If you were at Ultra or watching the live stream from home, you know that Galantis absolutely crushed this year’s main stage performance. Though they didn’t premiere any new music as in year’s past (and we’re really sad about that), the performance itself was one hit after another, indicative of their uncanny ability to just pump out incredible songs.
Galantis will be stopping by the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York in a couple weeks for back to back dates, and we’re giving one fan the chance to win a pair of ticket to Saturday’s show, no strings attached. Enter via the portal below, and read on for an exclusive interview with Galantis about their hit track “Rich Boy,” performing live, and returning to Coachella.
How did “Rich Boy” come to be? What was your inspiration behind the song?
The inspiration around Rich Boy… This is kinda how we start a lot of our songs, it was a piece of a vocal that was sent to us by a good friend, it’s our daughter singing and I believe she was 8 year olds when he recorded that vocal. So we started to mess around with the vocal and took it from there, and it was possible piece after possible piece and that became Rich Boy.
How do you approach production? Why is Galantis production different from your other side projects?
Regarding our vocals and vocalists on our tracks, I think the reason we do it is we want to have a completely open mind and freedom. No rules, no regulations to how we approach songwriting in general. Just because we can, we will. You know, whatever comes to mind, we’ll do it. We can treat a vocal however we want to treat a vocal, we can make any decision because that’s just how we do it in Galantis. You know, it could be a friend singing, us singing with a vocoder, there’s no limits.
How do you feel about going back to Coachella this year?
So we’re heading back to the desert, to Coachella, and this is a special one for us. This is where we did our first show 3 years ago. Our first Galantis show over. It was a huge moment for us. Standing behind the stage, waiting to face the crowd, knowing it had only been two weeks since we released our first piece of music and not knowing if anyone was going to be there, it was an amazing crowd. We were met with such love, and that’s the start, the root to why we wanted to continue to do this. Going back there now feels very special, we’ll be creating a new show. More of everything. More drums, more of our studio is going to come to life on stage, more energy, higher energy. We’re so excited, can’t wait.
How do you feel about touring in Brazil for the first time?
Finally, we’re going to Brazil! Galantis in Brazil! This is something we’ve been waiting for and excited for, finally going to Brazil to perform. We love the country, we’ve been a few times, but never performing as Galantis. And we’ve been seeing so much love and so much support from Brazil so we’re glad to go and finally give back. Plus, we’re going during Carnival in Brazil, which I’ve never seen. That’s another bonus! We’re so excited, see you soon Brazil and lets bring the heat.
What can fans expect from your live show?
So the Galantis live show… The goal has always been to recreate that feeling and vibe we have when we write and work on our music, when we create and are open minded and excited about everything going on in the studio. We’re jumping around, singing, all that. We try to do that live. We bring as many of our tools and gadgets, any gear that we enjoy in the studio we try to bring it to life on stage. We try to keep it an open flow, you know the format… We change it up, so we can make it a new show each night. You know that’s the core of Galantis live. So we definitely have one foot in DJing, we have such love for dance music and DJing, but we’re also very high energy, creative people that need our toys. We love the drums, and we have some pads, some filters, some samplers. That’s just been a part of Galantis since day one.
To understand the way we work on stage, we actually treat the sounds, the live elements, things that trigger from samplers and drums into our DJ mixer. So whatever Lionus is doing I can treat and vice versa, so it’s really a lot of teamwork up there, and that for us is the whole point, to be sharing those moments with someone and be creative. We don’t even know what we’re going to do when we do it, so it’s like a whole play looking at each other, because whatever I’m sending to Lionus’ channel he doesn’t even know it’s coming, which makes for funny and challenging kind of moments. It’s always good to have a part of danger in the show. You could try stuff and be like oh that was not so good and other times you’re like that’s great but that’s the thing is it’s live, it’s supposed to be like that. It’s dynamic. It’s a door open for improvisation. I feel like that’s something that we’re missing when we’re DJing, we need a gear shift of dynamic. Like banging hard on guitar or not banging hard on guitar.
To be able to do that in our world as a studio tool is normal, but in the live environment that’s the root. That’s where we started and that’s what we’re building on.
What are your plans for the rest of this year?
So Galantis 2017… We are, we will be releasing way more music than we have been before. We’ve been very busy in the studio and we’ve got tons of music coming out. It will be our biggest and most exciting year I believe. We’re going to be touring more than ever, this year is about heavy touring. We’re going to try and hit up all the major cities in Europe too. We hear you guys out there and eventually we’ll make it to your city for sure. We’re listening to all your requests, so please tune in, talk to us, tell us what you need and we’ll be there. We’ll be back in the US of course doing lots of shows, we’ll be doing more Vegas… Yeah, lots of music, lots of touring.
Image via Rukes.com
