EQ Interview With Sam And The Womp

By Mandy Rogers

No matter where you’ve been this summer, I imagine you haven’t escaped the eccentric madcap summer madness that is Sam And The Womp’s “Bom Bom” well I have to tell you I didn’t warm to it at first at all, I found it insanely silly. However, it’s a distinctly memorable piece of party pop that’s now grown massively in likeability factor every time I hear it bellowing out somewhere...anywhere...EVERYWHERE! I have to stop and go “Bom Bom Bom”.

To be honest with you the lyrics are irrelevant all I want to go is “Bom Bom Bom” but anyway we got chance to throw some questions at Sam And The Womp to go a little more indepth on this years summer phenomenon.

Hi There Wompmakers, thanks for taking time out from making all out womp to have a little chat with us at EQ Music. Well don’t you guys cut a potent dash of carnival excitement between you! I don’t think that by the end of summer they’ll hardly be an ear around that hasn’t been shaken one way or another by the mysteriously hypnotic groovy powers of your party anthem “Bom Bom”, so tell me: Why do Sam and The Womp feel the time is right to bring out the trumpets and push brass music back into vogue? You guys have certainly stirred up a unique and interesting blend here, with your Latin, Ska, wobble, bass thumping craziness.

Lady Oo: It's all about the Brass 'n' Bass…Horns are sexy! And combined with ultra big fat bass & drums, it's just impossible not to dance.

Sam: Brass deserves to be in the cool club again- Did Louis Armstrong really ever go out of fashion? The trumpet has been around longer than the guitar and certainly the synthesizer -they even found trumpets buried in Tutankhamen’s tomb! The world should be ready for brass to take centre stage- rather than be thought of as backing or additional to a pop track.

The brass melodies in "Bom Bom" are inspired by traditional Balkan Brass rather than Latin music. Fusing different cultures and genres is at the heart of our compositional process.

Aaron Audio: Brass is very effective at getting people dancing - Its been used in all genres of dance music over the last century. Also brass instruments are one of the only things that can give modern synths a run for their money!

EQ Interview With Pop Music Heavyweight and Super POP Producer Fernando Garibay

by Raj Rudolph

When you mention the name Fernando Garibay, a lot of you may go "who?" and some of you (who are actually paying attention) might say "Oh My God". But even if you haven't heard of him before, you most certainly have heard his music as he's the mastermind producer behind quite a few big songs including "Quicksand" by Britney Spears, "Lights" by Ellie Goulding, and even "Stars Are Blind" by the one and only Paris Hilton.

But what really has put Fernando Garibay on the map is his more recent work with Lady Gaga including the "Born This Way" album which has spanned some major hits like "Marry The Night" and "Edge Of Glory" - all of which have undoubtedly infected your radio stations for months no matter what part of the world you live in - perhaps even Narnia.

I recently caught up with Fernando Gariby to talk about his crazy life right now, what's brewing with his new album, working with Mother Monster and how the world is ready/set/go for the comeback of Latin freestyle music considering the current surge of EDM.

If you are in or around Spain in a few weeks, you can catch Fernando Garibay DJ'ing for us at the Poptronik Festival where the man himself promises to be debuting some new material from his recent diva duty sessions - he's been locked in the studio working on some fun "art pop" - or so we hear...

Why hello Fernando, so I here you have an album coming out.
I do! But you know right now, I’ve taken a little break from it because I’m on full-fledged diva duty. I can’t say specifically who I’m working with but I love my divas. I was raised by women so my love for women is great to begin with. For a woman to carry a song and make it powerful and make it her own and carry her strength through that song inspires everybody – guy or girl, whatever. For me to have that vehicle to express my music through is the holy grail for me. When I get called on to work on these big projects, I’m like yes, I come second because nothing else matters.

EQ Interview with The Young Professionals

by Raj Rudolph

There is only one band at the moment that I STAN HARD for and that is The Young Professionals. Last month TYP debuted their live show in Paris to the record-buying public and although Paris is not one of my favorite cities, I hopped on the Eurostar and made the 3 hour trek to catch what was promising to be one amazing live show from this buzz band that is making serious waves right now in electronic pop.

Why do I love TYP so much? They are the new Pet Shop Boys - simply put. Their album "9am to 5pm, 5pm To Whenever" is one of the most innovative and fresh sounding albums to emerge this year and there isn't a day that has gone by in the last 12 months that I haven't listened to it.

Despite the fact that the band are just achingly cool, nerdy and geek fabulous all wrapped up into one almighty pop package, TYP songs just resonate honesty, innovation and a worldly charm that is rarely captured these days with major label pop signings. They make real pop with feelings that goes beyond the normal "let's write songs on trend" sort of radio crap that is being churned out these days.

After their show in Paris (my mind was blown - yes indeed), I sat down with Ivri Lider, Johnny Goldstein and Uriel Yakutiel (complete in his lime chiffon gown) down for a chat about how the group has come together, their journey from indie band to major label starlings and how Ivri is adjusting to life in a new pop group aside from his rock superstardom in Israel.

I literally could have spent hours chatting with TYP, so this 15 minutes is hardly enough to satisfy my obsession with the band, but I hope you enjoy our chat and that it gives you some insight into why I fly their flag so constantly.  You really should make your world a better place by downloading "9am to 5pm, 5pm To Whenever"right now too - It's even out on iTunes USA and Canada!