PANTyRAiD doesn't tour. So when the act, which is made up Josh Mayer of Glitch Mob and Marty Folb of MartyParty, bring its sexy, dubbed out hip-hop beats to the Fillmore this Saturday, November 19, along with a brand new lighting rig, you can bet it's going to be a night to remember. We recently spoke with the pair about throwing a two-hour party and why it's hard to get guys to dance to your music if the girls aren't into it first.
Westword: How do you manage PANTyRAiD while touring on your own and working with other projects?
Josh Mayer: PANTyRAiD is more of a one off thing. We do a weekend once a month, and we find it to be a little more unique that way. It gives us time to create a lot of music and play it for special events, instead of show after show after show after show. It's something that is really unique for both of us. We both work so much outside of PANTyRAiD that when we get together to play, it just kind of... it's this really cool magic.
Marty Folb: People realize the PANTyRAiD formula is really unique. We don't DJ like a traditional DJ, so it flows differently. It is a totally unique event. It comes together because we are affiliated with so much different music. I just released all my old material. I had a radio station and picked some fan favorites, and it's really just a big compilation consisting of five volumes, dropping one every two weeks.
Since your touring is so sporadic, how do you plan your sets?
JM:All we know is that we play in a two-hour set, and we will play most of the PANTyRAiD catalog, a lot of the Sauce, some remixes, and just kind of random bits that we have made over the years. Pretty much the only formula for a common idea that we've done is that we made an intro and we usually know the last song we are going to play.
MF: we pull on the fly. Is this cool? Yeah?
JM: We just go all over the place, ya know? Maybe go down ten, twenty, thirty bpms, but we are really just on the fly communicating. I am going to bring in this thing that is pretty, sweet and subtle, and then the other guy can follow up with the same thing. Maybe from there we will go to some super heavy smasher songs. We have just learned this technique to follow. Going to that next step.
We don't play five heavy dubstep songs in a row, but we might play one or two, then bring it into something else. It makes deejaying more exciting for us. If we knew what we would play it would be boring, but the way that we do it is always fun. You can play with the audience, too; it goes off so well that sometimes we just follow them. People may not be feeling the mellow sleepy vibe.
MF: The other unique thing is there are a lot of other duos that DJ, and we each have a couple tracks at a time at our fingertips. So, while the other person is mixing, I and can sample in since we link both of our computers together and are essentially running Ableton together.
How did PANTyRAiD come together
JM: Mutual friends. I met Marty's wife, and she introduced me, and we have a lot of friends in common. Just a lifestyle, other stuff just outside of the music world. We went to Costa Rica; Marty has land there, and we played music on the beach. Through that, we found the love of just really pretty, heavy, beat music. Then we traded sounds and samples and songs, and that kind of is where the first bits of PANTyRAiD came together really.
MF It's a really fresh sound that we are doing. I have not encountered anyone like Josh; we just vibe really well together. I think it stems from the music, and when we get together to play, its just always unique and fresh.
Will PANTyRAiD ever go on a full tour?
MF:A tour is always talked about, and I think it will happen. Our agents want it happen, but as much as we control, we don't want to make a canned show. I think it will lose the magic, and we want to keep the quality high.
JM: There are so many acts and artists who do the full tour thing, so its kind of nice to do it differently. We don't need to tour for a month and half to create some sort of thing. What we do is what we do, we don't need the tour, and when a promoter wants us to play, they really have to make it happen.
How is everything going in your other side projects, respectively, Glitch Mob and MartyParty?
JM: We just did a European tour, and we are working on Glitch Mob album number two, plus we got a big New Year's show in Lake Tahoe. As far as the Glitch Mob tour, we have new visuals and a stage show, but mostly, I'm just also working with Marty on some new stuff PANTyRAiD music, coming up with some ideas.
MF: I'm just finishing up this record -- staring at it right now, actually -- and finishing up these PANTyRAiD stops. I'm going to Bali for December; haven't had a vacation in awhile. I have a MartyParty tour until the end of April, which has something like 55 dates. Hopefully write some new material with Josh -- 2012 is going to have some pretty big news for PANTyRAiD.
What's on the horizon for PANTyRAiD?
JM:: Just the next level of releasing music. Reaching more fans and things like that. Just some really cool connections that we are really excited about.
MF: I'm terrible at keeping secrets, but this one we have to keep under wraps: 2012 is going to be huge for Glitch Mob, and PANTyRAiD will put out another album. The shows will be bigger. The MartyParty tour is really big for me, hitting 750-1000 person venues. Our style of music is definitely catching on. We started a genre, and The Sauce was way before its time, so we are going to continue with that formula for sure. I think everyone is getting over the pure dubstep. It's such a relentless show. People want a break to groove and dance and look up. I think we provide that. I just did a show with Paper Diamond, and I like what he is doing. He likes the hard with the soft.
JM: I agree with Marty, you need to have a variety, no one wants to hear the same thing over and over again. Through Glitch Mob and other projects, and playing music over the years, it's just that I want to hear variety. I don't want one tempo. I don't want one mood... You need that space to feel the emotion from the music. When you are just hitting them with heavy dubstep, it's just one thing, but yes, it's popular. After so long, you just kind of cant take it anymore.
For the female audience, I don't want them left out. There is such heavy music that is full of testosterone, and there are people that want to hear different elements of electronic music. Remembering all the emotions in music, not just being one type of thing. Not to discredit dubsteppers, but we just want to provide it all.
MF: Our name is synonymous with female energy. We are just exploring what makes people dance. Girls like the gentle music, and we don't want to be a male-driven party. If girls are dancing, then guys are dancing. If the girls aren't into it, the guys aren't into.
Anything new we can expect at the Fillmore show?
MF: We have a new LED show, built and designed by some people right out of Denver. This is our first time with the light show, so Denver will be the debut for it.
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