Entitled ‘Seven Seagulls’, Calmani & Grey’s new record is an infectious slice of accessible electronica & a track that’s set to light up a host of radio airwaves in the coming weeks. Never termed to be artists that wish to be tied down to one style, Calmani & Grey continue to push their broad thinking & dynamic range of productions & ‘Seven Seagulls‘ is a testament to this.
Check out our interview with the duo who speak about their new single, and how they got into music production.
T.H.E – Hey Calmani & Grey! Hope you’re doing great. Welcome to The Music Essentials, how has your year been so far?
Calmani & Grey – Hey everyone,
we are doing great, thank you and thanks for having us with this interview! Our year has been great so far! We had the chance of playing great festivals, both national and international (for example Balaton Sound Festival in Hungary, great club gigs as well (loved the gig at Bootshaus Cologne). We also released some great tracks this year and are really proud to get the attention of Tiesto and Hardwell, who supported our „Winter Ocean“ release in their radio shows.
T.H.E – Tell us a bit about how you got into music production and which artists inspired you, both from your homeland and internationally?
Calmani & Grey – We’ve been producing for lots of years now. Started back in the early 2000s with Trance music and after that, we were quite successful with Handsup and Hardtrance music in Germany and throughout Europe. Now we’re really into House Music and simply love it!
Artists like Tiesto and Armin van Buuren inspired us throughout the years. Nationally ATB really is some kind of hero to us. It’s great to see how these artists constantly develop their styles and still are at the top.
T.H.E – Many of your singles differ from each other in terms of the sound/style they represent. Do you find not being tied to one genre gives you more creative freedom?
Calmani & Grey – Thanks for recognizing! Yes, we do not want to be tied to a certain genre. We think the track should be solid and reach our fans. When we are in a process of producing we always try to think as freely as possible. The result differs then from track to track. Thus we can also show how creative we are. And for sure that’s why we personally think, that the tracks really have a soul. Nevertheless one can always hear that this is a Calmani & Grey single if one listens closely ;)
T.H.E – Which moments have been your career highlights so far?
Calmani & Grey – From a Calmani & Grey perspective definitely the gig on the MainStage of the Balaton Sound Festival, where we had the honor to play next to Axwell & Ingrosso or DJ Snake. We are also very happy to be re-booked by the Bootshaus. We really love the atmosphere there!
T.H.E – Let’s talk about your new single – ‘Seven Seagulls’. It’s very radio-friendly. Is that something that you set out to achieve when you first began the production process?
Calmani & Grey – We really want to reach our fans through the radio. We love great compositions. This is what we want to deliver. Combining real instruments like guitars with extraordinary vocals and interesting lyrics that really convey a message. We really think that this could be a good mixture and we hope that the radio stations acknowledge this and play this record!
T.H.E – Can you tell us a little about a typical process, from coming up with a track idea to working on & finishing – before submitting it to labels?
Calmani & Grey – First, we have an idea and we are lucky to work with different singer and songwriter. Together we work on this idea and after the recorded vocals we sit in the studios (there are two, each one of us has an own one) and work on every detail until both of us really like the result. Sometimes it takes just days, sometimes weeks and a lot of discussions before we are finally satisfied. Both of us are perfectionists and this is a good thing. We love delivering quality.
T.H.E – You guys evidently have a bright future, what are the next goals that you have set for yourselves as artists?
Calmani & Grey – We really work hard to reach the next step. That means we think big and we put a lot of effort into reaching our goals. Of course, we want to reach a lot of fans with our music so it would be great if radio stations played our songs more often. We are also passionate DJ’s. We really love performing in front of people – no matter how many there are. As long as they love what we do and hopefully see our passion while performing we are happy.
After playing big festivals and clubs this year we want to travel the world and show more and more people who we are. On top of that, we invest a lot of time producing new singles.
After “Seven Seagulls“ our new single „Time Of Our Lives“ is released on Kontor, Germany and we hope that this one also performs great!
T.H.E – Lastly, which 5 other artists in the industry do you feel are currently driving the scene forward?
Calmani & Grey – To cut it short: Illenium, Mike Williams, Tom Staar, Seven Lions, CamelPhat :)
T.H.E – Thanks, guys, all the best with the rest of 2018!
Calmani & Grey – Thanks for this Interview! :)
