“We’ve recently been back in the studio more intensely,” opens Guk. “It’s probably the first time we’ve had the chance to do that after our Slice & Dice EP. As well as that, we’ve been doing lots of experimenting and developing new sounds which is always fun. It’s the real, core driver of a DJs career, but also very hard work. Besides too, we are getting ready for the New Year’s run in Brazil and for our debut Australian tour in January. We’re pretty excited.”
First though, by way of background, the duo met in 2006 when they started working together at an audio producing company. “Felipe was my trainee and we instantly connected based on our passion for dance music,” says Guk. “We were both very musical during our childhood and teen years, with a passion for rock music. From there, Felipe learnt to play the piano and I learnt to play the guitar. My hero was Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin; he is not from my generation but I was really into classic rock in my teen years.”
Things have evolved though and as much as Guk admits dance music is a kind of globalized phenomenon – with the Internet being their biggest source of inspiration – he claims it’s still impossible to overlook the influence that their home country has had on them. “We live in a very musical country and we are immersed in a culture that breathes music and rhythm; sometimes this influence crawls into our productions without a conscious awareness, such as in the piano break on the track Dead Man Swag. Also, the scene in Brazil is really exciting at the moment because it’s moving through this kind of expansion; Brazil has definitely joined the dance music revolution.”
Musically, the boys are proud of what they believe is their biggest EP to date, Slice & Dice – and post its release they are focused now on promoting it and touring. “We just recently sat down in the studio for new original material and it has been a very exciting time. We have a few tracks on the move and are intending on producing some more, but we haven’t decided how to release them yet. We are really looking forward our musical releases on 2014 though,” he chimes.
And this non-committal approach to their studio work reconciles with the fact that they don’t necessarily follow a plan – nothing for them is on purpose. Guk continues: “our base is undoubtedly electro-house, but every once in a while we get really saturated and bored and naturally start experimenting with something outside our comfort zone. It’s so enlightening to do that – it makes you grow so much as a music producer. Then after a while the passion for producing good old electro-house returns and we become reinvigorated and stronger.”
That said though, there is more of a method to their madness when it comes to performing. Guk explains they come together prior and sort out a list of tracks they think might have the most potential of being played on a specific occasion. “We usually take into consideration the information we have about a gig; if it’s a Felguk crowd or a different crowd; if its a more commercial or more underground crowd; or if it’s a more hardcore electro crowd or a multi-gendered festival crowd. However, when we play and feel the crowd, we are open to as many changes as necessary to suit the vibe – that’s the fun part.”
And at the gig, expect to hear a lot of their own tracks, as well as some different and unreleased versions and edits of their classics. “We also like to throw in a bunch of rock references in between our big electro drops,” Guk adds. “Many of them are classic rock and the base of the set is a good filtering of the current electro-house and its sub-genres.”
Likewise too, the lads are looking forward to their first trip to Australia and are planning on putting together a special performance. “We really want to get to know the place a little bit. Australia is one of those places that we’ve always really wanted to go to,” Guk explains. “It’s basically like a dream come true for both of us.”
BY RK
