LAMP Weekly Mix #263 feat. FlashGang

This week LAMP welcomes Vegas duo FlashGang to the Mix series. With a passion for house and techno that dates back over a decade these two have spent the latter half of it inserting themselves into the scene that they were so influenced by. Recently their production efforts have been recognized by House of Hustle where they have a couple of releases and Sweet Heat Records. As it is only their first couple of releases I expect we'll be hearing much more from them in that department in the future. They are also regulars on the club scene in Vegas with several appearances on top lineups supporting some of the biggest names in the business. Another result of their hard work and tonacity is they have found themselves on the EDC lineup 2 years in a row! We had a chance to ask them a few questions to get to know them a little better. Sit back and enjoy the mix and check out the interview and tracklist down below.PZB: Hey guys, welcome to the mix series. We are excited to share your music with our audience and get to know FlashGang and what you are all about. So let’s kick things off by letting us know what we can expect when we settle in for your mix this week.FlashGang: Yoooo thank you so much for having us! This mix is filled with some of our favorite styles of dance music, including some originals & tracks from some of our favorite producers/labels at the moment. PZB: Help us get to know FlashGang. Take us back to the creation, how did the concept come to light and what should we come to expect when someone comes to see one of your shows or listens to your productions on Spotify/ Soundcloud etc? FlashGang: FlashGang was originated back in 2012, Dexter Harlequin & Paxton Pope were leaving EDCLV. After an epic night, we decided we wanted to take on this journey & start producing / mixing music. We hosted our first show in downtown Las Vegas & got the ball rolling. After that started supporting all the different collectives in town till they started booking us. Tech House / House / & techno would be our main genres we play in live shows. Our productions are influenced by labels like DirtyBird, Hot Creations, Perfect Driver, Hot Traxx, etc. When you see us at shows/out we are all about having a good time & getting groovy. #streettechPZB: You have a handful of releases over the last year from House Of Hustle, Sweet Heat in addition to several self released tracks. Take us into your production process world. What process do you go through when you get into the studio to make music. Do you usually have something already in mind before you set out to start crafting the song? When you sit down to make a track, what are some initial things you always do before getting started?FlashGang: When we get in the studio it’s all about the vibe first and foremost. We turn the neon signs on and get some funky lights going. We always make sure we get ourselves in a groove before we load up a track. We really like to start out with a vocal or a sample we really like and go from there. We like to start with the low end of the track, working through the kick and the bass-line first. Moving on to the hats for rhythm and then finally the snare/claps for placement. Being experimental keeps our music from all sounding the same. We never know where the track is going to end up, but always know it's going to sound different. Huge shoutout to House of Hustle for releasing two of our originals in 2018. PZB: If we were sitting in your studio with you what sort of setup would we be looking at? Do you have any particular pieces of hardware or software that you really love to work with?FlashGang: When you sit down you would see we have multiple mounted monitors in the room so everybody can see whats going on and stay involved. Sitting at the front of the room is a pair of Adam A7X speakers and along the side of the room is a rack with with an Ableton push pad and an AKAI Max 25. Currently we are huge fans of the EQ from fabfilter, and also Soundtoys Decapitator. Gets the drums sounding fat! We also have the full CDJ 2000 Nexus 2 setup.PZB: Let’s say you’re working on a new tune and you’ve got the chance to program some remixes for the EP. If you could have your pick and money, time etc were no object who are some of you favorite producers right now that you’d want to have a go at reworking your tracks?FlashGang: Two of our biggest idols would have to be Claude Vonstroke & Jamie Jones. Also some of our favorite remixes currently are by Dateless & Max Chapman so any or all of them would be legendary. PZB: What do you enjoy listening to most when trying to get away from the house and techno worlds?FlashGang: 21 Savage, Future, Soulection, James Dexter to name a few. PZB: As an artist it is important to surround yourself with other like minded individuals. Who are a couple of your mentors and what is the best piece of advice you have been given by another artist?FlashGang: One of our good friends Roy Havens upcoming out of San Francisco has listened to everything we send him & always gives us honest critiques and advice. Over the past two years thanks to event companies/parties like Collective Zoo, Soul State, Funkhaus, Terrace AfterHours, MNTRA & RVLNT we have opened and hung out with some amazing artist. The biggest advice they give us is to keep working & that no track is ever finished, so if you aren’t feeling it move on and create something new to keep the flow fresh. Also this past year our boy Dean (Wood Holly) moved to Vegas so we plan on some collaborations coming very soon. PZB: Being in Vegas there is no shortage of opportunities to get behind the decks and it seems you had one heck of a year with performances at EDC in addition to a dizzying # of support gigs and renegades. What were a couple of moments that stood out for you in 2018?FlashGang: 2018 was an amazing year! Havasu Spring Break (Juscollege) was one of the craziest experience to date and because of that show we got booked for Shady Park in Tempe, AZ. Direct support for a sold out TIGA show was the highlight of the year. Getting to play EDC for a b2b year with the Cats & Boots homies was so awesome because a lot of our family and friends got to attend. Thanks to Front Left Productions in San Diego we had our first out of state headlining show at Spin nightclub, a little nervous of what to expect with attendance the place ended up being packed! Another stand out moment was getting to play the first ever Sin City Hearts with the Desert Hearts crew, those guys are real ones. We didn’t play DirtyBird Campout but have been to all 4 west coasts & probably our favorite festival. We had a RV Renegade set up with some of our best friends and rocked the whole weekend, met a lot of new people shoutout Dj Mass Appeal. PZB: Is there anything else coming up in your world that we should know or you want to tell us about that we should be keeping an eye/ ear out for?FlashGang: NEW MUSIC! We finally got our Spotify together so check out our playlist #gangactivity. Also we have a release coming out for the House of Hustle Miami compilation. AND we got booked for our first out of state festival, make sure to check us out at Lucidity Festival this April.PZB: Thank you so much for your time and the incredible mix you put together. Please keep us posted on future releases and we would love to see you in Los Angeles soon.FlashGang: Thank you guys again! We had a blast making this mix and we hope everyone enjoys. #gangactivity

Track List

1. Monodisco - Don’t Stop (Original Mix)2. Dking & Teknicoz - Gangstaz (Original Mix)3. Philip Z - Hot Spot (Original Mix)4. FlashGang - No Smoke ft. Rob Miami (Original Mix)5. Sirus Hood - Paf (Original Mix)6. Black V Neck - See You Work (Original Mix)7. Davide T - Contact to Mars (Original Mix)8. DJ Sluggo - Wouldn't You Like To Be A Hoe Too (Steady Rock Remix)9. Bassel Darwish - Deep (Original Mix)10. Martin Iken - Dope (Original Mix)11. Franklyn Watts - Down Da Block (Original Mix)12. Roy Havens - ID13. Dateless - Stale Ham Sandwich (Original Mix)14. FlashGang - BootyQuake ft. Rob Miami (Original Mix)15. Steve Darko - My Hood (Original Mix)

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