Solidisco | The Music Ninja

’Chromeo – Jealous (Solidisco Remix)’

With Disco making it’s way back to the forefront of dance music, we here at TMN have become fascinated with the global groovement that is currently in action. Who better to talk to about this epidemic than Disco’s own Matt McGurn and Don Skotnicki from Solidisco? Well we had a chance to talk with these guys last week about how these two joined forces and helped revive the era of Disco in today’s modern dance music culture. Through all of their endeavors, Solidisco is giving our ears a much needed break from those all too familiar festival bangers and instead are pumping some life back into our souls. See what these guys have to say about their sound, dance music, and who would most likely be Paris Hilton’s dog.

TMN: So, before we jump into how Solidisco developed into what it is today, let’s go back a bit and learn more about you guys. I’m sure you hear this question all the time, but it’s always great to ask, especially for new people tuning in, but how did you guys get involved with music? How did you two come together to form Solidisco?

SD: Music has always been a big part of our lives and we like all kinds of music, so it was only natural for us to become DJs. We both grew up DJing in Buffalo, NY. There wasn’t a lot of people doing what we do there, so it was natural for us to start working together.

TMN: Who have been some key influential artists that inspired you to make music; this goes for all genres, too. How would you say that those artists have helped mold your sound and guide you in the direction of where you are right now?

SD: Armand Van Helden and Dimitri From Paris got us into house music, so they kinda both pushed us towards our love for disco. We were always both big hip-hop guys and 90s/00s hip-hop was heavily sample based, so that got us into the art of sampling too. Just Blaze is definitely an influence with how hard he went with the horn section samples. We definitely have tried to apply that to house music in several of our songs.

’Kanye West – Bound 2 (Solidisco Remix)’

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TMN: It appears that Disco/Funk/Nu-Disco/etc. have been steadily inching towards the limelight of dance music – How would you define the role that Disco has played in the current groovement and what do you guys think might be some reasons as to why people are finally introducing these type of genres in their sets?

SD: We think it’s an over saturation thing. The Nu Disco/Funk groove is getting popular just because it actually has groove. Same with Deep House. I wouldn’t say Deep House is ‘funky’ but just the fact that it has a groove makes it popular right now. Since EDM exploded in America, it’s just been “4-on-the-floor” banger after banger. There’s really no groove to those songs for the most part. It’s just about being so hard that it makes people go crazy. I think now it’s going back to actually listening to dance music to actually dance, not to start mosh pits at festivals. So because of that, I think DJs are checking out other sub-genres of EDM to try and find some new material to play in their sets because they are getting sick of the typical house bangers.

TMN: We got to catch your sensational main stage set at Hard Day of the Dead last year and you sold us from start to finish. With that almost being a year ago, how would you say that definitive moment helped bring in audiences from all over? (Personally, that was one of my favorite sets of the weekend – some girl put gum in my hair because I was grooving too hard – totally worth it.

SD: (Hahaha) Sorry about your hair, but we’re glad you enjoyed our set! Yeah that was big for us, and we posted the set on our Soundcloud so everyone could check it out. We always say that we make disco tracks made for big rooms, and you can’t get much bigger than the main stage at a HARD event. It just felt good to finally play our music where it was meant to be played and getting the reaction we were looking for. It was very inspiring to go back to the studio after that and make new music.

’The S.O.S Band – Take Your Time (Do It Right) (Solidisco Remix)’

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TMN: What are your favorite type of gigs to play and how do you prepare for them? This includes festivals, pool parties, etc.

SD: Each has it’s advantages and disadvantages. We like pool parties because we get to play some stuff we wouldn’t necessarily play otherwise and the vibe is cool, I mean, who doesn’t like being around a pool in beautiful locations? Overall it’s pretty chill and we like really energetic sets. Festivals are awesome, too, just because of the sheer amount of people. You get a crazy rush you don’t get anywhere else, but there are so many people there and so many potential new fans that we tend to be very careful about our song selections. We usually take less chances as DJs at festivals, so we would say club shows are our favorite because it’s enough people where the energy level is always high, but there’s not as much pressure as a festival so we feel more comfortable getting creative during our sets and always have the most fun when we get to do that.

TMN: We can see how festivals might pose a higher risk for putting people off as far as song choice goes. But, speaking of preparation, do you guys have any “pre-show” rituals of some sort? Anything weird is totally acceptable.

SD: Unfortunately we don’t do anything too weird. Mandatory bathroom stops and Red Bull consumption is about it.

’Icona Pop – Just Another Night (Solidisco Remix)’

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