From the look of it, LA-born duo BRKLYN have had a wild ride so far. From humble beginnings, to Las Vegas residencies with The Chainsmokers, Cameron and Cody have kept their cool and collected attitude all the while. The two recently recorded sessions with vocalist Jocelyn Alice, and out today is their single “I'm On Somethin'”, a sensual and freeing future-pop jam. However, under the surface of this fun track is something deep and inspiring. I was able to catch the two of them on their way to Atlantic City, to find out about how they concocted this refreshing piece of music.
I saw your live video with Jocelyn Alice on FB, looked like a pretty chill jam session!
Cameron: Yeah! That's pretty much how we wrote the upcoming record, up at Lake Arrowhead.
Where's that?
Cameron: Up in the mountains, in California. We we're in cabin up there when we started working on that song.
Cody: We originally wrote the song on guitar, piano…
Cam: Yeah, and we kind of wanted to bring it back to that. It's actually [Alice's] loft, where she lives.
How'd y'all meet?
Cody: Disrupter Records, they set up the first session between us. And we both hit it off like brother and sister, we have so much fun together.
Cam: It's hard to work because we literally just laugh so much.
Cody: Her laugh is so contagious!
Cam: That vibe, that energy we have with her, it's… effortless. We're able to be really transparent with each other. Which is cool, cause it means we're comfortable. We're able to tap into something deeper when creating songs.
I can tell, I think “I'm On Somethin'” is a really unique song.
Cam: Thanks! I just read- I think it was Porter Robinson who said “If you get goosebumps when you listen to music, there's something beautiful about your mind” …or something like that.
Cody: I've got them right now! Porter also said that he makes the music that he wants hear, and I feel like with this album, that's true for me.
What's the first time you gave yourself goosebumps with your music?
Cody: Probably with our first big song “Steal Your Heart” was on the radio. That was a great “coming to fruition” moment.
Cameron: We didn't think anything of it… we thought it was a good song, but we never thought it'd get millions of plays… when you have zero expectations, it makes it that much sweeter.
What was the next big surprise for BRKLYN?
Probably when we got our residency in Las Vegas, with Hakkasan Group. Like Omni, Liquid…
Cody: They we're once named the #1 nightclub in America, so, when we first started producing, we thought it'd be such a dream.
Cam: It was such a dream that we didn't even want to talk about it.
Cody: But then you see your face on a billboard saying your headlining…
Cam: It was humbling.
You guys have some deep musical roots. Tell me about your old band, Eye Alaska. What genre?
Cam: We called it “cinematic rock”.
How did that turn into what you're doing now?
Cam: Cody and I knew each other from high school. When I was on tour and he was in school, we started writing together. We we're learning from Teddy Riley, Rick Knowles, Jeff Basker…
Cody: Big producers.
Cam: And we learned a lot, and just started writing really good songs. From our very first show – we didn't even think about it – we played guitars. We wanted to combine the band and the DJ.
Do you have an ideal setup?
Both: Full band!
Cam: Throughout history, that's how people preformed. Bands never die.
Cody: DJing might take it's course, but I think people want to see more than pushing buttons
Cam: No disrespect, DJing is awesome, but we always had a different vision for ourselves. We love that music, but this is what we do and this is where we come from: how can we combine the two?
You've got a lot of support from the industry for doing what you do.
Cody: The Chainksmokers have shown their support.
Cam: We did a bunch of show with them in Vegas, they are awesome! Really great dudes.
Cody: Jocelyn has been really supportive, she's doing it for the love of the music. All of our managers too, they really push us to do our best.
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Take a listen to “I'm On Somethin'” here!
