Interview with DJs From Mars

Fresh off their explosive collaboration with dance music icon David Guetta, Italian duo DJs From Mars are proving once again why they’re among the most innovative forces in electronic music. Known for their high-energy mashups and tongue-in-cheek style, the masked producers have built a reputation for breaking boundaries between genres while keeping the dancefloor moving. We caught up with them to talk about their latest project, the creative process behind the Guetta collab, and how they continue to evolve in today’s ever-changing EDM landscape. Read the interview below:

You started out making mashups and bootlegs that went viral online. Looking back, what moment felt like your big breakthrough?

"We can’t say that exactly – it all happened really quickly! We started uploading our bootlegs on YouTube in 2009 and in 2010 we were already touring worldwide… But maybe the first big step was entering the DJ Mag Top 100 in 2013… in that moment the bookings skyrocketed and in those years we were playing more than 150 shows per year… so yeah, the DJ Mag Top 100 was probably the first milestone in our journey!"

What was the transition like from being producers in Italy to becoming an internationally touring act?

"It’s funny – we started creating our mash-ups for our resident DJ jobs in our hometown, Turin. We were playing 6 hours per night so we needed different versions of the pop hits to play them multiple times in our sets. So the mash-ups were basically created for our hometown crowd, 100% Italian. But the first year we only received requests for bookings in Germany, Austria, Spain, even China or Australia. We only started touring in Italy later, when we were already touring worldwide. We don’t know what happened exactly and we didn’t plan it, it just happened! What we noticed is that, our set, made only with our mash-ups, could work really well with every type of crowd, cause the vocals we choose are really popular worldwide, so maybe that’s the reason we’re touring internationally since 15 years…"

Your mashups are often unexpected but work so well. How do you choose which tracks to combine?

"We always start from the vocals. We want to play – let’s say – the new Blackpink single so we start from the acapella and try to make it work with some samples that could sound good with it. We can try 100 samples and still feel there’s no magic… but when we import the right one, we immediately feel that “goose bump” and we know we need to go that way! So we start working on the track like it’s a remix: we add our own beats, drops, grooves, so it always sounds like it’s a DJs From Mars mash… but we agree: the best combinations are always the ones nobody would expect to work! Like we mashed-up Lady Gaga and Metallica, The Chemical Brothers and Beethoven, Oasis and Skrillex… those are the best

ones cause when you read the title you’re like “No way this is gonna sound good!!” then you start listening and you’re like “Damn these guys did it again!” We love to surprise our audience, online and especially in our live shows!"

We love your new collaboration with David Guetta and Audio Bullys! You've done a lot of backstage collaborations with David in the past, but what made you choose to rework 'We Don't Care' and make this your first official release together?

"The idea started from David: we were working on some mash-ups for some of his festival shows and he came out with this vocals “why don’t we try a mash with this one?” So we placed the vocals on a UK Bass instrumental we had there lying in the closet, and it all happened real quick! David started playing the demo, the reactions were crazy so we went ahead and finished it as a bootleg. But reactions were so crazy that David himself one day came out with the idea of making it an official release! We were super euphoric cause it’s always been a dream for us and in the end, it happened! We hope it’s just the first one cause we already have more ideas in this style!"

Do you have any other dream collaborations or tracks you would love to rework in the future?

"Dream collab, we would have tons of ideas but most of them are just utopic! We love every different kind of music so we’d love to work with Eminem, Metallica, Lady Gaga, and even Bob Marley, Chester from Linkin Park, Ozzy Osbourne (but these would be definitely impossible collaborations!). So we don’t have really one dream collab, we’re just working every day on several ideas. We take inspiration when we’re hanging out in a bar and the radio plays that strikes some chords in that moment, or just going to a concert or a DJ set when someone plays a track and we see a good reaction. We’re not planning things, we just go with the flow!"

You perform with the iconic “box heads.” Where did that idea come from, and how important is it to your identity?

"We started the first shows with those masks and everyone in the small clubs we were playing wanted to take a photo with us, so we thought “This is a good idea!”. Then we kept this for the first international shows and it’s still working today! Some fans come to our shows with their boxheads, it’s fun! Actually weird cause the first idea was being anonymous, like DJs without a face! Ironically, it turned out to be our trademark and it’s now the most recognizable visual aspect of our project! But it’s still cool cause we’re able to travel and walk in our hometown without being recognized so in the end we really think that it was a good idea, cause we’re still able to live a regular life when we’re home and then become superheroes on stage, just like Bruce Wayne and Batman of Electronic Music!"

The music industry has changed a lot since you started. How do you see the role of DJs evolving today?

"Yes sure, DJs were really just club workers when we started. Nobody would even see the DJ, he was usually in some dark corner of a dark club, the main thing was the music he was playing. Now, DJs are rockstars! Definitely like some Guns n’ Roses of the 2020’s – they fill stadiums and arenas, they’re in the biggest festivals lineups, the role of the DJ has completely changed. And of course since we’re part of this movement, we’re enjoying the moment! We also thing that this had an impact on the style of music production: we are playing in a big stage, in the day time, with 10,000 people in front of us, we cannot play some 122 tech house beats for 6 minutes without vocals! We need to play music with a big impact! Vocals need to be anthems, drops need to be huge and effective, and the set must be constantly evolving, it can’t be boring, so edits should be really quick and surprising. Actually, that’s really fitting our musical taste! So we like it – we always liked albums with 25 songs and different styles, we love music when it’s a kaleidoscope of different influences and genres, so yeah we are really enjoying what is happening to our culture in the last years!"

What's been your favourite festival or city to perform in, and why?

"Of course, Tomorrowland and Ushuaia are our biggest and more important shows so far! Just saying those names, it feels like a majestic show! Those venues are so iconic, only thinking that we are playing there is causing us massive goose bumps every time! So yeah let’s say those 2 venues were probably the highlights of our career (so far!). Also we need to mention that we love to play in Spain. People are really crazy over there, we can play a super late night set at 6am and everyone is still pumped like the party just started! Also, we love the fact that in Spain they are really open minded so they know all the songs,

even the indie rock vocals, or songs from the 80’s, everyone is just going nuts and singing

along. And that’s what we try to achieve in all of our sets, so we feel it’s a perfect match!"

Do you think mashup culture still has a place in today’s music world dominated by streaming algorithms?

"Definitely yes! Streams are important, but still, every DJ in every major festival, in every country, still plays tons of mash-ups! Maybe the new #1 on Spotify is a K-Pop hit at 115 BPM, ok so we’ll need a mash-up to make it playable in clubs and festivals! So yeah it’s not that mash-ups are leading the way, and it was never like this, but it’s – let’s say – a “parallel” way of making music that it’s probably more popular than ever! Also, mash-up culture brought to a lot of official reworks and remixes that were released officially, and some of them were global hits! And yes probably they started gaining attention when the idea was just a mash-up that DJs were playing around… so yeah we really believe in this form of contemporary art… and we love the fact that it’s somehow still “illegal” cause it makes it a bit more fascinating…"

What’s next for DJs From Mars in terms of sound or projects?

"Sound wise, we’ll try to evolve our sound a bit but we love to keep a certain direction… we call it “alien electro” and it’s recognizable cause it’s powerful but never too aggressive. We love the new hard techno wave, but we’ll never play like this in our sets. We’re trying to stay on the 130 bpm style – with some huge drops and deep bass, but we’ll always need some groove to make people dance. Probably higher BPMs miss a bit of groove, so we’ll stick to our style and evolve it with new sounds… Project wise – we have new tracks already finished, one of them is with Steve Aoki and it’s going to be released soon (but still don’t have a date), plus more things that we can’t announce yet… but we recommend you to stay

tuned cause really good news is coming!"