SIDEPIECE on the Duo, the Records, and the Road

Transcript

Bobby: What is going on? You are listening to Bobby on BPM, straight from the SiriusXM Miami studio. It is Miami Music Week. It is Ultra weekend. It is the dance music Olympics, as we're calling it around here. And today I am joined by two very special guys, two great guys: SIDEPIECE.

SIDEPIECE: Yeah. Yes, we are feeling good.

Bobby: So what number are we?

SIDEPIECE: You guys are number 58 artist interview of the week.

Bobby: Okay, but you're also the last. And what do we say about the last?

SIDEPIECE: The best.

Bobby: Exactly.

SIDEPIECE: Well, all right, see you guys later, thank you so much for having us. That's it. That's it. Thanks for having us.

Bobby: Yeah, man, no, thanks for coming on, boys, thanks for coming on. So how's your music week so far? You guys played a pool party two days ago — was that yesterday?

SIDEPIECE: Yeah, yesterday.

Bobby: Time flies when you're having fun.

SIDEPIECE: It all blurs together, doesn't it, dude? It's crazy.

Bobby: How many — what number of music week is this for you guys?

SIDEPIECE: That's actually a great question. Oh my goodness. I think my first Ultra was 2014, I think. Something like that. I think that was my first one — I don't know, I wasn't in the crowd, but I was out here for music week. What year was that, '15? I think that was my first. Maybe '14, might've been my first one too. It's a crazy festival, it's such a worldwide thing — I still get people coming up to me like, "Oh, that was your set at Ultra 2016," and I'm like, that was so long ago. That was eight years ago, which is crazy.

Nitti Gritti: Dylan's like, "I don't even remember it."

SIDEPIECE: I was there, I'm like, "Oh yeah." He's like, "That was my past life." I was a different man. Literally, it's crazy.

Bobby: Isn't there like a hundred different countries of people who come here to Ultra this weekend? I think that's the stat — like a hundred-plus countries come here. That's insane.

SIDEPIECE: That's got to be some crazy stat. Every day of the year here in Miami feels like such a melting pot of cultures and people. It really is — people from all over. European influence, obviously. Latin America influence, a lot of that. I've had to touch up on my Spanish, and I still don't know it, even though my mom is Spanish.

Bobby: How's your Dutch coming?

SIDEPIECE: I need to work on that, don't I? There's a weirdly large amount of French people too, who I've been running into.

Bobby: Oh, there's for sure a lot of French people.

SIDEPIECE: A lot of French people. When I used to have a place in Wynwood, I rented from this French guy — it was a goated price, $600 rent, in Miami, in Wynwood.

Bobby: What?

SIDEPIECE: It was basically a crack house, I'm not going to lie. It was pretty crappy, but I had a good time.

Bobby: He was the one dealing the crack.

SIDEPIECE: Yeah. Got a great deal.

Bobby: Speaking of cash out — disclaimer, no one has ever sold drugs before. This is for banter only. But Ricky is lowkey a good drug dealer name. I feel like, you know, the easy one.

Nitti Gritti: Ricky? Oh no, it's me for sure.

Bobby: Oh no, this interview. Well, we're number 58 — maybe there's only been 57 interviews.

SIDEPIECE: Got cancelled.

Bobby: So dude, let's talk about your guys' artist project. You have individual artist projects, right — multiple, and then individual — and then you guys came together to create this project called SIDEPIECE. I've actually never heard the story behind how you ended up deciding to collaborate. You had your own projects, and you ended up doing this dope project together. How'd it happen?

How SIDEPIECE Started

Party Favor: What's funny is it literally started over a Twitter DM, before it was X — in the old days. We just reached out. We'd been fans of each other, played shows with each other over the years, many years prior to that. And I reached out and was like, "Yo, when I started out, all I was doing was making house music, and that's all I would get booked for." Early, early days — 2012. And Ricky makes all types of music as well. So we both were like, "Maybe we'd do a couple songs or something." And he's like, "Oh yeah, I got this song." And I'm like, "I got this one I was working on." And we're like, "Wait a second, we're really aligned here. This is really creepy and weird." So we got on FaceTime, and we came up with the name of the group — the idea to do a project together. None of our managers knew, so that was a surprise. We already had like four songs started. It was just a weird, serendipitous thing. It was like one call and done, and the rest kind of worked out.

Bobby: It's crazy, you guys have brother energy, I'm going to be honest.

SIDEPIECE: Touring together for the last six years, it becomes really easy. Us and our tour managers, we're just always around. We have fun. It's a good time.

Bobby: Wow, six years — SIDEPIECE has been on for six years?

Party Favor: Yeah, April 2019 is when we first did that call.

Bobby: Really? Wow, dude.

Party Favor: And then "On My Mind" dropped literally a month or two before the pandemic. Classic mix-up, you know?

Bobby: Dude, I was going to ask you guys about that. Was that the second song ever released?

SIDEPIECE: I think it was technically the second song, yeah. We actually wanted to have a song out before that one came out, just to get something going, at least in the algorithm a little. We put it out right before, like a couple months out, and then we're like, well, hopefully this works. We played one or two shows and then it was pandemic — surprise.

Bobby: Dude, that's crazy.

SIDEPIECE: Bye-bye. So we were like, oh, we just started SIDEPIECE and it's gone. Literally.

Bobby: Yo, we're psyched on this project, guys.

SIDEPIECE: The world's shortest project ever.

Bobby: And it's gone — that's another South Park reference, isn't it? The banker episode.

SIDEPIECE: Come on, man, I actually watched that one last week.

Bobby: Oh, there you go.

SIDEPIECE: That one's too funny.

Bobby: Warming up for our interviews and stuff.

SIDEPIECE: Yeah, absolutely, well, with you guys. It's like one big bit. I love it.

Bobby: Wait, wait — so, yeah, "On My Mind" was your second track. How did you bring the idea to Diplo to collaborate on that song?

Making On My Mind

SIDEPIECE: Originally it was just a writing camp song, because we'd both actually worked with Diplo for years. That one was in Bali — I went to a writing camp with him and we started that idea. At the time, it's hard knowing if a song's going to be big or not, but a lot of people heard it and we were like, this seems a little larger than life to just be something on its own. So it made sense as a collaborative group, something fresh, something new, to be able to put that song out. That was kind of the offer: make some new group, something cool that makes sense, because if we were doing Party Favor or Nitti Gritti, it's a sound that wouldn't have made sense. So it was really cool to attach SIDEPIECE to house music with a song like that. And we had multiple songs — I remember something like "Temptation" or "Acrobatic," early versions before "On My Mind" — we had all these records lined up, we almost had too much music. It was a crazy lineup where we had all these songs ready to go, and because we'd already toured and both had management teams who knew what we were doing, it was a really fun thing to start a project after years of already being in a project. The cards were right, and we both had enough experience to lift something off the ground together. It was crazy thinking back.

Bobby: Crazy.

SIDEPIECE: Honestly, dude, that was the most viral song on TikTok for a long time.

Bobby: It was one of those first things I remember.

SIDEPIECE: Yeah, it was super viral. There's still people that use it. It was like — when it was going on, it was like that meme where Squidward's looking outside at Spongebob and Patrick running around having fun. Everyone's enjoying the song and we're just inside, you know, can't go anywhere because of COVID.

Bobby: That's hilarious.

SIDEPIECE: But we've always talked about it — honestly, it was kind of good, because as big as that song got, we had this moment where we didn't get to tour and have a moment off of it. It forced us to really dig in and think about what we wanted to actually make this project. Because when you've had a big record, you're only as good as your last success. So it was definitely a humbling moment — to have this big record and then have everybody expect everything you do to follow that up.

Bobby: No, wow. I mean, you guys still have records that crush and go viral. One of the things you've been doing recently is called "treats," right? Can you explain what treats are?

Treats and Live Shows

SIDEPIECE: I feel like we've made everything unnecessarily complicated because we like puns. But no, our name SIDEPIECE, it's just fun, it's cheeky. We've been having fun with more of a sexy, make-you-want-to-shake-your-butt kind of music. Instead of just saying remixes or edits, it's become something where he and I are just rapid fire — he'll start an idea, or I'll start one, and we're like, "Let's play it out tonight, let's try it out." The great thing about DJing and getting to play as much as we do is that we get to try a lot of records out. So for us, it's been something for our fans to attach to, the name, and they really have. People have started calling them treats, asking what's the next treat. It's a cool little thing.

Bobby: Yeah, the one treat I've been watching and listening to is the "Cash Out" one you guys did.

SIDEPIECE: Banger.

Bobby: That one's really dope.

SIDEPIECE: Thank you. Might have some good news for you on that one.

Bobby: Yeah? What does that mean?

SIDEPIECE: We're just excited about that one.

Bobby: What, is the original artist reaching out or something?

SIDEPIECE: Can't say anything. Can't say nothing until — yeah, we've already said too much. We're gonna have to kill you, Bobby. I'm sorry. Cut it. The SIDEPIECE goons are coming to give you a treat.

Bobby: You'd have to do the intro, man. You'd have to just be me. Take me out.

SIDEPIECE: Sorry. Now you're alive still — you killed that.

Bobby: Yo, I remember the first time I actually saw you guys play a DJ set. It was at the Circuit Grounds stage at EDC Las Vegas, two or three years ago, and it was an electric set. That's when I became a fan of SIDEPIECE, to tell you guys the truth. I was a fan of your individual projects, but that's when I became a fan of SIDEPIECE. You guys smashed that set.

SIDEPIECE: That was a fun one, appreciate it.

Bobby: I just want to let you guys know, that was the time I was like, these guys are dope.

SIDEPIECE: Well, thank you. EDC is always just such a — like Ultra, or a few of the other festivals a year — it's kind of the mecca of dance music. It's so fun to be around. Everyone really steps up their A-game, so that means a lot, thank you. We're really excited, we didn't play last year, so we're back this year.

Bobby: Let's go.

SIDEPIECE: It's going to be great. Hopefully we can top it, if you're going to be there.

Bobby: I don't know if I'm going to be there this year. I don't know if I'm going to be there.

SIDEPIECE: We'll see how it is.

Bobby: No, no, no, no, just EDC Vegas — I think I might be scared this year. Might just be scared, man.

SIDEPIECE: Yeah, EDC Vegas is like a whole thing, man. I don't have to explain it to you guys, but for those who have never been to EDC Las Vegas, it's wild. The festival goes till, what, 7, 8 a.m.? And then there's the campgrounds on site. It doesn't stop.

Bobby: It goes, it doesn't stop. My flight was at like 1 p.m. last year on the Monday, and my friends were like, "No, you can come to the campgrounds, you'll make your flight." I'm like, "Are you serious?"

SIDEPIECE: Not with the traffic. No shot.

Bobby: I barely made the flight. And then guess who's sitting next to me on the flight — Paul Campbell. I actually used him as a pillow, slept on him.

SIDEPIECE: He'll do the same, don't worry.

Bobby: Yo, dude, I know, man, I know.

Bobby: So, what else are you guys really excited about this year with the SIDEPIECE project?

Getting Back to Club Roots

Nitti Gritti: Dylan kind of already touched on it, but we're just getting back to more club roots. We've been having fun making music that essentially just wants to make girls dance, make everybody in the club dance, and not be too worried about making big singalongs, or records that don't sound like us, a bit of a departure. We've been really enjoying making as much of this club scene music within house culture. We did our big tour, bigger rooms, a few months ago, and it was really fun. Then we were talking to our agents like, can we play some cool, smaller venues, get back into that club scene, rebuild our set, have fun, and go through that circuit. We took all those shows, and it kind of lit a fire in a sense — that's where a lot of these treats you're talking about came from, we made a lot of them on tour because we were so inspired. We were like, wow, this is crazy, going back to just playing in a club, not having fireworks and spending thousands of dollars on production, just people behind us and in front of us all partying. That was the most important thing. Once we realized that, we were like, this is where we're stemming everything from now on. So we can still play big shows and big festivals, but everything always comes back to how it worked in the club, with those kids. It's been so much fun. I feel like we're both the most inspired we've ever been.

Bobby: It's the true measure. Dance music and the culture started in the clubs, it's for the clubs. The main stages are incredible, but when you're in a room this size and everyone's sweating and vibing together, there's — I prefer it, almost.

SIDEPIECE: Yeah, absolutely, and I think the music's been reflective of that.

Bobby: And for you guys — I was talking to someone about this the other day — when you're up on a big stage, one of those stages where your team isn't even up there, maybe just a videographer and then it's just the DJ, I was asking them if they get lonely up there. A lot of them do. But you guys have each other up there, which is nice.

SIDEPIECE: If we get scared, sometimes we'll hug each other.

Bobby: No, but it's really crazy — when you're up there, especially playing a mainstage like EDC, which is obviously incredible —

SIDEPIECE: But you can't even connect to the crowd. It's hard, you can barely feel it. It's a different feeling of wonder — when you're with everyone and you make the connection, that's a feeling of community, of wonder, like, "Wow, we're all here together." But there's something cool about it just being a sea of people, too — never even barely playing in front of this many people is a wonder in itself. It's a very different type of feeling. But being connected as humans, that's the number one thing you want in life, to feel connected with people. So of course, it's usually our favorite thing to do.

Bobby: I like that. I've actually heard that from a lot of artists recently, that the move really is playing shows in intimate settings. It's much more human connection, it's a vibe, dude.

SIDEPIECE: Such a vibe. Being able to see people's faces instead of them looking like sardines.

Bobby: It is such a thing. We've been out and about a little this week — there was a show last night, and the night before that, John had his Experts Only thing. And even just being on stage, not that I care about GA or stage, but when you actually get to hang out with people as an artist, and I really mean this, when it's not about the people in the back or VIP, I'm talking about the feeling of looking at the crowd and seeing everyone dancing, not lame on their phones. I'm talking about them partying and we're all partying together.

SIDEPIECE: There's a reason the boiler room thing is so popular now, and I don't think it should ever go back, because it's just better. It's not about stealing an idea. The boiler room people get mad that everyone's doing it, but no, it's just better. If you learned how to build a better community, would you not do it at every show? It would just make every show better. It's not even about appropriating the culture of a boiler room, it's just for everybody in the room. It's so much more fun to feel that version of connection instead of two dudes up here with screens and visuals. It's just not the same.

Bobby: No, absolutely. And that's kind of where dance music stems from, right, raves that are intimate, probably sweaty, maybe in a basement or a warehouse.

SIDEPIECE: And maybe illegal, who knows. That's kind of where it's stemming from.

Bobby: Yes. Illegal raves.

Nitti Gritti: Hey, I'm the guy, Ricky, if you need anything.

Bobby: So I want to ask you guys about music week. Dude, the ultimate, overall vibe here, I feel like people are so much more open, as an artist too. Do you feel like you're more open to connecting and communicating with other artists, talking to more people, even if a younger or rising artist sees you guys? Is that part of the vibe this week that's really special about music week?

Music Week and the DJ Community

SIDEPIECE: Yeah, I think so. I think the whole idea is that everybody kind of comes here like a little pilgrimage, and just enjoys the time. Miami is kind of a character in itself, and everything going on, you get a chance to put a name or a face to the people you talk to on DMs, or who play your music, or whatever. Sometimes it might be someone from Australia, or Europe. Getting to support other acts, have them on your shows, show them love, that's what it's all about. We're never successful without other people supporting us, and hopefully vice versa. That's what DJ culture is built on, it's supporting, but also everyone's bootlegging, remixing, editing, playing each other's music.

Bobby: Yeah.

SIDEPIECE: It's also cool because a lot of times we're just DMing with people. You understand, when you're talking to somebody through the internet, but then you meet them in person, and that's what this week is so cool for. We hung out with somebody we'd been DMing, never met, and when we finally met face to face, the next week the song gets started or done, because you actually had that time. We had a cool moment in Thailand where we hung out with a DJ we really look up to, and even this week there was somebody we finally met and were like, "I want to remix this, I want to work on this." We played something with West End this week, and if John's going to play one of our records, or MK, we go play, and hanging out with them made a big difference. You wouldn't think it would, because like we said, our own story was over the internet, on the phone, whatever, but there's a certain level of wanting that connection. It's for other DJs too, to not just feel like we're doing our job, robots DJing, but actually being like, "I want to hang out with you and go have fun." If everybody wants to go get dinner and then do something, the music is better because of it, the connection is better, because you got to hang out with the person.

Bobby: Of course. That makes complete sense, that the music would be better once you develop a dope relationship with someone. Because it's like a vibe you guys are curating together, right? Exactly why you guys make dope music.

SIDEPIECE: That means a lot, thank you.

Bobby: Yeah, absolutely. But — Dylan said this earlier and I kind of let it go by — I need to ask, why the name SIDEPIECE? You said cheeky, but why "SIDEPIECE" for the project? I mean, I know what a side piece is —

Why They're Called SIDEPIECE

SIDEPIECE: Bobby, what's a side piece? Define it on screen.

Nitti Gritti: Honestly, the best part, seriously, this isn't an exaggeration, I'm dead serious, the call was like an hour long. And on the call, my crappy version of the idea was, "I had this funny idea to make a side project and call it Side Project." That was my idea. And then Dylan was like, "What if we call it Side Piece?" And I was like, "Oh, that's it, that was it." It was like a side piece to our normal, other projects. It was always meant to be just something for fun for us to do, because we both love house music. We wanted to respect it properly, do a project that wasn't hopping on some trend, we were like, this is us. And when we first put the music out, we didn't announce it was us, we wanted the music to speak for itself. We were secretive, genuinely a side piece, and then we ended up marrying our side piece.

SIDEPIECE: It happens. Watch out, guys. It became something where, now we're super grateful that SIDEPIECE has become so big.

Bobby: What were you guys teasing on social media when you first announced SIDEPIECE? I remember it was just flyers or animations, is that what it was?

SIDEPIECE: We definitely never — years ago, I don't think we ever did anything, really. It was, like he said, more just out of respect for a sound and a culture, not wanting to attach it. I made a lot of dubstep and trap, and whatever, he made a lot of trap and bass music too. So it was more just, relax your eyes and your ears and just listen. Now we don't care, because people aren't going to judge us as our other project for it, everyone knows it's the same people. We just wanted people to listen without any bias. If they saw the name and were just playing it, "Would I like this? Would I play it?" Not necessarily knowing who was behind it. We weren't trying to be Marshmello or anything like that.

Bobby: Big side piece head or something.

SIDEPIECE: Yeah. I don't even know, nobody knows who Marshmello is still.

Bobby: Unbelievable, I'm still trying to figure it out. Is it you guys, lowkey? You just putting the helmet on, back and forth?

SIDEPIECE: No, but for real, your vibe, dude, your shows are so fun, it's groovy. You're really doing a good job capturing exactly what that vision is you're talking about.

Bobby: Thank you, that means a lot.

SIDEPIECE: Yeah, for real.

SIDEPIECE: We've been very grateful this year. Shout out to all the fans who've been coming to our shows and showing love.

Bobby: Absolutely. I do have another question. You mentioned earlier you had your own respected projects on the side, making a different genre of music compared to house. What was that like, transitioning, even to different fans, fans of that other style, transitioning fans? What was that like, playing a genre, creating a genre, and then becoming an artist doing another genre?

Nitti Gritti: I think, and now it's slowed down, but I'm sure in the beginning, I can remember shows where people would hold up a sign like, "Play this Party Favor song," or "this Nitti Gritti song." It was very early. But I think now, we've really created a culture around it where it's like, you know what you're here for. Don't even ask, that's not what we're here for, we're just here to do SIDEPIECE. We haven't really run into that in a while.

Bobby: Yeah.

SIDEPIECE: And I think if you go into it with intention, like, this is the music we're making, we're making it with intention, this is what we want to do, then there's not really that. And I think what helped is what we just talked about, we didn't make it a big deal, like a party getting together to jump on a house bandwagon. It was us being like, if this takes off, cool, if we just play a couple shows and people like our music, great. There was no other intention than that.

SIDEPIECE: We got some distortion.

Bobby: No, yeah, I was kind of repeating myself anyway.

SIDEPIECE: It's all right, man, I don't mind yapping away with you boys. I really don't mind.

Bobby: Whoever's cutting this interview down does, though.

SIDEPIECE: Yeah, well, lowkey, it's me with the cameras for the content, and someone else too for the radio, but whatever. Does AI dub our voices saying stuff?

Bobby: Yeah, yeah, literally, literally. Well, listen, fellas, I appreciate you guys coming in today, and you're number 58, and I did save the best for last.

SIDEPIECE: That's right, yes, that's what's up.

Bobby: Every other DJ sucks, sucks, no, I'm just kidding.

SIDEPIECE: No, we don't mean that, we love everyone.

Bobby: Of course not. Semi-Pro, Jackie Moon.

SIDEPIECE: Wow, I didn't get that reference right away, that went over my head.

Bobby: I got you this. You got got, dude.

SIDEPIECE: And you're a jokester. Wow, I don't ever make jokes.

Bobby: I'm coming off that as a win.

SIDEPIECE: That is, way to win it. You ended on a win.

SIDEPIECE: Put your guest down, you bring people on and just put them down?

Bobby: My bad, my bad, my bad, you're right, I'm being a terrible host right now.

SIDEPIECE: No, this has been awesome. We love it.

Bobby: No, thanks for coming on, guys, for real, appreciate you. I'm going to close this out.

SIDEPIECE: Yeah, thank you so much.

Bobby: All right, and you are listening to Bobby on BPM, straight from the SiriusXM Miami studio, with the boys, SIDEPIECE.

SIDEPIECE: Love. Peace. Later.