like family. He taught us so much about production, teaching us the ins and outs of different programs, keyboards, software and on how to make records in general. We have spent countless hours in his studio just observing and listening and on the way we were also able to work together on some projects on his album and other things. It’s really been a constant learning experience and has been a blessing to have him be a part of our lives and careers. We really couldn’t have picked anyone better to have as our mentor and we have a genuine love and respect for each other, which is key, especially in this business.”
You are dropping a big album for Strictly Rhythm in September, what does Strictly mean to you?
Steve : “The Strictly tunes have been sitting in our boxes since we got started, tracks like ‘Beautiful People’ and ‘When You Touch Me’ have been so important to us. There is always something for everyone – ‘I Get Lifted’ for the soulful heads, and Lil Mo Yin Yang ‘Reach’ for the bigger rooms. We have learnt a lot from the label.”
The New York Times piece must have been amazing for you to see it real down in print – just like appearing on the front covers of magazines such as Mixmag and Ourhouse – how many copies did you buy of the paper?
Chris: “It was a real honour looking back, but we didn’t buy any copies. The family and close friends did but we didn’t. In actual fact it was my Biology teacher was the first person to show me.”
What would be your dream DJ line up to play alongside with?
Steve: “If we could put a party on and invite two DJs to play with us, without doubt it would be Timmy Regisford and Luciano from DC 10, Ibiza.”
Do you miss living in New York City?
Steve: “Not really, it’s on our doorstep you know. After a gig in the city it’s nice to get out into the suburbs, no noise, no traffic, just chill time.”
So your Debbie Downer tune…what was the inspiration behind the sound and why did you call it that?
Chris: “Well we were in Berlin in the studio with Argy and had been working on some other tracks before this one and weren’t really completely feeling the tracks. So we took a break and went for a walk where we met up with a friend of his. They began to talk and she starts to talk mostly about depressing things and just brought our mood so down. We left with our heads hung low and we told him “In New York, we call a girl like that a Debbie Downer” and I explained to him what that was. That night we decided to work on an entirely new track. We did the drums, which we made a point to be very bottom heavy and housey but something was missing. Argy pulls out this vocal he had and we began to loop it up and the words she was saying made us decide to call it ‘Debbie Downer’. In that same week we went home and laid down ‘Where’s Mr Brown?’ in about two to three days which also had a very beautiful response and we’ve heard it played many times. We also had ‘My Rendition’ which also did very well for us. We don’t want to put out anything that is not quality, everything we put out must be top quality or it will not be put out at all.”
Best producer in the world ever?
Chris: “There are so many man. Masters At Work who are so influential to so many people in dance music. People like Joe Clausell and Martin Buttrich whose records are sonically some of the best I’ve heard. Dennis of course, Kerrie Chandler is a genius, Jerome Sydenham and his knowledge of music, Radio Slave and even people like Herbie Hancock, J Dills, DJ Premier who although aren’t house music are amazing producers in their own right.”
You have DJ’d in some amazing countries, where have you been?
Steve: “Everywhere. Ibiza, Paris, Portugal, Indonesia, Morocco, Tunisia, Germany, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Switzerland, London, Italy and obviously all across America, LA and Hawaii were brilliant.”
Which city that you have DJ’d in has the craziest clubbers?
Chris & Steve: “Berlin!”
Which country have the prettiest girls?
Chris & Steve: “Montreal!”
Do you get a bit bored with people talking to you going on about how young you are – at the end of the day, you are two truly amazing musicians bringing joy to thousands, surely it’s not about age, it’s about confidence and ability?
Chris: “Well I understand why people ask the usual ‘age’ questions, I suppose we are kinda unique, but we don’t really give it much thought, we’re just loving the music. But yeah, it does get a little boring.”
Okay I understand that, but for two guys so young, you have such a formidable knowledge of old/vintage/classic records…how?
Steve: “Well obviously we had a very good education early on by our father who knew many of the older records that were played at The Garage or The Loft. But we also did our own research, going on sites like discogs and learning about the core records of those times. Listening to Larry mixes, Ron Hardy mixes, Humphries, Scott, Regisford and just being educated and doing research constantly. We met people such as Elbin Reyes and Tony Rinaldo, Charlie from Vinyl Mania who have record collections that would rival many collectors. So they were also very instrumental to introducing us to a lot of the old school stuff. So yeah, just always doing research and never being afraid to learn more, which in our opinion is a very key thing.”
I was at Miami’s WMC this year, dancing right in front of the decks of a certain Mr Danny Tenaglia when he stopped the music and shouted out to the crowd, “this record is brought to you by my protégé’s – The Martinez Brothers” – how did that relationship begin…?
Chris: “DJing and hanging out in New York we have met and become friends with pretty much every major DJ in the States. Danny is one of them. He saw us play one time, liked what we were doing and invited us back to his house where we just all played some tunes together. He is a very humble guy, a brilliant DJ and a pleasure to know him.”
Okay tough question, did you ever feel like finishing with school and just concentrate with music?
Steve: “Well for starters, our dad would never let us! He has installed the belief in us that if all this hadn’t worked out we would have something to fall back on. Artists come and go in this industry so we may need that Diploma one day…”
