In case you didn’t know, I think the Stafford Brothers are the dopest duo to come out of Australia. They have been voted Australia’s #1 DJs two years in a row now, are holding down a huge residency at the new Day Light/ Light Nightclub at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, have their own syndicated TV show is 20 countries, and have been recently signs to Birdman’s Cash Money Records as the first dance music act on the label.
The Stafford Brothers’ hit single “Hello” has been heard all over with remixes from Morten Breum, Will Sparks, MOTi, Dannic, Albin Myers, Candyland, and many more.
We sat down with Matt Stafford to find out a little bit more about the Stafford Brothers, their music, what life has been like and what they have in store for us coming up.
MyMusicIsBetterThanYours.com (MMIBTY): Growing up, when did you guys realize that you wanted to make music together? Did DJing in the club scene come first or was it the music production that led to you guys becoming DJs now?Matt Stafford (MS): We were always involved in music, playing instruments through school and Chris had started to produce dance music, we went to clubs and would try to get the DJ to play our songs, this then also inspired us to start DJing ourselves and this is where we have ended up.
MMIBTY: What were your biggest musical influences growing up that have inspired your style of production today?
MS: Growing up there was more hip hop and rock music inspiring us, but we started to get into the electronic music as it was evolving. Going to Ibiza very early in our career and hearing the DJs like Roger Sanchez, Carl Cox, Eric Morrillo all performing is what really took our sound to the next level, the Ibiza trip was hugely inspirational.
MMIBTY: How do you guys go about producing a track? Does one of you produce the percussions and the other the melody, etc. or is it a real team effort. Explain to us the process coming up with a concept of a tune and then actually producing it.
MS: Chris is the person who is controlling the production, I will have input on the sounds and direction, but Chris is the one tweaking the knobs (although we work straight out of our laptop).
MMIBTY: How does it feel to be the only DJ’s/Electronic Dance Music producers on Cash Money records? A predominantly hip hop oriented records label with the likes of Lil Wayne, Drake and Nicki Minaj.
MS: It has been a great experience. Our first single with them has Lil Wayne and Christina Milian on it, the record has become double platinum in our home country of Australia. By being on the label things like this can happen, so it’s a good thing!
MMIBTY: Besides being the only EDM produces on Cash Money, how does it feel to have access to such huge talent on the label that are already established in pop culture and in the music industry. Cash Money, out of all the labels, is known for being very team oriented and crossing genres between labels mates.
MS: Like I said before, we are so happy to be part of the label, the opportunities are endless, it’s why we did it.
MMIBTY: Festival season is in full effect… Are there any festivals that you are booked to play at in the US or internationally?
MS: We just got put on the Stereosonic festival in Australia which is a huge tour and line-up. We recently did the Spring Awakening festival in Chicago which was the first festival we have played in the USA.
MMIBTY: How was the experience of playing your first American festival? And not to mention a pretty big festival like Spring Awakening.
MS: It was amazing, great crowd, great event, hopefully next year main stage!
MMIBTY: You guys play in Vegas a lot, how is that experience going? Are you guys living there now? Or are you still calling Australia home?
MS: We now live in LA, we have been for 15 months. Australia will always be home, but LA is where we are based. We love playing Vegas, it’s amazing, the Light club is definitely the most amazing venue to perform in and we love the Daylight pool. We love Vegas!
MMIBTY: MMIBTY.com is huge on the east coast, where could our readers see you guys playing in the future?
MS: We have some shows coming up Miami, Atlantic City and New York, all our dates are listed on staffordbrothers.com
MMIBTY: A lot of people are starting to say that all of EDM pretty much sounds the same, but in my opinion, it is evolving. What is your take on the EDM scene in America?
MS: It really is evolving and moving in a great direction. There are so many different genres and sounds that it doesn’t all sound the same. Sure some people try to make something sound similar to another record, but there are plenty of producers out there making new sounds. Look at records that were big a year ago and the current records that are big, they sound different. We are really loving being in America and watching the scene explode, happy to be part of it.
MMIBTY: 2 years ago in the summer, EDM gave us moombahton, last summer we got trap, and this summer it seems that deep techy house and nu disco have been making a wave in the U.S. and all over pretty much. Do you think that deep house/tech house sound and nu disco will roll over into the mainstream the way trap did? Or do you think it is another stage in the evolution of EDM in America?MS: I think, the thing about mainstream is you can never really pick what is going to work, in fact music in general, if I knew what was going to be a hit Id be making it all the time!
MMIBTY: There are a lot of up and coming artist, young guys like Martin Garrix. Are you guys fans of any of them?
MS: Absolutely, there is a huge young crew coming through, another young guy to watch for is an Australian called will Sparks, he is only 19 and going strong!
MMIBTY: Out of all the Djs out there, which are the ones whose music you really like and appreciate?
MS: I do love the Swedish House Mafia guys, but all individually as well, I’ve always loved the music Axwell, Steve Angelllo and Sebastian Ingrosso make. Dannic, Dyro and Hardwell are also inspirational. There are so many good producers out there at the moment. I could just keep listing people!
MMIBTY: What are you favorite tracks out there currently to play during your live sets?
MS: We play about 50 – 60% our own music or bootlegs and edits, our next single called “Hands up” with Lil Jon is getting a great response we have been hammering Dyro’s “Leprechauns and Unicorns”.
MMIBTY: What has been one of your most memorable moments to date? Any good stories?
MS: Well last night we won Australia’s number 1 DJs for the 3rd year in a row. It’s voted by the public so that’s pretty special right now, my hang over is also pretty special…..
MMIBTY: Speaking of hangovers, Do you have any really good stories from the road?
MS: Man, there are so many….. Anytime when you wake up with your shoes on but pants off you know it was a crazy night, how did I get my pants off??
MMIBTY: What can we expect from you guys in the future? Do you have another single coming out? Do you have any remixes planned? An album perhaps? And collaborators?
MS: We have a single coming out in 2 weeks call “Hands UP (Future music Anthem)” which is with Lil Jon and is a slamming track. We just have a remix of a big Australian artist named Delta Goodrem to come out and then we have about 4 other singles coming, a lot of new music in coming months.
**Special thanks to Sean Tokuyama
This episode is proudly presented by www.CHUBBYBEAVERS.com
Australia’s number one DJ’s present #SomethingBIG with the Stafford Brothers. Each and every week brothers Matt & Chris Stafford give you exclusive ‘in studio’ experience with the producers of the biggest records dominating dance-floors all over the globe.
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Artist Of The Week: DANNIC
Direct from his studio and in his own words, Dannic takes you through some of his biggest hits including a ‘behind-the-scenes’ take on ‘Viper’, ‘Hello’ and ‘Clobber’.
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#SomethingBig – Episode #025: PLAYLIST
01: ‘TRUTH’ (Digitalism remix) Bloc Party
02: ‘WHO’ Tujamo & Plastik Funk
03: ‘CITY OF EPIC DREAMS’ (Chuckie Mash Up) Alesso vs Dada Life
04: ‘JUST KEEP ROCKING’ Sgt Slick
05: ‘SUMMERTIME RUBICON’ (Taras Bootleg) Lana Del Rey vs. Bart Claessen & Raz Nitzan
06: ‘ALIVE’ (Zedd remix) Empire Of The Sun
07: ‘RELOAD’ (Extended Vocal mix) Sebastian Ingrosso, Tommy Trash & John Martin
08: ‘WAKANDA’ (Wolfpack remix) Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike
09: ‘ATMOSPHERE’ (Extended mix) Kaskade
10: ‘VIPER’ Dannic
11: ‘HELLO’ (Dannic remix) Stafford Brothers feat. Lil Wayne & Christina Milian
12: ‘CLOBBER’ Dannic
13: ‘WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM’ Coburn
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Follow the Stafford Brothers online:
www.staffordbrothers.com
www.staffordbrothers.com/facebook
www.staffordbrothers.com/twitter
www.staffordbrothers.com/youtube
www.staffordbrothers.com/beatport
COMING UP: DENIZ KOYU, BASSJACKERS, R3HAB