Interview with DeeJay Froggy & DJ Raffy

Interview with DeeJay Froggy & DJ Raffy

Q: When and why did you begin to produce music?

FROGGY: The year was 1999, and I should be thankful to Vengaboys for making their last single with that title ... June 10, 1999 was a very important date for me, as it was the day I set foot in a disco club for the first time. Its name was Velasquez (our friend and singer Jess knew it as well) and I fell in love with that place from the first movements I made on the dancefloor. After several songs, I moved away from the dancefloor and began to observe the DJ of the evening... he was technically perfect, gifted to the point of making sure that the songs were in perfect sync with our hearts at that particular moment... and it was while I was watching him that I thought: "That's what I wanna do!".

Three years later, in the summer of 2002, I bought the first software with which I began to understand how to compose electronic music... and another three years had to pass before I learned to compose with the MIDI keyboard and began to learn numerous mixing & mastering techniques. Today I'm the first to admit that I'm not done learning yet! After 20 years and numerous ups and downs in my career, I am still learning to refine my techniques more and more, and I believe it will never be enough. Oh I forgot, you asked me why? There's no one way to say it, so I'll just say it... because music runs through my veins instead of blood!

RAFFY: I believe in coincidences and that everything happens takes you on a road you will take in the future. My entry into the world of music and production starts in the field of TECHNO, having two deejays as uncles and seeing their professional equipment I felt in love with the SYNTESIZER and so I went in search of the genre that was produced the most with it and I ended up with a passion about the melodies of TECHNO music, so I would have continued but then, many years later, I met a cousin of mine, he was also on his way in the world of music production, and he was passionate about the famous M2o compilation, so he presented it to me, and I cannot deny that from the first listening I felt madly in love with that music, which is a descendant of TECHNO but I don't know why it captured me even more and so I started towards this one new musical path.

Right after listening to this wonderful M2o music; it was proposing mostly Italodance tracks, in my mind there were many ideas of how it would have been some tracks with different melodies or different sounds and so I found out that, with those ideas in my head, I could create them thanks to a dedicated software. So I took my first step into the world of production with my first sequencer: FRUITY LOOPS 3.

Q: Who is/are you favorite artist(s)?

FROGGY: In my path I've had many sources of inspiration. Having always had a deep contact with the Italodance panorama, I cannot deny the presence of giants of the time such as Rossano Prini, Roberto Turatti, Paolo Sandrini, Claudio Lancini and, certainly, Gigi D'Agostino in my memories. But for me there is no better act than Scooter! I consider myself a huge fan of HP Baxxter & co. since 2001, and it's thanks to their music that today I produce with an ear focused on the Northern European techno scene.

RAFFY: My favorite artist is DANIJAY where I take the many ispirations for my own productions, and he is the reanson for I started to produce italodance. Of course I have many djs and producer in my favorite list but I have to mention him for my actual carreer in the music.

Q: What do you think is the future for Italo Dance music?

FROGGY: I know I'm about to say something that many will find unpleasant, but it is the conclusion I have reached after numerous reflections... the future of the Italodance scene corresponds to the same future that is reserved for all the other musical scenes in the electronic panorama: NO FUTURE!! In the 90s and 2000s we could certainly talk about the house scene, the dance scene, the trance scene, the hardcore scene, etc... vice versa, today musical panoramas no longer exist. There are artists who emerge and conquer evenings, stages and fame thanks to their consistency in producing songs in a certain style, thanks to their passion for a certain type of sound and thanks to their moving forward without wanting to reach the slightest compromise. Two names above everyone else: Alien Cut and Matrix.

RAFFY: I'm really optimist about this new era of music,I hear around the radio and local a return of the old style of dance music, fast bpm and bass in 4/4, and this give me a hope for a return of italodance, like we remember in the 2000-2006.

Q: What do you like to do on your spare time?

FROGGY: I'm daddy of a wonderful 3 year old boy, and I'm always happy to dedicate my free time to him and my family, especially my wife Lara. For the rest, I like to learn what I don't know yet, I like to abandon myself to music that can give me an emotion, and I just wish I had the time to travel more.

RAFFY: In my spare time i like to explore new lands by travelling, know new people and new uses and other minds to increase my knowledge, and this give me new inspirations for the music too.

Q: What are your plans for the future? style, project etc.

FROGGY: Nice try fellas , well honestly I don't know how to answer to this one. I think it's better for me to focus on the daily little goals and see for myself what the future has to offer, basing on what I will have to offer myself.

RAFFY: For the future I'll see more productions and festival too where we can share our style and bring more people in the italodance family, I'm very hopeful for the future of italodance

Q: What news can you reveal for us about your future productions?

FROGGY & RAFFY: In April 2024 our second album "Chapter Two" will see the light. Then we'll proceed with always more collaborations, and we can already tell that we're working to the next single with the voice of Jess after "Black Moon"... we also began to produce many songs with artists like DJ PGL and Alex Teddy and, after our first presence into TechnoBase FM compilation vol. 38, we'll also be working on another hard dance song with our friend Coke Montilla.

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