Exclusive Interview: Disco Fries

This week we have two special guests in the Artist Spotlight. These guys have played tons of shows around the world and have released music on labels such as Ultra, Zouk, Tiesto’s Musical Freedom and many others. Their radio show, Liftoff Radio, is now on Sirius XM’s Club Life and they’vce just released their latest single, Ramuh, on their label. Read the interview we did with them below.

How did you guys meet/ start The Disco Fries?
Nick: We met in college as roommates freshman year and started making music around jr. year. At first it was just mashups, and remixes of 80’s records. Our first original production based remix was of Eddie Money’s “Take Me Home Tonight” and it did really well on the DJ blogs, so we just kept pumping out 80‘s mixes and eventually it led us to our first commissioned remix for Flo Rida’s “Sugar” on Atlantic Records. That record went platinum and the snowball started from there.

Who is your biggest influence(s)?
Nick: Musically I’d have to say Dr. Dre since I absolutely love west coast hip hop and I think Danny and I can both agree that Vince DiCola and Tiesto have both influenced all of our music. Influence on my life, I’ll go with my grandfather.

Danny: Tiesto definitely in terms of dance music. He was my introduction to trance back in 2001 or so and I think a lot of our melodies and sounds are still inspired by that. Gaming music is also a huge influence on our style so I’d have to credit Koji Kondo (composer for Super Mario Bros/The Legend of Zelda) and Nobuo Uematsu (composer for Final Fantasy series) as majors ones too.

What’s your favorite record of all time?
Nick: Very difficult question, it changes everyday. But overall, I’ll go with the Sinatra version of “My Way”.
Danny: Haha yeah that’s impossible to say…I’ll go with the theme from The Legend of Zelda

What was your favorite party of all time that you have played?
Nick: I have amazing memories of our first real show that we did as Disco Fries. It was a 1 off in Hong Kong. We flew about 24 hours to the country and landed on the day of the show. To come straight out of college and be able to travel to the other side of the planet because of your music is a blessing. Taking a 24 hour flight home 5 hours after the show, could have been better planned 😀

Who do you want to collaborate with in the future?
Nick: We’re really looking to collaborate with more singer/songwriters. Being that we’re already dance music producers, we’re always looking outside of our world to collaborate with people who have a totally different perspective on music. That keeps it interesting both creatively for us, and for the fans. Matthew Bellamy from Muse would be an amazing fit on some of our records. Who wouldn’t want to see two of their favorite people from totally different worlds collaborate? Batman vs. Wolverine….Amalgam comic type shit, thats what I’m talking about.

Danny: Yeah there’s plenty of artists outside of EDM that would be great to work with but as far as peers I’d say Infected Mushroom are at the top of my list. They’re one of the only “EDM” artists who I can always listen to and be equally amazed by their musicianship and their production.

What’s the most embarrassing thing thats happened to you at a show?
Nick: One of our first big gigs in Vegas, the laptop crashed. I hate even thinking about this.

What do you like to do when you’re not working on music/DJing?
Nick: I love to cook, and taking long walks on the beach. Not kidding or referencing a dating site one liner. I honestly do love doing these things.
Danny: Eating! My day/life kinda revolves around my next meal. I also love horror movies and playing video games. That would be a horrible dating site one liner.

What is your opinion on the current EDM scene?
Nick: Who cares?
Danny: Hard to say what that even means. There’s plenty of producers doing interesting things that are considered EDM and then there’s a lot more making shit. There’s pros and cons to every scene and EDM has plenty of both.

What do you think will be the next big thing in EDM?
Nick: People not calling it EDM.
Danny: Musicality. Wins every time.

What do you think about all these “frauds” in the EDM scene using ghost producers, buying likes and purchasing their own tracks on Beatport?
Nick: The cream will always rise to the top and people in 2014/2015 have a been keen eye for authenticity. If something is not real, people will either love it because its so absurd (ie: the Kardashians) OR they’ll call the bluff. We honestly don’t concern ourselves with any of this since its irrelevant to how we create, promote, and further our music.
Danny: Agreed. I get that its just people trying to run a successful business and if they’re able to live with themselves then more power to them. As long as they’re passionate and genuine about what they do I can’t really fault them. Like Nick said, it doesn’t really affect what we’re doing so we try not to concern ourselves with it.

Is there any upcoming releases/shows we should keep an eye out for?
Nick: Yes, tons! Our radio show ‘Liftoff Radio’ was just added to SiriusXM’s Club Life channel (shout out to Tiesto!!), and our new single ‘Ramuh’, out on our label Liftoff Recordings, was just released. You can check all of this news out at www.facebook.com/thediscofries and the tunes are located at www.soundcloud.com/thediscofries.

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