Category: Interviews

INTERVIEW: Ayah Marah (2013)

You’ve heard Ayah Marar’s voice, but you might know who she is just yet.? She sang on three tracks from Calvin Harris’ last album (“Ready For The Weekend,? ?Stars Come Out,? and ?Flashback?) and is the featured vocalist on the club hit “Thinking About You.”? After gaining critical acclaim in the UK, her debut album is getting a full US release previewed by the progressive pop jam “Beg Borrow Steal,” which we wrote up here.? However, the album is a complete mash of EDM styles, especially when she goes back to her drum and bass roots.? Listening to the tracks, you will definitely realize why she is a “Hustle Girl.”

RS: I love the name of your label, where did the name Hustle Girl come from??
Ayah Marar: ? I am a hustle girl. It originally came from Jay-Z?s song about the hustle girl and from there it turned into Hussle Girl.

RS: Did you learn a lot from creating Lucky Devil Records?
Ayah Marar: I did, I founded it so I didn?t really have a choice. A couple of friends and I were DJs at the time and we used to run a drum & bass night together which turned into a record label. We ended up signing a few guys who are now big on the drum & bass and dubstep scene in the UK.?
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INTERVIEW: Alex Metric (2013)

With a plethora of productions and left field remixes,?Alex Metric?s creativity is as vivid as his vibrant personality.??He?s the bloke who can make cool synth-pop, disco house, electro, or progressive and determine which is the right sound for the song as well as what he is feeling.??It is that emotion which he brings to his massive single ?Safe With You,? as well as to his brilliantly executed DJ sets (whether they be primetime bangers or discofied progressive opening sets).?Chatting with him before he opened for Zedd in Nashville, I felt like I had found a doppelganger who uses music to express emotions, with such a wide variety of musical experiences that he is never at a lack for the optimal sound.

DJ Ron Slomowicz: How did you meet up with Stuart Price?
Alex Metric: I met up with Stuart through a mutual friend called Starsmith. Fin had worked with Stuart on the Kylie Minogue album and he knew that I was a fan of his. Stuart actually wanted to start DJing again, so he asked Fin if he could come out to the club with us one night.??Stuart hadn?t really been to a nightclub in a while because he was producing pop music for years and years. Stuart knew of my music, so Fin told him that he should meet me and we went out to dinner and had some drinks. The first time I meet Stuart, who is kind of my musical hero, he came to watch me DJ which was a scary experience. The funny thing about the gig was that it was the first time that I played my remix of The Whip ? ?Secret Weapon? and with that remix my aim was to do LCD Soundsystem meets Stuart Price. As soon as I played it I felt a tap on my shoulder and Stuart asked me ?what?s this record?? It was so weird because I had deliberately tried to channel Stuart on this record and he came up and asked me about it. We had a great night and we stayed friends. A couple weeks later I decided to eMail Stuart because it?s always been one of my aims to work with him, and if you don?t fucking ask you don?t get. So I eMailed him and told him that if he ever wanted to get in the studio we should totally do it. He was like ?yeah that sounds like fun let?s do it,? and a week later we were in the studio doing ?Safe With You.?

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INTERVIEW: Morgan Page (2013)

Morgan Page is one of the nicest producer/DJs on the scene.??A major part of his new tour ? Morgan Page Presents ? is focused on rising talent with Project 46, Walden,?Topher Jones, Beltek, Maor Levi, and Audien joining him on the bus tour.??Then there is the 3D element which aims to bring a more immersive experience to the crowd.??Talking to him is liking talking to an old friend, and when you think back to all of his massive records over the?past ten years (“Falling,” “Call My Name,” “In the Air,” “Longest Road,” “Body Work,” “Carry Me,” “Fight For You”), they all exude that same kind of warmth.??I met up and chatted with Morgan Page at the Promo Only Summer Sessions last month right before he was going to launch the MPP3D bus tour.??Its definitely a tour you do not want to miss.

RS:?Have you ever done a bus tour before?
Morgan Page: No, this is the first one.

RS: What was the inspiration for it?
Morgan Page: The biggest thing was just to go and tour with a team of people that I believe in and champion. To do the kind of production that we want to do we need a bus and a semi-truck to haul all of our gear. We can?t fly with all that stuff, so that was definitely one of our big motivators and we also wanted to go big and do 3D.
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