Studio Killers Album Review

If Deee-Lite and Ke$ha had a rebellious EDM teenager, it would be Studio Killers. For fans of the whimsical, melodic and creative trio, their new release is scheduled to drop on June 14th.

Containing their four previously released hits plus a solid chunk of new tracks, this album must not be missed. Perfect for the dance floor or even cruising down the highway, the melodies and beats will lend themselves quite nicely to the soundtrack of your life. Approachable, interesting and just out and out refreshing, you will be hitting “repeat all” throughout this summer and well into next year. Some of the particular highlights include:

“Jenny“, their latest release, is a bitter sweet “summer love” story. With its steel drums and bouncy beats of unrequited love (and potential stalking!) it’s fun, stripped down and really shows the strength of both Cherry’s vocals and the fantastic arrangement abilities of Goldie Foxx and Dyna Mink.

“In Tokyo” is destined to be the next release (and hit). With its jaunty minimal vibe and dreamy vocals, it’s electro pop at its cleanest and best. With nods to Benny Benazzi as well Yazoo, it’s a true testament of EDM’s potential for evolution when backed by solid talent.

“Friday Night Gurus” would be my next “best guess” for a release/dance floor favorite. With a punchy tempo, a catchy hook and background synth this is a perfect companion song to their hit “ode to the bouncer”.

In a wonderful surprise, we welcome the return of the ballad with “True Colours“. Evoking strands of the teen romcom (in the best way possible), “True Colours” is not only a welcome addition to the album but could easily cross to Top 40 #1. Attention prom DJs, educate your attendees. Do it now. This will be THE couples dance of the year.

Listening to these tracks again and again I found myself asking “Where has this music been hiding?”. Without a doubt Studio Killers is EDM, but they are steeped in a modern dance vein and the next level of synth-pop that makes it accessible to those outside of the genre. This coupled with their creative style of marketing, make them poised to grab a larger share of the listening public than your typical electro-pop-dance group. Their creative animated videos (Ode to the Bouncer is stunning/fun/irreverent), vlogs and their feeds are fresh when teasing upcoming tracks or when sharing simple interesting (or not) tidbits that keep their fans hooked. In this age of over saturation, Studio Killers proves that talent and creativity can still shine brightly.

Be sure to buy your copy of the new Studio Killers album today!

Michael S. Interview

Dayanna Guerrero: We’re here with the one and only Michael S., who with his passion for EDM, along with a hell of a lot of talent, brings a new spin to EDM music as we know it. So let’s start at the beginning, your beginning. When did you start making music?

Michael S. : Ah, man, I’ve been doing music for, probably since I was about 15. I started just playing guitar, and from there I just started writing songs and really just kind of had this act for … I grew up on Motown and a lot of the Beatles stuff and just always had this kind of like hunger to write really good, commercial, poppy songs. I’ve always been head over heels with just great pop music. So I started that, and I’ve just kind of been developing my craft, you know, from where it is today. So it’s been a long road.

Dayanna Guerrero: Wow, that’s awesome. Were you self-taught on the guitar, or did you take lessons?

Michael S. : I took lessons at first, but I try to just continue to take my playing to the next level. It’s always tough because you have people who teach you certain things, but there’s always that voice inside your head. It’s like, “I want to do different stuff than everybody else.” So I kind of had to teach myself. I taught myself piano. I taught myself even on top of that just production. In the last years, I’ve gotten so into production and producing my own stuff and produce with them. It’s been awesome to be able to walk into a studio and really be able to collaborate with these other artists and stand on the same ground. So it’s been awesome.

Dayanna Guerrero: That’s cool. So on your Facebook page you have yourself labeled as a singer, songwriter, and producer. Which would you say is your favorite, and when doing live performances, will fans find you singing or DJing more?

Michael S. : I’m definitely a singer/songwriter first, before producer. Especially when I finally do start producing music, all my songs usually start out just on piano, piano and vocals. That’s kind of always how I’ve written my songs. For my fans, they’ll definitely see me performing live as a singer, as a front man, not a DJ. I can DJ, but I’ve never really gotten into that whole field. But we’ll see. There might be some cool stuff that I’m doing in the future that might integrate everything.

Dayanna Guerrero: Oooh, well that’s cool.

Michael S. : I’m pretty excited. Yeah, I’m really excited to showcase that stuff to my fans. My fans are so awesome. Every show I’ve played, they’re singing all the lyrics, and it’s just such an incredible feeling to be able to walk out on stage and go from having a song written in your little notebook. Everything I write is still hand. I don’t type anything out. When I have these songs, and taking it from a piece of scratch paper and then being able to perform it on stage and just having my fans sing along, it’s the greatest feeling ever.

Dayanna Guerrero: That’s so awesome. I would write things too, but I can’t even read my own writing, so my penmanship is not there.

Michael S. : Yeah, mine’s like chicken scratch. So I know that nobody can ever steal my music because they can’t read it.

Dayanna Guerrero: Right, top secret.

Michael S. : I have like a legend at the top of my notebook that decodes all my crappy handwriting.

Dayanna Guerrero: Wow, that’s good though. At least you’re able to figure it out.

Michael S. : Sometimes songs that I’ve looked back on, like even “Leaving You,” when I first wrote “Leaving You,” I wrote it about a year ago, and I looked back at the notebook, and I was having to sit with it for a while to be like, “What did I write? What is that?” Every time I read it, and it’s sloppy, I always tell myself next time I really should just write neater, but I never do. I never break that awful habit.

Dayanna Guerrero: It takes a long time to write neater, and then you’re so frustrated at the end. Like whatever.

Michael S. : Because my brain works way faster than my hand can work. I can’t write fast enough, so it just looks like a line, but at least I get it down on paper.

Dayanna Guerrero: That’s good. You have a radio show called “Saved by the Beat.” What’s your role in it, and what in your opinion sets it apart from all the other radio shows out there?

Michael S. : “Saved by the Beat” is … I’m the host of the show, obviously. It’s just an awesome way for … I wanted to be able to bring new music to a lot of my fans that wasn’t necessarily mine. And I wanted to be able to talk to these different DJs and producers from all around the world, and “Saved by the Beat” is that portal for me. Every week I play a bunch of new music. We like to do throwbacks and just try to keep it fun for our audience. It’s an awesome way to be able to showcase new artists that maybe aren’t getting the attention they deserve. At the same time I get to play new music of mine for my fans and kind of give them a sneak peek into my world and the things I do on a daily basis. It’s a lot of fun. We’ve interviewed so many great artists. I’ve had Krewella on, Nicky Romero, Alex Gaudino, the list goes on and on. It’s just a really cool way to extend the community of the DJ and EDM producer world. It’s just a great way to do that.

Dayanna Guerrero: That’s awesome. So I have another question for you.

Michael S. : Okay.

Dayanna Guerrero: Some songs take time to grow on the listener, and others are nearly instant hits. Your track with Audien, “Leaving You,” is one of those instant hits. Actually, it hit #1 on the FMQB charts, which our channel, Elevation, is the reporter on. Could you tell from the beginning that it was going to be so big?

Michael S. : You know, “Leaving You” was always one of those tracks that I always felt that it was special. Like I was saying earlier, I wrote it about a year ago, and we showed it to Armada, the record label, and they loved it. But I was always like, “I really think we need another producer to take it to the next level.” When I had heard Audien’s stuff for the first time, I was just blown away. I mean he’s this young kid, and he’s just got so much talent. I knew he would be the perfect producer to really take the track to the next level. I’ve always felt like … it was just one of those fun songs. I always try to write music that’s just fun to listen to and sing along to. I want girls to be just getting ready in their rooms and just jumping around to my music. I always love writing just fun tracks like that. It was cool because when . . .

Dayanna Guerrero: Confirmed.

Michael S. : What?

Dayanna Guerrero: That’s what happens. Confirmed, that’s what happens.

Michael S. : Confirmed, that’s what happens. That’s right. It was one of those tracks where everything just kind of worked. What was really cool about the track, and a lot of people didn’t know this when we started it, obviously, we have two edits. We have the radio edit and the more extended, the original mix. It was cool because when we started really getting into the nitty-gritty of the track, Audien, he had a trance background, so he’s very all about the build-ups and very drawn-out, dramatic progression of the song. I come from like a really commercial background. So when we started putting together the package for “Leaving You” as a track, with all the different kinds of versions of it, I really wanted to do a commercial version that was just 3 1/2 minutes of just non-stop fun, and didn’t really give the listener any down time, was just straight energy. That became the radio edit. It was really cool to see that, and I think that’s one of the reasons why the track is doing so well, because it is, it’s like a three and a half minute party. And that’s what we tried to do.

Dayanna Guerrero: I love it. I personally love it.

Michael S. : I’m glad. Well, thank you. I’ll give an Audien a high five for you.

Dayanna Guerrero: Yeah, thanks. And a hug too.

Michael S. : Oh yeah, I’ll give him a big hug.

Dayanna Guerrero: Recently you hinted that you’ve started working with Morgan Page. How is that project going, and when can we get a sneak peak?

Michael S. : Yeah, I’m doing the track with Morgan and it’s going awesome. Morgan, not only is he a great producer, which is obviously a plus, but as a person, he’s a great person. I’ve been really fortunate that the people I’ve been working with have been just all-around stand-up guys. When people you’re interviews and stuff and you’re talking to people about the other people that you’re working with, it’s nice to be able to be genuinely nice about them, because they’re good people. Morgan’s one of those guys. He’s a great producer, and he’s a great friend. The track’s going awesome. We’re kind of like mapping it out and trying some different versions. I know he’s been playing samples of it out, so our fans have been hearing it. But I don’t know when there’s going to be an actual sample, maybe like a sneak peak, but I hope soon. It’s more of a ballad dance track. Morgan definitely has his style. I’m really excited to see where it goes, because I think as of right now when we were working on it, the last time I was in the studio in L.A., there’s a couple different ways that it can go. I’m excited. It’s going to be really good.

Dayanna Guerrero: You’re getting me excited.

Michael S. : Yeah. I wish I could say more about it without giving it away. You’re definitely going to remember the lyrics, and you’re going to sing along to it.

Dayanna Guerrero: Okay, that’s good.

Michael S. : Yeah, that’s the goal, right?

Dayanna Guerrero: Right. So you were recently in town for Miami Music Week. How does Miami treat you, and given your schedule, did you get any chance to lay out on the beach?

Michael S. : You know what? This year I did not get one second to myself to actually enjoy Miami. I know. I wish I did, but I just didn’t. Like last year when we were there, you just start meeting all these new up-comers, and this year it was like everybody was friends. It was just different this year. It was like seeing old friends that you haven’t seen in a year. It was still a lot of fun, and a lot of great networking stuff, and I played with Paul Oakenfold for one of the shows, and got to jump on stage. Miami is just a blast. I wish I could go there and vacation. I just haven’t had the chance to relax when I go there. It’s always nonstop, not sleeping and just meetings and shows all week long. But it’s a blast. It was insane. What was even more insane was how many more people were there this year than there was last year. I couldn’t believe how big the festival has gotten, and Ultra in itself too. It was just crazy. It was insane.

Dayanna Guerrero: So for fans and future fans out there, can you tell us what the rest of 2013 looks like for you?

Michael S. : 2013 is going to be a packed year with new music from across the board. I’ve got a bunch of features that I’m doing. I’ve got a lot of collaborations, and I’ve got some Michael S. tracks that I’ll be releasing. It’s going to be insane. I’m really touching on the whole spectrum of EDM as a whole, not just Prog. House or Trance. It’s going to be a little bit of everything. It’s just going to be a good time. Are you excited?

Dayanna Guerrero: I’m super excited. You’re like getting me pumped over here.

Michael S. : You should be.

Dayanna Guerrero: I’m about to take a flight over there to you, be like, okay, let me crack into your laptop and see what you’ve got.

Michael S. : That’s what always so tough, because it’s funny. I have hundreds of songs that I’m just sitting on waiting to be released, and I get this bug in me that I just want to put up all my music for free online and just give it away and you can’t do that. I’d get yelled at by the rest of my team.

Dayanna Guerrero: Yeah, it could be bad.

Michael S. : Yeah, that’s why I have a manager and a lawyer. They make sure I don’t do stuff like that. It’s just exciting when you finish tracks, you want people to hear them. That’s what’s so awesome that I have my radio show, “Saved by the Beat.” It’s a way for me to preview tracks and get fans excited about the stuff that I’ve got coming up. Basically, “Saved by the Beat” is just for me to show people my new … no, I’m just kidding. I love to preview my stuff, and I love to get people excited, because I’m as excited as they are because I’m in the studio finishing it up. I get done with a track, and I burn it on a CD and pop it in my car and just drive around and I’m pumped. So if I’m pumped, then hopefully my fans will be pumped too. And that’s how you have to go, because there’s no formula of what makes a track do really well or not do really well. You just have a gut feeling when you finish it, and that’s really all you can go by, unfortunately.

Dayanna Guerrero: So you could say like you’re a big musical tease.

Michael S. : Yeah, totally, yeah. Did you say a musical geek?

Dayanna Guerrero: Tease.

Michael S. : Oh, yeah. Yeah, I’m definitely a musical tease. Yeah, sorry.

Dayanna Guerrero: That’s okay. Well, Michael, thank you so much, and we look forward to seeing many more Michael S. #1′s.

Michael S. : Thank you so much for having me. I had a lot of fun.

For more information on Michael S., check out the Official Michael S. Website, visit the Michael S. Facebook Page, or keep up to date by following Michael S. on Twitter.

Topher Jones Interview:

Dayanna Guerrero: Chicago resident and producer of one of 2012’s biggest hits “Brohammer“, Topher Jones takes the decks at Bamboo Miami in less than an hour but for right now we have the pleasure of interviewing him. So Topher, last night you were in Kansas City for Life In Color. How was it and were all your expectations fulfilled when you met fellow Chicagoans Krewella there for the first time?

Topher Jones: It was cool, it was a mud pit 5,000 people in a big field of mud, and it was I don’t know like 40 degrees out and raining, because it was outside. But the crowd was definitely up for it.

Dayanna Guerrero: That’s crazy.

Topher Jones: Weather like that is one of the things where it can make the show miserable, or absolutely insane and it definitely was absolutely insane.

Dayanna Guerrero: Wow.

Topher Jones: And Krewella, they’re really great they’re just such nice people and they’ve been big supporters of my music so it was great to meet them.

Dayanna Guerrero: So ID’s. Does the crowd reaction you get while playing unreleased tracks correlate to the success the track has later on when released? For example “Brohammer” and “Hello Chicago”?

Topher Jones: I don’t know if you can say there is a direct correlation. I think it definitely impacts the process of producing the track and finishing it, and yeah all that stuff. But I think it is a good indicator, because you are getting a completely unbiased reaction, and I think that is I’m going to say a great indicator actually, of how the track is. Because if you play stuff that no one has ever heard and they are going off when people know what it is hopefully their reaction is going to be a lot bigger than that. So, I think it is a great indicator, but not necessarily a direct correlation of like if people go crazy before it ever comes out the track is going to be a hit. Because people are fickle, you can’t predict success. But I definitely think it is a good indicator, and it is definitely important in finishing the track and how you push it and promote it.

Dayanna Guerrero: Okay so speaking of “Hello Chicago”, the Tom Swoon remix has been getting a lot of play and positive feedback from fans of our Elevation channel. Your latest single “Save Me” with James Bower was released just this past week on Beatport. How has the reaction for that been so far?

Topher Jones: It has been great it is up to 77 on the progressive house charts after three days which is really cool. I jumped 20 spots yesterday, or today I guess. I hope it will jump even more, I mean we are only three days into sales so it should keep going up for a little bit. But yeah Tom’s mix of “Hello Chicago” was great I actually just finished a brand new mix of Hello Chicago on Thursday night that you will get to hear tonight that is going to be kind of the 2013 Chicago festival mix because I think there are eight big festivals in Chicago this summer. So we have a new mix that is just meant for festivals, and so yeah you get to hear that tonight as well.

Dayanna Guerrero: Awesome so you are playing a lot of cool things tonight.

Topher Jones: [laughs] Yeah. There will be a couple that I’m stoked that no one has ever heard before as well.

Dayanna Guerrero: Oh okay.

Topher Jones: There is a track called “Talk About It” you’ll get to hear. It is a demo vocal so it is not the final vocal but you will get to hear it.

Dayanna Guerrero: That’s awesome.

Topher Jones: House track.

Dayanna Guerrero: In a recent article you wrote titled “Dance Music in America” you mentioned “We’ve embraced a European sound but are we doing anything to push a sound of our own?”. Why the need to categorize house music by region? Is it a case of patriotism or does it go deeper than that?

Topher Jones: I mean well I’m American so I want America to be the best at everything I think that is a natural reaction. But I think I mean it is just it gets categorized by region, or by countries oh that’s the Dutch house sound oh that’s the Swedish sound that’s like that’s the Berlin techno sound. That is just because that’s where the sounds have kind of developed, and the biggest DJ’s in the world are either from Sweden or from the Netherlands. And so I say that just because I don’t think that America right now has a sound that is getting pushed globally. I think we’ve embraced a lot of stuff that has come from Europe and made it very successful which is not a bad thing because those guys are writing incredibly music to props to them for that. But I mean I guess America is really good at the bass music stuff Skrillex, Diplo, Bassnectar, you can’t compete with those guys I mean no one can right now those guys are insanely famous. But as far as house producers we’re talking about house music I don’t know if we have like an American house music sound, and I just thought that was kind of interesting to think about because there is definitely a Swedish house sound, there’s definitely a Dutch house sound, and there is no American house sound.

Dayanna Guerrero: Right.

Topher Jones: So yeah I that was my thought process in that whole thing. Yeah so I think now that dance music is big and American kids are growing up with it they want to become DJ’s and producers instead of rock stars. So I think maybe it might be a couple years until America kind of has its house sound, but yeah I think it will come.

Dayanna Guerrero: Definitely. Okay so you’ve said that you read the Game of Thrones books and without spoiling anything and I mean anything because I will cut you, do you feel the TV show has done a good job in portraying the story outlined in the books?

Topher Jones: Well yes and no you have to leave a lot out you have to leave a ton out actually. But I did think like you watch the it’s the best show on TV right now hands down so you have to give them credit for taking a book, and making it unbelievable. But I mean the books are 1,500 pages each like you can’t put 10 episodes in that much content an episode so they cut a lot of stuff out. The definitely changed the chronological order of things which I’ve started to notice I’m finishing up the second half of book three right now because they split it into two books. There is a lot of stuff that happens at the end of book three that is early on season three in the TV show. But I think it had to do it for it to make sense on TV so… But stuff is about to go down.

Dayanna Guerrero: Oh okay.

Topher Jones: Like people…

Dayanna Guerrero: Okay let’s leave it at that.

Topher Jones: It’s about to get crazy yeah.

Dayanna Guerrero: Don’t reveal a lot. All right the next question is one I’ve been hoping to get to the bottom of, are you ready for it?

Topher Jones: Let’s hear it.

Dayanna Guerrero: Okay. Does Kaskade look like Topher Jones, or does Topher Jones look like Kaskade?

Topher Jones: I mean I think it goes both ways. But I highly doubt that someone has walked up to him and said “are you Topher Jones”, whereas, I get “are you Kaskade” all the time. Any time I fly to or from L.A. any flight on the west coast people are like people will be sitting next to me like at the end of the flight they will go hey is your name Ryan by chance? I’m like no it is not but I know exactly what you’re talking about, but you should check out my music you might enjoy it if you like his. I’ve made so many fans because people think I’m him.

Dayanna Guerrero: That’s awesome.

Topher Jones: I get mobbed at festivals it is very funny. and he’s from Chicago I live there it is like a lot of stories line up, but not I definitely he was there first he’s maybe a little bit bigger than I am so I have to say that I look more like him than he looks like me.

Dayanna Guerrero: So has there ever been a case where you were mistaken for Kaskade and if so, how far did you take it?

Topher Jones: It happens all the time. Yeah I was backstage at the Swedish House Mafia show in Toronto and these people stopped my they were like hey Kaskade we’re your biggest fans we saw you at such and such show. But they were just so nice that I had to tell them I wasn’t.

Dayanna Guerrero: Oh okay.

Topher Jones: But what I do sometimes and this happened at a festival in Chicago a year and a half ago these kids broke down a barrier and jumped another fence and like 20 kids came up and mobbed me. They were like “oh my gosh we are your biggest fans we saw you here we saw you there can we take a picture”. And I was I mean and they were so adamant, and it was such like a quick thing I said oh yeah we can take a picture. And they were like yeah “Kaskade we love you”. And so what I do in this event I’ll play it up and then I’ll say you know who you need to check out he’s this hot new American producer/DJ check out Topher Jones like he is about to blow up. And so then they think Kasakde is telling them I’m the next big thing and then they believe it. And so I got if I’m going to get mobbed and like people think I’m him I’ve got to get something out of this. So that’s what I’ve developed like my story I can tell people so I can get something cool out of that.

Dayanna Guerrero: That’s awesome.

Topher Jones: Yeah.

Dayanna Guerrero: In another interview you mentioned that while Armin van Buuren’s “Communication” is what got you into producing dance music, you’re not a big fan of where trance is now. What, in your opinion, has changed in the genre that has made it loose its appeal to you and have you ever considered producing the kind of trance music that you once enjoyed?

Topher Jones: I think it’s I’ve got to be really careful because I’ve got a lot of friends who are trance DJ’s and producers. I think trance has gotten pretty stale to be honest. I think it lacks a lot of emotion, and I don’t think it is very relevant on the dance floor in a lot of ways. I don’t think that having it build, and having like a one note base sign for a minute as like small elements get added. Crowds don’t respond to that anymore, crowds respond to big impact big hitting in your face type stuff. So I don’t know I think trance needs to kind of catch up with the times a little bit.

Dayanna Guerrero: A little Topher to it.

Topher Jones: And I mean it absolutely influences the productions like “Save Me” I think has a very kind of trancy vibe but with a house groove. The new mix of Hello Chicago was very much like this feels like a big room trance track, but that is like progessive house is nowadays. And so I think that the trance I loved and fell in love with the emotion and the appeal is definitely the same thing, but it is in what people call big room house now. And so the name trance like may not be a relevant I think the sound is still there, but it’s just taken from trance music now it’s called progressive house. And I still get that same emotion and that same vibe from the music now compared to six years ago…

Dayanna Guerrero: Cool.

Topher Jones: Just coming from different producer and DJ’s now.

Dayanna Guerrero: So in what cities can fans expect the “Brohammer” to be dropped in the coming weeks?

Topher Jones: Well, tonight in Miami, and then I, luckily, have a couple weeks off; it has been a hectic month. And then I play at Indianapolis 500 next month with Diplo and Afrojack, so that will be really cool. Spring Awakening in Chicago, and then there are a couple more shows that were confirmed we haven’t announced them yet so I’m not sure if I can say anything. But then there is going to be a massive tour this summer with Tritonal [SP].

Dayanna Guerrero: Oh awesome, they are a cool band.

Topher Jones: So yes, they are they are two of my really good friends I love making fun of them and their music because we are such good friends. Yeah they are two of my favorite people. So yeah America is going to get hit pretty hard with the “Brohammer” soon.

Dayanna Guerrero: Awesome. Okay so thanks for sitting down with us and due to your huge success with “Hello Chicago” I wanted to inform you of your induction into the “Popular Songs With City Names In The Title” club.

Topher Jones: Thank you.

Dayanna Guerrero: You joined the likes of Fedde Le Grand with “Put Your Hands Up For Detroit” and Sander Kleinenberg with “This Is Miami”. Your membership card is in the mail.

Topher Jones: Thank you. Actually I got a text message from a friend when I was trying to take a nap he’s like listen to B96 which is the biggest Chicago radio station he’s like they just played “Hello Chicago“, I hope things are going well. I was like that’s great.

Dayanna Guerrero: That’s awesome that they say that to you.

Topher Jones: Yeah it’s cool, I mean it’s neat I have a lot of great friends and people supporting me, so it is really cool.

Dayanna Guerrero: Okay, well thank you once again.

For more information on Topher Jones, keep up to date by following Topher Jones on Twitter or on Topher Jones’s Facebook Page.

HIIO Interview:

Dayanna Guerrero: We’re sitting down with HIO, which would normally be HIIO, but Nico was not able to make it. So instead we’re sitting down with Ortzy minutes before his set. So you’re about to perform before a pumped up Miami crowd. Is this your first time playing here in South Florida, and are you nervous at all?

Ortzy: A little bit nervous, but I’m always nervous. I mean, it’s a feeling that you always have before a show.

Dayanna Guerrero: Right.

Ortzy It’s not my first time in Miami. It’s, I don’t know, like my fifth time here.

Dayanna Guerrero: Wow. Okay.

Ortzy: I have no idea. But I have made a lot of big gigs in Space, Nocturnal, Nikki Beach, and a lot of good clubs.

Dayanna Guerrero: That’s awesome.

Ortzy: This is a very nice[cool party. So let’s see what happens.

Dayanna Guerrero: In our previous interview, you stated that you may be touring the United States. Do you have any dates set yet?

Ortzy: We’re working on it. We have some offers from different cities. We have Miami and New York. We have South Carolina. We have other interesting offers in Canada. So we’re doing everything.

Dayanna Guerrero: Awesome. It’s been said that a lot of the time Nico makes the melodies and picks the vocals while you build the bass lines. Together you guys make some pretty great music. Outside of those roles, how else do you guys split up the responsibilities that come with being producers?

Ortzy: Well, there’s a lot of work before the studio. For example, you have to do a lot of promotion with your tracks, with your radio show. We have a lot of people working for us. Nico, for example, is the guy who is in charge of the promotion stuff, the stuff with the promotions companies, our PR people. I’m more like the musician guy. I’m in charge of the radio show with Nico of course. With the productions, Nico talks a lot with the vocalist. I don’t know. Actually, we do everything together, but some parts of the job we just split it to make it faster and better.

Dayanna Guerrero: Awesome. So your music has been gaining some well deserved attention and this year alone you have released three tracks including your most recent track “Meant to Be” featuring vocalist Giuseppe Viola. Additionally, your work has been backed by Fedde Le Grand, David Guetta, Roger Sanchez and many more. How is it that you would measure success in this industry?

Ortzy: Well, I don’t know. I think for us, we’re house DJs. of course, our main target is the radio. So I wouldn’t like to say like if you were on the radio and you have a hit and everybody knows your song and then all the clubs are packed because of that track.

Dayanna Guerrero: Right.

Ortzy: I think that’s a good signal for success. I think.

Dayanna Guerrero: So if you weren’t a music producer, what do you think you would be doing?

Ortzy: I don’t know. Porn actor? I would love to do that. No, just kidding. I don’t know. I’m a an electronic engineer actually, but I have never worked in that. I think that would be my profession.

Dayanna Guerrero: Okay.

Ortzy: I don’t know.

Dayanna Guerrero: What would you say is the best part of the process, the creation of the tracks or letting them lose in front of the crowds?

Ortzy: Very different feelings, because when you’re in the studio, you express yourself and you try different things and you’re always pushing yourself. So that’s something that I love. But of course, when you’re live and you see all of the people in front of you singing your tracks and jumping and screaming, that’s amazing. I don’t what is the best part of it. I don’t know. I really love both.

Dayanna Guerrero: So you had said that HIIO has a lot coming up for 2013. Is there anything you can reveal for us?

Ortzy: Wow. That’s an interesting question. Well, we have a lot of new music. We just signed with Flamingo Records our new track called “Get Up.” I really love the track. I think people will love it. There’s a track called “I’ll Be There.” We just signed with Strictly Rhythm, its one of my favorite record labels ever. The track is with one of my favorite singers ever that is called Max’C. He’s the voice of the house and has made tracks with Axwell and a lot of DJs.

Dayanna Guerrero: Right.

Ortzy: I don’t know. There’s a new record coming with Spinnin’. I don’t know. A lot of very interesting stuff. New videos. There’s a lot of new stuff from HIIO.

Dayanna Guerrero: Awesome. We look forward to it, and thank you so much for meeting with us.

Ortzy: Thank you so much.

For more information on HIIO, check out HIIO Official Website , or keep up to date by following HIIO on Twitter or on HIIO’s Facebook Page.

Be sure to catch HIIO’s “Elements” radio show on our Elevation channel every 3rd Saturday on the month at 11PM ET!

Modern Machines Interview:

Dayanna Guerrero: No, this thing [microphone] picks up everything.

Dimitry (Modern Machines): It picks up everything? All right, cool.

Dayanna Guerrero: So, be careful, don’t fart. Hold it in.

[laughter]

Dimitry (Modern Machines): Leave that in the interview. Please, leave that in there.
[laughter]

Dayanna Guerrero: We’re here at the Electric Splash Pool party, I can’t even talk I’m laughing too much. Okay, So we’re here at the Electric Splash Pool party, at the Viceroy in Miami with EDM super-duo Modern Machines. You guys just played one energy packed set here at the Viceroy. How was it out there today, and how does it compare to your recent gig at the Marquee in New York?

Dimitry (Modern Machines): Oh, I think it’s totally different. Marquee is such a giant club with so much production and lights and all kinds of crazy things going on. This is a pool party, which has a different energy. But we just kind of go with it. It’s a different energy, but it’s just as good, do you know what I mean? Like, it’s a summer fun, people outside having a good time. Everybody is in the sun, just hands in the air. Everybody is just up, doing like this, do you know what I mean?

Dayanna Guerrero: Less clothes.

Blake (Modern Machines): It’s more care free, everyone in New York is like… It’s much more care free, but just as fun.

Dimitry (Modern Machines): All gigs are fun. Every gig is our favorite gig.

Dayanna Guerrero: For those who are new to the Modern Machines, how would you describe your sound?

Blake (Modern Machines): We kind of have like a, generally a French house meets rock-n-roll, but we do some techy things. We try to encompass everything as dance music and put our own stamp on it. We try to put something out there for everybody.

Dimitry (Modern Machines): Yeah, we come from a rock-n-roll background, but we’ve always loved dance music. Nine Inch Nails, their first album, Aphex Twin, all that stuff. We’re big fans of that, but it’s everything from ever since we first heard music.

Blake (Modern Machines): Yeah, everything. Both of us kind of have an eclectic taste, so I think all that comes into play.

Dimitry (Modern Machines): A little bit of country, a little bit of… I’m from New York, so I have New York in me.

Blake (Modern Machines): I’m from Georgia, so there’s definitely a little country background.

Dayanna Guerrero: It’s a little different. So, you guys just released your latest track “Trouble” which is available for free download. If you had to describe the track in just a few words, besides “amazing” and “awesome”, how would you describe it?

Blake (Modern Machines): Vera Hall. It was inspiring, like Moby did this thing Natural Blues, with a sample a long time ago, and it’s kind of funny, I happened to be watching this horrible movie “Freddy Got Fingered”, and they play that song in the soundtrack. It hit me as I was watching this awful thing that Tom Green put together. I was watching it and they played Natural Blues and I was like wow, I need to show this to Dimitry and Dimitry immediately was like “We have to do it” so it was one of those things that we kind of jumped on after that.

Dayanna Guerrero: So, for anyone who sees you perform together, you can tell there’s a synergy and a great musical connection between you both. With that said, what elements or skill-sets do each of you bring to the table when creating a track or even performing?

Dimitry (Modern Machines): Performance has to be one of our strong points, if you like. We’re up there to have a good time, but also, if you’re on the stage, whether you’re a DJ, guitar player….

Blake (Modern Machines): Drummer, singer…doesn’t matter.

Dimitry (Modern Machines): What you do, a stage is a stage. You have to give people a show.

Blake (Modern Machines): It’s very input, output. Whatever you put out there, people give back to you.

Dimitry (Modern Machines): Yeah. I feel like when we’re up there we kind of have to, not have to we want to, have a good time. If we’re having a good time up there, then I feel like everyone else is. Sometimes, you see some DJs that are just like oh, I would rather be at the dentist.

Blake (Modern Machines): It’s a direct correlation though.

Dimitry (Modern Machines): You know what I mean? They’re just kind of like [makes sound].

Blake (Modern Machines): It is a direct correlation, though. If you put energy out there it will come back, and if you don’t it won’t, we just go out there with our best foot forward. If there’s a party already going on we want to amp it up, if there’s not a party we want to get it started, no matter if we’re the opener or headliner. We just try to fit that space.

Dayanna Guerrero: When you guys are creating tracks together, what elements do you each bring to that kind of creation process?

Blake (Modern Machines): It happens so many different ways. It’s like, no track ever goes the same way.

Dimitry (Modern Machines): Yeah. It’s kind of like, the other day we were in the hotel room and he started working on something. I was like “Dude, that’s awesome. Let’s work on that.”

Blake (Modern Machines): Yeah, sometimes I don’t think something is a good idea, and he’s like “Oh, let’s do that”, or vice versa.

Dimitry (Modern Machines): That’s the best part about having a partner, you kind of bounce off each other.

Blake (Modern Machines): I think we pull more ideas from each other, and our whole process is like, pulling out the bad and leaving in the good. It’s a lot of pulling.

Dimitry (Modern Machines): Pulling teeth.

Blake (Modern Machines): No, it really is. It’s like you kind of have to seek out… I feel like we both have what it takes and we bring that to the forefront.

Dimitry (Modern Machines): We also have similar backgrounds, as far as playing instruments. We both play guitar, bass, whatever you want. Having similar backgrounds also helps because we can communicate like that, you know what I mean.

Blake (Modern Machines): We can relay things to each other like really quickly.

Dimitry (Modern Machines): And we can throw it back. Like, if we hear something we’re working on, we could be like, oh that sounds like Metallica.

Blake (Modern Machines): There’s never a reference that neither of us get.

Dimitry (Modern Machines): Yeah, we get each other. It’s kind of like, and vice versa, we just kind of pick up on that.

Dayanna Guerrero: That’s awesome. So, we heard it through the grape vine that you just finished up your first official single called “We Are the Night”. Can you tell us more about that?

Dimitry (Modern Machines): “We Are The Night”, it’s coming out soon I hope. I think it’s in a month or two, or something.

Blake (Modern Machines): Yeah. It’s coming.

Dimitry (Modern Machines): It’s coming. Blake sings on it, and it’s heavy. It’s kind of where “Trouble” left off, taking it to that next level, with our own vocals instead of..

Dayanna Guerrero: So, you ‘re not singing on this one.

Dimitry (Modern Machines): Well, Blake is. We’re kind of taking it to that next step, kind of progressing.

Blake (Modern Machines): I didn’t intend to sing on it, it’s….

Dimitry (Modern Machines): Yeah, it just kind of happened.

Dayanna Guerrero: One drunken night, it’s like “Oh shit, he can sing.”

Dimitry (Modern Machines): We were actually going to get coffee and I was like, “We just need one line on there” and we just kind of went from there.

Dayanna Guerrero: That’s true, making the magic happen. So, for all your fans out there, where can they see you performing next, and are there any upcoming releases that they can officially get hyped up about?

Dimitry (Modern Machines): We’re actually putting out a remix of a song called “Crime”, with Daphne singing on it. It’s going to be a free download on our Soundcloud, on our Facebook. Then, we have a song called “We Are The Night” that’s going to be coming out, and after that I think we’re going to have “The Vandal” with our friend Proper Villains.

Blake (Modern Machines): He’s also from New York.

Dimitry (Modern Machines): Yeah, a really good producer in New York. We actually just collaborated, it was one of those kind of things, come hang out in our studio and it just kind of happened. We actually have a couple of songs ready to go, it’s just scheduling. You don’t want to throw everything out at once, put one song out, wait a little bit…

Blake (Modern Machines): I feel like we had a stack of songs.

Dimitry (Modern Machines): We have a bunch of songs waiting to come out, it just depends on release time, you know what I mean?

Dayanna Guerrero: That’s awesome. Well, guys, thank you so much.

Modern Machines: Thank you so much.

For more information on Modern Machines, keep up to date by following Modern Machines on Twitter or on Modern Machine’s Facebook Page.

Project 46 Interview:

Dayanna Guerrero: We’re here with duo Project 46 who hail from Toronto, Canada. With all the beautiful weather and beaches you’ve been experiencing this past week, how much do you miss Toronto?

Thomas (Project 46): I’m actually from Vancouver.

Dayanna Guerrero: Okay…who hail from Vancouver.

Ryan (Project 46): One of us is actually from Toronto. The other one is from Vancouver.

Thomas (Project 46): He’s from Toronto. I’m from Vancouver.

[laughter]

Dayanna Guerrero: Either way it’s Canada. It’s cold.
[laughter]

Ryan (Project 46): The weather has been amazing here.

Thomas (Project 46): Yeah.

Ryan (Project 46): It’s been 10 days of some quality beach time.

Thomas (Project 46): I got really sunburned the first day.

Dayanna Guerrero: Yeah?

Thomas (Project 46): Yeah.

Dayanna Guerrero: I get like a lobster. I don’t tan.

Thomas (Project 46): Yeah. I like lobster. I was burnt.

Ryan (Project 46): Thomas was trying to convince some people he wasn’t burnt and that it wasn’t going to peel. Then the next day…

Thomas (Project 46): Three days later…

Ryan (Project 46): Three days later his back was just a mess.

Thomas (Project 46): Two tubes of moisturizer on my body.

Dayanna Guerrero: A little aloe.

Thomas (Project 46): I still peeled like an orange.

Dayanna Guerrero: Like a little snake.

Thomas (Project 46): Yeah, exactly. It was just a bad situation.

Dayanna Guerrero: So It seems like everywhere we look we see Project 46. Whether it’s your collab with Dubvision “You & I” that’s burning up the charts on our Elevation channel or your new collab with Kaskade or your new collab with Paul Oakenfold OR your 10 events during Miami Music Week. So let me ask you guys, do you remember what sleep feels like?

Ryan (Project 46): Well, we get a lot of sleep.

Thomas (Project 46): Yeah, I slept really like a lot of this week. I didn’t really go out a lot, or I went out a lot, but we woke up like 5:00 p.m. every day.

Ryan (Project 46): Yeah, we don’t do much, but we did get sleep.

Thomas (Project 46): When we’re in one place, it’s easier to get sleep. Like when we’re flying around and then all of that kind of stuff, that’s when it gets pretty intense. So this week we made sure that we are getting our sleep.

Ryan (Project 46): We’re getting enough sleep.

Dayanna Guerrero: So speaking of Kaskade, it was just a little under a week ago that you performed with him at Story here in Miami. What was that night like?

Thomas (Project 46): That was amazing.

Ryan (Project 46): Yeah, it was amazing. I mean, it wasn’t first time playing with Kaskade, but it was the first time playing with them in North America. Story is a pretty amazing club. So I mean, it was pretty special.

Thomas (Project 46): Yeah.

Ryan (Project 46): Yeah, it was cool.

Dayanna Guerrero: Right now you’ve got a contest going on that involves of all things pancakes.

Thomas (Project 46): Yeah.

Dayanna Guerrero: How do enter, what will you win, and of course why pancakes?

Thomas (Project 46): Well, I can answer the why. The pancake thing was Ryan wanted to do a giveaway every Friday, and we thought it would be a cool way to give back to fans and stuff. He wanted to call it “Freebie Fridays”, and I was like, “Well, if you’re going to call it something stupid, you might as well call it like Pancake Fridays.” So he did. Then yeah, that’s kind of just what happened.

Ryan (Project 46): Yeah, it was just a troll. I wasn’t supposed to be…

Thomas (Project 46): It was supposed to be anything serious.

Ryan (Project 46): Ended up kind of turning into our thing. The contest…

Thomas (Project 46): Next thing you know it’s Pancake Friday.

Ryan (Project 46): Every Friday we post a funny picture of a pancake of some sort. So we just had a contest for the fans to submit their pictures of pancakes that they can find or take themselves.

Thomas (Project 46): Or make.

Ryan (Project 46): Yeah. Then people vote on them, and then we would have a prize where we would fly them out and either themselves as a DJ or one of their friends as a DJ and open for us in one of our shows.

Thomas (Project 46): One of our shows, yeah.

Dayanna Guerrero: That’s awesome.

Ryan (Project 46): So it’s pretty cool. I mean, we’ve got a few cool submissions so far.

Thomas (Project 46): Yeah, there’s some really cool ones.

Dayanna Guerrero: Cool pancakes.

Thomas (Project 46): Yeah.

Ryan (Project 46) Just pancakes.

Thomas (Project 46): Pancakes.

Dayanna Guerrero: So in our opinion, what makes Project 46 unique is not only your sound but by the freedom you have over your music. I think this post I’m reading from Facebook sums up what I mean:

“NEW MUSIC ALERT!
No One is now available!!!!
We rarely do this but on this release we really hope you can support this on Beatport!
We won’t be removing any pirate links and if you cannot afford to spend the $2 at this time, we understand! Just sometimes we have to chart on Beatport to remind people on there we exist!!!”

Thomas (Project 46): Yeah.

Dayanna Guerrero: Can you explain your thoughts behind music pirating?

Thomas (Project 46): Well, if it’s ours, I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this label wise, but go for it?

Ryan (Project 46): Well, I mean, we want our music to reach as many people as possible. We’re kind of in a society right now where not everybody is buying music, but we’re still benefiting off people having our music. I mean, we make money touring. If people recognize us or share our music, it’s going to benefit us in the end. Sometimes we ask our fans to buy a song because for some reason Beatport Charts are important.

Thomas (Project 46): Charts are important.

Ryan (Project 46): I mean, we have a good relationship with our fans. we ask them to buy, and all of a sudden it was in the top 10.

Thomas (Project 46): Yeah. They’re usually pretty good. Okay guys, we can come together here. Our fans are great like that.

Ryan (Project 46): The music is there. We’re not going to remove this. We usually upload it ourselves to the pirate sites. So we actually have like logins on all the pirate sites.

Dayanna Guerrero: So you’re the culprits behind it.

Thomas (Project 46): Yeah.

Dayanna Guerrero: So besides you latest Beatport topping single, “No One,” what new material can fans be expecting from you?

Thomas (Project 46): Well, can we say the album?

Ryan (Project 46): I’m not sure yet, but what we’re thinking of doing in the summer is we’re doing an album.

Thomas (Project 46): Yeah, we’re thinking of something to do with an album. It’s not just that. It’s much cooler.

Ryan (Project 46): It’s much cooler than just an album. But we’re doing an album.

Dayanna Guerrero: Like a pancake album maybe?

Thomas (Project 46): It’s really cool.

Ryan (Project 46): It’s a cool idea. We’re getting an album…

Thomas (Project 46): We’re developing…that’s our main goal. Aside from that, we have a bunch of singles and really exciting collabs in the works that are up and coming as well.

Ryan (Project 46): We can’t really talk about all that.

Thomas (Project 46): We can’t really talk about it.

Ryan (Project 46): At the Kaskade level kind of.

Dayanna Guerrero: All the secrecy.

Thomas (Project 46): They’re exciting though.

Ryan (Project 46): They’re really exciting.

Dayanna Guerrero: Awesome. As Miami Music Week comes to a close, where can people hope to see you touring in the near future?

Thomas (Project 46): Well, we’re doing a lot of North America stuff right now. I know we’ve had, I think our agent was telling us yesterday we’ve had some poking around from worldwide things. But right now we’re focusing more on just our North America stuff, getting it out and getting that right.

Ryan (Project 46): Yeah, we want to play everywhere.

Thomas (Project 46): The world is a big place. So we’ve got to kind of take it one city at a time. We’re flying every weekend, so we’re doing our best.

Dayanna Guerrero: That’s awesome. Well, guys, thank you so much.

Project 46: Yeah, thanks for having us.

For more information on Project 46, check out the Project 46 Official Website , or keep up to date by following Project 46 on Twitter or on Project 46 Facebook Page.

Schulz Music Group Interview:

Dayanna Guerrero: We’re here with Markus Schulz’s prodigies, Schultz Music group which consists of Grube & Hovsepian, Adina Butar, KhoMha, and Mr. Pit. So let’s start off with Grube & Hovsepian (I said it right this time). [laughter]

Towards the end of your set at Coldharbour Night just a few days ago at Dream Miami, you played an amazing track with male vocals…. is it safe to assume this is the much talked about debut track on Audio Cargo, “Memory Lane” ft. Vice?

Tim Grube (Grube & Hovsepian): Yes. It is the much talked about, yes. Yeah, we debuted it for the first time here in Miami on Monday, at Coldharbour Night and it’s featuring Vice. He’s an Amsterdam based vocalist, and it’s going to have an Elevation and a Skytech remix. But, yeah, it’s more commercial, radio driven, with our flare. Yeah, it’s going to come out in about a month and a half on Audio Cargo.

Mike Hovsepian (Grube & Hovsepian): It’s a little different than all the other tracks we’ve done, but lately we’ve been getting inspiration from top 40 tracks and vocal tracks on the radio.

Tim Grube (Grube & Hovsepian): As you can tell from our Lights remix.

Mike Hovsepian (Grube & Hovsepian): Well, I mean we tried to incorporate the Coldharbour sound with little bit of the commercial sound as well.

Dayanna Guerrero: Awesome.

Tim Grube (Grube & Hovsepian): Yeah.

Dayanna Guerrero: Speaking of recent events, I think it’s safe to say none can really compare to the grand scale that Transmission 2013 was and both of you took the decks there. What four letter word (and it has to be four letters) could be used to describe that initial feeling of looking out into the sea of people waiting for you to play?

Ruben: Four words?

Dayanna Guerrero: Four letters.

Mike Hovsepian (Grube & Hovsepian): Shit.

Tim Grube (Grube & Hovsepian): I was going to say “Damn”.

Dayanna Guerrero: I was hoping you would say something like that, or “fuck”.

Tim Grube (Grube & Hovsepian): We’re good boys. No it was incredible, and if we had to use the word it’s incredible. It was an incredible experience being out there and playing for that many people.

Mike Hovsepian (Grube & Hovsepian): It was our European debut, and our arena debut. So, we were kind of thrown into the lion’s den. We loved it, we loved every moment of it.

Dayanna Guerrero: Okay, so next is Mr. Pit. How has your new EP been coming along, and did those who attended Coldharbour Night get to hear any of the tracks on it?

Mr. Pit: Actually, they heard only one track on that EP. I’m still working on the other tracks, and yeah Markus debuted one of the tracks on his set Sunday, at Space. Yeah, I think it’s going pretty well.

Dayanna Guerrero: Okay, so you’re from Romania… you’re from there as well as Adina, not to mention other dance acts like Alexandra Stan, Inna, Elena and the list goes on. So my question to you is why does so much dance talent come from your country and why do they all look like supermodels? Is it the water? What’s going on there?

Mr. Pit: Yeah, we have beautiful women, but I don’t know why so many talented vocalists and artists. I don’t know.

Tim Grube (Grube & Hovsepian): It’s the water.

Mr. Pit: Yeah, it probably is the water. Yeah, it must be the water.

Dayanna Guerrero: So up next, KhoMha. KhoMha, you’ve put on Facebook recently that you’ve been testing out some new material in Miami this week. Did you test any out on the Coldharbour Night this past Monday? If so, was the reaction what you were expecting?

KhoMha: Well, yeah I just tested a couple of new tracks, and I just tested also my remix of Cosmic Gate and the reaction was insane, for real. It was more than I was expecting, so I’m really happy with the people’s reaction of my new tracks.

Dayanna Guerrero: Like Grube & Hovsepian, you also played Transmission 2013. Now you’ve seen artists the likes of Armin van Buuren and Markus Schulz slay enormous festival crowds with your songs and remixes and I’m sure you’ve imagined what it would have been like to be on stage to witness it yourself. So when the time finally came at Transmission, was it everything you imagined?

KhoMha: Well, it was like a dream come true, for real. When you start being a DJ you always expect something like that, you imagine to play for a big crowd in big festivals, and right now it’s a dream come true. So, I’m really, really happy with it. It’s really amazing.

Dayanna Guerrero: Awesome. Okay, so these are all questions for the group, so feel free to hone in your responses. If we were to believe the videos, the formation of Schulz Music Group came about when Grube & Hovsepian just wanted to use the hot tub, poor KhoMha was kidnapped while taking a walk to buy some milk, Mr. Pit miraculously crossed the Atlantic Ocean in an inflatable raft and Adina is the property of Markus Schulz somehow.

Mr. Pitt: In two days!

Dayanna Guerrero: Two days, even more incredible! So how did you all come together to create the first inaugural Schulz Music Group and how has the first year been?

Mike Hovsepian (Grube & Hovsepian): I think it’s been amazing.

KhoMha: Oh, yes.

Mike Hovsepian (Grube & Hovsepian): We weren’t expecting it to be this successful…

Tim Grube (Grube & Hovsepian): A year ago to this day has been one year.

Mike Hovsepian (Grube & Hovsepian): Neither of us expected the success…

Tim Grube (Grube & Hovsepian): The amount of exposure that we’ve received, you know, it’s just been amazing and seeing all these new cities and getting all these opportunities. All of us have gotten stronger because of it, we have become a closer family. So, it’s been great.

Dayanna Guerrero: Awesome. Okay, so, if you’ve ever seen a Resident Evil movie, or the Walking Dead, you all know that the zombie apocalypse is upon us. If it hit tomorrow and Schulz Music group survived together who would be the last person alive, and how do you think each one of you would die?

Tim Grube (Grube & Hovsepian): Well, I’m the first one to go. Screw that. I’m not sticking around.

KhoMha: Wow.

Mike Hovsepian (Grube & Hovsepian): I don’t know. KhoMha has a lot of bad luck so he would be the first to die.

Tim Grube (Grube & Hovsepian): Oh yeah, okay. I’m second.

Dayanna Guerrero: He’s like, I’m surviving this.

KhoMha: I don’t know maybe the last one [Mike], or, no. I don’t know.

Tim Grube (Grube & Hovsepian): We’ll all die at the same time.

KhoMha: Yeah.

Mr. Pit: We’re going to keep our hands together and say let’s do this.

[laughter]

Dayanna Guerrero: Okay. So everyone in this group is an artist; whether it’s producing and remixing or song writing and singing. Has there been any friendly rivalry between you all?

Tim Grube (Grube & Hovsepian): I think more or less it’s, we take a lot of constructive criticism very well, and so we all are very honest with each other. If we don’t like something in one of our tracks, we say something. He’ll say something, we’ll say something.

Mike Hovsepian (Grube & Hovsepian): We don’t hold a grudge if he says something, you know?

Tim Grube (Grube & Hovsepian): We want that, we encourage it, because it’s how you get better.

Mr. Pit: Each one of us strive to be good, so that’s why we criticize each other in a good way. It’s constructive criticism.

Tim Grube (Grube & Hovsepian): It’s very encouraging and it helps us. You need that.

Dayanna Guerrero: For everyone listening, when and where can they expect to see you or of you in the coming months?

KhoMha: Well, I’m playing the next one in ASOT 600 in Holland, Den Bosch. It’s a big event, I think it’s the biggest one in trance right now, so I’m really happy with it. You can expect my remix, as I’m telling you the Cosmic Gate remix. The bus tour as well, with Markus Schulz around the United States. So all the pool parties this weekend, so I’ve been busy for real.

Tim Grube (Grube & Hovsepian): For us, our next one will be this Sunday, opening up for Markus and Ferry, the debut of the New World Punks. We’re really excited about that.

Dayanna Guerrero: Awesome.

Mike Hovsepian (Grube & Hovsepian): It’s going to be a little black V-neck duos night.

Tim Grube (Grube & Hovsepian): Then we’ll be jumping up to Canada pretty soon, in Montreal. Some dates in Miami also coming up. Yeah, Miami as well.

Dayanna Guerrero: Awesome.

Mr. Pit: On my side, I’ve got to go to Romania on Thursday, because I have studio working.

Mike Hovsepian (Grube & Hovsepian): You have UK coming up too.

Mr. Pit: Yeah, I have UK, so I might be coming back to Miami in April for a gig. I’m working on a new EP, for Coldharbour.

Dayanna Guerrero: Oh, awesome.

Mr Pit: Yeah new tracks!

Dayanna Guerrero: Yay. All right guys, thank you so much.

All: Thank you!

Be sure to keep track of Grube & Hovsepian, KhoMha, and Mr. Pit for tour information, new music releases and much more!

Armin van Buuren Interview:

Dayanna Guerrero: We’re here with Armin van Buuren, the world renowned King of Trance. With ASOT 600 at Ultra less than 24 hours away, are you getting nervous or is this all second nature to you?

Armin van Buuren: I always get nervous for every performance that I do, but since this is the ninth show we do on a 12-day tour, I’m prepared. I’ve got some special surprises for tomorrow, and we’ve got the hottest line-up of the whole tour. I’m very proud that we have Paul van Dyk for the very first time instead of trance lineup.

It means now we’ve covered almost every single trance DJ on the planet.
[laughter]

That’s pretty exciting.

Dayanna Guerrero: EDM, as dance music has been coined, has taken over the U.S. The troubling part for trance fans is they’re feeling left out. Turn on any major FM station, and you’re hearing the likes of Calvin Harris, Swedish House Mafia, Avicii and David Guetta, but absent are the Armin van Buuren, Markus Schulz and Ferry Corsten. Would you say songs like your latest single with Trevor Guthrie, “This Is What It Feels Like”, and the formation of Armada North America are steps you’re taking to help correct this?

Armin van Buuren: Not necessarily. I don’t make tracks specifically for radio. When you’re in the studio, when you’re being creative, it’s something that music happens to you. You’re kind of in that mood, you’re in a zone, and you just create tracks. It’s not like I sat in the studio thinking, “Hmmm, how can I be on the radio next to Swedish House Mafia or David Guetta?” I’m just trying to have fun in the studio and create stuff that I like. That’s the honest answer, you know. Of course, it would be great to have more radio presence, but it’s not something for me a necessity to survive in this industry.

I like to do my own thing. I have a lot of respect and admiration for a lot of the names you just mentioned, but for me that’s not my path. I don’t want to be a copy of Swedish House Mafia, or David Guetta, or Markus Shulz, or Ferry Corsten for that matter. I’m trying to do my own thing, and I’m trying to have fun, and I’m trying to please my fans and trying to please myself by being in the studio and having fun. It’s cool to have a little bit of radio presence out there.

Hopefully I can lure some more people into the trance world, and I think it’s cool that trance music has that underground vibe, and it has that sort of coolness about it, which I think this fantastic. I also want to say that I think trance fans are the coolest fans in the world because they’re very dedicated. They always come to my shows, and they’re the most loyal. I’m very lucky to have such a fan base.

Dayanna Guerrero: Just like last year you closed out Ultra on the main stage. What wasn’t similar, though, was your sets with last year’s having more of a trance sound than this year’s. Would you say that the transition this year to play harder tracks like W&W‘s version of “This Is What It Feels Like” and the “Kick Out The Epic” mash up of “In and Out Of Love” is a lesson learned from last year’s set and you adapting to the type of crowd that the main stage at Ultra draws?

Armin van Buuren: No, not really. I look at the crowd, and then I decide where to go with my set. I always try to lure people into trance music.

Dayanna Guerrero: Right.

Armin van Buuren: I only have 55 minutes to tell my story, which is not enough. I wish I could play a lot more uplifting, banging stuff, and I did at the end. The last 20 minutes were full-on trance, so that’s something that I want to do. I playing “In and Out of Love” last year as well in a different mash up, and I didn’t want to play the same mash up again, so I used a different track underneath it this time. You just try your best. I had to build from an above and beyond set which was around 130 bpm, and I wanted to build to 140 which is quite a big step. I wasn’t trying to be anything else or something, I just try to do my best and play a little bit more to please the crowd. We did the track with Trevor Guthrie for the very first time live, which I was really excited about.

You don’t have to be afraid. I will never forget my trance-y roots, because that’s really where my heart is, you know. I love trance music, I love to play it. When I play main stage at Ultra, yes you play a little bit more accessible because there’s 50,000 people there, but you always try to lure them a little bit into the more underground stuff, like with the John Askew mix of “Communication” and that tacky track I played at the end.

I feel really satisfied because I feel I’m still loyal to my trance roots.

Dayanna Guerrero: You said you’ve been working on your upcoming “Intense” album for the past three years. On Radio One you mentioned this album would have a sound that had combinations of house, electro, dub step, classical and rock. Would incidents like ASOT 550′s “Fei Fei fiasco” in Los Angeles, tracks like “We Are Here To Make Some Noise” and remixes like the one you did on David Guetta’s “Without you” be examples of you testing the water so speak?

Armin van Buuren: No, no. I think what I said on Radio One was a little bit misinterpreted by a lot of people, because I think the album is still 85% trance. There’s a 138 track on there. There’s a lot of instrumental stuff on there. There’s a pretty deep track on there. I would say 85% of the sounds people recognize as typically Armin Van Buuren. Of course, I think music needs to move forward, so I’m open to every kind of sound.

I went to Hartwell this week. I went to see Skrillex this week. I also went to see Giuseppe Ottaviani. I’m going to see Markus Schulz. I like to have an open mind to new sounds and to things that inspire me. I don’t want to keep repeating myself by doing the same thing over and over again.

Having said that, I think it’s very exciting times for trance music. I think there are a lot of new kids coming up that are doing an amazing job. Look at Orjan Nilsen, Andrew Rayel, and look at my collaboration with Arty which is a trance-y track, the track with Markus Schulz “The Expedition“, the track with W&W for me has a trance-y breakdown which is really great.

Music can only grow and progress if you dare to cross boundaries and stay open minded for new things.

Having said that, I will always stay loyal to my trance roots, and I hope people appreciate the fact I look a little bit further. I’m not trying to change my sound, and I’m not trying to do anything that doesn’t feel natural to me.

Dayanna Guerrero: Porter Robinson has become somewhat of a folk hero in the trance world for doing something not really seen by fellow electro-house DJs, he plays trance. He’s one of the few house producers that not only incorporates it in his tracks, like one of the most popular songs in 2012, “Language“, but even just going back to last week at Ultra in a set that had songs by Justice, Dillon Francis, Hard Rock Sofa and Eric Prydz, he also had tracks by yourself, Andrew Rayel, Rank One, Markus Schulz and Orjan Nilsen. That’s unheard of. What are your thoughts on Porter, his inclusion of trance and why artists like him get praise for playing trance in his sets and artists, like you, get dogged sometimes for playing house in yours?

Armin van Buuren: I guess it has to do with your definition of house music. I so disagree with many people saying I’m playing house. For me, it’s trance. I’ve always played a mix of uplifting, melodic trance and progressive. A State Of Trance, since it began, always said it’s the latest in trance and progressive in a two hour nonstop mix. The most loyal fans have always seen this. I follow my heart. I don’t want to be pigeon-holed into one style. I don’t just look at beep work in a trance session, because I think they’re a lot of really good tracks out that which you could easily labeled as trance, but for many people because they’re just labeled as progressive house or techno, cannot be played as such. I think it’s all about the feeling in yourself and what you want to believe is trance music. For me trance is a very broad genre, and I’m very proud of Porter that he’s crossing genres and he dares to take a chance. It’s amazing and inspiring.

I can only follow my own path. I can follow my heart, and I think the true fans of trance know what I mean. I cannot play a 140 bpm set for two hours nonstop, because it makes it sound a little bit boring. I cannot play a house-y set, because that’s not who I am. I’m trying to play a set that inspires me and hopefully enough people. I always follow my heart saying, “Okay, this is the sound I like. I really like this track. I really believe in this track, and I think this is a great track.” I play “Language”, too. I think it has many trance-y elements. I also think that there are trance-y elements in tracks by Eric Prydz or Avicii. Even Swedish House Mafia uses a lot of the trance-y sounds.

I think it’s great. It’s very inspiring, but I’m not trying to be somebody I’m not. I come from the trance world, that’s what my roots are, and that’s what I always will stay loyal to.

Dayanna Guerrero: Every DJ it seems has their own radio show, but the hipster inside us all knows that Armin van Buuren had the original radio show before it was cool. A State Of Trance has gone from just a radio show to a massive world-encompassing yearly festival. It has taken on a life of its own. With that being said, what is the ultimate goal of ASOT, and will there ever be a point where it accomplishes what it has set out to do, or will it go on forever as long as the fans keep turning out for it?

Armin van Buuren: I had in the back of my mind that 500 would have been a good moment to stop because it was at sort of a peak, and I thought what we did back then was the biggest thing we’ve ever done so we couldn’t go bigger than that, but the fans proved otherwise. I think it’s important to stress that the State Of Trance show has always not only been a show for the fans but also by the fans. Look at the things like Future Favorite and The Classic, which is always selected by a listener.

I closely listen to my fans, and I closely listen to everybody that’s involved with the show. I try to make a fresh show every week, and I must say 2013 for me so far is one of the most exciting years for trance music. Trance music has become so broad, it’s a broad phenomenon. Everything from W&W to Dash Berlin, John O’Callaghan, Aly and Fila, Andrew Rayel, Leon Bolier, Sied van Riel, Ferry Corsten, Paul van Dyk, Above and Beyond, everybody’s involved in that one sound, in that one shade of trance feeling. I want to be able to bring people that. Am I going to please everybody? No, I won’t, and I’m sure of that, and that’s not my goal. My goal is to bring people the latest in trance and progressive in a two hour nonstop mix. This is what the show has been since 2001, and this is what it still is.

I’m very proud of the fact I started the show when nobody else had a two hour weekly radio show, especially not in trance music. It’s still going strong. The formula of the show is basically still the same. It’s still made by me, and I think if you listen to A State Of Trance you hear 70, 80, maybe 90% of trance tracks that matter and really rock dance floors.

What I’m trying to do is I’m trying to push boundaries. I’m trying to stay open minded and focused on what I believe is good trance music and stay loyal to myself. I’m very aware of the fact A State Of Trance is now more popular, so it also receives more criticism. This also very normal, I think, and people are allowed to criticize me. When you make a radio show and you’re a public figure, you automatically make yourself available for criticism.

I want to tell you this, if I eat a salad one day, does that make me a vegetarian?

Dayanna Guerrero: Yes! No, I’m just kidding.

[laughter]
Armin van Buuren: Quote me on that. I’ve always done what my heart gives. The warm up sets for A State Of Trance that I do are very, very much progressive, really like the dark, progressive that I used to grow up with. The older Sasha and & Digweed sound, so I’m doing that, too. Then, on the other side, I’m doing a stage called “Who’s Afraid Of 138″, and then I’m doing a single with Trevor.

I’m not trying to do one thing. I do what my heart tells me I should do. Everything for me, within that, is trance, but that’s my definition. If people disagree, that’s fine, too.

Dayanna Guerrero: That’s awesome.

Armin, it’s an honor to have gotten to talk to you. Thank you so much.

Armin van Buuren: Thank you.

For more information on Armin van Buuren, check out the Armin van Buuren Official Website , or keep up to date by following Amin van Buuren on Twitter or on Armin van Buuren’s Facebook Page.

Be sure to also keep an eye out for the release of Armin van Buuren’s 5th artist album “Intense” that will come out on May 3!

With the goal to continue to bring people together, they will host their very own media space called the “Artist Series” at the Marseilles Hotel in Miami.

So just who will be at this media hub? Artists like Krewella, Crookers, Steve Angello, Rukes, Hardwell, Dyro & Dannic!

Good enough? Well it gets even better! The space will serve as a hub for the creative, bloggers, and even fans. Its goal? To connect artists with fans and to encourage discussions, dialogue and feedback between both. They’re also looking for up and comers talent to connect creatively with some of EDM’s biggest stars.

Sound good so far? Wantikckets, Talenthouse, Magnetic Magazine, and the Pool Parties at the Surfcomber have put together some kick ass contests for you to participate in:

• Design for Krewella
• Collaborate with Crookers
• Photograph for Steve Angello & RUKES
• Produce for Hardwell, Dyro & Dannic

Interested? Check out the Artist Series schedule and don’t miss out on these events!

For more information you can check out the Artist Series Official Website.

We hope to see you there!

HIIO Interview:

Dayanna Guerrero: Let’s start with what is HIIO and what do you guys bring to the EDM scene?

HIIO: HIIO is the name of our Duo, and we bring hot new bangers to the EDM scene. Besides what we bring, is what we can transmit to the people with our music, which is love and happiness!

Dayanna Guerrero: All right we’ll be 100% honest with you, for the longest time we thought your name was pronounced “He-Oh” and only recently learned it’s actually “H2O”. How often do you get this from people?

HIIO: Hahaha! This is a funny question, but it’s definitely a good one! Actually, if you listen to “CUBIC” on the Fedde Le Grand Radio show “Dark Light Sessions,” he pronounced HIIO just like you said before “He-Oh” twice in his show – haha. We know this may happen in the beginning of things, and as we grow and become more recognized, we know it will quickly be corrected and pronounced as “H20.”

Dayanna Guerrero: Without starting any fights, since Nico Hamuy is from Argentina and Ortzy is from Colombia, which country loves dance music more?

HIIO: Argentina 100%. You have electronic music 24/7 if you want.

Dayanna Guerrero: We air your monthly “Elements” radio show on our Elevation channel. It seems like everyone has a radio show these days, what makes “Elements” so different?

HIIO: Firstly, thank-you for airing Elements, we appreciate the support! We don’t necessarily think our radio show is different, but we do feel it’s a great way to share our tracks with our followers, and to share with them what we have going on with our agendas, tours and any other news about HIIO.

Dayanna Guerrero: According to your tour schedule it says you’ll be in Miami for Winter Music Conference. Is this accurate and will you be here to network, perform or a little of both?

HIIO: We have set up some little gigs with some DJ friends, nothing big, because Nico is still working on his work Visa. We want to meet some of the people that we have been working with during 2012. Even though we have all this technology like Skype, emails and more, we still like to meet the people we are working with in person.

Dayanna Guerrero: Besides Miami, where and when can fans expect to see HIIO playing in the near future?

HIIO: Throughout the year we are at PACHA Buenos Aires twice a month, as well as touring Brazil. This year HIIO will be doing a Canadian tour, as well as Europe and hopefully USA.

Dayanna Guerrero: Music wise, what’s coming up for HIIO?

HIIO: We have a new track coming out on Bugeyed Records called “Meant To Be” Feat. Giuseppe Viola on February 25 on Beatport. We also have two more collaborations with John Dish, who is the DJ we did “CUBIC” with, as well as a remix of an old school track in collaboration with CHUCKIE. We have lots of stuff cooking up in the HIIO kitchen.

For more information on HIIO, check out HIIO Official Website , or keep up to date by following HIIO on Twitter or on HIIO’s Facebook Page.

Be sure to catch HIIO’s “Elements” radio show on our Elevation channel every 3rd Saturday on the month at 11PM ET!