The Arrival: Classixx

This is a series of interviews with our favorite electronic music artists, celebrating the Arrival of Thump and made possible by the new Heineken Star Bottle. In this edition: Classixx. For more Arrivals, check here. 

If there's a secret formula for making catchy tunes, Michael David and Tyler Blake—the two childhood buddies who make up Classixx—know it. More suited for a sun-drenched pool party than an industrial nightclub, Classixx sounds like caramel popcorn. Wrapped in bubblegum. And stuffed into a Tootsie Roll. In other words, full of sugary sweetness--and just a little weird.

Or to put it another way: the LA-based duo seamlessly combines the limitless enthusiasm of disco with the seductive grooves of French house. It's the stuff that summer jams are made of, and it's easy to see why their instantly likeable remixes for artists like Phoenix, Groove Armada, Major Lazer, and Holy Ghost! (as well as their own singles on labes like Kitsuné) have soundtracked many a "casually chilling at the beach letting the wind whip through my sandy hair" night (that's basically what everyone does in LA, I believe).

On May 14, they'll release their debut album for Innovative Leisure, and as the guys are getting ready for their biggest US tour yet, we asked Tyler about how he went from DJing high school house parties in Calabasas, California to headlining Parisian nightclubs--and the people along the way who helped him do it.

THUMP: You and Michael went to the same middle school, so you've been friends for a long time. When did you start DJing together? 

Tyler Blake: We started playing music together in high school. We grew up in a small community, and out of that, there was an even smaller group of people who had the same taste in music. So we clicked naturally. At a certain point, I told him I was going to drop out and move back to Los Angeles. And he was like, "Uh, let's make some music together." So that's how that happened.

Going from playing house parties to headlining parties at clubs—has that changed the way you feel about being a DJ? 

We've done well by not changing the way we perform. If anything's changed, it's that we've figured out who we are. It's ironic, because when we did small parties, we were trying to play music that we thought people wanted to hear. But now that we've amassed a following, we've grown more confident, and have been able to play exactly what we want to.

How exactly did you figure out who you are as DJs?

More than DJs, we consider ourselves musicians and producers. It's hard to explain… it's just a feeling of being confident with what comes out naturally.

Is the LA music scene very different now from when you guys started? Do you think that you had a role in changing it? 

I wouldn't say that we changed the music scene. That would be an overstatement. But when we first started, the dance music that was appealing to the masses was Justice, MSTRKRFT—that kind of stuff. We were less interested in that big, aggressive, banging music. So we just started naturally making the music that we've become known for.

Was there a turning point when you realized people were really connecting with that? 

I do remember a specific moment; we did a remix for Phoenix's "Lisztomania," and it was pretty slow compared to a lot of the music that was coming out at the time. It didn't have big distorted synths or whatever. We were worried that the kids in that scene wouldn't respond to it. But when it came out, it was the opposite. It got embraced more than anything that we'd done before that. So that was the turning point when we realized we had to make whatever we thought was cool, and not try to fight that.

Speaking of turning points, was there a moment when you realized that your hobby had turned into something bigger? 

Well there was the moment that I quit my day job as a P.A for an Adam Sandler movie [laughs]. Being able to quit my job and pay my rent—that was an exciting moment. But we're still working towards a lot of things. Our album that we've been working on for a very long time hasn't come out yet and we start our first national tour in May.

Was there anyone who inspired you to get into the music business? 

There are a lot of people who we look up to, like Holy Ghost!, for example. We became friends with Alex and Nick around the same time that our remixes were getting attention. Those guys are incredibly smart and talented. Just talking to them about the cool ideas they had has been an inspiring experience. And their mentors are James Murphy and LCD Soundsystem, so they've also passed along some wisdom that we can pick up on, even if it's second- or third-hand.

What sorts of wisdom? 

Like, little tour pro tips of what you should do on tour or funny instruments that are cheap that sound great… just bits of information that help us along the way.

Can you give an example of how you've learned from Holy Ghost!? 

The idea for our last music video, "Holding On," came from Alex from Holy Ghost!. We gave him the song,and he was dancing around his hotel room to it. And suddenly he put on this French film called Rendezvous that's about a racecar driving through Paris with a camera in the back. He said, "Maybe it would be cool to do an LA version of this." Which is, in essence, what we did.

Is there anyone else in the industry who you've learned from? 

We've taken a lot of notes from our friends Bag Raiders on how to go about playing live, which is our biggest struggle as we get ready to go on tour. The LA scene is very collaborative and supportive.  There might be some competition, but we're still trying to help each other all the time.

@michellelhooq

The Arrival series is made possible by the new Heineken Star Bottle