While we hold the utmost respect for all electronic dance music artists/producers in the highest regard, there has to be something said, and an even greater level of admiration denoted to those rare artists who bring to life their studio sounds. Who take on the exceptional task of performing their electronic productions LIVE, and at the same level and audio potential they were intended to be heard.
One prime example of artists, who have been recognized world-wide for their next level performance endeavors is LA-based three piece The Glitch Mob – who continually distinguish themselves as true performance artists in not only the Electronic realm, but across the entire spectrum of music as a whole.
In just the last year, not only have they successful finished an extensive full-scale tour for their premiere album, “Drink the Sea”, but they’ve also performed at nearly all of the largest festivals around the world, including Electric Zoo Festival, Electric Daisy Carnival, and Red Rocks. And of course, not forgetting to mention, their massively-anticipated forthcoming performance at mega-Chicago-based gathering, Lollapalooza.
Despite their intense tour schedule, The Glitch Mob found time to return to the studio when they were approached and asked to remix Daft Punk’s “Derezzed“, joining the prestigious short-list of EDM giants including Moby, The Crystal Method, Kaskade, involved in the official remix project titled “TRON Legacy: Reconfigured”.
Now The Glitch Mob are back again and delivering yet another installment of original productions: Their We Can Make the World Stop EP is being unleashed today July 12th – . The EP includes three all new sonic concoctions, that showcase TGM’s next level technologically-savvy sounds and undeniably hypnotic melodies. We featured Warrior Concerto just a few days ago and here is another preview for their song ‘We Can Make The World Stop’.
Buy The Glitch Mob – We Can Make The World Stop
This should come to no surprise to our faithful ninja readers, but we at The Music Ninja (TMN), really really love The Glitch Mob. And because it has been way too long almost a year since our last interview with the boys, we decided it was more than time to reunite with our very favorite mob de glitch so they could catch us up on everything going down in their world, including their current tour and exciting forthcoming festival appearances, as well as about their über brilliant, brand new visual set-up. And what better place to do it than at the very happiest place on Earth – Electric Daisy Carnival, of course!
One-third of the mob, Justin, aka Boreta kindly took the time to chat with us about all the exciting developments going down within the ‘mob, giving us and you our delightful ninjas, an inside scope on the latest Glitch what’s whats and their new EP!!
The Music Ninja: What did you guys think about Electric Daisy Carnival this year!?
Justin TGM: EDC is amazing. Strictly from an artist perspective and my perception of the morality of the whole thing, the production is totally unbelievable.
There’s no other place in the world where we get to play on the stage with flame-throwers and a huge sound system and everything like that.
It was just awesome, we loved it.
And I think [EDC] felt a lot better being in Las Vegas. We were just concerned being apart of this whole thing where there’s under-age drug use and death, given what happened last year, so it was definitely a concern at the start. You know on a serious note, we want to obviously do something that does more good than harm… But everything, as far as I know, went very well and nobody died this weekend. It was fantastic and they put on such a good show, and they paid so much attention to every detail, and really blowing people’s minds with the sound. That effort they put in really means a lot to us because people hear it the way it’s supposed to be heard. And they did it, and they did it well. Having it in Vegas, there was a lot more breathing room as opposed to a smashed Sports Arena. No question the venue this year could definitely handle a lot more people. And it was great!
The Music Ninja: So according to a very vague email you guys sent out about 2 weeks ago, you guys have a new EP coming out on July 12th, “We Can Make the World Stop”. Let’s talk about it. How does your new EP differ soundwise from your previous album, “Drink the Sea“?
Justin TGM: You’re really just going to have to hear it to find out. There’s really not a lot I can say about it until people hear it. It’s a continuation of the same vision but it’s a new direction for us and cementing that idea.
For us, we like to be the type of artists who do something different each time… So it’s not like “Drink the Sea”, and it’s not like our old stuff; we feel like it’s different. And that’s kinda what came out.
But I think the music will speak for itself otherwise. But we’re playing most of these songs live on our tour so if you hop onto Youtube you can probably hear them now…
The Music Ninja (TMN): So the second to last song you guys played at EDC – that’s off the new EP huh?
Justin TGM: Yes that was the title track off the EP, “We Can Make the World Stop”.
TMN: Give me three words to describe the new EP.
Justin TGM: The Glitch Mob (laughs)
TMN: HA! Dammit! So I guess it’s all gonna be pretty vague until July 12th huh?
Justin TGM: (laughs)
TMN: So with the last album you guys had a couple of remix contests for your fans to participate in… Are you guys going to be doing a similar contest with this EP?
Justin TGM: No, this time we decided to change it up a little bit. Our main thing for this current period of time was really giving a nod out to our graphic designer fans out there, where we decided to do a merch design contest where we had people design the t-shirt for this tour. So we decided to focus on that instead of the music, because we had done that already and it was a way for us to get involved and interact with all the creative people in our fan base.
TMN: How about remix collaborations with other artists?
Justin: There are some talks of some remixes happening now but we can’t really talk about any of them just yet…
TMN: Alright well then tell me this: Who’s on your guys’ “wish list” to remix YOUR tracks?
Justin TGM: Ooo… You know a lot of them are just our friends… These aren’t people we’ve necessarily talked to recently because they’re always so busy but we keep talking about our friend Nosaj Thing doing a remix for us. But that’s also what’s part of being really good and busy is that we can never quite get them when they have free time… But hopefully one day we will get a remix from our boys!
TMN: Given The Glitch Mob’s intricate and technologically-forward live set-up, are there characteristics that particularly endear you guys to a particular venue? Venue qualities that enhance your performance or sound?
Justin TGM: There are just so many good venues around the country and there are pros and cons for each one, but at the basis of everything, it’s really all about the sound for us. So the venues with new, well-introduced sound systems are the ones that we really like. Even festivals too! We are really really excited to play at Lollapalooza, because the production company that puts it on really knows their sound. When you stand in front of the Lollapalooza sound system you can actually FEEL the music. You know for me, aside from just hearing it, really getting to FEEL it at festivals, is a really really cool experience. We’re actually playing a lot of places on this tour that we haven’t played before so it’s kind of hard to say, but we are really excited for [our show at] Terminal 5 in New York. They have a great sound system there. And yea, there’s so many new places actually but it’s kinda hard to say. The ultimate experience I want to say, if you want to come and really hear the music at 100% would be at Lollapalooza.
TMN: Outside of your own music, are there any particular artists or DJs you guys are excited about these days?
Justin TGM: You know, that’s one of our new favorite questions to answer as we are going on tour with some our favorite people. We have Com Truise is coming out on the road with us, who we actually hadn’t met before but we love his new record. And also Phantogram, who continually showed up on our playlists and we wondered to ourselves, “Wow, I wonder if these guys would like to tour with us!?” And fortunately they did! Also R/D who’s touring with us right now. Those are all just people that we really like and we’re happy to share the stage with. And also RJD2 is coming out with us to Terminal 5 in New York and also Club Nokia in LA. And we’re also playing a couple shows with Skrillex around the country who’s a good friend of ours and a super fun guy. We love his craziness. (Laughs)
TMN: Everyone knows you guys love your technology, so are there any new techie gadgets or programs you guys are diggin or even using these days?
Justin TGM: Actually there isn’t anything new that we’ve incorporated into our audio set this time around. The most fun thing we have are these electronic V drums that we play on stage, but aside from that we haven’t really gotten any new gear. We’ve kind of found a system that works but aside from the audio we’ve really upgraded the whole visual system. We have a lot of cool stuff going on behind the scenes to make the show happen and to make all the visuals be synced up, and everything like that.
TMN: The visual set-up you guys had at EDC was incredible, you guys aren’t obviously hauling that around the country with you for every show, right?!
Justin TGM: Yea what you saw at EDC will be at every show on our tour!
TMN: WOW. Like even at the small venue shows?!?!
Justin TGM: YES. We designed it to be modular, so it can shrink down or extend and get taller. We basically designed it to fit on a huge stage like at EDC or Red Rocks, and also to come apart like a puzzle to fit in smaller venues. We know it’s going to look awesome at a huge festival but it’s going to be really special when people in a small town get to come out and get to see like this huge, stadium-sized show at their local small venue.
TMN: Wow, that’s really awesome you guys are striving to do something special for your fans, even outside the festival territory. That’s no easy task…
Justin TGM: Yea it’s been a fun project for us.
TMN: Alright so what has been your favorite city on this tour thus far?
Justin TGM: The best show we’ve had thus far on our tour was in San Francisco. It was really just magical and kinda spiritual experience actually (laughs suspiciously…) for us to play. I mean that’s really where we got our start that’s where the whole thing really took off for us, was between San Francisco and Los Angeles. And we had a whole lot of family there, like my grandma came out to the show and my little sister. We had like a 65+ person guest list so it was more like a big family reunion/show, which was so awesome. We love our family, friends, and our fans dearly so it was a really amazing time for us, and there hasn’t been anything quite like it yet.
TMN: Alright Justin thank you so much for taking time once again to speak with us here at TheMusicNinja.com we are always thrilled to have the opportunity to catch-up with you guys so thank you once again and we look forward to hearing the new EP, “We Can Make the World Stop” when it drops July 12th, and to catching you guys on tour around the country!
Justin: Thanks so much we love The Music Ninja!
Be sure to scoop up The Glitch Mob’s new EP, “We Can Make the World Stop” when it drops on Tuesday, July 12th, and stay chooned to TheMusicNinja.com as always for potential exclusive tidbits that may or may not be released… 😉
By: Taylor Doms (Founder; TheMixster.com)
