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Interview with The Chainsmokers

Jon Berrien
Latest posts by Jon Berrien (see all)

 

 The Chainsmokers are a producer/DJ duo that consist of East Coast natives Alex Pall and Drew Taggert. Together they have taken over the EDM scene and the Hype Machine charts.

 Boasting 5 #1 songs in the past 4 months, they are quickly becoming Kings of the remix. Surprisingly enough their wit, humor, and charm is as good as their music.

 GroundSounds recently caught up with the self-proclaimed ‘handsome overachievers with boyish good looks.’ Check out our exclusive interview with The Chainsmokers below! 

How did you guys decide on the name ‘The Chainsmokers’? Who came up with it? 

Our name, well we read in greek that it means dudes who are handsome and all knowing, extremely well endowed and  bi-partisan… so we thought it sorta fit us well

In the past 4 months The Chainsmokers have had 4 songs in the top 5 on Hype Machine, we’re you two shocked by the sudden success of your music? 

Actually its 5 #1 Songs but who is counting… As for us being shocked, yeah, its been amazing! Its an incredible feeling to know ppl are supporting and enjoying the music we make… its probably similar to a cook who makes good cake, a sports player having a great game, etc etc etc… I mean shocked though, not necessarily, we love the music we put out and believe in it, so its not so much of a matter of oh shit, ppl also like it, but more just overwhelming gratitude for the support we have gotten, that part is really special for us…

 [Editor’s Note: Clearly The Chainsmokers success is moving at a rate that is hard to keep up with!] 

As retired high school athletes, what sports were you guys respectively involved with before throwing in the towel?

Well Drew was a Soccer player and Alex was a basketball and paintball player… yes paintball at one point was considered a sport, it was on ESPN!

So we heard through the grapevine that you guys are working on some original tunes.  C’mon, can you give us some specifics?! Can you give us a release date, or release month? How about a track title, so that we can anticipate this more?!

Yes very true and its something we are very hush hush about right now. We can’t really get into specific cause we don’t have anything we care to discuss specifically, but we are working with some great individuals…. As for style well we love really authentic emotional music… whether its happy or sad, we just want our music to make you feel something and last…. We are sure this process will be a lifelong process of evolution but we are very excited and we have tons of stuff but we want it to be right….

The Chainsmokers bring the party to the party, can you share a crazy story or moment that happened at a club performance?

Man, we wish we had some crazy ass stories, but we think we have been partying too long, you know middle school for us was pretty wild… But we gotta give you something so here it is:

Recently we were in texas playing a show and wanted to go see the border, wasted of course after a show… so we got brought there and then crossed, but quickly realized Drew didn’t have any ID to get back across, so drew went to some local bar got more drunk while Alex fetched his Passport…. When Alex found drew he was passed out with a pancho on and mustache drawn on his face….

That’s a recent story…

How do you guys collaborate and work together while producing music?

This is a really complicated answer because its very situational… we both have our respective strengths and weakness’ and that is really the beauty of any partnership…. We will leave it at that but it’s a great process we have and have tons of respect mutually….

What does the creative process involve? 

Dig-In, Dunkin Donuts coffee with milk but not too much sugar, midi keyboard, usually a madeon song, but sometimes zedd, the both of us, our girlfriends yelling about being more successful, and one of our apartment studios…

 What advice would you two give to guys who are whipped by their girlfriends?

Hahaha this is an awesome question… Being whipped is a natural order, have you seen lions in the jungle, the male lions are owned… so our advice would be put up and shut up… this of course doesn’t apply to sluts though.

You guys recently asked your growing fan base who they would like to see you work with…We’re going to turn that same question on you guys. What singers/producers would you two like to work with in the future? 

AlunaGoerge, Daughter, Chvrches, Bastille…. Would be so incredible… this list goes on n on

Blondes or Brunettes?

Honestly we don’t care, a hot girl is a hot girl…. It never boils down to her hair color…

Can you guys give us some life advice?

This is a true story… my father passed away when I was 13, and the last thing he said to me rather ironically was you never know what to expect from life, so end conversations on good notes, and love the time you have with the ppl you love, because you will never know when it will all end….

What are you guys currently working on? What can fans expect from The Chainsmokers in the future?

More touring, better crazy stories, more remixes, better original music, more stupid videos, bigger muscles…