Exclusive Interview with Freestylers

Siam2nite had the opportunity to have an exclusive interview with Aston, shortly before their performance at Q Bar on Saturday 20th October.

You make music together for over 15 years now. How did you meet?

Myself and Matt were signed to the same Record Label but working under different aliases. We knew each others work and decided to collaborate after realizing we grew up listening to and being musically influenced by the same Artists and styles of Music. Plus our love of good food!! haha

What made you start DJing?

I started when I was 16.I was the first person in my area to be lucky to get Technics 1200 for a birthday present. My parents obviously didn’t know what they were letting themselves in for.

How would you describe your music?

Our music is an eclectic brew of musical styles from the past 40 years of popular music rooted in an old school Hip Hop mentality with a touch of Bass thrown in.

What of your songs would you suggest as an introduction for someone not yet familiar with your music?

I would say Push Up would ease them in gently and then hit them with Painkiller

Your tracks usually come along with great videos. Are you involved in the creation process of the videos?

We’re meant to be. I never really know with Videos what they’re going to look like. It’s like me telling someone I’m going to write a piece of music and describing what it’s going to be like. Until you hear it you’d have no idea, so I feel the same with Videos. You get sent an idea from a director and hope for the best with final result.

The Flux Pavilion Remix of Cracks reached over 18 Millions views on YouTube by now. by far the people’s favorite. Is it your favorite Remix as well? Are you surprised about the huge success?

I really liked the CTRL-Z Remix as well. I normally play both mixes when I Dj as the sets are full of different styles. That’s the great thing about Music you never know how a song’s going to do. Flux’s mix was such a massive Dubstep Anthem especially in USA where Dubstep got so big. It wasn’t a chart hit but it did create a massive stir I guess. It goes to show it’s people power that makes tunes big and not Record Company A&Rs that think they know what’s what.

Psy’s “Gangnam Style” recently reached 449 Millions views and is #1 on the YouTube 100. Any thoughts on that?

It’s amazing, such a phenomenon, The Video is fun and so is the song ,not that I would drop it in one of my sets, ha-ha. I actually googled the English translation of it the other day and doesn’t make any sense, but who cares. I prefer it to that LMAFO lot any day.

It’s fun to follow your Facebook page, besides serious information you post a lot very entertaining content. From the point of view of an artist, is Social Media a gift or a curse?

Not only do you have to Produce Music, you have to me Social Media savvy, which I do find a pain. It seems to me that the Music has become secondary sometimes and how good you are at finding pictures of cute puppies or kittens is the way forward. It’s good way of interacting with your fan base but I feel some of the mystic has been lost.

On 27th October you will play at Q Bar Bangkok, the day after on the island Kohl Phangan at the Rhythm and Sands festival, so you will see two aspects of Thailand – big city life and beach life. Will you have time to enjoy some quality time in Thailand?

I really hope so. I’ve never been to Thailand properly, only been in the Airport in transit to OZ. Really looking forward to spending some time, heard so many great things over the years, so hope to come back enlightened by my experience, not in a Hangover 2 kind of way though…lol

Did you ever have the opportunity to enjoy Bangkok's nightlife? If yes, where did you go out?

No, never. I’m a Bangkok Virgin

Your performances take you to all corners of the globe. Can you name us your 5 favorite destinations?

USA,Canada,Australia,Hungary,Russia. I’ll put 6 down as hopefully Thailand will be one of my newfound places.

What are the 3 things you miss the most when you are on tour?

1. Going to watch Tottenhotspurs play as I have a season ticket,
2. A good night’s sleep
3. My Friends

What was the best and the worst gig you ever played?

Best gig was the Big Day Tour 2005 in Australia or the Electric Daisy Carnival in 2009 and the worst gig was in Cordoba Spain this year in July…That’s a long story, but the promoter was a C**T, I’m still traumatized from the situation.

What was the funniest thing ever occurred during any of your performances?

I Djed once in Grenada, Spain. I went on at 4am and by 4.05 am I was finished as there was a power cut and the power never came on till 6am which was when the next Dj was on!! lol

What advice can you give to young artists in order to make it in the music industry?

The hardest thing is developing your own style and signature whether from producing Music or Djing, so I would concentrate on that first. I guess putting up Dj mixes or you own Music on Soundcloud or other Music Blogs helps too. I would do remixes on spec and edits of your favorite Artist’s tunes. Eventually get a young enthusiastic Manager and Agent that believe in you.

You played a lot of gigs and on big festivals this year. What were your highlights?

We had an amazing tour in Australia over Easter. Got to play Las Vegas in June and Kazantip Festival in Ukraine was fantastic.

Is there a life beside music? If yes, what do you do in your free time?

Yes. Go movies. play Golf(badly). Have a season ticket for Spurs as mentioned before. Love eating out. Sleep. I’ve also set up a Travel Business sorting out Flights/Travel Logistics for Djs and bands, so that takes up a bit of time as well.

Do you have any last words to the Bangkok crowd?

So looking forward to the show as it’s my 1st time in Bangkok, hope you make it a memorable experience. Be prepared for some heavy BASS!!