Without a doubt Chus and Ceballos are the most solid, professional pair of Djs/Producers from Spain.
They’re work include official remixes for world-renowned artists like Madonna, and throughout the past decade, Chus and Ceballos have been the pioneers and creators of the underground movement known as ‘Iberican Sound’.
With they’re latest album “NOMADAS” and hit “All I Want” they are getting all the success they deserve.
Check our exclusive interview next.
How did you two meet? And how did it all start for you, music-wise?
We both grow up in Madrid sharing love and passion for music, in the 90’s, Chus was the resident DJ at one of the first House Music Clubs in Madrid, and Pablo was a young music producer trying to make himself a name on the electronic scene, Pablo used to bring Chus demo tapes to the club, the respect for each other’s music work grow up quickly and after a few years back and forth, we decided to give a try and working together, the surprise was that from the very first collaboration the magic happens. International top labels were interested in releasing our first tracks, that was the beginning of the IberianSound movement.
Explain your sound in 3 words?
Drums Always Present
What does it feel like when you are up on stage?
The stage is our place, our home, the place where we express ourselves and communicate with the crowd, after the usual ‘ butterflies’ in the stomach before to jump on stage, we say ‘game on!’ and the show starts, in that moment we don’t feel nervous anymore, we click on, and we feel good, released, proud of having the opportunity of making our passion our job 🙂
Where does your love for music come from?
We always say that people that makes the music their career don’t choose the music at some point of their lives, they just were born with that passion, our case is definitely like that, we were crazy about music from an early age, Chus was highly influenced by his father music passion and started to DJing when he was just 15, Ceballos was playing keyboards since he was a kid and doing their first electronic music demos in a very early age.
Which artists and styles inspired and influenced you?
We are two different guys with different influences but our common path was with no doubt the american House music of the late 90’s, having Danny Tenaglia like the biggest inspiration, followed by the portuguese DJ Vibe and labels like Twisted, Tribal America or Yoshitoshi, that was managed by another big name that meant a lot in our careers, Deep Dish. Put in all that in the blender with some Classic House and some early techno, you get Chus & Ceballos sound 🙂
Now tell us about your hit “All I Want”?
‘All I want’ its a song performed by the New York Singer Astrid Suryanto and is one of the main singles of the album and one of our favorites. The target was to make a real song, more than a dance floor track, thats why approaches stylistic patterns of pop, but with some electronic sounds and other organic electronic elements that bringing closer to the deep house.
We are very happy how the video of ‘All I Want’ came along too, directed by Joan Martorell, it was a very unique shooting were we used twenty Monarch butterflies placed in a low temperature environment, causing them to seek the warmth of the skin of the actors in the video. This living element works as a link between different genders and ages, dancing along with the butterflies resulting in an audiovisual viewing where the beauty of nature and human diversity is celebrated.
Where the name of your album “N O M A D A S” comes from?
Nomadas’ is the Spanish word for Nomads, we like to say that we are Nomads not to scape life but for life not to scape us. Sharing magic musical moments with so many different people in so many diverse places and countries has been an endless source of inspiration for the album, but for sure, the spark that started the fire of this album was our life-changing experience at Burning Man last year. It was an incomparable spiritual experience, surrounded by art, music and friendship. We got inspired musically and personally to get into the studio and transform those experiences in music, and not a regular bundle of tracks but a long player project, conceived as a listening experience, an inner trip to our deep and ethnic roots exploring new musical landscapes and vocal collaborations unknown for us.
How different is the club scene from Spain or Europe to the US?
Europe has come a long way in electronic music, the genre has been one of the most popular for many years and is where the main thing happens in electronic music specially in the summer with the Ibiza season. Electronic music became popular recently in America and people is extremely excited, its a very open minded crowd, ready to listening to new things, they create an amazing vibes at the parties and welcome everyone. American promoters and club owners are doing great efforts coming along with one of the best clubs and festivals in the world.
Best stage/party/club you have ever play?
Stage: BPM festival in Playa del Carmen, best vibe in a festival.
Party: Space Miami Terrace, craziest place on earth.
Club: We have our heart broken in two pieces between Stereo Montreal and Output in Brooklyn.
What is the best part of life as a DJ? And Worst?
The best is to share the music we love with our fans and the worst is with no doubt the traveling and the endless hours between airports and hotels, too many time away from home.
Your top 3 festivals?
BPM Mexico, Ultra Miami and Monegros desert festival in Spain are our top festivals in the world.
How do you see the future for the dance music scene?
Dance music is bigger than ever and is going to become or already is one of the most popular music genres, bigger parties and more clubs and festivals, electronic music is the pop music of the upcoming years.
What do you think makes The BPM Festival so popular?
One of the reasons for the success of the festival is with no doubts, the location in Playa del Carmen, a magical small town in Riviera Maya, close to Cancun with sandy beaches and cristal clear waters. Playa is a vibrant part of the Mayan world, with a rich culture, full of art, gastronomy, history and friendly locals.The concept of the festival is very unique, since it happen during 10 days over different locations, where you can go walking distance from one to each other, supported by one of the biggest underground dj line ups in the world. The best of BPM is the crowd, one of the best we´ve ever seen at a festival, very international, real music lovers that are having an amazing time enjoying the feeling of freedom that you can only experience in a place like Playa.
What’s your motto or the advice you live by?
Do what you love and do it with passion.
If you could choose a place to live where would that be?
We love our country Spain, and our neighbor country, Portugal, after to travel so much we got the clear conclusion that we love our country and there is nothing better than Spain or Portugal for quality living.
Any loves, other then music?
Music takes full time in our lives, but whenever we have some free time we appreciate any kind of art, we are also big fans of movies, overall our main concern is to spend time with our families.
What projects are you currently working on and what can we expect from Chus & Ceballos in 2016?
After the fantastic experience of the album and the tour we are back to the studio and ready to do some dance floor bombs, Miami Music week is just around the corner and we have an upcoming compilation and showase. Our label Stereo is doing great at this point and we want to keep the good work offering great music this year and reaching more cities with the Stereo showcases so probably your city very soon.
How important is Social Media for you?
Social Media is essencial these days, is the way we communicate everything we do, music, parties, projects, and the fastest way to reach out our fans, where ever in the world they are, so we know from first hand their feedback, what they like and what they demand form us.
Where we can follow you?
You can find all our channels and social networks at chusceballos.com
