Elektro exclusive interview with Zeds Dead

Taking a break from their nation wide "Altered States" tour, Canadian duo Zeds Dead took a moment to chat with elektro about their current endeavors. Discussing everything from upcoming plans, to musical influences, Zeds Dead DC and Hooks gave us the full scoop on what they've been up to this past year. With an envious resume of chart topping hits, Zeds Dead is only at the beginning of a lucrative musical career. Check out what DC and Hooks had to say below, and make sure to check them out on their remaining tour dates.

Tell us a little bit about your stint on Mad Decent Block Party this past summer and your tour Altered States

Hooks:We usually like to align ourselves in a lineup that isn’t just one sound, because our own tastes are so eclectic.

What is the craziest fan experience you’ve ever had?
It’s crazy when people have tattoos. I’ve been seeing more and more lately. People always tell us stories about how our music has affected their lives, which is really cool. You put something out there that becomes a part of somebody else’s life in a whole different way. Stuff like “Oh this is mine and my girlfriend’s song,” or “I met this girl while I was listening to this,” and it’s a really important part of their life, and every time they hear it it takes them back to that period in their life.

Is dubstep what you initially started producing?

DC: No, we started with hip-hop. I was a serious hip-hop nerd. Old sample styles. We actually dropped an instrumental record called “ Fresh Beats.” It was distributed locally. Sold it for five bucks on the street. Then we slowly started getting into different kinds of electronic music. Once we were really deep into making electronic music, we decided we wanted to start a new alias with a fresh start. Then we started Zeds Dead.

Hooks: Back then one of our biggest influences was RJD2. Him and DJ Shadow are huge influences.

How did you get linked up with Omar Linx?

Hooks: We made tracks with him when we just made hip-hop beats, and he’s a close friend of ours. We’ve got some productions on his upcoming album.

Are their any artists out right now that are influencing your sound?

Hooks: There are actually a lot.

DC: I like the new UK house/garage stuff that’s coming out…Disclosure, dudes like that are always sick. We were just listening to the new Chase & Status album. They’ve always been huge influences, and their most recent record is in a really different direction.

Hooks: TNGHT’s really cool. They throw to hip hop, but its not necessarily trap. Moderat’s new album. Probably my favorite new album of the year.

What are you guys working on right now?

Hooks: We’ve actually got a lot of stuff in the works right now. We just put out a track with Major Lazer called “Turn Around.” We also got collaborations with Twin Shadow and Bassnectar, and some others that are in their really early stages. We have an EP that should come out pretty soon. It’s been a bit difficult to finish on the road, but we’re trying.

Any plans for 2014 other than the EP?

DC: We have so much music besides the EP. We’re just trying to figure out what we want to do with everything. We’re going to keep touring live. We’re going to Japan in January. Europe again.
Where is your favorite place to play?

Hooks: New York. We love the city and the crowds are awesome. We got to go to South America this year, which was great.

What do you guys feel about where Dubstep is now?

Hooks: I feel like it has it’s fans that are their no matter what, but it’s lost a bit of it’s curiosity factor that it had over the past two years. It’s branched out into a lot of sub genres. I feel like two years ago anything that you made people would say, “this is dubstep,” because that was the word that everyone was saying. Now everyone is saying trap. People always want to say that we’re dubstep, but we never tried to be that. We just wanted to do whatever we felt.

DC: You have all the people that flock to something because it’s the trendy thing. Then you have the core people that stick with it.
Hooks: World wide it still is getting bigger. With people like Skrillex breaking in countries that probably hadn’t heard of it yet.

Where do you guys see yourselves in five years?

Hooks: I can’t see ourselves not touring in five years, probably a little more time than that. Hopefully making movie soundtracks or video game scores. I’d probably like to do other stuff in the future, like movies, some other multi media.