Nick and John Dalagelis

	DownshiftRadio spotlight

Born in Philadelphia and raised in Greece, brothers John and Nick Dalagelis carried their music to different corners of the globe. After graduating as a sound engineer from the French Institute of Pasteur, John took a brief stint engineering in Benzoil Studio and then managed "Noise Records" in Thessalonica, Greece, at the same time Nick has spent time at their home based studio experimenting and polishing his production skills. A short time later John and Nick decided to combine their talents and produce their own unique sounds.
After moving to NYC they joined the ranks of Downshiftradio and started producing their music more intensively. "Fat Oscar" their first release on Downshift Records is now out in stores worldwide.
The following interview was conducted with the Dalagelis brothers on Saturday, August 17th at the "Dalasounds" recording studio in Astoria, NY.

Nick and John Dalagelis

How would you describe your music?

That's a tough one. The thing is that we don't like tagging our music because nowadays music became so vast. Certain tracks could have House and Trance or brakebeat elements in them. The bass lines and the atmospheres in "Fat Oscar" could characterize the track as progressive Trance, same goes for "God Is Great" but there are also Tribal-intensive percussion elements in it. Most of our other tracks are way different in terms of moods and styles.A lot of breaks, some down tempo and some other more experimental. The same rules follows when we spin. You can say that our main sound is progressive trance, but there are a lot of ingredients that are poured and blended together to create a very diverse and deep set.

Where'd you come up with the name "Fat Oscar"?

Hahahaha!!! A lot of people have been asking us about that. It's very cool isn't it? We have a very good friend back in Greece whose dream is to win an Oscar, he used to be fat but not anymore. But anyway, Nick came up with this nickname trying to tease him all the time THE FAT OSCAR.

How long have you been involved with Electronic Dance Music?

Since we were little kids. We started collecting records with the money our parents gave us for food, we can't exactly remember what pushed us to create the music but a great deal of inspiration came from our older brother Chris, who introduced us to the music. All our friends liked it too so it became our way of life, it's a little bit different from what a typical kid would to do at the age of 13. We've been spinning from around 1993. Old school breaks were very popular at that time and it later developed to jungle and drum n bass. That was the music that we were playing as djs but we were also collecting older classic dance records from artists and labels like Njoy, D shake, early Sven Vath, Moby, Aphex twin, Kraftwerk, Go Bang, D Zone, Warp and generally anything that pushed the edge of EDM back in that era; electro, techno, experimental. We started producing our own music in 1999. it was a whole new chapter in our lives. Looking back at our earlier projects I can tell you that we came along quite a way and developed our own unique sound, but that doesn't mean that we are going to stay at the same spot, we'll keep on pushing the envelope and experiment with new sounds and ideas.

What do you usually do in your free time?

Free time? What's that?(laughs)
We say that because we work all the time in our home studio either creating a new track or mixing. Oh we forgot, we usually take a break when the Simpsons are on!!! Ok sometimes we take longer breaks to catch up with fellow musicians at the local bar.

Is it easier to get into the music industry nowadays?

No, actually we think it's very hard. Consistency is key. Going to record stores all the time and getting updated, trying to get gigs and establish your name, trying to promote your self. The real bitch about it is that you never know what's the right way; it's basically trial and error and a lot of sacrifices are pulled. Being focused doing what you like, keeping the quality high and paying taxes at the same time makes it very difficult for all aspiring musicians and it's always a struggle. Having a record out in the stores and getting booked doesn`t really pay the rent and even when you hit it big the stress doesn`t ease off, it just gets tougher.

How do you create your music? You have any particular technique?

We don't like to talk much about our production , just because we don't agree with the fact that there is a one way on producing a track, there are several approaches. We do use a computer for sequencing, we do a lot processing, we collect all interesting sounds that we come across and sample them, and we do mean ALL sounds. If it sounds good it's recorded, mess around with it for a while and you never know how it's going to end up sounding. With all the filters and effects, you can create an atmospheric pad from a snare. It`s all in the mind-the tools are there for you to express yourself.

You've played in a lot of gigs in Europe, which is the most memorable one?

Actually there are two; One was in 1998 when John was participating in the DMC championship in Greece. It was a great night, John was the only who wasn't mixing hip hop but drum n bass, it was so different, everybody loved him. Scratching, cross fading with his foot and other sick tricks, at the end of the night john took 4th place (at the age of 17). The other event was in 2000 when the Orbital were coming for the 1st time to perform in Greece, it was a big festival with many groups and DJs. John opened for Orbital in front of thousands of people.

What are your plans for the future?

Plans? Hmmmmmmmm! Well the basic plan is the same as it was years ago. We travel around the world carrying our message and delivering it through our music, having "Fat Oscar" is the first step in a much bigger and broader concept that we intend to deliver. Other plans are creating our own label, expanding our studio and collaborating with fellow artists.

Nick and John Dalagelis-Fat Oscar is now out in fine record stores near you. To hear a sample of "Fat Oscar" and "God is Great" click on the links below.
FAT OSCAR | GOD IS GREAT

Nick and John Dalagelis - Fat Oscar - Downshift Records.
John Dalagelis - Tuesdays - from 4-6:00 pm EST.