by: Amanda Savage
This week AFM spotlights local electro DJ and producer duo Nuck N’ Futz . Andrew Konepker and Dan Orlando talk music and their favorite place to grab pho.
AFM: Let’s start with some ice breakers, what are you doing right now?
Dan: Sitting in the studio going over new track ideas and business arrangements.
AFM: What’s the last song you listened to, besides your own?
Andrew:Probably Like to Party by Too Fresh (J-Trick Remix), its been our road anthem for the last couple weeks for sure.
AFM: What city are you living in?
Dan: Tempe, right between mill and old town.
AFM: What’s your favorite place to eat? Or favorite local menu item, or both!
Andrew: Unphogettable, nothing beats a case of the Mondays like a bowl of pho! Favorite local menu item would have to be Silvermine subs cripple creek, its gotta be our secret to success, without their late night delivery we wouldn’t make it through marathon studio sessions for sure.
AFM: Best place to have a beer? Or cocktail if that’s more your thing?
Dan:That’s a tough question. Honestly it depends on whats going on, a drink is a drink, its more about the music for us. Every venue has its own vibe and variety of music so we bounce around a lot.
AFM: Let’s get into some music questions, who are some of your favorite producers at the moment?
Andrew: We’ve been pretty obsessed with the sounds TJR, Deorro and Will Sparks have been busting out lately. That style is straight up addicting.
AFM: If you could tour with three other DJs, who would they be?
Dan: Fedde Le Grand, he’s definitely a cool cat, and we’ve always wanted to play with Scooter and Sydney blue, they’re just so much fun.
AFM: What’s your dream venue to play at?
Andrew: Definitely Privilege in Ibiza.
AFM: What was your first music love? Or were you always into EDM? How does your past music experience impact the DJ you are today?
Dan: Both of us grew up playing rock n roll and you can definitely hear it in our music. Andrew was a drummer growing up and jumped onto his fist pair of turn tables at the age of 18, starting with progressive house and moving into electro at 19 it wasn’t long until he was touring the southwest. My music background is a long one that runs in his blood. My father, an accomplished musician himself, taught me the piano and him recording at 4 years old. It wasn’t long until I was touring with a successful band as a guitarist/vocalist, opening for acts like the Blood Hound Gang. Years of experience definitely give us an edge as DJ’s, plus having a history in rock n roll gives us a grungy house sound that just seems to work for us.
AFM: What about the music you create? Would you say that you have a distinct sound? Is it something that just happened or something you chose and aspired for?
Andrew: Our sound is very distinct. It was something that evolved with us as we put more time into the studio and played more shows together. In the beginning we started out producing dubstep and heavy drum’n’bass but played multigenre electronic music when we played out. It gave us a lot of versatility and the ability to transition between genre’s smoothly led to us gaining popularity rather quickly. As we gained momentum in the club scene and our house following picked up, our sound slowly evolved into the edgy, bouncy, house sound it is today.
AFM: Where do you play now? Where have you played? Who have you played with?
Dan:As artists we work with several local clubs, agencies and promoters. We’ve played at almost every premier bar or club in the valley, but we don’t hold residencies at any specific clubs because we need to be able to travel and tour when opportunities arise. Lately we’ve been playing at Wild Knight, CASA, Smashboxx, El Santo, and Spanish Fly, with promotion companies such as Relentless Beats, SS Productions, SLE, Hades, and Royal Palm. We’ve played with several big artists, some of the more recent ones include Fedde Le Grand, Sander Van Doorn, Cosmic Gate, Datsik, Lucky Date, Mat Zo, Michael Woods, and Alvin Risk.
AFM: Any big plans for 2013?
Andrew:We have several big projects in the works, if we spoiled the surprises we’d take all the fun out of it! Stay tuned on our Facebook page for tour and show announcements, we are very excited to what 2013 has to come!
Follow Amanda on Twitter @Amanda_Savage
