Middlelands was a unique experience, to say the least, and we had a chance to catch up with three AMAZING up-and-comers during our electric, medieval adventure!
Here are our exclusive interviews from Middlelands with Dance / Electronic music bad-asses Bonnie X Clyde, Pusher, and Bijou!
Bonnie X Clyde
What do you like most about creating music?
b>Bonnie: “One of my favorite things as a producer/songwriter is that a lot of the time when I’m producing a song I write lyrics or figure out the melody in my head before putting it down on Ableton.
The process of my ideas coming together and watching them unfold on the computer is one of my favorite things. It’s like bringing life to something out of thin air.”
Clyde: “For me, it’s that feeling when you make something and are like, “Aw, this is sick!”, and then experiencing the reactions of someone when they listen to it for the first time. The reactions are what are really cool.”
Where do you find your creative inspiration?
Bonnie: “Almost every time I’m in the car, in the shower, or right before I fall asleep is when I have a moment to really think and find inspiration, because I usually don’t have enough time to get in my mind and concentrate like I would while producing outside of those moments.”
Clyde: “Sometimes I’ll hear something in a certain rhythm, then that rhythm turns into a melody, etc. It can be from any random thing really.”
Bonnie: “Also, other people’s shows usually inspire me to do creative things!”
Who’s set(s) are you most excited for at Middlelands? This includes during the festival, as well as the pre/after parties.
Bonnie: “Ours of course! Just kidding. G Jones.”
Clyde: “Louis the Child, Slander, and Rae Sremmurd.”
If you could collaborate with any artist(s) on the Middlelands lineup, who would they be and why?
Bonnie: “Honestly, as of right now, I would love for us to collab. with Marshmello.”
How do you want to stand out amongst other artists? What do you feel sets you apart?
Bonnie: “Honestly, I think being ourselves has helped us stand out the most. When we first started this project in our minds we were like, “Let’s be whatever we think Bonnie X Clyde should be.” and, for a while, our stuff wasn’t organic.
If you had to describe your music in a few words, what would they be?
Clyde: “I’ve got this one: Vocal, Bass, Done.”
Bonnie: “Lit, Vocal, Bass” *Laughs*
What was the creative focus behind the WANTED EP?
Bonnie: “Ok, so obviously we’re Bonnie X Clyde, and we’re always looking for new ways to create something that’s a spin-off of what we’re doing.
Bonnie and Clyde were wanted on “The Ride”, so we started with that, but as I was writing the music a lot of what I wrote was about the relationships of somebody.”
Where is Bonnie X Clyde ‘going from here?
Bonnie: “Everywhere! *Laughs* Where are we going? We want to continue throwing amazing parties for people, to continue making music, and to continue on this route, I think, and keep doing this! We really love doing this! We want to keep it going, keep people motivated to have fun, and keep people listening to our music! What do you think, Daniel?”
Clyde: “We are going to the buffet.”
“Screw what we think it should be! Let’s just be ourselves.”
Connect with Bonnie X Clyde:
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Spotify | Soundcloud | YouTube
PUSHER
How are you feeling coming off the success of your New Laces EP?
“I have this thing where I always think I know what I’m gonna do when I finish something and then I completely change my mind. So, coming off of New Laces I was like great, I have a new thing, I’ll keep doing this thing, this kind of left of center pop music electronic thing.
But anyway, at this moment I have a completely different project that has taken over my focus and I think I’ll keep it mostly secret but I’m working on this concept album and I’m obsessed with it right now so that’s the direction I’m going it.
It’s going to be really different from New Laces and I will say part of it is coming up with something that works really well when you’re listening at home and works really well to perform.”
If you had to describe your music in a few words, what would they be?
“Shiny and colorful!”
Where do you find your creative inspiration?
“Everywhere! For a long time, I was finding inspiration in other electronic music, but that is a “Trap”.
What do you like most about creating music?
“The dopamine rush when it works. 99% of the time it’s kind of a struggle, like anything creative, and then 1% of the time it’s so good that it makes up for all of the rest of the time and then way more; so that.
When you have a state of flow or you find a new artist, and it transcends everything shitty about life, it makes it worth being alive. As Nietzsche said, “Without music, life would be a mistake.”
How do you feel about being an emerging artist within the booming electronic music scene?
“I feel like I’m still trying to find my feet. There are definitely people out there who hear my music and like it and gravitate to it and they come to shows and say hello and that’s very cool. And then I know there are a lot of people come to shows and then don’t say hello, so there’s this secret little group of people that I never see and who exist online for me.”
How do you want to stand out amongst other artists? What do you feel sets you apart?
“Every time I accomplish something it’s another step toward being what I want to be.
I look at artists that I really respect and have really respected for a long time like Flying Lotus and SOPHIE, Com Truise, Rustie and looking at what they do and try to emulate not their music but what they mean to me with music that is my own.”
If you could collaborate with any artist(s), who would they be and why?
“I’ve been on a mad Com Truise kick lately, I would love to work with SOPHIE so I could subtly ask him questions. That would be cool. I would love to work with Siriusmo, he hasn’t really released anything in five years. To me, it was the coolest stuff.
“Oh, and I would love to work with Getter. I really love the sound of his music. I met him in Toronto and he was one of the few people I’ve met that is super down to earth. We just talked about regular stuff, like about how he used to work in fast food and I used to work in retail.”
“As Nietzsche said, “Without music, life would be a mistake.”
Connect with Pusher:
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Spotify |
Soundcloud | YouTube | Bandcamp | Online Store
Check out Pusher’s Picks on Spotify!
BIJOU
What do you like most about creating music?
“Nothing. Just kidding. It’s like starting from a blank slate, you know? It’s taking nothing and making it into something.
You can take one sound and create a whole song around it, and I feel like that’s sooo… I don’t know man, I just get so much joy out of it! I feel like a nerd, but whatever.”
Where do you find your creative inspiration?
“Oooooo, that’s a good one! So, from a lot of Hip-Hop, k? Suicide Boys, Pouya, Germ, RAMIREZ.; the new age Hip-Hop. Then, I have the Guru Series that gives me a lot of inspiration from a spiritual standpoint. So, those two aspects are where most of my creativity comes from.”
Whose set(s) are you most excited for at Middlelands? This includes during the festival, as well as the pre/after parties.
“JOYRYDE, TroyBoi, and Slander crushed it last night, Taiki Nulight crushed it; Sinden crushed it.
Sinden is my homie, but that dude is a legend! He was just cutting between three tracks up there last night, and I’m like, “Wtf is going on?”
If you could collaborate with any artist(s) on the Middlelands lineup, who would they be and why?
“J5, all day! To collaborate with legends, I mean… yeah.
How do you want to stand out amongst other artists? What do you feel sets you apart?
“Well, my sound is a new sound that hasn’t come to the forefront yet, so I think that’s where we have an advantage. We’re setting things apart already. A lot of the G-House guys are just sampling vocals now, and everything is getting repeated and washed through.
So, I want to start working with more rappers and vocalists, and I think that could really make a difference. It makes things more original! I feel like having features on your stuff just makes it that much juicier. It’s completely original. I’ve been kind of messing around with doing my own vocals, so that could be a thing in the future.”
If you had to describe your music in a few words, what would they be?
“Gangster, As, Fuck.”
What can we expect to see from you in the future?
“Nothing. *Laughs* A lot! I have some stuff in the works with Night Bass, so that’s going to come in this year. Some remixes, which is weird, because I’ve never done any remixes before.
All of sudden, all of these remix offers came, and they all came at once, and I was like, “Oh, shit!” So, my schedule is pretty heavy for the rest of the year. My next track coming out, “Snakecharmer”, which is the follow-up of Guru, will be out as a free download on May 23rd. Then, we’ll go from there.”
I’ve also got a collab. with Kaleena Zanders and Dirty Doses that we’ve been working on since October! We went to Los Angeles, went and recorded vocals, and finally, last week, we finished it; it’s done.
Today, I believe, was the first day I played the final master out. I closed with it today, and I can’t wait! I’ve got another collab. with Gerry Gonza on the way too. Gerry Gonza and I work on music all the time because he’s one of my best friends. He lives in Phoenix now, and we just work constantly!”
Connect with Bijou:
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Spotify | Beatport | Soundcloud | Snapchat
A collaborative piece between Don Baudin and Lauren Blouin.