Frank151 Designer Drugs Interview

Over the course of a few glasses of Jameson, Frank sat down with bass heavy DJ duo Designer Drugs. Made up of Philly’s Michael Vincent Patrick and Theodor Paul Nelson, who are known for their hardecore, ass-dropping live sets, have shared the bill with Trouble & Bass, The Bloodybeet Roots, and LA Riots. Recently, we experinced Designer Drugs at Webster Hall. Still recovering from the Webster Hall show, we caught up with Michael in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn before they sped off on their European tour.

Frank: Designer Drugs, where does the name come from?
Designer Drugs: Basically when I was in high school or middle school I remember reading this book, not really reading it but looking at it. It was an educational book on drugs and one of the chapters was called Designer Drugs, and I thought it sounded cool. I just remembered it, and years later we were making the project. It was like rave music, so we thought it would be a good name. We really didn’t think too much about it, we just used it.

F: When did you start getting into music?
DD: I was always into music, even when I was really young. I personally started trying to make music maybe when I was 15 or 16. Theo played piano for a while. He was making music back then, making bands, you know those really shitty bands, really half-ass. So we all pretty much our whole lives have been into music. But we’ve only been dong the project for two years. We’ve worked together before in the past when we first met. For a year we were just kind of making beats and stuff, but it was never serious where this is like a real project. We decided to make a certain type of music and kept doing it.

Read On...

F: Where did DJing come into play?
DD: I went to a rave when I was young, like 15 or 16, and I was into the music, so I thought it would be fun to DJ and throw parties and stuff. So probably when I was 15.

F: You guys have done a bunch of crazy remixes. You’ve done tracks for Mariah Carey, Treasure Fingers, and Annie. Would you rather create remixes or originals?
DD: We definitely would rather do original tracks. Remixes are easier and a lot of fun sometimes, but at the same time they’re frustrating because you have to deal with what’s there. We do a lot of remixes, it’s a good way to make money. We just did some for Thieves Like Us, Flo Rida, Nelly Furtada…a ton of people.
F: How does that work? Do they approach you first?

DD: They usually approach us because they want to promote their band to a different demographic. So if we make a DJ-friendly mix and all these DJs hear about the band, then that’s what’s worth it for them.

F: So what’s in the works right now with Designer Drugs?
DD: Well we are about to do a European tour, pretty much all of Europe, for a month and a half starting in September. We’re doing that to promote our next single which is coming out October 24. It’s like two kinds of heavy club jams with a bit of punk-rock influence. We’re also trying to make an album. It’s taking a while. I’m not sure when that’s going to be out.
F: What can we expect from the first album?
DD: It’s going to be a lot of different stuff. We’re trying to make it as electronic and pop sounding as possible but at the same time we have some R&B vocals on some tracks, hip-hop vocals on some tracks, rock vocals on some tracks. It’s kind of eclectic but at the same time I think it’s all going to work together. And I think that’s the best way I can describe the album.

F: So I had a little a preview of your new album and it had a lot of live instruments. Do you guys play instruments?
DD: Yeah we kind of play instruments; we both play keyboards, kind of can play guitar and bass a little bit, but not too well. We wrote most of the album with a piano, but we had some studio musicians do some guitars and drums, which we recorded at our studio in Philly. Some of the vocals are us and we had some guest vocalists. We had this guy Cerebral Vortex from Chicago, he’s really good. He’s an amazing rapper. This dude Voo, he’s an R&B singer. He’s amazing. We’re working with some female artists. It’s kind of dynamic album, its got a lot of different shit on there.

F: I’ve been to your live shows, and they're crazy. What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen playing a live show?
DD: A lot of the crazy shit! I forget because I drink too much. Especially the other night when you were there. We definitely, um…… I drank too much. I don’t really remember much, although I saw the pictures. It looked like it was a really good party. But the funniest thing I’ve ever seen was after the party these girls tied Theo up in the hotel room and were rubbing pizza on his balls. It was the craziest shit I’ve ever seen. Hands down the craziest shit because I was like, "What the fuck's going on in here?!"
F: That’s crazy, dude!
DD: Yeah, it's bizarre.

F: So you moved to the City a few years ago?
DD: I moved to New York like two years ago. But I’m from Philly.
F: Has the move to New York changed anything in your career, musically?
DD: I don’t know. I don’t think its necessarily changed anything musically or…well musically it’s definitely changed, but I don’t think we're bigger because we’re in New York. But at the same time, you experience so much stuff living in New York that it just becomes part of your life and you end up making better music or having more influences just because of the City. It’s really interesting.

F: The thing is in NY, the younger kids go to a lot of loft parties—house parties. You told me you’ve done a lot of house parties back in Philly?
DD: Yeah when I was younger I did a lot of house parties. I mean house parties are always really fun, especially when it’s all your friends. That’s when it's most fun. Now that I’m DJing for a living it’s a little less fun to do house parties because I DJ so much that I’d rather chill out at somebody’s house and not have to DJ. But yeah, when I was young I loved DJing house parties. I would still do it but I haven’t in a while. House parties are the shit, I perfer house parties. You can talk to people and get to know people.
F: Better than any club you’ve been to. It’s a more relaxed atmosphere.
DD: And the drinks are way cheaper.
F: Yeah, that’s true.

F: You guys signed to IHeartComix. How’s that helped you?
DD: Yeah, it's really awesome working with IHeartComix, they’re a dope label. They put out our first single, they are putting out our next single, our album, they’re supporting us and are really good with getting us into…spreading our name basically. They’re super supportive. Because at first they were really into our music, that’s why we work with them, because Franki has been supporting us since day one, pretty much.

F: So what can we expect from Designer Drugs in the future?
DD: Hopefully a good album. I think it’s gonna be good, but that’s about it, just a heavy album, lots of touring, remixes as usual. We want to do all kinds of shit. We wanna make pop music, country, rap music, everything. Whatever we can do.