Looking back at 2015, the music of duo
Sunnery James and Ryan Marciano rank as some of the biggest tunes of the year. Tracks like “Karusell,” “Come Follow,” “ABC” and “Red Moon” were played by everyone across the world. Ending the year with the latin-flavored “Horny Bounce,” the duo unleashed the celebratory track perfect to bring in the new year. 2016 marks their 10 year anniversary and you know they will be keeping it sexy, it’s just in their nature.
RS: Let’s start with your radio show, Sexy By Nature. How do you find the time to do a fresh show every week?
Sunnery James: You have to be on your laptop and just go out there; you have to be online every day to find new music because you don’t want to play the same songs every week. You have to listen to a lot of promos and even go back to the ‘90s to find some classic tracks that the new kids don’t know about. It is fun and as a DJ it is the best thing to do because you are busy with your music and you stay up to date with everything.
Ryan Marciano: We are a duo so we have so much fun doing it; you should hear the stuff that we don’t put in there. Sometimes we get too crazy and they tell us not to talk too much because we want to talk all the time, but it’s fun.
RS: When y’all DJ live do you go track by track?
Sunnery James: Yes, I do a track and then he does a track.
RS: That seems like such a challenge to go B2B all the time
Sunnery James: That is actually how we started so it’s not difficult. It’s funny because last year he got sick one day and I couldn’t make it another day so we played alone. It was nice to do but I missed him, you get used to it and it was almost awkward to play two songs in a row.
RS: Your newer track is called “Karusell,” I am trying to figure out what they are saying the whole time because to me it sounds like “dick head, dick head,” what does it actually say?
Sunnery James: It’s just a sample but I can’t say which sample we took it from. It had a groove we loved in it and we cut it and it came out like that. We liked it and you can dance to it so we decided to put it in.
Ryan Marciano: I think that you have a different version.
RS: Of course.
Sunnery James: We can make it dick head, yeah!
RS: “Karusell” has a different vibe, kind of like a glitch vibe to it, is your music going in that direction?
Sunnery James: No, the thing is as producers we just want to create different stuff every time. The next track is going to be different too but still what we play. We play everything from underground to big room so we need to put those records out. Finally our fans get it as well because they are really happy with the “Karusell” track. The next track might be more progressive but still with a drive.
Ryan Marciano: Actually we started making music for our sets because we needed different tracks and we still do it.
Sunnery James: If you make the same music and want to play your own tracks for two hours it sounds the same and has the same vibe, it’s not fun.
RS: I don’t understand how you guys do it because you are making tracks and you’re on the road so much. How do you maintain a healthy lifestyle and your relationships with that kind of crazy schedule?
Sunnery James: It’s all about time management, I have a family as well and you go home and still have to find time in the studio. It’s all about planning. You can never sit down and just chill out, you always have to find time to do everything. You have to find time for studio, radio show, family, traveling and DJing but it has worked for five years already.
Ryan Marciano: You have to find a busy person who understands it as well or they have to understand that you are busy; it is working out for us.
RS: With your life on the road I am wondering at the end of each night which hurts more- your ears from the sound or your eyes from all the phone cameras?
Ryan Marciano: I think it’s my ears.
Sunnery James: It depends on where you play but it’s always my ears. We played at a party at Nikki’s and the DJ booth was blasting and I was like oh my god.
Ryan Marciano: When the phones are up they can only do it for about half a minute then it’s party time, you can’t hold your phone up the whole set.
Sunnery James: There is a lot of flash in Vegas though.
RS: I saw a picture of you signing someone’s boob
Sunnery James: It was not me!
RS: Okay, he is the married one.
Ryan Marciano: Actually it was a bra.
RS: Oh of course!
Ryan Marciano: Yeah, “dick head da dick head.”
RS: You guys are both really good looking men and as you know the ladies love you, are there any endorsements coming up like clothing lines?
Ryan Marciano: There are people that come and offer us stuff but we are good for right now, maybe in the future we will do stuff.
Sunnery James: It has to fit and we have to feel it. We have had some offers from some nice clothing lines but we didn’t feel it. We have to focus on what we are doing first and then maybe one day we will stand back like models.
RS: What would you like to say to all of your fans out there watching?
Sunnery James: Thank you so much for the support, without you guys we are nothing. Keep on doing what you are doing and we will keep on doing what we are doing.
Ryan Marciano: Totally, I get emotional when saying that.
Interview conducted during WMC 2015.