CASHEW discusses the origins of his name, new collaboration with DJ Justin James, his sound and more.
CASHEW Interview
Aditya – Hello, we’re glad to have you for this interview :) Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you came to have the name “CASHEW”?
CASHEW – I came up with the name “CASHEW” just totally random, I was trying to come up with all kinds of names, but at the end, I was like maybe I should google some strange fruit names, and CASHEW popped up and then I started writing my name on paper and it felt kinda natural and cool so I decided to stick with it, and now I freaking love it :)
Aditya – We just heard your recent release with DJ Justin James titled ‘What You Do To Me’ on famed DJ, Bijou’s, Do Not Duplicate (DnD) Recordings… An absolute banger for sure! Can you tell us about this song and what it has been like working with DnD?
CASHEW – It all started by Justin sending me stems and I was blown by the idea and I just started grinding on track, spent some good hours on it and the result is that banger. Working with DND was extreme pleasure, their a&r team, including Bijou are super forward looking and I am happy to be part of such a cool label, definitely looking forward to release more with them!
Aditya – Your style is quite unique. To us it seems to be a mix of tech house and bass house. How would you describe or classify your musical style?
CASHEW – FGCH / Fat, Groovy, Catchy, Hard / I always try to push boundaries with my music and I never wanted to really fit in with the sound that everybody else is doing because that’s how I am as person as well. I would always rather be on margins and do constantly something fresh then try to “fit in”.
Aditya – Your track ‘Back to You’ just hit a million streams on Spotify. That’s a major milestone for any producer. Can you tell us a little more about that song and how you felt when you finally surpassed a million?
CASHEW – Honestly, I was shocked for a moment because I couldn’t believe that 1 million people listened to “Back To You”, it was a surreal moment for sure! “Back To You” happened in 3 hours, which is super cool cause I was just having massive fun making that one and I am glad people loved the mixture between catchy pianos and my “fat” drums :)
Aditya – What’s your studio setup like?
CASHEW – It’s pretty simple to be honest, just Yamaha HS8 with some custom acoustic panels and my absolute favorite DT 880 Pro headphones.
Aditya – Who are your influences and why?
CASHEW – I don’t have one particular artist that is my biggest influence, but I definitely get super inspired by old school house producers. Just because they had so little, but they made massive records with just a few sounds and lately I have been really trying to limit myself with amount of sounds I can use, and try to make a lot with little amount of sounds.
Aditya – Do you have any tips for upcoming producers?
CASHEW – Make as much music as you possibly can, don’t listen to “mixing” rules, make your own rules and be yourself.
Aditya – Do you have any other releases coming out this year / early 2023? If so, can you tell us a little more about those?
CASHEW – For the rest of the year I am planning to just drop self releases cause I got such a fresh tunes in my vault and I want to get them out asap :)
Aditya – Lastly, if you could collaborate with any 3 artists in the world, excluding other producers/DJs, who would they be? No need for an explanation, just artist / band names.
CASHEW – Sade, Deborah Cox, Angie Stone.
