Rossi on 75 Hard, His UK Crew, and Ultra Weekend

Transcript

Rossi: I played my first frat party a few weeks ago. I went to the frat house. You've got the president and the chancellor. It's so funny, everyone's got their jobs, but they're all nuts getting off their lollies.

Bobby: Is it true you went to a film school in New York?

Rossi: Yes. I did that.

Bobby: How did you find Dean Turnley? Internally?

Rossi: My assistant sent it to me and was like, "I think you'd really, really like this song." My manager got in contact with him and was like, "Can you send Ross the tune to play it?" I've never felt that with a song no one knew, having a reaction like that.

Bobby: Rossi, what's good, dude?

Rossi: I'm all good. I've just had some empanadas. I'm in Miami, I feel great.

Bobby: Yeah, it's good stuff, right?

Rossi: Enjoying myself so far.

Bobby: Dude, it's nice to have you here, bro.

Rossi: Thank you for having me.

Bobby: You've been doing 75 Hard, right?

Rossi: Yeah, I've done it every year for the past three years now. It's a good way to start the year so you don't get too crazy the whole year, because the first few years of touring it just does get crazy, you're constantly surrounded by shots and all sorts. So it's a nice way to show yourself, also as a DJ, that you can do it sober and have just as good a time. And now, with how busy I'm getting, I'm doing three gigs a weekend, at least. So if you don't do that for a bit, you're going to burn out.

Bobby: Absolutely. It's good.

Rossi: It's more good for building habits. Just eating right, going to the gym. It keeps you on a good schedule, and my sort of schedule is crazy now, it's not just weekends. You're a content creator as well, a record label, I have a cooking show, there's so many things. So it becomes a seven day a week job, and you need to have those lock in months before the summer especially, because otherwise it'll just run away from you. So I've been in it, I feel good. I don't sound it right now, but

Bobby: No, dude, you look good, bro. You sound good, dude.

Rossi: Thank you, bro.

Bobby: My manager over there was actually telling me there's books on 75 Hard you have to read in order to do it, or you just rip it like

Rossi: You read ten pages of a book a day. I don't know if there's an actual 75 Hard book, but you're meant to read ten pages of a book, drink a gallon of water, two workouts, one outdoor and one indoor, no drink, no drugs, and just eat a healthy, balanced diet. After six weeks of sobriety and eating that well, you just feel like a superhuman. It's great, you really start to feel the benefits of it. So I'll do it every year definitely, and the longer it's gone on, the more I keep picking my battles when it comes to partying, because it can sound like, "Oh, woe is me, I'm a DJ, I have to party." But it can get a lot sometimes, and learning to say no is very important.

Bobby: No, absolutely. So when you play longer sets too, how are you fueling it, just slamming water and Sprite, or Red Bull?

Rossi: I love a diet Coke, to be fair, it's lovely, it'll get me through. Have you had these drinks called Club Mate? It's becoming the Shoreditch drink of the DJ scene. It's a natural energy drink, but these things get you buzzing, bro. I was at Bret in Amsterdam, it's an iconic club, and I was there for like eighteen hours just flying off these Club Mates. It was so good. If you have enough of them, you're basically giving yourself a buzz, so maybe it's kind of cheating.

Bobby: Yeah, those things are good, but hydration and water help as well.

Rossi: No, absolutely. It's kind of like kratom, people slam kratom to get a sense of euphoria.

Bobby: Yeah, it's basically doing drugs. There's people who are sober, who don't drink, that also drink kratom, but it's like, "Yo, you're kind of getting lit."

Rossi: Get fifty of them in. It's a bit of a cheat code, I guess, but a diet Coke will get me through any evening, I think.

Bobby: Cheeky coffee, or we might have some Diet Coke here if you want one.

The Factory Town Takeover

Bobby: So you have your Factory Town takeover tonight.

Rossi: Yes, dude, very excited.

Bobby: That's what's up, bro. What do we got going on, who's on the lineup?

Rossi: It's me, a guy called Josh Joe who's a sick DJ doing the warm up, then Miss Mada back to back Solomun. Miss Mada is a Space resident, she's a G. Solomun is a proper legend, I've known him for many years, very good DJ. Then we've got AM High, who's released on the label, Jan Mac and myself back to back, and then me back to back a secret guest, so it's me back to back Silver Bumper. That's going to be fun. Harry's going to come down and do the closing set with me, which will be really fun. We've been in the studio quite a lot recently, making loads of tunes, so it's going to be the first time we test them out together, a bit of an exclusive set which will be fun. I'm really excited, I've been coming to Miami for four or five years, so to start doing cool Factory Town stages and stuff with my own event, it's very surreal, it's insane, exciting.

Bobby: I've got to feel the pre-match excitement, energy.

Rossi: The energy is good.

Bobby: We got to get you on those Mate drinks. Dude, you'll really be buzzing. And you have an insane week, you're playing Ultra Sunday, right?

Rossi: Yeah, and then I'll end up playing at Space, closing back to back with the Martinez Brothers, which for me is pretty crazy, because the bros, when I first started getting into this, were like everything. They were the guys, every festival I went to, I wouldn't miss a set. So it's going to be very surreal to have a back to back with them in Miami at this stage. No matter how big you get, I think you still have imposter syndrome moments, moments where you're like, "How the hell has this happened?" So it's going to be a very special week all in all. And then playing at Ultra, I've never been to Ultra, but all you hear when you get into electronic music

Bobby: Ultra Sunday, holy cow, dude. Yeah, it's a big weekend. Let's go.

Rossi: I'm so grateful, very surreal. You hear about Ultra when you first get into electronic music, and that's the iconic people that headline it, and all the press that comes with it. So to be a part of it is going to be very cool, and I'm intrigued to see it all.

Bobby: Dude, deserved, bro, well deserved. Have you ever attended Ultra?

Rossi: Never been.

Bobby: So you're just pulling up straight in?

Rossi: Let's go. That's going to be really exciting, the stages all just look crazy there. I've been seeing them, it's down the street from here, I've walked by a few times, I've been seeing it get built out the last week, it's nuts over there.

Bobby: I don't know, what's the capacity of Ultra, does anyone know?

Rossi: Fifty, sixty five thousand each day, but total, like a hundred to a hundred fifty thousand people come in throughout the weekend, in and out. But how do you specifically count that?

Bobby: Yeah, how does anyone know really.

Rossi: You can ballpark it, but it's crazy, but it's good, it's a good week all in all.

Bobby: Dude, I think music week, a hundred thousand, a hundred twenty thousand people just come to Miami in general.

Rossi: Yeah, it's not as bad as Art Basel though, Art Basel is even more crazy. People always ask me, "What do you prefer, Art Basel or Miami Music Week?" I say Art Basel is sometimes a little more mature in the kind of parties, some of the after parties are pretty good, but then you get the arty people and it's a little tiny.

Bobby: Yeah, whereas Music Week, everyone's just slamming it, raw dogging it, and going nuts.

Rossi: So you get to see everyone. I love it when these, here and ADE, Amsterdam Dance Event in October, they're the two times of the year where you just see everyone. It's nice to link up with all the people you work with, but digitally throughout the year. I work with my friend Jake so much, all the time, but it's on a digital basis, emails and stuff. So when you can get together and actually celebrate a lot of the hard work you do, it's a nice feeling. That's why I like these weeks a lot, it's a celebration of a great industry. I love it so much. Art Basel can get a little weirder, people aren't specifically there for the music, they've got ulterior motives, there's almost too many rich dudes around.

Early Support and Mentors

Bobby: We were talking about the Martinez Brothers earlier, how sometimes it even feels like imposter syndrome when you're playing like that. Who were the first artists to support you and your music?

Rossi: Chris Stussy, very early on, was playing a lot of it. He was still developing, but he was someone who was really helpful, because he was a couple steps ahead of what I was doing. He was always supporting my music, always giving me feedback when I was sending stuff, so I always have to shout him out, because he's always been a little bit like an older cousin to me in terms of that. And Enzo Siragusa, he's a big, cool underground DJ, he runs Fuse, a party I used to play for, still play for. He was always like a little godfather to me, showed me the ropes. There's been so many people across different platforms that have always helped me, but I'd say Chris really has always kind of helped me a lot. We always bounce ideas off each other and share music, and he's not afraid to tell you when he doesn't like something.

Bobby: Oh, he'll let you know.

Rossi: But not in a way where he needs to just tell you he doesn't like it, he'll do it as good constructive criticism. You don't need people telling you you're great all the time, you kind of need those people to say, "Have you thought about doing this? Have you tried this?" He even sat me down at one point when I was first getting into playing bigger shows, and he was like, "Don't feel like you need to impress everyone when you play." I got my back up when I first heard it, but it was really good to listen to, because sometimes when you get on the decks you can be so excited to impress everyone that you're not listening to what the crowd wants. You just play the big hits all the time, but it can get boring after a while, and it's good to test people, it's good to educate people, it's good to still have that creativity of unexpected stuff. He kind of taught me that, that you don't need to constantly slam it, even though I love doing that. Who doesn't love getting on the decks and making everyone go wild, but sometimes it's nice to make people emotional, sometimes it's nice to make people feel different things in a club. With a new wave of a lot of DJs, I think we lack that a little bit.

Bobby: Really? Storytelling, almost, to set the set?

Rossi: Sometimes, because people want their moment, and everyone's got to have their moment, but I'm not saying I'm the best at it all the time, whenever I get these longer sets I love to take people on a journey, really play with emotions. There's still more for me to learn to do that in a better way, but Chris was always a person who supported me in that.

Bobby: That's what's up, man, shout out to Chris Stussy, what a legend.

Rossi: Big don.

Bobby: Who would you say are your closest homies in music, artist wise?

Rossi: It's a difficult one. We've got a good UK collective now between me, Prospa, Josh. Everyone always checks in on each other and everyone really supports each other, which is such a nice thing to have, because you're all going through it together and building up. I've gotten really close with Chloe Caillet recently, we've been in the studio making collabs, she's such a legend, she's so talented.

Bobby: Back to back with her at Coachella?

Rossi: Yeah, that's in two weeks, that's my Coachella debut.

Bobby: Let's go, dude.

Rossi: It's going to be cool playing with her, she's wicked, she knows her music and she can really play, she's a real musician. I got in the studio with her and she's jumping on all the synths straight away, really excited. We wanted to build a relationship before playing the Coachella sets, instead of just turning up and going, "I'll play this, you play that." We were like, let's get in together, let's make some music together, let's really feel each other's vibes, and then the set's going to be even better. We're going to be making proper introductions for each weekend, for both different weekends, and fresh music we've been making, which has been really fun. She's a legend, I've been really getting along with her recently.

The UK Wave

Bobby: Yo, why do you think you guys over in England right now are literally running the scene? Not even kidding, why are you guys killing it so hard right now, for real?

Rossi: I don't know, I guess it was like

Bobby: Can I tell you something real quick? The college kids in America are obsessed with all you UK DJs, it's what's hot right now.

Rossi: I played my first frat party a few weeks ago, in Alabama, Tuscaloosa. I went to the frat house that looks like all the ones in every movie I've ever seen, all the dorms and all the guys, you've got the president and the chancellor and all this stuff, and it's so funny, everyone's got their jobs, but they're all nuts getting off their lollies. And I'm obviously in the middle of 75 Hard, they're like, "You're not going to do a shot with us," and I was like, "I can't right now, guys." It didn't compute, but they were so buzzing for me to be there. It was cool to see that even those guys know the songs and are asking for the tracks, asking for the unreleased stuff. The fact that I'm just a little dude from East London who's now playing in these places in Alabama, who would have thought that? It is really growing over here, because I remember first coming to America, I'd be lucky to play to twenty people in some places when you're first coming. Some people in some cities like Miami know who you are, but then you go play in Charlotte or whatever and the scene isn't as big, so people don't really know, they're just standing there figuring out what's happening. It's been really growing ever since. So to see all us UK guys on the Coachella lineup as well is just crazy to see. I don't know why it's just hit off for everyone.

Bobby: It's wild, I think it's also because there's a generational shift now. For so long you've had the artists I love, Jamie Jones, the Cirillas, Carl Cox, stuff like that, but eventually time passes, people get older, and there's space for new people to come through, and I think this is just that time.

Rossi: Which I'm so grateful to be a part of, because that's a special thing. But I don't know why the UK guys are doing so well.

Bobby: Dude, you guys are literally crushing it, it's so insane. I'll be at Coachella weekend one, by the way, so I'll see you over there.

Rossi: I'm excited. Have you been before?

Bobby: Yeah, I've been like three or four times.

Rossi: I'm going with Roden, I'm going to be in his set, I love that kid, bro, that's my boy.

Bobby: Yeah, he's a legend.

Rossi: He's not really a kid anymore, he's twenty three.

Bobby: Young legend, dude, love you Roden.

Film School and Becoming a DJ

Bobby: Is it true you went to film school in New York?

Rossi: Yes. I did this thing called the New York Film Academy years ago, for a summer, when I turned fifteen or sixteen. I went out to New York on my own and did this course, it was like a becoming a man summer. I was learning film acting, because I grew up in theater doing a lot of acting as a kid, then started getting more into film and TV, and I thought it'd be a cool thing to go to America and study a bit of film for a bit. So it was a cool summer, being a fifteen year old kid in New York.

Bobby: Did anyone try to stab you?

Rossi: No one tried to stab me, they welcomed me with open arms, it was great. That was a cool part of my life, but it seems like such a completely different world now. Who knows, I might act again, there's an option to be able to do it. I'm now with CAA in America, and they have acting agents, so I've been speaking to them at the moment about maybe doing some guest roles and things like that.

Bobby: No way.

Rossi: I never wanted to give it up at the time, but it was a choice, being so busy at both, I had to choose one. So then to go off and do this, and it goes so well, it'd be cool to merge the two again somehow, who knows.

Bobby: No, it's honestly wild. So do you think if you weren't a DJ, you'd be an actor?

Rossi: I would be trying to be an actor, who knows if I would have gotten there in the end. I think it's even harder to be an actor than it is to be a DJ, I'd say, everyone's going for the same parts, and it's not up to you, you hear no all the time, it's really demoralizing. You spend half your life doing jobs you don't want to do just to try to be the actor. I remember working in a call center, working at a frozen yogurt shop, and doing Deliveroo at the same time. The call center I worked at was for unemployed actors, so everyone was just depressed, trying to sell wine to people who didn't want wine, and you just heard no all the time. It could be a really tough industry. So music was kind of my release, to get into all of this. It'll be cool coming at it from this angle now.

Bobby: No doubt. So you've always been into arts and creativity, right? What really pushed you to want to produce music, become an artist?

Rossi: It was a DJ I met, a guy called Christian AB, a very cool underground selector for those who know. He played my eighteenth birthday actually, he was a friend of my sister's, and he said to me, if you want to be a DJ, because I'd just started mixing, start learning how to produce now. He told me about Ableton, and I downloaded it the next day. When you first learn to mix, you're addicted to the decks and don't want to stop mixing, and this was like opening a world of making stuff, I had no idea what I was doing, and it took me six or seven years of just bedroom figuring things out before I had my first release. It wasn't a plan, my plan was not to be a DJ, it was to try to go for just doing fun things and making music because it was fun. Then you had little goals, maybe I'd like to release a song, and then when that happened, maybe I'd like to play my own song in a club, and before you know it you're touring, you've got a manager and an agent, and it's like, wow. So I think if you love something enough, you might just end up doing it, and I guess that's what happened here.

Bobby: Dude, unreal, man. I feel like a lot of artists say they didn't plan on it getting to this point and it just happens.

Rossi: I think so, it's good to have goals and think about it, but it's also good to just love something and let that be it, and then maybe that's why you're successful in it.

Acting Tough and Dean Turnley

Bobby: Dude, I got to ask you, I discovered him recently because of his track "Acting Tough," Dean Turnley.

Rossi: Yes, he's the man of the hour.

Bobby: How did you find Dean Turnley? I discovered him because of that track.

Rossi: I got lucky, my assistant and my manager saw a video of this song on TikTok early on, I think in December or January. Can't remember who they saw playing it, but my assistant sent it to me and said, "I think you'd really, really like this song." It was cool, and immediately after hearing it, this is sick. So then Hamza, my manager, got in contact with him and said, "Can we send Ross the tune to play it?" I got sent it, and it was only once I played it in a club that I really realized how clever it is. It's simplicity at its finest, and when you hear that hook come in, anyone who didn't know it straight away reacted. I've never felt that with a song no one knew, having a reaction like that. Immediately after, we knew we had to have this song. A lot of people were interested in signing it, but fortunately he wanted to go with us, which was great. Dean said he'd been a fan of my music and the label, so it felt like a good home for him. I'm eternally grateful for him, because now we've got an overall number one, which is crazy, the first overall number one on the label. Big ups to him, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy genuinely. I had a chill with him this morning, we hadn't actually met until this morning, it was really nice to get to know him properly, he's such a nice guy, very down to earth, very sound, and it's all just happening to him now. That's a really weird thing for him to have to deal with, because it's zero to a hundred pretty much, and he's got to navigate the industry that quickly. But who wouldn't want that moment. It's crazy, everyone and their dog is playing this song at the moment, I can't even open Instagram or TikTok without hearing it. I'm very grateful.

Bobby: It's crazy. Wait, where's he from?

Rossi: He's from Australia, I don't know whereabouts, he said it earlier, I can't remember. He's come all the way from Australia to come here and network the scene, be around. They've got a collective, him, a guy called William Kiss, Jordan Brando, Luke Alessi, they're called Not Without Friends, a collective from Australia who are all smashing it in their own right, proper sound guys. Australians are always jokes anyway, super proud of him, it's amazing.

Bobby: How old is he?

Rossi: He's thirty two.

Bobby: Nice.

Rossi: It's a good age for it to happen to him, mature.

Bobby: Very mature, yeah.

Rossi: Because I feel like when you're in your younger twenties, if you have a really big moment like that, it can almost be too much, so much attention at once when you're younger. And I love that a song like this has done so well because it is very catchy, but if you listen to it, it's really fast, it's a hundred forty beats per minute, like an old Chicago style record, DJ Slugo and all of those people, and for it to work and everyone to love it is sick, because it's something fresh and different. It shows people are open to experimental stuff, not crazy experimental, but a song that doesn't have much in it that just works.

Bobby: Yeah, it's a tune bro, it's a tune. Are you going to bring him out to the event, is he playing at Factory Town?

Rossi: He's not playing at Factory Town, but he's coming along, and we've got a pop up tomorrow, an Acting Tough pop up we're doing downtown, at 7pm, right next to Space, it's what Space is holding.

Bobby: Is there a shop?

Rossi: Yeah, we're going to do a pop up in there as a celebration of the release, so he'll probably pop up there.

Bobby: Pop up at the pop up, bro. Big up Dean, man, he's smashed it.

Miami and Space

Bobby: Dude, so we're in Miami right now, what's your relationship with this city like, give me the vibe for Miami.

Rossi: I love it, I love coming to Miami. Like I was saying earlier, it kind of feels like a home away from home now, because I've got so many friends here from Space and different clubs and different promoters, so whenever I come there's always someone to chill with and see. I never feel, sometimes you can be a bit on alert in a city, but I just feel like I can come here and live a bit of a life, chill and not be in a rush all the time. I love this city and I love the party culture out here, because everyone just rips. When I was playing the closing party last year, it was 8am on Tuesday morning and Space was still full, and you just think, what are you all doing, who has a job? That's what I love about Miami, someone will come into Space, have a coffee morning, then go to the office, or someone will just finish a marathon and end up at Space. It's a crazy city and it's so fun, I love it out here.

Bobby: Yeah, and because of the set times at places like Space, people will literally wake up at 5am, drink a coffee, go rip, and then go to work. The first time going to Space, I turned up at 3am, which is so early at Space, any other club you'd think, but at Space prime time is probably 11am.

Rossi: Because it just starts when the sun comes up, and everyone's absolutely ripping. Miami has a special place always in my heart.

Bobby: What's your set time for the closing party?

Rossi: I think it's 5 till 8pm on Monday evening.

Bobby: Yeah, 8 till 11pm.

Rossi: So we're doing the going into the darker shift, which will be sick, and then playing with the bros is going to be so fun.

Bobby: Dude, that's going to be insane, plus the closing party at Space. I feel like sometimes they just keep the party going, they have an artist lineup booked but they'll just keep it going, there's really no end time, bro.

Rossi: I do, whenever there's people in there they'll just let you keep going. I played on New Year's Day last year and they were just like, keep going. There's an end time, but it doesn't matter anymore, if there's people in the club they'll let you play for as long as you want, and that's why I love it, because not a lot of places in the world do that anymore. That used to be a thing in Ibiza, where Amnesia would just keep going, then you'd go to Space after when Space was open in Ibiza, then you'd roll to DC10, it was just fluid, whereas now there's a lot more rules. Space, I honestly think it's a core of club culture that has to be protected in my opinion.

Bobby: No, a hundred percent, and that block in Miami has a liquor license that's twenty four hours, and it's just that block right there, one of the few streets in the US, like Vegas, you can do that there. New York has an end time, I think it's one of two places allowed to serve alcohol twenty four hours.

Rossi: Yeah, and if you go across the street to eleven it just gets dark. What's that little bar at the end of the road at Space, have you been around there, it's a tiny little bar.

Bobby: The corner, yeah.

Rossi: I've ended up in some crazy sessions in there before, it's so fun. I've only popped in there once, in between going from eleven to Space, but the pizza shop next to there, Eleventh Street Pizza, that place is gas, bro, that place is banging.

Summer Plans and a Residency

Bobby: So you were just talking about Ibiza, you got any summer plans?

Rossi: Yeah, I'll be there all summer pretty much, playing various different parties, Circoloco, Music On, I'll be playing across loads of different people's parties. I didn't want to bring a residency to Ibiza just yet, I want to wait and keep doing my hostings in different cities around the world, and keep building my career until I'm sort of ready to do a residency. So it's kind of nice to go and play across different parties on the island, and I love Ibiza.

Bobby: Me too, man, special place.

Rossi: Such a special place, bro.

Bobby: What would you say is your goal for when you want a residency in Ibiza?

Rossi: It's hard, because I think every club in Ibiza is cool in its own way, DC10 is less VIP than any other club, DC10 or Amnesia are the top, but Pacha's great for its sound system. I don't know, let's see where it goes with that, I don't want to set too much hope on one place.

Top Five and Closing

Bobby: What are your top five songs you're playing in your set right now?

Rossi: Definitely "Acting Tough." There's one I'm excited to play, Chris Stussy just released a track called "Believe in Yourself" on his label, on his new album, and it's so sick, it just really, really works. What else do I play? I made a track that's coming out this summer, called "Misery," I've recorded my own vocal on it, I'd say it's one of my favorite songs I've ever made. It's funky, and it's inspired by the film "Misery," a really weird film about a woman who holds a guy captive in her house. I was watching it while working on a loop, and I thought, what if there was a weird song about that story. So I wrote a set of lyrics telling that story from his point of view, and it turned into this song, now called "Misery," and the bassline is kind of creepy and eerie, which really works, so I've been loving playing that. There's a tune by a guy called Miller, called "Something Tells Me," which is so cool, I love playing that at the moment. What have I been opening with, my track "Ease Your Mind," I love playing that. There's a guy called Corey, a young guy from the UK, been sending me really cool music, there's a track called "Rhythm Check," and I'll shout him out because he's quite a young producer, really grinding out, focusing on sending me a lot of music, and some of the stuff he's sent is really good. Corey, big up yourself. And there's a song coming out on my label by a guy called RTK Tarantino, if you don't know him, he's from the UK, such a character, really funny, he's got an EP coming out on my label and some of the music is insane, he's such a good producer.

Bobby: Dude, fire, we got seven tracks out of you.

Rossi: Sorry.

Bobby: That's even better, keep going if you want, bro.

Rossi: I'll just tell you the whole set.

Bobby: Literally, dude. Well, listen, that's what we got for you today, we appreciate you coming in, all right?

Rossi: Thank you for having me.

Bobby: Much love, dude, Rossi, peace.

Rossi: Big love, bro, much love, peace.