Hot Pink Delorean are a talented trio of energetic producers and DJs - Chris Barlow, Jon Spero and Matt Simmers - from Boston USA. They make everything from electro to tech, prog and house. The trio have also remixed artists like Natasha Bedingfield, Just Jack, Sigma & DJ Fresh and Dresden and for labels like Kitsune, Dimmak; tour all over the planet and count the likes of Tiesto, Carl Cox and Benny Benassi as fans.
They also run their own label, Hot Pink Delorean Music Company and work as alter ego Terravita. This month there are on tour in the Uk taking over cities such as Leeds, London, Swansea, Exeter, Liverpool and Cardiff..
So what’s the music scene in Boston like? Was/is it much of an influence on you?
Boston is odd since it consists mainly of kids who attend one of the literally fifty schools in the area. Because of this, they cycle out every 4 years so the popularity of different music scenes fluctuate depending on what they are into. As for the locals, the electronic music scenes consists of little pockets of zealots in whatever their particular genre is. Some of them cross-polinate. Boston has been a big influence on us. Both from the encouragement and the people who have been unsupportive. They both drive us.
You play so many different styles – how do you keep up with each scene?
We dont really. Its all electronic music so its all the same scene. Trying to keep up with every little subgenre is useless. We could spend that time making good music.
What’s most important to you when writing a new tune?
The tune must have a beat/groove that will make people dance and it needs to have some sort of memorable musical hook.
And how do you approach remixes differently?
Remixes are different because they already have parts you need to work with. It really becomes reinventing a version of the original in our style. Of course this depends on what the label wants. Sometimes a label will want a hard electro thing....other times they want something vocally and non abrasive for the radio. We do both so it doesnt matter to us either way.
How are the crowds you play to around the world different?
Geographic location doesn't have as much bearing on the crowd as the type of party or club does. We could be at a bottle service posh club and its pretty close to the same anywhere in the world....same goes for a dirty underground electro/house/techno night.....or maybe we are at a big rave style event. The only thing that differs is that outside the US fans under 21 can drink....which often leads to higher attendance and a crazier party.
Tell us about your live setup…
For shows, we use serato controlled by CDJ1000 s through a Pioneer DJM800 mixer. We use Allen & Heath Xone headphones. We run Jon's wireless mic through the house board, so it doesn't come through the DJ monitors. The live set up isnt to exciting.
How often do you switch up your set list?
The set itself is different every show. Of course since we play mostly our own music its a lot of the same tunes each gig in a different order. We do rotate tunes in and out of the sets as we make them or find other tunes that we like. We're also always testing out new material fresh out of the studio.
Who does what – is it interchangeable?
Jon MCs. That is not interchangeable. Chris does most of the Djing, but Matt can also DJ. Matt does most of the engineering and he is the best, so thats not interchangeable.
Would you ever perform solo do you think?
Jon does MC for other people sometimes. Occaisionally Chris or Matt will play a HPD set solo, because Jon is sick or not around etc. Matt will do solo HPD gigs in Boston when Chris & Jon are on the road, but we try to not make a habit of solo shows.
Sure you know hot pink delorean also means ‘to sniff cocaine from a woman’s vagina’ you ever done that?
No comment. Go to school kids and eat your vitamins.
What else you got coming up in 2011?
We have our debut LP “The Revenge of Sisyphus” releasing in September. April 16th we have “Watch the Sunrise” and “Blew Steal” releasing (2 tracks from the LP). Also, our dubstep/ dnb act Terravita has “Nail in the Coffin” releasing April 4th on Beta Recordings.
Check out HPD on RADIO 1 from last week - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00zzqdx/Kissy_Sell_Out_Hot_Pink_Delorean_Guest_Mix/
Kiss Fm mix - http://soundcloud.com/hot-pink-delorean/hot-pink-delorean-mix-on-kiss
Buy Watch the Sunrise / Blew Steal - https://www.beatport.com/en-US/html/content/release/detail/345170/Watch%20The%20Sunrise
Watch the latest crazy video from HPD - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEvZmnlF4rE
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