Diplo & Switch of Major Lazer sit down and share everything you need to know about the group. From first meeting to picking out their name, to creating ‘Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do,’ the duo share stories about their time together, their journey over the last 15 years and more!
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00:00One of the words was major and I was like don't do that one and one of my ones was laser
00:04and he said don't do that one and that was it major laser.
00:07End of time.
00:09End of time yeah.
00:11Actually there's other songs that we did to be honest they never made it.
00:13If we actually listened to the critics and listened to our fans and listened to what
00:16people thought we'd make our music would fucking suck.
00:19Hey this is Diplo part of Major Lazer.
00:21This is Switch also part of Major Lazer.
00:25You're watching Billboard News.
00:26I'm here with Diplo and Switch we're here to talk about the 15 year anniversary of the
00:34seminal Major Lazer album Guns Don't Kill People Lasers Do.
00:38To start how are you guys feeling about it being 15 years ago now what does that bring
00:43up for you?
00:44Well we're old now.
00:46We've been doing it a little slower.
00:48It's crazy that we actually have been still in having our careers 15 years is still like
00:52loving music and we're still the same kind of creative people I think.
00:55Me and Dave have known each other for so long and it's cool to still be friends and come
00:59together and be able to work and share ideas and to come from that world so it's cool that
01:04we can keep doing it.
01:05Yeah it's true actually Jamaica out of anywhere in the world is kind of like every time you
01:10go there there's something new to pick up on or vibe on do you know what I mean?
01:14It feels brand new every time you go there.
01:16Do you guys remember the first time that you met?
01:18It was at Fabric wasn't it?
01:19Yeah London.
01:20Yeah London.
01:21I think I told the story recently but Dave couldn't correct me if I was wrong.
01:24We both played Fabric.
01:26It was like he was a resident there and he was like in the house room and I was like
01:29in the weird there's a party called Run the Road that was like the beginning of UK Grind.
01:35And I was in mix and I believe it was kind of a mash-up party and I was like the hip-hop
01:38DJ.
01:38I play like Usher song I would like dubstep and just weird things and it was it was brand
01:42new sound and Dave also was a house DJ that was doing something really unique for house
01:47music at the time and he was like just had all the hits in the clubs at the time so I
01:50was like a huge fan and we linked up just mutual respect.
01:54I was like I want to see him play and I came and we had the same night.
01:57I don't know if I played with you or with different rooms that we hung out in the booth.
02:00First time I met him he was really drunk in the booth at Fabric.
02:03When did it become a thing of like okay we're going to formalize this and work together?
02:07We both had a soft spot for Jamaican music at the time and we were both doing our individual
02:16sounds so it was a good excuse for us to kind of come together and do stuff
02:20but we had both been working on MIA separately.
02:23That's really how we met professionally.
02:25I'd been following Wes as a DJ and didn't know Maya.
02:30I'd been out to Jamaica, came back, heard Maya on the radio and went and dropped off
02:36the music that I'd made in Jamaica at XL and then they called me and were like she's
02:43working with Diplo in West London.
02:46Do you want to go and say hello?
02:49And that was it really.
02:50I think that was it.
02:51Yeah, hip-hop dance.
02:53She was a catalyst for our music for sure but Dave had been in Jamaica way before me.
02:58He had a really crazy record that wasn't big at all but it was the Two Cultures Clash album.
03:03He did two songs for that, right?
03:04So he was a distinct record.
03:07He was in Jamaica a lot doing a project.
03:10Who put that record out?
03:11Was it Nick or was it John Baker?
03:12That was John Baker and it was Wall of Sound.
03:16Yeah, Wall of Sound.
03:17So he was a house producer but they had brought him to Jamaica with other guys like Rhythm
03:20Digitales and some other dudes were there and he was working in Jamaica just in his
03:25like, you know when Dave's in the studio he just has his laptop, some headphones, three
03:30or four bottles of wine and like a bunch of weird shit that he finds and so he puts it
03:34all in like a briefcase and just stuffs it all in there, wires everything and just like
03:38unloads and he's in there in Jamaica.
03:40I think he's probably just catching vocals and he was coaching the people but he had
03:43put a record out that was made in Jamaica.
03:45I was like, whoa, Jamaica, like the way he mixes Jamaican music with futuristic sounds,
03:50I was just like, that is crazy.
03:52Like he was, he put out a couple records and I was like followed suit and I was really
03:55interested in what he was doing so we linked up through MIA.
03:58When you went for the first time, were you guys together?
04:00Did you go on your own, Wes?
04:02I had gone on my own a couple of years before.
04:04I'd gotten off of a cruise ship that I had a job on.
04:07I just, I hated it so much.
04:08I got off in Ocho Rios and just went to Kingston and met a couple artists like Left Side who
04:13we worked with a lot.
04:14Cartel.
04:15Cartel, I met him.
04:16Just people I met just through friends of friends and Dave had already been there and
04:20I went a little later.
04:21Both went to Jamaica on our own and we linked up again through MIA.
04:24Dave had a really big hand in a lot of music from my city.
04:28When he met me, he was very excited about what I was doing at parties but he wanted
04:32to, he was like, yeah, I want to know about this Philly scene.
04:33Spank Rock.
04:34So he came and he wanted to meet Amanda Blank, Spank Rock, Plastic Little.
04:40Santee.
04:41Santee Gold and of course MIA wasn't from Philly but she was there a lot working with
04:46me and Philly had like the most cutting edge scene I think in hip hop meets dance music
04:53at the moment.
04:54Those are like the holotronics.
04:55Exactly.
04:56We had a party that was like the home for the music and Dave was really like, he knew
05:00that it was special.
05:01That was what I, that's what I was getting in London was the holoboard and all of that,
05:06the holotronics.
05:07That was different from anything else that was, really for me, American house music and
05:13hip hop was everything that I was studying.
05:16So when these guys were coming along and mashing that up and wasn't, and not scared of stepping
05:22outside of any different boundaries, you know what I mean?
05:24Still based on hip hop mainly but kind of like experiment.
05:28Yeah, exactly.
05:29That was refreshing.
05:30That's what's interesting.
05:31You guys have all this musical DNA and then you go down to Jamaica to make this album
05:35together.
05:36Like where do you even start with everything that you're pulling from and it's like
05:39already such a global thing.
05:41I think Philly was special because the scene that we had, we just invented it.
05:45There was nothing before us.
05:46It was just, we rented a venue and all the kids who came out to the party, holotronics
05:51were like just working class kids and they would just dress like they came off their
05:54job or whatever.
05:55They came from their college or whatever and we just, we all loaded ourselves into this
05:58hall about this size and we DJed and there was like no fashion, it was just cheap beer
06:04and they trusted me and my boy Low Budget to DJ however we wanted to do it.
06:08So we had this like freedom in that city where there was no rules and as long as you had
06:13a good time, it was great.
06:15And I think when me and Dave linked up in Jamaica, same thing.
06:19Like when you're in London working with people, it's always like this artist does this thing.
06:23Here, I'll bring this girl to you.
06:24Like this is what she does.
06:25In Jamaica, you literally like you play a beat and they just, they like it and they
06:28don't and they rap on it and you give them a little money and they're like that's it
06:32and they do the next song.
06:32And it's like, it was almost like a factory, right?
06:36We're just there with our weirdest songs and they were like yeah, I'll do any of these
06:39records.
06:40That's what I wanted to talk to you about because there's obviously an incredible collection
06:43of collaborators on this album.
06:44Like are these people that you're reaching out for or they're just coming through or
06:48like how do you get this crew of people together that feels so vital and like of that moment
06:52and of that place?
06:53It's very unscripted.
06:55I mean what happened was, I mean we're two guys that nobody knew definitely and at that
07:01time, it's a very close-knit circuit, the music scene in Kingston, especially the studios
07:07and whatever.
07:08We were brave enough to hire out Tough Gong initially and we reached out to a few people
07:15that we knew and then we were waiting for people to come and then we would be going
07:20out to get some food on the street and there would be these kids on the street that were
07:23trying to give us their CDs at the time because they see us going in and out of the studio
07:28but then they'd be like, they'd just be performing for us on the street so we'd be like come
07:33in and then I think once people started to hear what we were doing and it was different
07:39but it was good, you know, I mean you imagine playing those guys upon the floor.
07:49For the first time in Jamaica, do you know what I mean, there's a few raised eyebrows.
07:54Everybody was confused but they were just like, well in Jamaica there was a bunch of
07:58progressive producers at the time so they were doing interesting things so people were
08:02actually leaning towards whatever stands out, you know.
08:06Our records are really standing out but we would actually record them how we had them
08:09and then we'd go back in the studio and Dave was a pioneer in just like remixing his own
08:14records so like by version six or seven it was like totally insane, you know, like for
08:20instance Hold the Line or whatever.
08:21We started and it just gets weirder and weirder and we're like okay, this is just weird enough,
08:26this is going to raise eyebrows like you said and get people's attention so.
08:29Yeah.
08:29It sounds like you're fitting in but did you feel like aliens down there too or that
08:32you're standing out and like you become a magnet because you are just so different from
08:37you know the musical community that existed?
08:39We heard Upon the Floor on the radio in the gas station and that was a little moment.
08:44Yeah, we realized like they were supporting us, you know.
08:48They were feeling what you guys were doing?
08:50That it was penetrating this market that we felt that was like kind of very special,
08:59do you know what I mean?
08:59But we were committed, we were going there a lot.
09:01We weren't just like dropping in records, we were there like every month.
09:04So when did that shift and you guys knew that you had your own thing happening?
09:09With Major Lazer, when it started taking off, it happened pretty quickly.
09:13Yeah, I think we booked some shows, we played like SLVs in New York.
09:17Yeah.
09:17And that was the beginning, we just met a guy, Cat Clash.
09:20We just had a guy come on stage with us and be on the mic and that was like our first show.
09:23Yeah.
09:24Played a bunch of records we made, people were super confused, we wore suits.
09:27But we kind of made a language of it.
09:29We liked the suits, we like had this mod look.
09:31We're like, how do we translate us, these two white dudes making dancehall reggae?
09:34And we were thinking about like the specials, we're thinking about old school London times
09:39and we're like this is kind of like our reggae and the world has always been mashed up already.
09:43There's already scenes where like London had this dancehall mixed with rock and roll.
09:47Skinheads and mods and all of that was a very sort of, you know,
09:51there was a strong Jamaican community in West London in particular and South London.
09:57I think our real moment where we thought this was like a solid project,
10:01people were paying attention, was probably our first Lonnie Hill Carnival where we did our own party.
10:06Because it was like everybody had their own sound system and we rented this little venue under the Westway.
10:11Under the Westway, yeah.
10:12Right next door to my studio.
10:13We had some sponsors and we just literally invited people, it was free.
10:16And we had like free rum, free Red Bull and people just came and we had...
10:21It was free to look, all you had to do was like, yeah, it was like register or something like that.
10:26It was like just come in, it was like we had like 6,000 kids there and it was like me,
10:29you, we think we had Scream and Banger the first one.
10:31David Roddigan.
10:32David Roddigan played.
10:33Eventually we had like Sean Paul would show up, we had Toots and the Maytals.
10:38Toots and the Maytals, yeah.
10:39We had Marshall Montana, everybody used to come and do a little set with us during Carnival and it felt like...
10:46Because Carnival really is the big mash-up of culture.
10:50It's Jamaican and European, everything together and it's like a big reg.
10:55Dub in one area, drum and bass in one area, house music, proper dance hall and we just did our party there.
11:00And we saw all the London young kids come out and love what we were doing.
11:03And you were accepted and celebrated.
11:05I think so, yeah.
11:06And you knew it was a thing.
11:07We weren't trying to copy or imitate anything too much.
11:10We were taking like a little bit of the influence and London really is a hub for that type of music.
11:18Especially on the west side where the Carnival is.
11:22The heritage of the Jamaican community there is very present, you know.
11:27We weren't trying to copy anything, we really were trying to do something that was brand new.
11:30Yeah.
11:31We just had to conceptualize it, so we had like the art, we had the way we looked.
11:34Right.
11:35We had our, you know, the Major Lazer character.
11:37We just kind of thought of like what are things that we could help build this brand that people
11:41understood it's something unique.
11:43And I think we did a really good job of just kind of, we had Kevin Kusatsu, our manager at the time,
11:46who really like also hard-lined our like style.
11:49He's where I came from, the punk world.
11:51Sure.
11:51So he gave us like a bit of vision on how to do it.
11:54Super curious about the visual identity because you've created this whole world with Major Lazer.
11:58Like tell me about the conceptualization and how you landed on this aesthetic
12:02and who you worked with to make that so.
12:04We had a list of two names, two lists of 10 names each or something.
12:08Yeah.
12:09Just words we put in a hat.
12:11He had, one of the words was Major and I was like, don't do that one.
12:15One of my ones was Lazer and he said, don't do that one.
12:18And that was it, Major Lazer.
12:19And then we've kind of like, okay, cool, this guy.
12:21Because there's kind of like, there's a lot of like General Levy and General,
12:24do you know what I mean?
12:25It's a long word, yeah.
12:26It was literally that, it was literally that.
12:30It was truly picking words out of a hat.
12:32Yeah.
12:32Yeah, literally.
12:34And then making the character up as we kind of, as we were standing.
12:37Okay, so you get these two words together.
12:38Does it immediately come to mind of like who you wanted this person to be or tell me
12:42about how you talked about to create this thing?
12:44Well, then it was the Major Lazer was the guy that was the sort of superhero.
12:50The Lazer was just like, okay, how is he going to have a Lazer, make his arm a Lazer?
12:54And it was literally that.
12:56Kevin reached out to, um.
12:57Terry Gow.
12:58Yeah, to get the artwork done.
13:00And he was literally the first person, right?
13:03Yeah, we had one, we had a couple guys.
13:04We had this guy that did TNT surf designs.
13:08We had a couple guys that were famous artists that we just said, can you just,
13:11here's the name, Major Lazer.
13:12Can you draw a person?
13:13And we had also the science, like the, a lot of the 80s 12 inch covers in Jamaica.
13:20Yeah, there's a famous artist from Jamaica called Dominious and he's from the 80s.
13:25And he did a lot of Jamaican comic book drawings.
13:29And he always did like dub covers and like some stuff like, I think he might have done
13:34some early like Yellow Man, things like that.
13:37These are album covers.
13:38And he was very influential.
13:40He was like a graphic designer in Jamaica.
13:42Did magazines and posters for the government and eventually started making these kind of
13:45comic books that were very unheard of.
13:46He had a big book that kind of, that kind of covered his artwork over the last couple
13:50of years.
13:50He passed away years ago, but he drew all these kind of like old west and superhero
13:54comic kind of designs that were like.
13:56Out of spice.
13:57Do you know what I mean?
13:59Yeah.
13:59So that was kind of our reference.
14:00We loved what he did.
14:01And of course, when you come to Jamaican storytelling, they love westerns.
14:06They love, you know, Jimmy Cliff, The Harder They Come was basically like a spaghetti western
14:10movie.
14:11They love these like antihero characters and all these artists want to be that guy.
14:15Like a lot of dancehall guys come from that western atmosphere as far as like the storytelling.
14:20And I think that we created this guy that was sort of like in succession of the legacy
14:25of these Jamaican characters.
14:26Okay.
14:26The album comes out June 16th, 2009.
14:30How did your lives change?
14:31Did they change off the bat?
14:33For me, it was the first project that we created from scratch.
14:36So we had to, we had, it was awesome to like own that project.
14:39We were like, yeah, we were like, no, this is all, we always in the behind the scenes.
14:42We're producers.
14:43Yeah.
14:44Finishing other people's records.
14:45But this was something that we did.
14:47Right.
14:48100%.
14:49People really liked it.
14:50People, people were like into it.
14:52We had a great community of artists.
14:54Like we had Sansi.
14:54Like I said, we had Maya.
14:55We had Ricky Blaze and Nina Sky.
14:58We had Mr. Lex.
15:01We had all the people that were kind of the outsiders in Jamaican and that kind of culture
15:06were our companions in this project.
15:08And it was so cool to have that small community.
15:10And we just, like I said, we moved forward with it.
15:12We had Scarab Boy.
15:14Yeah.
15:14We had Clash.
15:15A bunch of just people that were also jillionaire, just chaotic Caribbean punks.
15:21And then we were all like together in this little scene.
15:23So.
15:24Then it starts gaining traction.
15:25I mean, it got really good reviews.
15:27Let me read.
15:27I have something from The Guardian here.
15:29The album sometimes feels like a cherry picking trawl through 40 years of Jamaican musical
15:33history.
15:33But it's all done with such energy and flair that it's difficult not to obey instructions
15:38and shake your bottom frenetically.
15:41That was The Guardian, 2009.
15:43That's a good last line.
15:44Yeah.
15:44Shake your bottom frenetically.
15:45Shake your bottom frenetically.
15:47Very English way to describe.
15:48Exactly.
15:49Shake your bottom.
15:51I'll shake your bottom frenetically to this dancehall music.
15:54I think a lot of English press really, really liked it because everybody did love Caribbean
16:00and Jamaican music and dancehall.
16:01And I think in London.
16:02And you had to be either like real reggae, real dancehall, or you were like garage drum
16:07bass.
16:08There was like no middle ground where it was like.
16:09Everything was very segregated.
16:11You were a specialist and people were kind of precious about what their sound was.
16:16House music, you're house music.
16:18Drum and bass, you don't mess with anyone else.
16:21Whereas I feel like we chucked everything in the pot.
16:24Also, at the time, it was like the first era of iPads and stuff.
16:30Do you know what I mean?
16:30People were trading music on the internet.
16:32Yeah, right.
16:32Exactly.
16:34There was Soul Seek and Napster and like I said, the message boards.
16:38People were like just word of mouth.
16:40And that's the best.
16:41I think that's what really helped propel us ahead is that people really loved our music
16:46and they shared it with each other.
16:47Because back before that, it was like you had to go to the store and buy a CD and rely
16:51on what a major label tells you to buy, rely on what's on the advertiser in front of the
16:55shop.
16:55But we just had people that heard about us because we already had a little community
16:58on the internet.
16:59And they traded these songs like, yo, check this out.
17:01They're like, I never heard anything like this.
17:02Yeah, right.
17:03And they invested in us.
17:05And I think that's how we kind of built our fan base.
17:07And by the second album, we were like really had a sound that was complete.
17:10If the album were to come out now, it was such a product of its time in the sense that
17:14you're saying it was shared in the way that it was shared and it kind of had this slow
17:19dissemination on the internet.
17:20What do you think would happen if this album were to come out today?
17:23I mean, with our videos, everything we did, it would be cancelled before we even started.
17:27Because people wouldn't give us a chance.
17:29They'd be like, we don't really understand this.
17:31And this isn't correct.
17:32But back then, nobody really gave a shit.
17:35We just like, they're like, I like the way this sounds.
17:37You know, today there's too many like tastemakers and rules.
17:41The funny thing is, is when we came to put in the additional parts on the album for this
17:48time around, we found a safe that had all the hard drives in it from that time, from
17:56like 2007 to 2011.
17:58Nine hard drives that I'd lost the key for.
18:02And I'd moved house.
18:04I'd moved house.
18:05And we got Derek, our engineer, who was there at the time.
18:10And we broke into this safe.
18:12That's where the MIA record was found.
18:15What was that like for you to sit with that and just like?
18:17Funny.
18:19It was very funny.
18:20He sat in front of his laptop and a little tear just dropped by like.
18:25He held a candle in the wind.
18:29We had so much chaotic records that are just so far from completion.
18:32But we have, we both suffer from insane ADHD.
18:35To finish a record for us is like such a difficult task.
18:40But if we have a chance to do it, sit back with it, I think it would, we would be able
18:45to come up with like another album with leftover records.
18:48Do you think there was a sense of fearlessness because you knew it was so good that you didn't
18:51have to care or play by the rules?
18:53We really had nothing to lose.
18:54At that time, me and him were both so unique in our own communities.
18:57We weren't the biggest DJs.
18:58I wasn't the biggest hip hop or dance DJ.
19:00He wasn't the biggest house DJ by far.
19:02But people always knew like we were kind of the coolest ones.
19:05Honestly, I'm not gonna say that.
19:06We already knew like if you want to play a Switch record, it's gonna be weird.
19:09But it's gonna be a cutting edge record.
19:11When we started making our music and putting it out, we really, we didn't have anything
19:14to lose.
19:15Because we already were like pushing the boundaries.
19:17So we didn't care.
19:18If someone didn't like it, I'd rather have gone out like burning with a crazy record
19:22than to have something that was generic.
19:25What was it like when it started just gaining this momentum and became kind of this whole
19:28other thing?
19:29I mean, we had to move quick and started, we started getting better at making music,
19:32I think.
19:33Before Dave, I was like using like Acid and Kool Air Pro.
19:36And he showed me how to like actually mix a record and like put stuff in key and like
19:40make a mastering plug-ins.
19:41And we had to like learn that.
19:43We started getting offers from bigger artists by the second album.
19:45We were like, we were like, we could, this could be big, you know, and like we had records
19:49like Get Free on the second project.
19:52And that was like BOOM!
19:52I.A.
19:53And we had these records that were much more refined than the first one that were able
19:57to be international.
19:57I remember BOOM!
19:58I.A.
19:59was our first album with Busy Signal.
20:01We ended up, it was like used for the Kenyan team, soccer team as an anthem.
20:05And it was like a number one record in France.
20:06And like we were just like, damn, we had really invented something with Major Lazer Language.
20:11But by the second project, we were like able to like make records that were actually hits.
20:15Sure.
20:15And that was like awesome to see our trajectory, like something so chaotic and then build something
20:20that makes sense for people.
20:21It was awesome.
20:22And then that record, I mean, I'm just thinking of the Beyonce moment.
20:25You know, it's like this secret weapon thing.
20:27And then Beyonce uses it.
20:29Like, what was it like to sort of see that trajectory of like, this song is so secret
20:34and now it's on one of the biggest songs in the world.
20:41Well, the whole thing.
20:42I mean, look, do you know what I mean?
20:44I mean, Wes has a wall full of everyone.
20:49Sure, but not at that time, necessarily.
20:51Not at that time.
20:52But yeah, there was...
20:53I remember me and him, we were in London.
20:55We were in New York.
20:56Beyonce had summoned us to work on her record.
20:59I remember, yeah.
21:00Because we did Girls, and we did another record together for her album called End of Time.
21:06End of Time, yeah.
21:08And then we just, actually there's other songs that we did for Beyonce that never made it.
21:12We have some demos from that Sessions.
21:14I ended up going to jail one of those days, and I missed the Sessions.
21:18Yeah, I remember.
21:19Tell us more about that.
21:22I think like day two, I was at the Standard.
21:23I got in a fight, and then I had to go to court, and then they just put me in jail for a day.
21:29There was a blizzard, so I missed the Sessions.
21:30And Dave did some records on his own, so.
21:32Some Beyonce records.
21:33Yeah.
21:34You made it through there, though.
21:35I did go to jail after two days, but I had to pay bail because no one came the next day
21:38because it was a snowstorm, so the judges didn't show up.
21:41And I ended up having to go to court.
21:43And there was a guy there who was a fan.
21:44He was like, I paid his bail, too, because I felt bad for him.
21:47I made it back to the studio, and we finished that Beyonce song, so it was cool.
21:51She wasn't there.
21:53She was there one day.
21:56She's kind of like magic in the studio.
22:00She's dancing, and she's very hands-on.
22:03And she has a thick accent.
22:07Like a real, you don't know her because you don't see her that often in the studio.
22:09I remember she has the most thickest Texas accent that now, when you hear her, she just
22:15talks normal to you in the studio.
22:16When you hear her in interviews, you don't hear it as much, but when you're in the studio
22:18with her, you hear it.
22:19It's one thing I remember.
22:20Take me through the timeline here, because when did you exit the scene in terms of Major
22:26Lazer?
22:27Were you on the second album?
22:28I think, yeah.
22:29After the second album, I think what happened was it became bigger than either of us had
22:35expected.
22:36And I am not really, I don't really like doing this, like the front end of it.
22:44Wes is way more comfortable doing that.
22:47And I like being in the studio and watching people be on stage and do that type of thing.
22:54So for me, the way that he tours and the way that he jumps on planes and everything is
22:58like, that for me is magic.
23:01But really, I was way more comfortable being behind and back.
23:05And then I got into doing more production and writing.
23:09And Wes just went on the craziest DJ rocket to the moon.
23:16See, we just, yeah, touring is difficult.
23:19And Dave, we're doing so much of it.
23:20It was like crisscrossing everywhere.
23:23And, you know, we were younger.
23:24We used to party.
23:25And so it didn't really work that well.
23:28With like the way we drink a whole bottle of rum at the carnival and check in a flight.
23:32I couldn't keep up.
23:35There was a moment once when we were in Australia and I saw Dave at the airport.
23:39And I was like, hey, we're about to board this flight.
23:41And he's like, yeah, cool.
23:42And then he's on the flight.
23:44He falls asleep at the airport, misses the whole show.
23:46He's like in like the Adelaide airport or something.
23:48I remember when I went back to Australia, they wouldn't let me go around without someone
23:53being a babysitter.
23:54Without a chaperone, yeah.
23:55Just a premonition of like, this might not work.
23:57Yeah, I think Dave definitely knew his limits.
23:59I think getting off the road was really good for him.
24:01And he actually is amazing in the studio.
24:03He became more of like an executive producer, a confidant for young artists.
24:07And it was like a big, I think it was much better for him.
24:09I was like loving the road.
24:11And I still was like younger.
24:12I felt like I had the energy.
24:13But yeah, even though you still do.
24:15I still do.
24:15But I don't do it as much.
24:16That was crazy because we had we were making that much money.
24:19We were taking like shitty flights.
24:20We were like doing a bunch of airlines.
24:22We had a bunch of people with us.
24:23It was like a lot of people.
24:26And it was just time consuming.
24:29Really, it was time consuming.
24:30And he had a girlfriend at the time and everything.
24:32I was still young and out there, you know, partying and stuff.
24:35But I think it just became too much time.
24:38It got sillier and sillier.
24:39I think Dave just got more uncomfortable too.
24:41You were never going to be the guy.
24:43He was kind of like smoking a cigarette.
24:45Almost like looking at the shit like, what the fuck is even going on?
24:47I remember looking at him and he was like.
24:48Did I mean this?
24:49Yeah.
24:49Did we mean that?
24:51He got so out of control.
24:52It was like people half naked jumping off ladders.
24:55And Dave was smoking a cigarette.
24:58I remember looking over and he was just like.
25:00I would have to do it.
25:00And I'm like running on stage.
25:01People would be like, there's a flame flower.
25:03And he was just like smoking a cigarette.
25:05Like, what is even going on?
25:06Do you feel like this album created a template, so to speak,
25:10for you being able to find sounds from around the world that you were into
25:14and like put them through the major laser filter and show them to new audiences?
25:18I'm thinking Africa, South Africa, South America.
25:22I was always traveling.
25:23So the first album definitely was just us in Jamaica.
25:28Like I said, we had a little studio there and anybody came by,
25:31we'd make records with them.
25:32And that's how the album started and how we finished it.
25:35I like the third album.
25:36I was like in Brazil and I was meeting people and we were like,
25:39Anita or whoever the artist, an Indian artist or whatever it is,
25:43somebody from South Africa, like Burna Boy.
25:44We had a huge record with him.
25:46I was always thinking,
25:47how do we take what they're doing and bring it to the rest of the world too?
25:50So I think that it started to grow as I traveled.
25:54Obviously, Lean On Made History is the most
26:00streamed Spotify song ever at that time.
26:03What was it like for you to like break barriers?
26:06We first had a deal with Downtown and then
26:10they got excited about Puddle Floor because it had like a little buzz.
26:13So we ended up doing Keep It Going Louder on the major label,
26:15but it was too crazy of a song.
26:17And Bubble Butt, we had a big song with Bruno Mars,
26:18that was super rad.
26:19We were working with No Doubt at the time too.
26:21And we got upstreamed.
26:24And then we went to Jamaica and was like,
26:25okay, damn, we got some money now.
26:26We got, they're actually giving us a little money to make an album.
26:29We made this song called Get Free.
26:32Honestly, it's probably our best song ever.
26:34As far as our context and how we are as artists,
26:36I think that's our legacy song.
26:38It's just so beautiful.
26:39The video is amazing.
26:41It's a real poem to Jamaica.
26:43And we turned it in to the major label Interscope
26:45and they literally were like,
26:47this sucks.
26:48Where's the dubstep?
26:50And we're done with you.
26:51They dropped us.
26:53So I was like, all right, fuck it.
26:54We'll put it on ourselves.
26:56And then we ended up having Boom I A on that album.
26:58Some other records.
26:58And it kind of was a good follow-up,
26:59but we were like, you know what?
27:00We don't really need a label.
27:01We kind of like, we already built this whole thing.
27:03We already made our own videos.
27:04We already know how to make a show.
27:06We already know how to kind of get the artists on our records.
27:08We know how to make something that's never been done before.
27:11So by the time we had our third album,
27:13we had kind of formed like,
27:14damn, we can kind of lean into like what's on the radio now.
27:17We can lean into, we kind of set a precedent.
27:18Now we can make things that are bigger.
27:19And I think with Lean On, it was just like,
27:22we were on the forefront of the way music sound.
27:25But also, we were down to give our music away.
27:27We were down for our records to stream.
27:29We partnered with Spotify.
27:31We partnered with Apple and Tidal,
27:32whatever was there at the time.
27:33And we were like, let's push this forward.
27:35Labels were still complaining back then.
27:36They were still like trying to cut bootlegging off the internet.
27:39And we were like, we don't give a shit
27:40as long as we're getting shows and stuff.
27:42So Lean On, it just started building traction everywhere
27:45and it became a huge record.
27:47And we were like the first ones
27:48that really partnered with the DSPs
27:50to get those records to get big.
27:52I think that was like the power of like moving forward
27:56with technology and not being scared of it.
27:57It also met the moment because dance music was,
28:00I mean, that was what, 2015?
28:01Like that was when like the peak of, you know,
28:04whatever you want to call it.
28:05The energy of dance was taking over America, for sure.
28:07Yeah, and like you were right there for it.
28:09But you had also set the stage for it
28:11and helped create it with the first album.
28:13So you kind of rode that wave and then had that moment,
28:15like when that was the biggest thing in the world.
28:18Yeah, it was, there was a lot of timing that was, you know.
28:21But I think that that was due to being out and DJing
28:26but also translating that into what we were doing
28:28in the studio because it was, we were like,
28:32what I was saying is we had an outlet
28:34that we didn't have to really listen to anyone
28:36as long as we like, we were kind of like our own A&R.
28:39We were our own, do you know what I mean?
28:42Our own sort of.
28:43Right.
28:44If we actually listened to the critics
28:45and listened to our fans
28:46and listened to what people thought we'd make,
28:47our music would fucking suck.
28:50What would it sound like?
28:51Just whatever, whatever we've, whatever's created
28:53in like a marketing, a meeting at a label,
28:57who knows what they think is good.
28:59But we just made shit that we liked
29:00and we made shit that we like to play
29:02and I think that's kind of why it was great.
29:04Do you have a nostalgia
29:06or do you miss those pre-Algorithm times?
29:09I do, I always think about the first time
29:11we played in Jamaica together
29:13and it was a complete bust
29:14and people were excited because they knew
29:16they was like, we played at this party,
29:18it was at the asylum, it was in Zimbabwe.
29:20Kind of saved our show.
29:20A couple guys that we collaborated with
29:22but it was cool to like kind of bomb
29:24and be like, all right, nothing's perfect, you know?
29:26And then we got better.
29:27It's good to like, it's good to kind of like,
29:30we were like, we got to get more sound system,
29:31we got to get more dub plates,
29:32we need to host better.
29:33That's how we decided we needed a host for our show.
29:36So it was actually pretty good
29:38to hit some roadblocks in the way.
29:41Okay, so what's it like for you two
29:42to come back to this 15 years later?
29:44Like, do you guys keep in touch
29:46or is this kind of a...
29:47Yeah, we're always knocking bits and bobs
29:49back from fourth and whatever.
29:51I mean...
29:51We never lost touch.
29:53I think I always come back to him like,
29:56yo, Dave, what do you think about this?
29:57Like, he's always a barometer of like,
29:58what's cool, what's different
29:59and I was, for the last 10 years,
30:01still feeding him records and asking him questions, so.
30:03The different iterations of Major Lazer,
30:05when Jillianaire and Walshie came in,
30:07did anything change sonically, aesthetically?
30:11Tell me.
30:11Walshie and Jillianaire just brought...
30:14Me and Jillianaire, we found Scareboy.
30:16Jillianaire's always been around
30:17since the beginning, really.
30:18And he brought us to Trinidad
30:19and that was another info we didn't know.
30:21I didn't know much about Trinidad
30:22and he brought me there to do some shows
30:24and I learned a lot about Soka and the energy
30:26and I was like, damn, this is even crazier.
30:29A smaller island, but I fell in love with it.
30:30And we started going to Trinidad to work too.
30:32And we met Walsh because Walsh
30:35had a group called Black Chiney
30:36and they were similar to what Major Lazer did.
30:38They were Chinese Jamaican kids,
30:39but they did dub plates of like, Nirvana.
30:42Like, James Brown.
30:43They were just like on the fringe of Jamaican music
30:45but doing something also very unique.
30:47And we brought Walsh in like,
30:48yo, can you help us do what we do
30:50but give us more of a Jamaican edge?
30:52And he came and like, like I said,
30:54set up the shows for us
30:55and made us like really have a plan of attack.
30:57And we became like this kind of circus live
30:59because of Walsh and Chris.
31:01Like I said, the group just kept growing.
31:02Now we have Ape Drums also.
31:03And anybody who's into the Caribbean music
31:06and into the chaos of it,
31:07I think we brought them into the fold
31:08and they're part of our team.
31:09Cadenza as well is a good friend of ours.
31:10Yeah, probably, yeah.
31:12Also worked with us a little bit.
31:14I think we have a big family.
31:15I think Sothy's part of our family.
31:16Like Maya's part of our family.
31:18Prince and Boo.
31:19I think it's a lot of guys that are,
31:20that helped us put together what we've done.
31:22Why did Jillian Air leave?
31:23And then how did you get Ape Drums in the mix?
31:25I think Jillian Air, same thing with Dave.
31:27He was just like, yo, this is, what am I doing here?
31:29He wasn't like getting married
31:31and he wanted to like find, you know,
31:32other things that he was doing
31:33and the road was demanding.
31:35You know, even me, we only do like four
31:37or five major shows a year.
31:38But back in our heyday, we were doing like 50.
31:41Right.
31:41You know, and in between he's doing 50 Switch shows.
31:44I'm doing 50 Diplo shows.
31:45And it was like, it was just like too much.
31:48And we didn't know which would,
31:49how to allot our time to the right things.
31:51Burning Man and Coachella.
31:53I pick one?
31:54Yeah.
31:54Oh, you can't ask me that.
31:57I get in trouble when we pick one.
31:59Coachella.
32:00I'll say Burning Man then.
32:01Okay, there you go.
32:02You got us out of luck.
32:04First day on tour or last day on tour?
32:08Oh, last day on tour.
32:10First.
32:11Okay.
32:14Performing at nightclubs or private events?
32:16Honestly, they both equally suck.
32:21I was going to say.
32:22Yeah.
32:23Private events are pretty funny though,
32:24because you don't, you already got paid.
32:25So you can do whatever you want.
32:26Sure.
32:27Clubs, you have to earn that money.
32:28Yeah.
32:28Okay.
32:29Radio or streaming?
32:31What's radio?
32:32Radio.
32:34Definitely.
32:35Okay.
32:36If you get the radio, then you're really doing it right.
32:38Because that's difficult nowadays.
32:39There you go.
32:40Trance or techno?
32:41I don't even know if I hate trance records, really.
32:43Techno.
32:44Yeah, I got to say techno.
32:45Hardstyle or gabber?
32:47Just gabber, because it's so crazy.
32:50Progressive house or tech house?
32:53I don't really know the difference of that.
32:54Tech house.
32:55I'll go tech house too.
32:56I think if David Bennett, tech house.
32:59I feel like.
32:59Yeah.
33:00Bombshell.
33:00Yeah.
33:00We got a scoop here.
33:02Okay.
33:03Ibiza or Ibiza?
33:06Ibiza.
33:07Yeah, what do you say?
33:08I'm from Essex.
33:08There you go.
33:09Ibiza or Tulum?
33:10I'd say Ibiza's better.
33:12Yeah, I think so.
33:13First class or private plane?
33:16Shit, give us a private plane.
33:17I mean, are we paying for it?
33:19Yeah.
33:20Then the first class.
33:20Okay.
33:23LA or New York?
33:24That's a hard one.
33:26We both live in LA.
33:26We both skipped New York, but I love going there.
33:29What's in New York?
33:30Yeah.
33:31Your vacation spot?
33:32LA.
33:32Okay, thank you.
33:33Instagram or TikTok?
33:34I don't even know what TikTok looks like anymore.
33:38You haven't even had a TikTok?
33:39I've never had a TikTok, no.
33:41TikTok.
33:42I've seen him recently, he does post himself on Instagram now.
33:45I'm trying to do Instagram now.
33:47I followed you today.
33:48You did?
33:48You got some stuff there.
33:50I recently seen it, I see it now.
33:52Yeah, you're building it, I see it.
33:53Sunset or sunrise?
33:54Sunrise.
33:55Yeah, sunrise, easy.
33:57Okay.
33:57Driving or passenger?
33:59Driving.
33:59Passenger.
34:01Easy, you guys can go together.
34:02Mountains or beach?
34:04Beach.
34:04Mountains.
34:05Beach.
34:06Beach.
34:07Mountains.
34:09Grammy or an Oscar?
34:10Oscar.
34:11Oscar, yeah, where's that?
34:12How do we get one?
34:14Rich and famous or rich and unknown?
34:17Rich and unknown.
34:18Way better.
34:20Okay.
34:20Attend a party or host a party?
34:22Host.
34:23Attend.
34:25Stay home.
34:26Attend.
34:28Go to sleep.
34:29The 80s or the 90s?
34:30The 80s.
34:31Yeah.
34:32Sweet or salty?
34:34Salty.
34:35Salty.
34:37Being late or being on time?
34:39Oh.
34:40Oh, we're never on time.
34:41Late.
34:42Memes or GIFs?
34:44Huh?
34:45I know, we'll skip that one.
34:48Maybe the same.
34:49GIF moves, GIF, a GIF moves.
34:51Oh, GIF.
34:52A GIF, excuse me.
34:53GIF.
34:54GIF.
34:55Cool.
34:56Thanksgiving or Christmas?
34:59Christmas.
34:59Yeah.
35:00Summer or winter?
35:02Summer.
35:03Summer, all the time.
35:04Major Lazer or Jack U?
35:06Major Lazer.
35:08Major Lazer or Silk City?
35:09Major Lazer.
35:11Are you asking me or him?
35:13Major Lazer.
35:13Major Lazer for all of them.
35:14Major Lazer or LSD?
35:16Major Lazer.
35:16Major Lazer all day.