When major artists like
David Guetta and
will.i.am have a producer on speed dial, you know they are ones to watch. Italian group Daddy’s Groove formed in 2006, originally as a trio (Peppe Folliero, Carlo Grieco, and Gianni Romano). After working with Axwell on a remix, David Guetta enlisted their help for production on his album. This explosion in their career helped a steady stream of club smashes (“In My Head,” “Stellar,” “Vertigo,” “Surrender”) and major remixes (
Whitney Houston,
Louie Vega,
The Wanted) grow their following internationally. Ten years into their musical reign, they are now a duo (Gianni left last year, leaving Carlo and Peppe at the reins) and they’ve got a lot more great tunes on the way.
RS: Are you the only Daddy’s Groove person or is there more than one?
Daddy's Groove: There are basically two of us, the other person is only a producer. I do both so I produce with him and I go around and play music.
RS: I love the track that you did with Kris Kiss, how did that track come together?
Daddy's Groove: We are very happy with that track, we made it last year and it was released in January. We met at the studio in London and we created the track. We didn’t expect the success that the song got but it is doing really well and we are really happy.
RS: Thinking "Back to 94," what was your personal highlight of 1994?
Daddy's Groove: I was pretty young but in general the ‘90s were a very good period of my life. I was young and everything was cool and easy and business was better then and so were the relationships. I am nostalgic for that period of time.
RS: Speaking of ‘90s nostalgia, if you were to go back and do a future house update of a ‘90s record which one would you do?
Daddy's Groove: “Show Me Love,” it’s one of my favorites.
RS: That would be awesome. Let’s go back in time, you remixed Whitney Houston’s “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength.”
Daddy's Groove: We did that a few years ago. We love to change sounds and we never make the same sound. When we decided to do that song it was because she died and we wanted to do that track and redo the music. We played the track for the label and they loved it and released it.
RS: My favorite song from you is “Stellar,” I love how it combines the rock element and the dance element. How did that song come together like that?
Daddy's Groove: We were in LA with this fabulous singer named Scott Simmons and he made the vocal and played it for us and we decided to do something a little more indie rock and EDM. You can’t really explain how you make a sound, it is just something that happens when you are in the studio together and you just decide to make something. In that moment we decided to do that song because we had a good feeling about it.
RS: Let’s talk about your gigs, Tribe is your weekly party correct?
Daddy's Groove: Yes
RS: So you play there every week?
Daddy's Groove: We are doing the party around the world, it started this summer in Italy at a club called Peter Pan. We didn’t expect such big success, it was amazing and one of the best that I’d ever done and now we want to bring the party around. We will be in Japan and Canada and again in Italy this summer. We are thinking about doing it every month next year, depending on if we have time but we would love to do that.
RS: Music wise what is coming out next from you?
Daddy's Groove: We have a lot of stuff coming out. We are signed with Spinnin’ and yesterday we had a meeting to listen to the music that we have and there is a lot of stuff ready to be released. The next single is called “Tribe” and that will be released in May. We have some other big surprises coming out, we have a track with Daddy's Groove coming out this summer and another collab with some Italian guys called Promiseland. We are working on a lot of stuff and have worked on our music in Napoli, Amsterdam, London and Los Angeles so we are trying to make our best music for this year.
RS: What do you do with David Guetta?
Daddy's Groove: We work together and we produce music together, we specialize in mix and master his stuff. We are a team so we have a meeting to decide which way is the best way to go with the music we play together in the summer. We are very close and we are a team.
RS: When they do the movie about your life, what actor will play you?
Daddy's Groove: This is a nice question. Rocco Siffredi, he is an Italian porn star.
RS: Good answer. Where did the name Daddy’s Groove come from?
Daddy's Groove: When we started I was a techno producer and Peppe was a house producer so we wanted to do a name to remember the godfather of groove. At the time there was Little Louie Vegas, Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez, David Morales, and Francois Kevorkian so our background is from there and that is the meaning.
RS: What would you like to say to all of your fans out there?
Daddy's Groove: Thank you for being my friends, we hope to make good music in the future and I hope to see you around at our parties around the world.
Interview conducted March 2016 during Winter Music Conference.