Category: Listen here: Slander at Something Wicked | Interview
Last weekend was historic for those who went to the premiere Halloween-themed festival in Houston, Texas. Big names, without the over barring crowd, all ready to throw down as hard as they could, even if the stage couldn’t handle it (looking at you Floss), and among those names was L.A. group Slander. I got to catch up with them just after their set, and here’s what they had to say (you can click on the audio file, or just read below)
What’s up guys, Carter Rowland here with EDMSauce, here with the one and only trap gods from LA, Slander, how are you guys doing?
Scott: We’re doing great! It’s just an honor to play here for a festival in Texas like this, I don’t know, yeah that’s what it’s like for me!
Derek: Yeah, it was super sick, this festival is super tight, the did a really good job this year, and the stages are really sick so we had a great time.
Scott: Yeah, and I think this is the first time they had two days this year, and that’s cool to see, in a way you’re watching EDM grow, as you’re watching festivals grow, so it’s nice to see that.
Most definitely! So to start off we’ll talk music, you guys really cultivated that Festival Trap style, how do you feel festival trap has influenced the festival scene entirely?
Derek: Well festival trap is just EDM trap, and obviously it’s gotten super super huge, and you’ve got guys like LOUDPVCK and gladiator coming up, and us and we’re all doing it, but I think we all have our own style otherwise, like we start with heavier stuff, and then we’ve got you know the Heaven Trap and that kinda style, but it’s cool to see how much it’s grown. When we were making it we we’re like oh this could never be on the mainstage, it was always a sorta Bauer at 2PM kinda thing, but now it’s great to see all the trap guys playing at night and it hasn’t peaked yet.
Since you just played Something Wicked, which tailors more to a local crowd, and you also played TomorrowWorld, what do you think the difference in the crowd is, and which do you prefer to play for?
Scott: I don’t know, I feel like it’s not even the crowd, every festival we’ve played at (Nocturnal, Moonrise, TomorrowWorld, and Something Wicked) has had sick production, but every crowd at any festival is there to let loose and have a great time, so as long as you do a good job DJing, the energy is going to be there. So I wouldn’t say one is better than another, some people might get a little more stoked for like a TomorrowWorld because it’s something that they’ve planned for months, but a festival crowd is a festival crowd, and I think as long as the production is up there and the sound is up there, that’s really the only vehicle you need to drive the crowd.
Onto more of your music, you guys are so diverse within a subgenre, and you’ve created Heaven trap, what do you have more fun producing, heaven trap or the bangers?
Derek: I think it’s both, no one who produces right now wants to be stuck in one style, even the bigger names could probably do something different but their fanbase doesn’t want them too, but we’re just always going to make what we wanna make, like sometimes we’ll make those bangers aswell as the stuff that makes you cry, and that’s the thing it switches for me all the time so we’re gonna keep doing that, and we’re gonna keep doing that.
Scott: Yeah, and for those who haven’t seen us live, our set is basically the turn up and the feels at the same time, so everything we make we want to be able to play in our set.
Alright last music question, if I hit play on your iPod right now, what am I going to hear?
Scott: probably the Sasquatch remix of Lickdad dude
Derek: The Djemba Djemba remix of core for me
nice! So onto some more fun questions, if the movie This Is The End happened to you guys, who are the 5 friends that survive the apocalypse at y’alls house party?
Scott: well first it’d have to be our girlfriends, Connie and Jackie, probably Kevin Meed who’s our bestfriend that we share, and then probably Hunter and James.
For sure! So now that you guys have been living out the dream, what do you think sits next on your bucket list?
Scott: I mean in away our bucket list has been crossed off but in a way it hasn’t, I say our next goal is to play one of the big name festivals like EDC, UMF, or a TomorrowWorld and deserve a timeslot on the mainstage. It was awesome getting to fill in at Nocturnal for Nicky Romero but I feel like we want to keep working towards us being there because we deserve to be there.
And so the last question I have, what’s some tips you have for young producers looking up to you guys?
Derek: yeah dude just make what you want to make, use other tracks for reference to see that yours is up to that level, but you just have to follow your gut and don’t think about what other people are doing, and that’s how we made heaven trap. You know, I didn’t make it thinking alright now I’m going to make heaven trap, it just kinda happened, and so you really just have to go into the studio with no expectations, and see what happens, follow your gut and don’t think about it too much.
Scott: Yeah that’s when you get the stuff that really comes from the soul you know what I mean? For Derek and I it’s like this 6th sense of music, and you can tell if a track is forced or not, and the tracks that get really big are the ones that are made out of love.
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