I’ll take a thrifty chance at betting these guys are the first formal disc jockeying house music duo, doing rounds at the so-called discreet “club circuit” in town. Well, no, they are!
Not your run-of-the-mill vinyl scratchers — they’ve previously opened for Artful Dodger, DJ Whoo Kid, and are all set to play with Fatboy Slim.
Meet Harris Mavromatis and Muhanned Nasser, a complementing cacophony of tastes, tones and temperaments. They met somewhere between the origins of Greece and Arabia, trance and jazz influences, mind and matter, to produce the distinct sound of Vinyl Mode and tune your senses. How? Let’s find out!
Tell us, how did you both get together?
Harris: “I met Muhanned in late 2009 at an underground party just three weeks after I arrived in Saudi Arabia to pursue my Ph.D. Incidentally, he was working at the place I was studying, so we met again. We started doing lunches together and really got talking about music. Let’s just say I met him at a dead period in his life.” (Laughs)
Muhanned: “Since he was already a professional after-hours DJ playing trance in Montreal and I was in the underground music scene playing deep and funky house in Jeddah, we quite naturally got together and started playing officially in 2011.”
What is the sound of Vinyl Mode?
H: “Our sound is very Ibiza, very Mediterranean. It’s a mix of chill out, lounge and jazz. We both like to play serious music —something mellow and deep that can really tune your senses. We don’t believe in music that has an expiration date six months from now.”
M: “Yeah, we like to bring music that you can hear, and is not creaking in your ears.”
How did you both as a duo find a middle ground, as your musical tastes and professional musical history are so varied and far apart?
H: “I was inspired by Muhanned’s choice of soulful, deep house tunes. For me as a European DJ, playing trance in Montreal got me good prospects but I couldn’t play trance here because the sound is so big. Trance is warmer, which means it requires a bigger arena. Here, we can play house in houses (laughs). I was also experimenting, so it happened gradually.”
M: “I was interested in the techniques Harris was using, although I wasn’t really into trance. He had a beautiful library of house music and I said, ‘Man, I don’t know why you don’t bring this out’. He was already playing at parties and was pretty well known, so we decided before our collaboration to meet in-between.”
What challenges do you face as DJ’s playing your own unique sound?
M: “People asking for commercial music!”
H: “Yeah. In the beginning we were complaining, but we have created a crowd that is following us, and doesn’t want mainstream. We have to be very loyal and honest and do what we want to do, otherwise there’s no difference from being a jukebox or, say, iTunes. Why do people pay to hear us? To play what they already have on their playlist? I don’t think so. They pay us for the collection we bring out and our style.”
Who are your musical influences?
H: “My personal favorites are Deep Dish, Art Department…Tale of Us.”
M: “Above and Beyond, Steve Bug…”
Where can clubbers usually find you playing?
H: “We have residency at a club in Bahrain. We play there once a month. We’ve also played in Athens. This summer, we are expected to be playing in Montreal, Toronto, and Mykonos.”
M: “We recently got a call from one of the best clubs in L.A. It’s crazy, you never know!”
Any dream destinations?
M: “We don’t want to have any limits, and we both agreed on that.”
What are the must-have qualities for a DJ to break into the scene?
H: “Technical knowledge of the job and knowing how to play right. One needs to understand how to create warmth with music. It has to have direction and flow just like a movie or an essay. You must also know how to manipulate the crowd naturally. A fellow DJ I know of, whose first record went onto the Armada record label, said to me, ‘If you want to play in the clubs and have a job, then just go play whatever you know, but if you want to be big and have an impact in this field, then you have to compose your own music’. There isn’t a DJ you can name who is not producing.”
M: “It’s also important to be nice, friendly and not show attitude. Give what you have and love what you’re doing. If you don’t feel it, it won’t happen. Don’t just play randomly; learn to set up a mood. You need to communicate without talking. If you’re doing it to be famous then it’s easy to get into the scene, but it’s not genuine.”
Are you producing any music of your own?
H: “After we finish this interview with you, we are heading back to our studio to record some tracks (laughs). Our next single ‘Dreamworld’ has already been sent to a record label for release.”
M: “But I must add, the problem with production is that it is difficult to release them here.”
What’s the weirdest thing that has happened while playing at a party?
H: “We were invited to open for DJ Whoo Kid- the official DJ for 50 Cent, and there was a crowd in front of us just going crazy. After we were done, they went to the promoters asking them to get us back up. That was just insane.”
M: “Also, when a guy begged us to play some ‘We speak no Americano’ track for 500 bucks. Can you believe it? I said I wouldn’t even if he doubled the number.”
What are your future aspirations as a duo?
H: “We want people to enjoy our sound and give us the push to continue producing.”
M: “Yeah, we will continue doing what we’re doing. We want to keep progressing and create a bigger sound. As musicians, our success depends on how our fans judge us.”
To learn more about Vinyl Mode visit:
www.vinylmode.com
You can also download their monthly podcast Tune Your Senses, on iTunes.
