John and Daniel make up the quickly rising group LA Riots known for killer remixes. Since the inception of this duo, their tracks have rocked many a party and also have recently been featured in the IHEARTCOMIX compilation CD done for Scion.
I caught up with John recently at the poorly organized mess of a festival Hard 13 in Los Angeles to chat with him more about the duo’s growing success:
bisouK: Tell our readers about the inception of LA Riots
John: Daniel and I have known each other for a while, we both go back to the NC drum & bass scene in the late 90’s. We both ended up living in LA, he started DJ’ing electro, and we decided to try writing an electro track. Things took off very quickly from there.
bisouK: How did you hook up with Undocumented Management?
John: Adrian and Mike had recently picked up their first act MSTRKRFT and were on the lookout for a promising hometown act. We were it. This was very early on, before they called themselves Undocumented.
bisouK: Your remixes are known to be killer, when can we expect some original tracks?
John: They’re coming. I’ve put a lot into finding our sound and its taken some time, I want it to be something very cool. The first few are close to completion, I’m really excited about getting them out there.
bisouK: How do you find tracks to remix?
John: The labels hit us up with offers, and we choose the ones we like.
bisouK: What would you say is the overall identity of LA Riots as a brand?
John: Dancefloor killers. . that’s what we do.
bisouK: You’re known to be the behind the scenes guy, can you tell TM readers about the differences in roles between you and Daniel?
John: He’s the DJ, I’m the producer. We both recognized how strong we’d be if we teamed up, and the dynamic works really well. I’m only behind the scenes in that I’m not the primary performer.
bisouK: Fave festivals you have played to date and why?
John: I don’t go on a lot of the gigs, I mostly only roll out when its local, so I haven’t been at a lot of the festivals we’ve played. For me, it was the first Street Scene in San Diego. It was very early on in LA Riots, the first show where we had all access, free food and drinks, and a trailer. That was a fun time.
bisouK: What are the goals you try to accomplish when making remixes and how do you differentiate your sound from others?
John: With the remixes, I tried to distinguish us from others by remaining as true to the original music as possible, while making the track kill an electro dancefloor. Most producers do their own thing, and throw in a few samples of the original over it. I liked to work in as much of the original as possible. I’m talking past tense though, our production sound is shifting big time, I’m not currently taking any remixes, and my approach to remixing may change after finishing the originals. Our sound is at a turning point, so we’ll see.
bisouK: Where do you see LA Riots transitioning and moving into in the next few years as the scene changes? Any new influences we should look for in your upcoming releases?
John: Rock. On the production end, a lot more rock. My favorites of the originals I’m working on could be on a rock radio station’s daytime playlist and can also kill a peak hour dancefloor. The first few completed originals will most likely be along these lines. I also have some deeper, moodier tracks cooking, and some straight up dancefloor tracks.
bisouK: Finally, what do you want to see happen when people listen to your music?
John: I want them to feel like a badass on the dancefloor.
LA Riots will be playing in SXSW on the 19th, 20th, and 21st. Definitely a show to catch if you’re in Austin, Texas!
Bisous XX
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