What is it like coming up in the EDM scene these days with so much competition as producers?

I think with any type of project you have to put in the ten thousand hours, and once you get close to that you’re going to get some kind of breakthrough. We started from djing inside my house and then fraternity parties. We were dj’s way before we were producers. Djing helped a lot with our arrangements and energy when we started producing.

Was there a specific moment when you thought to yourself “We can actually do this”?

Even just this week, it hasn’t really sunk in. We have our first three city weekend on July 4th. I think that is going to give us the full taste of how far we’ve come, but we are still at the beginning of the ride. We are still rising.

How did Slander get into trap music?

When we first started out we were playing a lot of trance--like five hour trance sets. Then we were house DJs for a while. But I remember the day when “Original Don” came out on soundcloud. I was so blown away by it I didn’t really know what to think. Back then I would alway take music I found to my buddy’s house where my three best friends lived. They all had distinct tastes in music--one only liked dubstep, one only like old-school hip-hop, and the other had the same taste as me. All three of them said “Original Don” was the best track they had ever heard. I knew at that moment that this sound could bring together all different tastes in music. I thought it was really powerful and started looking for more music like that. Trap really has a power over people.

I religiously listened to hip-hop as a teenager. When I was introduced to edm it was through trance, which is a far cry from anything I’d ever listened to, so hearing the hip-hop influence in Trap music really resonated with me.

What’s the dynamic between You and Scott?

We both do everything. We vibe so much off each other when we’re on stage and feed off each other’s energy. When you have two people in the group it lets people hold the artists are a much higher level. Slander is both of us and we wouldn’t have nearly the same stage presence if it was just one of us.

Are you guys planning on signing to a label in the near future?

Yeah we’ve have a some labels that are interested in signing us, but we are holding off for now to make sure we find the right fit.

Any you planning on releasing any new originals soon?

We are going to switch it up a little and see what people think. Our first original is going to be a collab with NGHTMRE. It’s going to bring four different sounds together--It’s going to be something people haven’t heard before!

Where did Heaven Trap come from?

There are two parts to our sets. The first part is heavy, explosive music. The last quarter is full of uplifting songs that bring you back--you don’t feel like you’re still getting beat up. We want people to leave a our show with a positive emotion. Making Heaven trap is our way of sending people off with a good vibe. We have a Heaven Trap song coming out with Sound Remedy soon.

What is the Milestone where you will say that you’ve “made it”?

When we play mainstage EDC. That’s definitely our goal.

Who do you look up to as an EDM artist?

I really look up to Lunice & DJ Snake for being really humble guys, and their productions are insane. They’ve made it big in EDM and they are still so humble. DJ Snake is on top of the game and he’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.

Do you care who plays or listens to your music? Does mainstream matter?

His [DJ Snake] song was a completely underground song. Then Lil Jon gets on “Turn Down For What” it and the track becomes a radio thing. Even “Animals” was an underground club track, and now its obviously not--it was an instrumental to begin with. The market does what it does. If you’re making the music you like to make and it gets big then that’s great.

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