The Glitch Mob Interview

The Glitch Mob is made up of members Josh Mayer “ooah”, Edward Ma “edIT” and Justin Boreta “Boreta”. With great friendship bonds and a love for music, these gentleman collaborated together to shake up the music scene with a unique blend of hip hop and bass music, ultimately throwing genre distinctions out the window. The Glitch Mob has been one of the cornerstones of this new hip hop/electronic movement and we were able to catch up with them at the Ultra Music Festival. Here is what they had to say:

Dayanna: We’re here with Josh, Ed & Justin otherwise known as The Glitch Mob at the Ultra Music Festival. To start things off how is Miami treating you so far?

Edward Ma “edIT”: Oh great! The weather’s been amazing, the foods been amazing and yeah the experience has been really wonderful, so no complaints.

Dayanna: Usually it rains in Miami and we’ve had like amazing weather so maybe you guys brought that in.

Edward Ma “edIT”: That’s how we do, all the way from Los Angeles.

Dayanna: How did you guys come up with the name The Glitch Mob?

Edward Ma “edIT”: How did we come we come up with the name “The Glitch Mob,” who wants to answer this one?

Justin Boreta “Boreta”: That’s a good question. It was kind of just something that one of us said. A friend of ours just actually just said it. We needed a name because we actually started playing shows before we actually had a name. We got booked for a festival and the guy who was booking us said you guys need a name. Because we were kind of using our individual names and so a friend of our just kind of said it and we said that rolls of the tongue nicely and yeah so it just kind of stuck.

Dayanna: And there’s no particular meaning behind it?

All: No not at all. It’s just a name (Laughs).

Dayanna: So what’s the inspiration behind your music?

Edward Ma “edIT”: I think, you know, the inspiration is really just telling our story. That can change depending on where we’re at in our lives and where we’re at as individuals but I think that’s the common theme, it’s just like you know, where up there to express ourselves through music, tell our story through music, and that’s it really. In a nut shell, we’re just musicians; we just make music you know.

Dayanna: Are there any major themes that keep coming back around like it has to do with love, anything to that matter?

Edward Ma “edIT”: Yeah definitely, you know I think there’s always a universal themes of kind of like perseverance and triumph, I feel is a big theme in our music. You know our music tends to have like an epic, larger than life kind of feel to it. Yeah, I think a lot of it’s about just like championing and overcoming you know, hardship even I guess you could say. Positivity and good vives.

All: (Laugh)

Josh “ooah” Mayer: I think we tend to embrace all kind of emotion no matter what it is; negative or positive and just really use that as inspiration. Whatever the emotion may be, just kind of like go with that and not try to suppress it and be like oh we shouldn’t feel this way because people won’t like it. We feel this way so let’s figure out a way we could put that in the music.

Edward Ma “edIT”: Yeah, we just write what comes out basically. We don’t necessarily write for a specific genre music or write for a specific set of people, it just comes out and that’s what happens really.

Dayanna: And do you all contribute your own part to when you’re composing a new song?

Josh “ooah” Mayer: Yeah we do, I wouldn’t say its one specific thing but we all definitely contribute all the elements of it.

Edward Ma “edIT”: Yeah exactly.

Josh “ooah” Mayer: You know, one guy may feel one specific part and kind of roll with whatever he’s going with, it just depends on what you’re feeling really.

Edward Ma “edIT”: I mean conceptually, it’s the band’s creation and it’s the band idea, you know what I mean? It’s not necessarily like any one of us are like you always do drums, you always do sids, you always do bass. We’re all pretty well versed in using the studio so I guess it’s just really a matter of conveying and expressing the vision of the group.

Dayanna: How did you guys get into music? I mean was it something that was always instilled in you from basically birth or you just developed it over the years?

Justin Boreta “Boreta”: Yeah I think that’s one of the reasons why became. I mean we were all friends first, through the love of music really and we like all kinds of music; everything really. So yeah, I think we really share a common bond of music since we’ve been very young. We’re all coming from different styles of music, but that’s definitely a very strong theme in our lives.

Dayanna: You try to be diverse in your music, how do you manage to keep things fresh?

Edward Ma “edIT”: I think as a band, and this doesn’t go for all bands but I think it goes for us, what we’re trying to say is always constantly evolving you know, with the times and with us as humans and just like individuals, people change over time and with that your sound will change as well too so to me it’s just like the natural progression of being an artist. You know, it’s like the kind of music that you’re making five years ago inevitably may or may not be the same as what you are making right now. You know what I mean? So, I think in that, we keep it fresh and I think that on our upcoming album there’s lots of variety, it definitely does not stick to kind of one sound or one theme. We explored a lot of different ideas because quite frankly, we just had a lot to say you know?

Josh “ooah” Mayer: We’re really just trying new things you know, not being afraid to try.

Edward Ma “edIT”: Not being scared.

Josh “ooah” Mayer: Something new and not wondering if people were going to like it because it doesn’t fit in the mold of what they think we are you know?

Edward Ma “edIT”: And just not being afraid to step outside your comfort zone and step outside the box and really be bold and do something different even though if it’s not what people might like, just still being true to yourself and just really going for it. Saying what you truly want to say I think always keeps it fresh.

Dayanna: So tell me, you just finished your set here at Ultra, what did you think of the crowd?

Edward Ma “edIT”: Amazing!

Justin Boreta “Boreta”: It was a great set, really vibrant crowd. I mean it’s interesting, we’re playing on a stage which is a lot of dubstep which is music that we really like and it’s also really popular right now so we’re playing in between the biggest names in all dubstep and Rusko, and Scream and Banga, so it’s hard for us for someone in a sense where we don’t fit in into any particular genre but I feel like the crowd was really receptive and just down to hear some new stuff that wasn’t what they expected and it was really great feeling in there on that stage.

Dayanna: So what do you do when you’re like overwhelmed by the crowds’ reactions to your songs and everything like that? What goes through your minds, do you change it up a little bit?

Justin Boreta “Boreta”: We don’t really change what we do depending on what the crowd’s feeling. We kind of sort of just do our thing. We have one thing we do but we do have room for improvisations or there’s sections where we can play more notes, different types of notes, more or less so depending on how the crowd gives us energy we’ll put that back into the music and the way we’ve structured our set allows us to give the energy back to them so the closer we can be physically to the crowd, the more they give us, the more we give back.

Dayanna: Right, right. Now that you’ve finished your set here, do you have any more performance before you head back to California, or do you plan to stay here for a little bit longer and enjoy the sunny Miami area?

All: (Laugh)

Edward Ma “edIT”: No we’re on a plane back tomorrow afternoon, no more performances, this is the only one.

Josh “ooah” Mayer: We will hit the beach once before we go though.

Edward Ma “edIT”: Yes, definitely try to do that.

All: Laugh

Dayanna: So you’re established veterans of the electronic music scene, do you have any advice for others trying to break into the business?

Edward Ma “edIT”: Yeah, I’d say it really depends on what you’re trying to do and accomplish as an artist. I think everyone has a different approach and a different idea in the music industry. Some people just want to get as big as possible and make money and there’s nothing wrong with that and some people just want to do their thing and make music you know. I really say whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish, just stay as true as you can to do, whatever it may be and just be honest with yourself and tell your own story, whatever it is. I’d say that’s the best advice I can give.

Justin Boreta “Boreta”: Yeah if you tell your own story you’re guaranteed to be unique because you’re the only one that has it.

Edward Ma “edIT”: Yeah. Exactly.

Dayanna: Now your album, “Drink the Sea” will be out this May, what can fans expect from it?

Edward Ma “edIT”: I think it’s the next progression in what The Glitch Mob is all about. We can’t really unfold anything yet, I think you’ll just have to wait and listen. I think the beauty of what we’re all about is we’ve never essentially told our fans this is who we are, this is what we’re all about, we’ve always just let our fans determine what our music means to them. So once again I think the music will speak for itself and you know it can be whatever you want it to be and so we’ll let you decide. How about that?

Dayanna: That sounds great!

All: (Laugh)

Dayanna: Well, thank you so much for your time. I bet you guys must be tired from your set.

Edward Ma “edIT”: Oh it’s all good. No worries.

Dayanna: I appreciate it. Thank you!

Justin Boreta “Boreta”: Yeah, thank you.

Edward Ma “edIT”: Cheers!

If you’d like to learn more about The Glitch Mob, visit their official website, Become a fan of the Glitch Mob on Facebook, Follow The Glitch Mob on Twitter and be sure to pick up their new CD, “Drink The Sea”, out today!