Interview with progressivehouse.com

Here is an interview we did for progressivehouse.com:

1. How did you get into house music?

Mario: One of the 1st records that I remember ever owning is Lipps Inc – Funky Town. I used to play this song over and over and over. I stayed at my grandparents house one night and found it laying there all scratched up, dusty and stashed away in an old box along with some other records and 8 Tracks from that era that I apparently also used to rock out to when I was a young pup.

In the summer of 1992, I was introduced to Acid House.  A friend of mine picked up a copy of Lords Of Acid – Lust to listen to for a 3 hr road trip one night. I remember how his album ended up being the only thing that we listened to all night that night mainly because it was the only thing that everyone could agree to listen to. Nothing I had heard up until then matched the energy and momentum found in all of those tracks.

Later that year, a girlfriend of mine invited me to a rave somewhere near the outskirts of the Dallas Arts District.  This marked the 1st time I witnessed/heard any DJs spinning House/Techno. Around that same time, I started listening to a mix show on a local FM radio station called Edge Club.  The show introduced me to some of the newest cutting edge artists of underground dance music of that time/era. From then on, going out to a club or an after hours event in the middle of the night to hear and support the local pool of DJs around town became more of a habitual thing.  I started collecting mix tapes and compilations.  Eric and I decided to purchase turntables.  We started buying records nearly every week, and coached each other on how to spin and mix. To this day, I still consider Edge Club to be my personal soundtrack whenever I’m hitting up the bars/clubs around D-town on Saturday nights.

Eric J: For me it all started back in 1993 with The Prodigy - Experience.  I had been listening to a lot of progressive rock and metal before that, even playing drums in a metal band for a while.  I remember really liking all the keyboards used in the progressive rock and metal at the time, and a close friend of mine told me one day, "Hey if you like all those keyboards so much, listen to this." and handed me his Prodigy - Experience CD.  I listened to that CD non-stop for weeks.  There was so much energy in the music and it sounded so different from anything I had heard before.  I quickly decided that this was the music for me.  I sold my drums, bought turntables with Mario and we never looked back. 

I was also heavily influenced by Edge Club, which Mario introduced to me once he started listening.  Every Saturday night from 10 PM to 3 AM, I'd be glued to the radio listening to the entire show from beginning to end.  I was addicted, even preferring on many occasions to stay in and listen to the show rather than go out with friends.  That show was a huge influence on us, introducing us to so much new music every week.  Back in those days we started off listening to a lot of early big dance artists and slowly expanded our tastes.  I remember being at the record store spending $100 a week on vinyl, usually buying up the latest tunes we heard on Edge Club 94.  Fluke, D:Ream, Prodigy, Orbital, all the Guerrilla Records stuff from Charlie May and the boys and of course Sasha & Digweed were a huge influence in my life with the Renaissance and Northern Exposure CD's.  I still claim that Northern Exposure 2 - East Coast is the single greatest mix album of all time, and the mix from Doi-oing - Blue to Spooky - Little Bullet remains by single favorite moment on a mixed CD.  I have yet to hear anything that matches that.

2. Who have been the biggest influences on you musically?

Mario: I love all styles of music equally, which makes this question somewhat difficult to answer being that House/Techno are not the only genres of music that I tend to listen to. However, I will say that as far as electronic music goes, old school producers like William Orbit, Paul Oakenfold, Charlie May, BT, Sasha, John Digweed, Kenny “Dope” Gonzales, Louie Vega, David Morales, Thomas Bangalter, Bob Sinclar, Miguel Migs, and Jay Denes still play a major influence particularly on how I tend to come up with ideas and how they contribute to our arrangements. Veteran artists within the genre such as Deee Lite, Sunscreem, Bjork, Spooky, Underworld, Fluke, Masters At Work, The Chemical Brothers, Chicane, Basement Jaxx, Daft Punk, and all of the old school vocalists/producers/DJs with tracks found on Guerilla, Strictly Rhythm, Murk, Fresh Fruit, Perfecto, Deconstruction, Hooj Choons, Bedrock, Roule, AM/PM, Naked Music, and Om Records throughout the years still inspire me to this day. 

I would say that I’m also musically influenced by a number of bands and artists ranging from pretty much every era, style and genre of music. I’d like to think that we draw some influence from some of my favorite classic rock bands like The Beatles, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and a number of other 70s/80s legendary artists and groups like David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Earth Wind & Fire, and Prince & the Revolution. Of course, I could not leave out of this list any of my favorite all time punk/synthesized based pop bands like The Cure, The Smiths, The Psychedelic Furs, Echo & the Bunnymen as well as Metal/Alternative/Indie bands and artists like Metallica, Slayer, The Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, and Rilo Kiley certainly influencing the way I go about creating riffs, coming up with grooves, and hopefully fulfill our needs for following good music theory when it comes to laying down melodies and harmonies within our tracks.

In general and for the most part, I’m a sucker for any piece of music or tune that features catchy vocals, brilliant melodies and harmonies sprinkled throughout a well assembled arrangement, regardless of musical genre.   


Eric J: As far as electronic music goes, I'd have to cite BT as my number one influence  I bought the first few records from BT when he started bursting on the scene, and it was easily an order of magnitude better than anything else being put out at the time.  His music remains one of my top influences, as I believe he is a the most brilliant producer making music today regardless of genre.  Sasha & John Digweed are a close second, maybe not so much as producers, but more with the records they played in their DJ sets.  Several of my favorite tracks of all time were heard first in their sets, and they always had a knack for finding tracks that were fresh and cutting edge.  They helped shape a sound that we are still very much a fan of today. The Hooj Choons label was a big influence for me as well, as they seemed to have so much great music that was put out with every release.  The entire label seemed to stand for quality, and even when they changed their sound from trance to a more progressive house sound, I still remained one of their biggest supporters. 

I also have quite a few diverse musical influences from outside the electronic sphere, but I tend to gravitate toward lesser known artists when I'm listening to anything that is non electronic.  By far my biggest non-electronic influence and favorite band of all time is Rush.  They are three of the most talented musicians I have ever heard, and that fact that such complex music can be performed by only 3 guys is just mind boggling.  Truly a band by musicians for musicians.

3. How would you describe the Mario & Eric J sound?

Mario: I like to think that our tracks somewhat mimic the progressive house that Eric and I used to jam out to in the early 90’s, because of the way we tend to compose melodies and introduce them through out the arrangement. I feel that our tracks rely more on solid melodies and bass grooves rather than the percussive loops and production tweaks that we tend to hear and associate with the newer progressive house. We are always trying to come up with innovative structures and arrangements without loosing too much focus on the melodies contained within the track which sometimes ends up shifting the overall feel of a song from a Deep track to a more Progressive one and vice versa.        

Eric J: I would say that we have a more "classic" progressive house sound with modern production standards.  Our kicks have a bit more punch than some modern progressive house and we focus a bit more on strong melody and strong arrangement rather than relying on production tricks and effects to carry our music forward.  It makes sense really when you look at the music that influenced us back in the early to mid 90's.  Back in those days, the production quality was not nearly as good as it is today, but there was definitely more "traditional" arrangements and melodies in dance tracks, even those tracks without lyrics.  I think as electronic dance music evolved, producers started getting away from that, but if you listen to a lot of the early dance music from that era, a lot of it followed very traditional arrangement patterns borrowed from rock and pop music.  A lot of it had very identifiable "verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus" patterns, which is a standard template that has been used in pop music for decades.  We are always listening for new and innovative ways to compose and structure tracks, because dance music has always been about pushing traditional boundaries and stepping outside the box.  That being said, I think we'll always have strong melodic elements in our music because that's the kind of music we like to listen to and produce.

4. Do you have any other interests outside of music?

Mario: My true passion has always been in music, as I have learned to play a different number of musical instruments throughout my life. Even though I love the work that I do in technology, most of what I truly enjoy doing in my time off so much involves music in some shape or form.  Whether it’s hammering out a new riff/melody on the piano, jamming out with a few friends in the garage on my guitar/drums, or going out to see a friend’s band play at some club or whatever. I also love to watch sports like American Football & Hockey. In my downtime, I like to spend time outdoors with my family, my friends and my animals. My wife and I moved out to the country a few years ago and now own a couple of cats, 2 sunday conure parrots and a quarter horse which we enjoy riding out on our land. 

Eric J: I've been a computer programmer and web developer since the early 90's, so I have been involved with computers and the Internet for quite a while, even before it all exploded in the late 90's.  I developed one of the first forums and web sites dedicated to the local dance music scene in the southwest United States back in the mid-90's.  This was back in a time when such things were not as common as they are today.  It was a huge site with thousands of members which was recognized as a "go to" destination for clubbers and ravers all over our area.  The influence of that site actually helped our DJ career quite a bit, because in a scene that was largely about "who you know", it helped to be the creator of one of the most influential club and rave sites in the entire southwestern US.  Unfortunately, the site was shut down abruptly in 2001 due to circumstances beyond our control.

I'm also a big American sports fan, so I watch a lot of American Football, and Baseball.  Just about anything sports I like.  It can actually be quite the distraction in the studio if there is a big sporting event on TV and we are supposed to be working.  Lets just say that during playoff time, we don't get a lot of work done, especially if one of our local teams are involved.  :)

5. What is the progressive house scene like in your home state Texas?

Mario: The dance music scene here in Texas has scaled back a bit since we started out. Mega raves and music festivals still happen but they are not as frequent as they used to be. More events are being held inside clubs which make the scene a bit more intimate.  The influence of different people from all over the world moving here will always introduce the masses to new ideas, music and culture which I think creates a healthy diversity within the scene and hot bed for up and coming talent. I grew up in Dallas going out and listening to local DJs like Rob Vaughn, A1, Cle play different styles of electronic music, drawing crowds from all different walks of life. It's still this way even though the names from the local pool of talent keep changing.  You can pretty must rest assured that you will hear a good variety of music including hip-hop, down-tempo, house, trance, breaks and drum & bass all in one night at any of the dance clubs around the metroplex. Outside of Dallas, there is a pretty good crop of home grown musicians, bands, producers and DJs, along with a wide base of knowledgable fans to go with it. It's not just dance music but includes all other music genres as well. This belief creates high standards for what is considered good art and inspires Eric and I to try and put together a good product. Texas a pretty unique place to be for underground music even though genres like rock and electronic music are really not the mainstream. 

Eric J: We have a pretty healthy scene here in Dallas.  You'll hear the best music at clubs that are outside the popular circles, and I think that's a great thing.  The scene is not part of the mainstream, so it becomes more "underground", more of an "in the know" kind of thing.  I think that's great because it fosters a sense of community among those of us who are involved in the scene and really makes you feel as if you are a part of something special.  We really love that aspect of our city because although it is not really recognized on the international scene as being a great city for dance music, those of us who have lived and partied here know that there is something special going on in Dallas.

6. What equipment and software do you use of your productions?

Mario: Our studio consists of hardware and software combined. It all started back with the Roland JV1080 and continues to be Eric’s never ending project. Eric is really the engineer, so he is pretty consistent about doing good research before deciding to buy a new piece of hardware/software which happens all too often. I'm more about playing the role of musician and co-producer. Some of my favorite pieces of hardware that we do use are the Access Virus TI Polar and the Moog Little Phatty. I like the Virus mainly because of how many sounds it has and it's easy for Eric modify them quickly.  This saves an incredible amount of time when coming up with sounds. The Moog is my favorite piece of analog equipment, and we use it primarily for contructing our basses and leads. At home I use a BC Rich/Yahama Guitars, and an Ol’ Briggs upright piano to come up with material at home.

Eric J: We use an Apple Mac Pro with Logic Pro as our primary Digital Audio Workstation software, along with Ableton Live for putting together DJ mixed albums and the occasional audio edit.  Logic has the best combination of built in software instruments and effects for our needs. As an Apple product, it has tight integration with Mac OS X which provides excellent stability and performance.  The Access Virus TI Polar is a fantastic and extremely versatile machine.  The Virus Control plugin integrates the hardware synthesizer into your workstation to make it function like any other software synthesizer and that makes it a breeze to use.  It sounds great and is really easy to program. The Moog Little Phatty is fantastic for getting those big booming basses and crazy analog effects for leads and such.  Plus, its a Moog!  It just sounds so good!  There is a reason why the Moog name is a legend in synthesis.  We also have a large collection of software synthesizers and effects.  Sylenth1, Native Instruments Massive are probably the two software instruments I use the most.  I am also a big fan of the Universal Audio UAD-1/2 products and those see quite a bit of use in our productions.  Software synthesizers and effects from Arturia, Native Instruments, Sonalksis, PSP, Waves and quite a few others do make regular appearances in our works, but to be honest we probably use the stock Logic effects more than anything else. They really sound great and get the job done.  I'm a big believer that its the artist and not the tools that make music great.

However, the most important pieces in our studio are the Focal Twin monitors and Apogee Rosetta converter. The Focal Twins are mastering grade monitors and the Rosetta provides high quality Digital to Analog conversion.  For me, a good computer, good audio interface (with good AD/DA), and good monitors are absolutely essential to producing.  Without these things, it becomes much more difficult to put out a quality finished product, because you cannot hear with any real clarity what is going on in your mix. After all, what is the sense of having tons of outboard synthesizers and effects if you cannot use them effectively in the context of a finished track?  Having a high quality monitoring chain is absolutely essential for us and those are the investments that have had the most profound impact on our music.

7. Name favourite 3 productions of your own

Mario: Tristessa is currently my favorite track right now. It just came together so easily.  End Of Me is also one of my favorites. Avonlea did such a great job writing and singing the vocals which inspired us to make changes to original feel/vibe of the raw track and shift it in a whole new direction.   We did a remix of Foursii - Be Here Now, which has a really great melody throughout.

Eric J: Tristessa is probably my favorite track on the album as well.  Its was one of those tracks that just came together, and those are usually the best ones.  One of our older releases on Source of Gravity, Ocean Park, still remains my favorite older production from yesteryear.  I think it came out in 2003, so it was quite some time ago.  It has this real island-type vibe, and every time I listen to it, I'm reminded of sitting on the beach in St. Croix, listening to the tide come in with a cold beer in my hand.  However, probably my favorite production is a remix of a track we did for this girl Kristine Grundmane.  She redid the classic track "Not Over Yet" by Grace, and we were given the opportunity to remix it.   She has a fantastic voice and really stayed true to the original song, so when we remixed it, we were able to kind of keep that old-school vibe but give it a modern edge.  It was probably one of our more popular tracks, and I'm particularly proud of that one.

8. And 3 all time favourites.

Mario: Number one would have to be Donna Summer - I Feel Love.  Giorgio Moroder is a great producer and really set the standard with that track.  Next up would have to be Liberty City - If You Really Want Somebody.  Its deep, trancy house, which is very close to what we make now.  Considering that the track was produced in 1992, its just unbelievable.  And finally, Sasha - Xpander.  That track introduced a whole new spectrum for tracks featuring melodies on top of a simple groove.

Eric J: There are so many, it is hard to cut it down to three.  The BT remix of Mike Oldfield - Let There Be Light comes to mind as an absolutely brilliant production. There is probably more work put into that one single track than some producers put into an entire album of tracks.  It's such an epic track, the production and especially the piano work on that track blows my mind every time I hear it. 

Sunday Club - Etarna's Flight is another one that has a brilliant arrangement with gorgeous production.  The track progresses through so many stages, it's almost like a classical piece arranged into a dance floor friendly format.  There are very few tracks I have heard before or since that can come close to that level of brilliance.

However, Spooky - Little Bullet probably remains my favorite track of all time.  Every mix of that track is freaking awesome, and it is a true masterpiece for me. There is so much atmosphere created in that track, and yet it is so simple.  One of Charlie May's finest moments.

Honorable mentions go to Leftfield - Song of Life and Hybrid - Unfinished Symphony, two other masterpieces as yet unequalled.

9. Name 3 things that make you laugh

Mario: People in general make me laugh.  I'm an easy going person, so just about anything qualifies.

Eric J: I'm a big fan of the American sitcom, so I have to give props to my favorite of all time, Seinfeld.  I can still watch those episodes today and laugh every time I see it, even though I know them line by line.  The movie Airplane is guaranteed to put me on the floor laughing anytime I see it, and the third thing would probably be our local sports radio station in Dallas, The Ticket.  Its kind of more of a "guy-radio" type station, but I listen every day and they are constantly putting me in stitches along with helping to solve Dallas sports problems.  :)

10. The world is supposed to end in 2012! Firstly what are your opinions on this, and what would have liked to have achieved by 2012?

Mario: I don't really have an opinion on how I feel about the world ending, but I hope by 2012, Eric and I would have collaborated with other good artists within the industry, and produce more good music.

Eric J: (Laughs) Well I have never been a big believer of end of the world theories.  I remember growing up and hearing that the world was going to end in the year 2000.  Well its ten years later and were are still here.  I think we are all going to be around for long time.  There is too much that's great about the world to stop now!

As far as what we'd like to have achieved, well I think we just strive to be better producers.  Personally, I'd like to be a better songwriter, a better engineer, and a better sound designer.  I'm not the kind of person that likes  to rest on my laurels.  I never look back.  Once a project is finished, I'm ready to move on to the next thing and I'm always trying to make something better than what was made before.  I'm really trying to concentrate on working with a lot more vocalists, because I those are the tracks where I have the most fun.  There is just something that the human voice does to a song that is not reproducible in an instrumental track.  It makes it so much easier to create an emotional connection with the listener.  Most of my favorite tracks are vocal tracks, so going forward I'd really like to produce a lot more tracks with strong vocalists.