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10 Questions with ... Cazzette
September 30, 2014
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheCAZZETTE
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/CAZZETTE
- Instagram: instagram.com/cazzette
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/cazzette
1) Who are Cazzette and how did you meet?
Cazzette are Alex & Sebastian. We're from Sweden and to make a long story short, a few years ago we met online on myspace.com. We started making music together for fun, and we had a good workflow. We sent an e-mail to Ash Pournouri one day because we felt we needed management. He replied that he was really interested in our stuff. Two months later, he signed us.
2) How did you come up with the name Cazzette and what are you known for?
We brainstormed together with Ash, our manager, and we all agreed that Cazzette was a good name. We're all really big fans of all kinds of genres. When we used to make mixed tapes and just didn't care about genres. We just put the best songs on there, so that's what we want to represent no matter if we create Hip-Hop R&B, Electro or whatever ... we represent all genres.
3) How did you get into DJing?
Alex: In the 7th grade I was hypnotized by the whole DJ scene and wanted to DJ, but soon I felt it wasn't enough. I wanted to also make the music that I was playing. Since then I've been hooked.
Sebastian: I started because my father was a DJ in Rome and he loved all kinds of music -- especially old House music and Hip-Hop. I loved Trance at that time. Alex actually made me start making house music into Trance stuff, because House is the next big thing. So that's the story.
4) How long did it take for the Cazzette head to come into play?
Pretty quickly actually. Everything was so rushed, and we wanted to give something extra to our fans and put that on our image. What we didn't think about was that just to put those things on our heads, its super complicated and super heavy. We just finished our 2.0 version but we are still having technical difficulties with it!
5) You've had a number of singles out, including "Beam Me Up," "Weapon" and "Run For Cover;" your current single is called "Sleepless." What can you tell us about "Sleepless?"
We made it having a rough time, because we didn't really know where we were going musically; we didn't know where our standpoint was. We almost forgot about it. We got sought of fed up with the whole EDM scene. Everything started to sound the same. We toured a lot and at every festival and every club, every one played the same stuff. We couldn't even tell who was playing. We started thinking about that so we thought maybe we could switch it up with new stuff. We were signed to Island/Def Jam, but it was a confusing time. We were signed as an EDM act to a huge label, but we couldn't deliver what they wanted us to do. We could only deliver what we wanted to do. Our manager was very engaged in what we did, but we couldn't release it because we were signed to the label, so we unfortunately left them because we wanted to go on our own, which we did. We came back to Stockholm and the first song we did was "Sleepless."
We had to make music that matters to us and that we want to listen to. We can't create music for a specific purpose for it to be a hit or things like that. It's super-dishonest and insulting to the fans to just not create what we love. The real fans are standing up for the music that we love. Of course, not every one will love it but if you're creating stuff because you think the crowd's going to love it, then you're being super-dishonest to yourself and your fans. We are super-happy right now with all our stuff and we are really excited. So is our label.
6) Speaking of songs that people love, I was privy to your new song, "Blind Heart," that's getting ready to come out. What can you tell us about the song?
We received the vocal from our manager, Ash and it was amazing very soulful almost gospel like from Terri B, who is based in the U.K. We got the a capella and he told us, "Hey guys, try to work on this, and see what you come up with." We made, like, 15 versions of the song. We couldn't nail the arrangement because it has such a unique vibe to it since it's in a very old school, gospel-ish mode. We came up with a good result and we're very happy with the result now. It was worth going back and forth like that. Super-excited to show people what it sounds like.
7) Is there an album coming out?
We're just focusing on singles. Maybe later, but not right now.
8) You're getting ready to embark on a rather large tour...
It's going to be crazy. We're going to be in China; a lot of shows in the U.S as well. We're pretty spread out. It's fun because we still manage to spend time in the studio. We're not going to make the same mistake and be on the road for too long. Because Sebastian and I are producers and we like to create. We're producers first.
9) As producers do you have a vocalist that you would love to work with?
We have a lot! Would love to do something with Kanye, Justice. Frank Ocean would be nice, we have to prove ourselves a little bit before we can talk to him about that.
10) Early on we got to hear a lot of remixes from Cazzette: Avicii's "Sweet Dreams," Swedish House Mafia's "Save The World," David Guetta's "Titanium" ... is there a favorite remix that you've done and are you doing any remixes?
All those are so old now. We did those three years ago and we've been focusing on our own stuff. The one that was the most fun to make was the Spencer Hill/Nadia Ali mix. It was a really good vibe for our sets, and it was fun to make. We want to make remixes, too, but it's hard to find time and we are focusing on our own stuff now. There is one that's coming out for A Trak, but we actually made it a long time ago. It's kinda funny in the industry, you make a track and then a year, year and a half later it gets released and you've already forgot how you made it.
Bonus Questions
Is there a favorite place you like to DJ?
We like Pacha in New York and Suk in Singapore. To be honest there's a lot of good places ... Union in Toronto ... and we love DJ-ing in San Francisco.
Is there a big difference in playing a festival vs. playing in a club?
There is a big difference. It's easier to read the crowd in a club. For instance, if there's 500 people and 50 people leave, there's 450 left. But, when there's 10,000 people and 500 people leave, you can't tell. Nowadays, at a festival it's kind of hard for us, because I don't think people read crowds any more, even at a festival. It's about who is playing the most bangers. So when we go it's a little bit more softer, so it's not as hard. When you play in a club, you have to be more cautious, but at a festival you can go a little bit harder than usual.
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