An Interview with Cash Cash

I got to talk with JP from Cash Cash before their show Friday evening at Tuxedo Junction in Danbury, CT. Take a look at the interview below to get an inside look at one of the members of the group.

I like to start off my interviews getting to know the person a bit. Their favorite song, music group; that type of stuff. I am going to say a couple of things and you respond how you see fit.

Favorite song: Favorite song is a tough one because we are producers and we like so many different genres of music from dance to rock to pop, you know old stuff too. If I had to pick one song it’d be tough. I think it is probably impossible. We love it all.

Favorite Music Festival: That is another hard one. We played so many over the years. I guess for us, some of our favorite ones were Lollapalooza. It was a really good one. Firefly was really big and crazy.

Favorite Cash Cash Song: Lightening. It hit home with us.

Favorite liquor: Johnny Walker Double Black.  But usually we stick with Jameson, Fireball, or Grey Goose. We gotta keep it simple for the ladies. You know, gotta keep everyone in the both happy.

We call this next segment The Time Machine.. it gives us and our audience a sense of where your style came from and how the way you grew up influences your music today.

Lets go back to your early teens, what album or artist shaped your childhood?

For sure Justice and Daft Punk, they really sucked us in. They got the creative juices going as far as electronic music goes.  But then as far as song writing pretty much anything and everything from the Beatles to people like Celine Dion and all the stuff from the 90’s, 80’s pop, etc.

You can travel back in time to one musical decade. Which do do you go to?

I’d like to go back to the 90’s. That would be a cool destination.

Who do you go see?

Definitely Nirvana.  We grew up big big Nirvana fans. Loved it all.

If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, which song would it be?

That is a tough one. I think it would have to be a long long one. Something not too repetitive. (Asks Sam, “What do you think, if you had to pick one song for the rest of your life?”) I am thinking of a Dave Matthews song here, something that’s six minutes.  (Sam says, ” Let It Be by the Beatles.”)

iTunes considers you a Dance music group… I personally picture you guys at main stage Ultra or… Spotify, however, has some interesting artists in your relatable section: Metro Station, Owl City, Breathe Carolina, etc…

Perhaps they are rooting back to the old days.. How do you feel about that? Is Spotify behind the curve or do you still consider yourselves relatable to those groups?

We started as a band playing instruments. It is actually cool to see a lot of the fans from back in the day grow up with us.

I feel like you guys spent a lot of time in Japan during 2011-12.. Twilight Records? Touring in Japan? Could you explain that more?

Our stuff was just poppin’ in Japan and we were like we have to get over there. You know, there was a demand for it and we love sushi so we said why not.  Lets kill two birds with one stone.  It was cool because it kept the fire going while we were in between labels in the US. Our sound was also evolving. At that point we were having different singers feature on our songs. We were trying different rappers, then we started to do a lot of remixes for other artists which led us into the whole electronic scene.  We then linked up with Spinnin’ Records, released a few tracks with them. It then all started to translate back into the US.

Where do you guys see the future of dance music?

That’s a cool question. I think that the genre is changing everyday. We will always be looking at what is happening over seas. But I think there is a lot of cool music being made in the US by US producers. Everybody is trying to do something different.  Everyone is going to whatever they can to stand out. I think it is a free for all. It will always be weird and random. For example look at the new song Hardwell put out. He wanted to try something new and just went for it.

Like KYGO and firestone?

Yeah, exactly. He has his own thing going on. It is really cool. The beach-y thing.  It is just really chill and low key and now that is his sound.  We are always trying new things with different rappers and song writers and just trying to really change it up.

Can you go into depth on the creative process you went thru for Surrender?

Yeah, so Surrender was cool.  All of our singles we try to put together with the artist in the room. We work on it together from the lyrics to the melody. Everything we do is done in house.  The mixing, mastering, editing the vocals, where as a lot of artists like to get the a cappella from the singer then make the music for it. For me, that kind of feels like you’re just doing a remix, we like to really be hands on in the whole process. We start with pianos or acoustic guitars then turn that into something. Then take it from there.

What types of controllers are you using with your live set ups?

When we’re on tour we just use CDJs. We use a pioneer mixer. Sometimes we will bring out a sampler. But for the most part we just keep it real simple. We learned to do real cool things with the CDJs. Most clubs have them which  makes it real convenient.

When you’re not preforming, do you enjoy going out and engaging with music as a fan? If so, what is your favorite environment? Club? Festival? House party?

When I am home I try and stay out of the clubs. Sometimes it is cool to get lost in your own world and not really listen to what is going  on and just make the music you think you should be making.  Then you go out into the clubs and you see what’s poppin’. It has to be a good balance.

You guys are playing UCONN tomorrow night.. are you excited? I have a lot of friends up there, all of them are going and are mad stoked about it.

Yeah, colleges are always really cool. Always mad good vibes.  Hell yeah.

Cash Cash 6 months from now? Can we expect an album? More hits like Surrender? Whats going on with you guys?

Well right now the Surrender video is out. We for sure tried to get a little crazy with it.  I was really happy with the way it turned out. We have a lot of new music we are working on. We are working toward an album.. but for the current moment we are just really focusing on Surrender.  It was really cool to see Take Me Home grow from the clubs to the radio to over seas. We want to see the same thing happen to Surrender.

You are from New Jersey, a state with a rich musical history, from Sinatra to Springsteen to Bon Jovi, Do you consider yourselves a Jersey band? 

Oh yeah for sure. We are huge Springsteen and Bon Jovi fans. So we are definitely proud to say we are from New Jersey.

You Might Also Like