Festival season is upon us with electronic dance music taking over the United States. Electric Daisy Carnival is the biggest electronic dance music festival in the world with countless DJ performances and over 200,000 guests all going down in Sin City in less than a month. Those who can’t attend can still experience performances in multiple nightclubs along The Strip over the week or see it streaming live online. I have been fortunate to lineup exclusive interviews each week with multiple DJ’s performing at EDC to give a preview of what to expect and get to know them each a little better.

This week featured interviews: Manufactured Superstars and Ferry Corsten

Manufactured Superstars

www.manufacturedsuperstars.com
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A21: How did you come about working together?

Shawn Sabo of the MANUFACTURED SUPERSTARS: Brad and I have been friends since we and four others started Beatport.com. Then, back in 2004, we started Manufactured Superstars with the aim of being the funnest DJs there are. We’re not trying to be the most serious ones. We make edits of every single song we play. Like, we’ll take a song that’s seven minutes long and edit it down to two or three minutes for our live sets. We’re really diverse in our sound when we play live. We might play a Nicky Romero track into a Calvin Harris track into an obscure house track from 10 years ago into a bootleg of a pop song into.…you never know!

A21: How did you come up with the name, Manufactured Superstars?

Sabo of the MANUFACTURED SUPERSTARS: It was originally the Digitally Manufactured Superstars, but that name was too long so we scaled it back. Again, we wanted to keep it fun, and we thought Manufactured Superstars was a great play on words representing our image.

A21: What’s the reason behind the space suits?

Sabo of the MANUFACTURED SUPERSTARS: When we first started, we would always wear matching outfits. Then we signed a residency in Vegas at the Palms with Paul Oakenfold ‘and his “Planet Perfecto” parties, which had a space theme. We also DJd a big rave in Denver called Skylab. We wore the space suits to those shows and it just sort of stuck! Then fans started dressing up to and the rest is history. [laughs]

A21: Describe your sound in your own words.

Sabo of the MANUFACTURED SUPERSTARS: Yeah, our production theory goes exactly with our DJ style. We wanna be fun and unpredictable and just make music! We don’t just make trance or tech-house or electro or house. Or any one sound. Our sets are very far across the board. We might do a hip-hop song, you don’t know. We don’t wanna be pigeon-holed. It’s art. We really like to make music we’d play, from house to trance to techno to hip-hop and some swing beats, so we also try to get really good remixes to cover all genres. We’ve have trance legends like Ferry Corsten, house superstars like Calvin Harris and chillout mixes of our songs, so we really wanna embrace all forms of EDM and spread our sounds to the most people possible.

A21: You are in second year residency with Wynn Las Vegas. What’s your favorite thing about performing in Las Vegas verses anywhere else?

Sabo of the MANUFACTURED SUPERSTARS: Vegas is such a fun place to perform because everyone is there to let loose and party. We love all the clubs on the Wynn property and we are honored to be a part of such an amazing roster of EDM superstars. The staff, the sounds and the production are just amazing. They do a great job of really providing the fans with a memorable experience.

A21: You shot your music video, “Silver Splits the Blue,” as XS Nightclub with a little inspiration from the movie, “The Hangover.” What made you decide to go there?

Sabo of the MANUFACTURED SUPERSTARS: It’s a beautiful club and we wanted to do a follow-up to our video for “Take Me Over.” Also, we were inspired by [the movie] “The Hangover.” It’s all based on our reality. [laughs] We normally start each night with a pre-party inviting our homies and girls over. Then we all roll out to the club together, then party afterwards with everyone. So it’s not far from a normal night with us. [laughs] About the track: Christian Burns is an extremely talented singer-songwriter who’s worked with Tiësto and Armin van Buuren. He’s been somebody we sought out working with in the beginning of the year, but he was busy. We tried a couple of different top lines and he came back with what we thought was a slam-dunk! He’s a talented vocalist, a great songwriter, and we’re really excited about the song. It’s out now on iTunes.

A21: With your rising success, you have been approached by some mega pop artists. Is there someone you would like to work with?

Sabo of the MANUFACTURED SUPERSTARS: Yes, we have been working with some amazing songwriters and are very excited about all of our upcoming tunes! We can’t mention any names just yet, but watch this space for more info soon! We would love to work with Katy Perry, Missy Elliott and Tupac’s hologram. He’s gonna be big!

A21: What can your fans expect to hear or see from you at Electric Daisy Carnival 2012?

Sabo of the MANUFACTURED SUPERSTARS: We will be debuting a few new productions and tons of custom edits just for the show. We are already working on a completely new set. Everything we play this year will be fresh and made just for that show! EDC is the best festival in the world and we are gonna work hard to really put together an amazing set! Our EDC Vegas set will be broadcast live on SiriusXM Radio, so for those who can’t make it to Vegas, be sure to tune in to SiriusXM! We are also playing at EDC NJ-NYC, so for the east coast people, we hope to see u there!

http://www.spyonvegas.com/djs/ferry-corsten/

Credit: FLASHOVER RECORDINGS

Ferry Corsten

www.FerryCorsten.com
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A21: You have been on the EDM scene for more than 20 years. Do you remember your very first gig?

FERRY CORSTEN: My very first gig was in Nighttown, Rotterdam. It was an amazing experience to play for an audience like that. I was quite nervous to go on stage, but once I did, it was great! From that moment, I knew I would be doing this many, many more times.

A21: You have a few aliases. What made you stick with your real name?

FERRY CORSTEN: I previously released many tracks under many different aliases so I would be able to produce music under different genres. Later, it became a little confusing for my fans. So I decided to produce solely under the name of Ferry Corsten for a while.

A21: How do you feel EDM progressed from when you started?

FERRY CORSTEN: EDM has developed a lot over the years. Certain elements within the music became trending and were inspired by music that was popular at the time. For instance, trance music nowadays has a lot of influences from electro, house and even dubstep. Everything changes. So does EDM.

A21: You just celebrated your 250th episode of “Corsten’s Countdown” where listeners vote for their favorite tracks. What is currently your favorite track?

FERRY CORSTEN: My current top three would be:
Ferry Corsten feat. Aruna, “Live Forever” (soon released as single!)
Analogue Sound Department, “F”
Festen, “Bace In Yer Fass”

A21: How does your latest album, WKND, differ from your previous albums?

FERRY CORSTEN: First, this album is inspired by something different compared to any previous album namely, the weekend! Second, the album contains mostly vocal trance tracks. Third, all of these tracks are radio-ready. But in any case, I tried to stay true to my original sound!

A21: With a lot requests from great artists around the world, how do you decide whom to work with?

FERRY CORSTEN: I know quite soon which artists would be subject to cooperation. My record label helps me with it as well. We weigh in mind whether it would be interesting to produce a track together, or not. On the other hand, many great artists I’d like to work with will consider if I’m interesting to them! [laughs] It’s always an important choice for both sides that comes with certain consequences.

A21: Is there anyone you desire to work that you haven’t yet?

FERRY CORSTEN: I’d love to work together with great bands like Snow Patrol or U2. Who knows what will happen in the future?

A21: What can your fans expect to hear or see from you at Electric Daisy Carnival 2012?

FERRY CORSTEN: Expect a great set with a lot of entertainment and great music. It’s going to be a hell of a show, so don’t miss it! See you there.