Social House: An Exclusive Interview with the Dynamic Duo
(This interview has been condensed for clarity.)
Liv Stripling: What’s your creative process when making music together, and how is it different from when you guys produce for other artists?
Scootie: Whenever we were making stuff for us it’s kinda like throwing paint. We just kinda do whatever we feel. Versus if we’re making something for somebody else, it’s more so trying to help them to tell the story they want to tell and paint the picture they want to see.
Mikey: When you’re working with another artist, it would be like making a sculpture of them. We’re just trying to make the thing look as accurate as we can with that person. With us, it’s like… we almost don’t care what it looks like, so it could be anything. We’re just weirdos.
Scootie: I feel like we have more freedom when we're making stuff for us because it’s gonna sound like us.
Liv: What are the pros and cons of each? I know you guys said you like working together because it’s more experimental, but are there cons?
Mikey: I think one benefits the other. Say we’re just making stuff for ourselves, it becomes watery in a way. You just kinda make things and it flows and you become too creative. But when you’re working with other people there’s so much structure, you want to make sure that everything is rock solid. You’re like, this hook has to feel perfect, it has to feel like radio or whatever they’ve chosen. It has to feel like Drake. It has to feel like Ariana. It has to feel like whoever. It’s kind of easier to structure.
Scootie: It’s kinda like cooking. If you’re cooking for yourself versus if you’re cooking for somebody else. You know what you like. So you have room to do what you want. Cooking for somebody else, it’s like, they do like this or they don’t like this.
Laurel Sanders: Is there anything you’ve taken from those collaborations that you apply to your own music?
Scootie: Absolutely. Everything is connected.
Mikey: From certain people, you really do pick up like… or pay attention to people's habits. Like I’ve noticed, SAINt JHN. I mean he’s immensely involved with the process. He’s in there, he’s hearing all the sounds, he’s making it sound like he feels. We went on a trip to Hawaii with him and he has his videos on, not in a selfish way, but he’s paying attention to what he’s done so he could build from it, so he can go to the next step with it. Like, Ariana will sit there all day and work on the parts. That’s fire. Having somebody just pay high amounts of attention to the details. Then boom, we apply it to us. We’re like we’re gonna sit here all day, alright next week here’s all we are doing. We’re gonna set us apart from everything else and go into the woods into a box and then only work on our stuff all day. We would’ve never done that had we not been in those scenarios.
Scootie: You might be working with an artist or something, and you’ll do something that you would usually do and they say ‘No, but what if you did this?’ and they flip it around. You’re like, oh! It turns a whole nother wheel in your head. And you’ll start doing something this way now.
Mikey: You see somebody do something weird with their vocals, reversing stuff and breathing a certain way. They’re like ‘No, let’s record in the hallway.’ First, you’re like what… but that shit be crazy. I remember we were literally in a staircase and we put the mic up at the top, and we are on like the middle or the bottom of the staircase just screaming up towards the microphone. And it turned out so fire! So absolutely we’re inspired by everybody.
Liv: How do you guys translate that to performing? Like, how do you translate your music to performing and have you learned from touring with other people? Has that changed your performance style?
Scootie: Absolutely. I feel like we learned the most on tour with Ari. We were on tour with her for 10 months and just like learning, picking up things. We watched her show every single night and picked it apart, you know. It was a really cool learning experience and even just taking in the show, seeing what worked, what crowds respond to, what they don’t respond to. It really helped us to grow and apply it to our music as well.
Mikey: Yeah we almost scrapped everything as soon as we got back. It’s like, none of this works. This is what we need. It changed our pace tremendously, for sure.
Laurel: Is there a way you try to connect with the audience in a specific way, or does it change per night?
Mikey: Being as close as you can to everybody is very beneficial. We like being able to hug people, touch people, high-five people, like be in there. I want you to be able to steal my hat. Because there’s an energy that inspires us, like when we’re close enough that we could be like ‘yo, I can directly respond to you right here.’ Like I could see you and I could impact you. I feel like the more fun everybody has, the more fun we have and so it becomes a little bit more interactive.
Scootie: I feel like everybody wants to have fun, so if they see you having fun, they are gonna have fun. It’s that energy transfer.
Mikey: We have tried to make the show better by getting as close as we can, trying to keep our energy good the whole time. We’ve sped up songs, we’ve got rid of space, we’ve added talking parts that are specific to the music, so we could make sure that there’s a story going on. We wanted to make sure that we’re working on sound progressively. We want it to sound better and better and better so that you're not in pain. So you’re not like ‘Oh my god these high hats are so loud that I can’t even hear’ or like ‘The bass it’s just I can’t hear what they’re saying.’ Hopefully, hopefully, we’re sounding better and better and like giving more and more per show.
Liv: What would you say your favorite part about touring is? Like, if you could name one thing?
Mikey: My favorite part is not having to think about what we’re supposed to be doing. It’s having everything blocked out so when I wake up I don’t have to think about shit. I don’t like to look at my phone. I don't like to plan things. I’m a spontaneous, jump-out-the-window kind of kid. So like when you’re like oh no, we’re here 430 here 530 here, this is it, this is the plan for the day. I don’t have to stress about shit. Give me a schedule. I don’t have to look, I'm good.
Scootie: I feel like I really enjoy just seeing new places, new people, trying things. The newness of every day, if that makes sense.
Mikey: Yeah, because we’ve never been here, like in this room right now. So coming down here and seeing it just adds to good energy and creativity. Cause now I can, if I want to, make a song that feels like I’m right here having a blast. Like, what goes so crazy in this room that's life-changing? We could make it tonight because we’ve been here. So I do agree with Scootie on that, like when you're traveling and seeing things.
Laurel: Reflecting on your career do you feel like there’s been a very clear shift or evolution in your music?
Scootie: Definitely.
Mikey: It’s crazy because like when we first started, like me and Scootie separately started doing songs and then we met each other and started working together. But he and I both thought that everybody who did songs did all of the parts of all of the songs. I thought Rihanna recorded herself. I thought she actually mixed and mastered it and then made her CD. So we both tried to learn as much as we could about making the songs. So then coming together we were like ‘Oh wait, we can help each other? Oh shit!’
Scootie: And also just being around other creative people really helped our sound and just like, form and change. I give a lot of credit to our friends Mr. Franks and Tommy Brown for literally helping us to find a sound and hold it with us cause nobody really does anything alone, that is the biggest misconception. Like he said, we thought everyone was doing everything.
Liv: What advice do you have for students, people our age, trying to find their own sound through making music themselves?
Scootie: Collaborate. Biggest advice I feel like I can give. Collaborate.
Mikey: We talked about this today. Not only collaborate but do it. Literally, like, you as a human adapt to your environment. Lock yourself in the studio, turn on that mic, and get to work. Because the truth is that’s how you change. That’s how you get better. Working with people, learning what other people like. If you only make songs that you like then great, you’ll like your songs. But learning what the world likes means you have to involve yourself with the world. You have to be involved with billions of people. Like, what do billions of people like? What are billions of people going through?
Scootie: Yeah.
Mikey: And I’m not saying that I know that, but I’m saying I’m diving toward that direction. Like, okay, what would you like? What makes you feel good inside?
Scootie: Yeah, and piggybacking off of what he said, you gotta just do it. Cus there is a n**** in the back of all of our heads and his name is doubt, and you can’t listen to that n****. You can’t listen to him, cus he’s bad. The more you go opposite of him, the smaller the voice is gonna get.
Mikey: So fuck that n****.
Liv: How did you guys make music when you didn’t have the resources, like a big studio or getting paid to produce?
Scootie: So, I started making music, like recording and stuff, in college. My sophomore year.
Mikey: Nasty work.
Scootie: My friends, they told me I was terrible at it. I remember I played it for my roommate, he started laughing at me. He was like nah you need to give that up. But I took all of my book money, and I bought a set of – I didn’t buy any books that semester. So I was bumming books off my friends and stuff, but I had my recording setup. And every day after classes I’d go back to the room. Like, I wanted it that bad, so I figured out a way to do it. I had to sacrifice something. I didn’t get the best grades that semester, but in the end it was worth it because I mean I’m right here with y’all.
Liv: What was your setup? What system did you have?
Scootie: A little Scarlet thing and a Yeti mic. A Yeti bro, a Yeti.
Mikey: My first set-up was horrific. I mean, literally. Like I had… it was the cheapest computer at Walmart in like 2000 or whatever. So it was like $100 total. It was absolute weak. I couldn't do anything. I worked in FL, Fruity Loops 3. It was one of the first ones ever, and I had literally a $20 microphone that I plugged directly into the computer. There was no interface, there was no none of that, and I used Audacity to record. Audacity was like the most OG program to record on.
Scootie: There was no metronome. You couldn’t even line it up.
Mikey: You ain’t have no tuning, you couldn’t line it up, you just had to do it right. And so it was basically like recording to tape or like just recording a voice memo today. You don’t need a good setup, bro. You don’t need shit bro, just get in there and do the shit. There's something about it, it just sounds cool because it's the moment. Your idea doesn’t matter, your moment is what you’re recording.
Scootie: Yeah.
Mikey: There are people on Instagram now, or like back in the day there was somebody who would just play on their guitar and had a cool voice, I think XXX Tentacion.
Scootie: Shiloh.
Mikey: Yeah, Shiloh Dynasty. Literally used to just record with a guitar, and sing. There was something about that moment that was special. It’s just the vibe that you’re in, record it. That's what people care about.
Scootie: Shit, Magic in the Hamptons, one of our biggest songs, was recorded in a closet.
Mikey: Yeah, closet in the bedroom. Literally we actually, we had studios, big studios, and went into my bedroom and recorded in the closet. I turned off the lights in the closet so I wouldn’t see all the clothes and stuff. Cus you’re in the closet and you’re like man… this ain’t a good song I’m in the closet. You know, you start thinking about shit. You’re like damn, this jackets weak. You’re over here judging your pants. But yeah, we literally recorded in the closet with the cheapest setup we had. We had an Apollo, like the regular Apollo twin, and a Neumann TLM 103. If y’all want the juice setup: TLM 103, Apollo. The cheapest, perfect setup you could have.
Scootie: And record in your closet.
Mikey: Put all your clothes in your closet, all of em, everything.
Scootie: Shit, even Boyfriend. We recorded that in a green room.
Mikey: We had a show at the Forum, in LA. Literally for the world tour. It was like 4:00 in the afternoon, right? The band is rehearsing, and it’s loud. Every time they would take a second to break, Scootie put pillows from the couch around the microphone and would record during the times that they were quiet. Then he would just stop the recording. He literally just had a U-87 into an Apollo Twin.
Scootie: Yeah, hung it from a pipe
Mikey: That's how we recorded Boyfriend and it sounds great. Shit slap.
Scootie: Moral of the story is how bad do you want it? It doesn't matter the setup. How bad do you want it?
Laurel: Any other upcoming projects you guys want to promote?
Scootie: Yeah, so we got an EP coming soon. It's called LA Too Long.
Scootie: It's five songs, it's gonna be crazy.
Liv: Do you have a release date?
Mikey: Well, here's the thing. They sent us a thing Monday, and our lawyer hasn’t hit us back yet... I don’t know how our lawyer decided to ghost us this week. But, once he says yes or no we’ll have a date. So I’m 100% blaming him. Nothing to do with us, nothing to do with us. We’re ready to go, it's the lawyer. As soon as we can, we’ll put it in your hands… in the hands of the people. Put it in the ears… Put it in your ear does sound pretty wild. But, that’s what we’re gonna do.
Interview conducted and transcribed by Laurel Sanders and Liv Stripling.