DJ Q&A: LOL Boys
Both hailing from the midwest US, DJ duo LOL Boys now make music while thousands of miles apart. With Jerome in LA and Markus in Montreal distance never slows down their fast paced, hard hitting productions. Catch them DJing at Lights Down Low’s 6th Anniversary on Friday night at Public Works.
They recently released their vinyl debut with the rhythmic “Moments in Heartbreak,” below.
LOL Boys “Moments in Heartbreak”
We spoke to Jerome about their roots, the making of the duo and how to make remixes in two different cities.
Where are you guys from and where do you live now?
I was born in LA but grew up in the Midwest. Marcus is from Chicago but he lives in Montreal right now. I used to live there as well.
Montreal’s great, a younger city with culture. It’s 18+ at all the clubs and you can drink at 18. A really vibrant city, you can get away with playing a lot of new sounds that you can’t get away with in a lot of places in America. People actually dance; it’s like a mix of NY and Paris. It has a European vibe with people speaking French. The architecture’s different, the food’s great.
What does LA have that Montreal doesn’t?
The weather, the space – Montreal’s really small and in LA it’s really spread out and you can get away for a while. Even though you’re in the city you don’t have to be caught up in the everyday city life. You can just go into the studio and it’s 45 minutes for someone to get there.
LA’s got good people and lots of friends.
You and Markus met each other through the internet?
Yeah we met in 2007 and did a remix contest together. It was fun but we didn’t think much of it at the time and it just blossomed.
We were both really into the old Chicago stuff, a lot of Dancemania. He was making tech house and I was making blog house. We wanted to do something different and it worked. Our sound evolved with what we were listening to, getting into the New York stuff.
What’s the difference between making a remix together and making a remix when you’re so far apart?
We’ve never really made music together, even though I lived in Montreal. We’ve always done it the same way – in different locations or at separate times. It’s more fun and a really interesting process.
Markus will start something and we’ll just pass it back and forth, what comes out is so different than what we started with. You have someone else’s brain working on it at the same time. It’s like they’re remixing you – remixing the remix. Sometimes it’s hard to say when it’s totally done.
Lights Down Low 6th Anniversary is Friday, February 17 at Public Works featuring Ewan Pearson, Todd Edwards, Danny Daze, LOL Boys and others. More info.
