Humbled by their chart-busting single 'Like a G6', Far East Movement are gearing up to release 'Free Wired', a collection of songs which has a number of 'amazing collaborations'.
- Oct 5, 2010
AceShowbiz - Far East Movement know no boundaries when it comes to making music. Together, Kev Nish, Prohgress, J-Splif, and DJ Virman blend elements of Hip-Hop, pop, electro and dance to craft something unique, something "Free Wired". October 12 will be the day they roll out their first major-label studio installment. And, it was already preceded with impressive chart performance of their single "Like a G6" which is currently reaching No. 6 on Billboard Hot 100.
Counting down to the album release, Far East Movement exclusively tell AceShowbiz that fans can expect a bunch of "amazing collaborations" from the likes of Ryan Tedder and Snoop Dogg with the OneRepublic frontman-assisted single to be released as a follow-up to "G6". The four-piece group also talk about sitting on the Top 10 of U.S. singles chart, revealing how it motivates them to work even harder.
ASB: You're growing up on the West Coast, but decided to call the group Far East Movement. Is there any specific meaning behind it?
FM: The name Far East Movement came from a song we wrote years back about what we felt was a new lifestyle of kids from downtown that keep the iPods shuffled with Hip-Hop, electro, pop, alternative... stay international, hit 3 clubs in 1 night playin' all different music, stay up on kick culture and streetwear, living your life online, taco trucks at 4 A.M., stay rocking shades at all times.. and we called it "The Far East Movement". The name and song represented everything we're about so we decided to make it our name.
ASB: Coming from Asian-American community, how do you represent multi culture in your music?
FM: We feel we grew up just like any other kids in L.A. L.A. is a crazy international buffet, you can find authentic culture to every race in a 3 block radius... so growing up in L.A. keeps our perspective open to anything and tuned in to all cultures.
ASB: You did a good job for "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" soundtrack. How did you end up making song for the movie?
FM: Much love thank you for checking that out. We originally made the song just experimenting. We were bumping the Beck "Guero" album and there was a song called "Girl" that we loved and heard an ILL guitar riff in there. Took it and looped it and threw some OutKast style drums under it and spit some party raps on it and put it online. Our homie named Ev happen to be working for Justin Lin who was directing the movie and slipped him the song. He loved it and found a way to make it work. It's in the most random scene in the whole movie which lets us know that Justin Lin definitely showed us love and we're grateful.
ASB: Your latest hit single "Like a G6" is now on the Top 10 of Hot 100. What is the song all about?
FM: The song was inspired by our first single "Girls on the Dance Floor". We wanted to take the party to a new place after that track hit the clubs hard. The song is about bottle culture and how we party and feeling flyer than the flyest ish you can think of... a night with us.
ASB: Being the first Asian-American group to break the U.S. singles list. How do you feel about it?
FM: Race has never been an issue for us. We been grinding as just plain ol artists for quite a while, struggled, done shows for 5 people or thousands.. so we see it as it trips us out that we're just some normal kids from downtown LA and hungry artists that broke the singles list, and to us.. it's unbelievable. We can remember when people asked us what we do and we say "we do music" and they said "wow your in the worst industry to be in, better have a back up plan" so we're extremely grateful to break out here and its motivation to work even harder now.
ASB: About your new album "Free Wired". What do you have to offer in this upcoming record?
FM: "Free Wired" is the soundtrack to our lifestyle. We set out to make an Alternative Pop album fusing all of our inspirations from Hip-Hop, electro, pop, alternative rock... anything that's in our iPod. Just like what the name represents, we had the freedom to geek out as ourselves and push ourselves to write songs that rep how we live but can be relatable internationally. That's a huge thanks to Cherrytree Records and our ill A&R Martin Kierszenbaum who said when he signed us "You guys have started a party that we want to be invited to". Having the confidence knowing that an amazing company and team believe in us doing us is what allowed us to be free wired and create a free wired sound.
ASB: We heard your next single is the one which features Ryan Tedder. How did you meet and decide to work together?
FM: We're big OneRepublic fans and we had started working on the song with the Stereotypes and Bruno Mars and thought "wow, Ryan Tedder would sound incredible on the hook" so the head of Cherrytree, Martin, introduced us and we sent him the song to see what he thought and right away he said yes and blessed us with his incredible vocals. He sounds amazing on the song and it's an honor to have a song with him.
ASB: Who are the other featured guests in the album?
FM: We're blessed to have amazing production from our in house family the Stereotypes, co-writing with Bruno Mars, production from Cherry Cherry Boom Boom, Fernando Garibay, The Cataracs and Roger Sanchez and some amazing collaborations with Snoop Dogg, Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, Keri Hilson, Frankmusik, Colette Carr, Mohombi and Lil Jon.
ASB: The album is coming out Oct. 12. Any plan to celebrate the release?
FM: With Cherrytree and Hard Rock Cafe, we're taking over Times Square New York, throwing a free concert that's open to the public at the Hard Rock Cafe Times Square from 5 P.M. - 8 P.M. where we'll have the album for sale and we'll be doing a meet n greet with all that come through. It's free and all ages so we recommend coming early so you have a secured spot inside. Our Cherrytree labelmates Colette Carr, Frankmusik aka Vincent Frank and Mohombi will be in the house performing too. It's the biggest day of our lives so we're extremely free wired.
ASB: You've done shows with many big stars like Jay-Z and Lady GaGa. Who else are you dying to perform with? Why?
FM: Wow there's so many people on our bucket list.. we're fans first so the list could be thicker than text book but let's narrow it down to Linkin Park, Beastie Boys, Kanye West, Muse, Daft Punk.
ASB: We saw you wore astronaut helmet of some kind on "Lopez Tonight". How did you come up with the idea?
FM: We always wanted people that come to our shows to feel like it's something outside the box so we felt rocking space helmets as we walk out was a statement saying 'you are about to see something different' and 'we're about to take you outside the box'. We had our team Dpd and Cyph of Transparent Agency who do all our digital media create helmets fitted with LEDs that can be seen in any venue.
ASB: Between making music and performing live, which one do you like the most? Why?
FM: Both are equally important to us. We grew up and we're inspired by seeing some of the illest in L.A. live, so when we first started we did around 30 shows just rhyming over anything before we wrote 1 song. When we started writing our focus was to write songs that could make us feel how we feel when we bump songs we're fans of and take everything we're a fan of and put it into our music. Both writing and live shows equally define us as artists and they paint 2 sides of the picture that's FM.
ASB: We heard you guys like to go partying as you always said in your songs. Tell us about one of the craziest parties you've ever been!
FM: Would have to be in Brazil. We were out there for a show in a city called Vicosa and they had a 'farmer' party where the tequila was being poured thru backpacks with spray noses into mouths and the music was a special 'folk' dance music out there called "Froho". Every 5 seconds people would come up to us and pour tequila in our mouth and teach us how to Froho dance. It felt like a crazy house party dream in a whole new world.
ASB: If given a chance to make song for another movie, what would it be?
FM: A horror movie would be sick since our sound is free wired with a party vibe. Would love a chance to do something dark and unexpected with a free wired favor.
ASB: Please leave a message for your fans on AceShowbiz guys.
FM: Thank you to all the free wired readers on Aceshowbiz reppin' the Far East Movement. Blessed to have you bumpin' the music and stayin' Free Wired worldwide. Much love 'n respect family.
