When you talk to an Italian DJ/producer, you can feel their passion and love for the music. Italian duo Antonio Romeo (Ronnie Milani) and Maurizio Zoffoli (aka Maurizio Nari) started working together in 1996 under different pseudonyms. Back in 2003, they launched the Nari and Milani name and have achieved success with hit singles (“Let it Rain” and “I Got You”), remixes, and a solid DJ touring schedule. Their weekly radio program “I’ll House You” is available on their Soundcloud page and is definitely worth subscribing to. It’s always fun chatting with Italian djs.
RS: I am here with Nari and Milani but there is just one of you.
Nari: : Yeah I am alone this year without my partner, so I am not 100%.
RS: But 100% of you is better than nothing because you are pretty amazing, I love your music. So what are “The Drums”?
Nari: : “The Drums” is a tribal, collab track with a young Italian producer named Hiisak. This is the first track that we released together but we have another one called “Camino Del Sol” that will be released in June on Doorn Records.
RS: There is a beautiful picture of the sun shining down on a piano. Which one of you plays the piano in the group?
Nari: : Ronnie plays the piano and I arrange all the tracks on the computer. 50% of the work is Ronnie playing the piano and the other 50% is on the computer.
RS: I also love “Right Or Wrong,” the song that you did with The Cobs. He is from Brescia, are you from Brescia also?
Nari: : No, I am from the middle of Italy and Brescia is in the north. The Cobs are good guys, really good and really strange.
RS: I like how it’s a pretty drop and then it goes to more of an old school break beat. Do you hear more of that in the music coming?
Nari: : Yeah absolutely, we love this breakdown with the old school groove. We have three other tracks like this to be released.
RS: Is “Venom” one of those? It has that same sound.
Nari: : Yes, “Venom” is a collab with Vigel who is a Russian producer. It is an electro type song but now we have moved to the tribal sound with percussions. We think that the music is leaning more towards that way. We have a lot of tracks that are ready and we have two tracks that are under 100BPM.
RS: Really? That is radical!
Nari: : This year we want to try to explore all the music 360 degrees. For example, we have a collab with Alex Gaudino called “Mango Man.”
RS: Sounds fruity. You talked about 360 degrees and working around the world, you also have that new track with MYNC and R3hab called “Miami Back Again” which is a lot more aggressive.
Nari: : Yes, we made “Miami Back Again” in 2013 with MYNC. We did the collab through the internet and skype because R3hab travels all around the world and he is hard to talk to because he is so busy.
RS: What are you working on with Hiissak?
Nari: : This young producer is one of the best young producers in Italy in this moment. We have taken him under our wing because we love his sound and we make good tracks together. We came from old school house music with the percussion and groove and he loves the percussion as well, we found a very good guy.
RS: We love that house sound. Your radio show is called “I’ll House U,” how do you keep it fresh every week?
Nari: : It’s not easy because we normally use 16 tracks for each show and we have 100 to choose from every week. In 100 tracks, 50% sound the same so it is not easy. I think that EDM is dying, I think that it’s at the end.
RS: I have two serious questions. I saw that you posted about the Istanbul attack in Sultanahmet. What do you think as DJs we can do to affect the political world?
Nari: : I don’t know, that is a very hard question, it affected people all around the world. At this moment it is not easy to play at big festivals in countries like Indonesia and India because the people are scared to move in sight. The music is one of the most important things in our life, it can bring back memories when you hear a particular track. For example, three years ago I made some things and I remembered them because I heard a track in that moment. The music is the life of the people.
RS: Music is the life of the people, I love that. And staying serious for a moment, SOSUMI is a free record label, how does that work?
Nari: : I don’t agree with free music and I don’t like that they have free downloads. Usually they don’t keep anything, you release tracks and your track doesn’t get promoted but in this case SOSUMI is a real label with an A&R and the guys really concentrate on the label. For example, I received a lot of mail around the SOSUMI party in Miami. There is one person that takes care of everything and is really focused on the tracks. We changed the track with Tony Romera 10 times because we had to cut it and change parts and that is a real label. I think that in the next year SOSUMI will be under Spinnin’ records.
RS: I can see that. What is your favorite flavor of gelato?
Nari: : Strawberry, like a kid, lemon and strawberry.
RS: When they make the movie of your life, what actor will play you?
Nari: : This is not easy but I think Nicolas Cage from The Family Man.
RS: What is the strangest question that you have ever been asked in an interview?
Nari: : The last one.
RS: What would you like to say to all of your fans out there?
Nari: : Thank you very much because without all of our fans we wouldn’t be here. We are very happy to be here in Miami, it is a vacation but also work and we meet a lot of DJs and we talk about new music and new styles for the next year.
Interview conducted March 2016 during Winter Music Conference.