Tough Love Interview

If you don’t recognise the name Tough Love, you’ll almost definitely have heard their release of ‘So Freakin’ Tight’. Currently playing on every major and underground radio station, the track, which samples Jodeci’s ‘90s hit, ‘Freek’N You’ has hit the major airwaves and we can’t get enough of it. Here, we find out more about the major house duo, how the track came to be, the hilarious video, and their plans for the future.

Your release of ‘So Freakin’ Tight’ is far too addictive; why did you choose to sample Jodeci and how did you decide what to do with it to make it such a big house tune?
We both grew up on R’n’B and during the ‘90s, ‘Freek’N You’ was one of those stand out records, which we both loved. In late 2012 we started using a lot more hip-hop & R’n’B acapellas in our live sets – looping and chopping them over house records. The crowd always reacted well to it, so we took the idea to the studio and made a number of edits for our shows, ‘So Freakin’ Tight’ was one of them. After two years of playing it in every set it started to generate some serious interest and eventually got picked up for a full release.

How has the feedback been regarding the tune? Have you been playing it on your own Kiss FM show?
The feedback has been amazing! It has gone from a handful of specialist DJs supporting the record to being on every national station in the UK. It’s already been picked up in different territories around the world too, so we’re really excited about the impact it might have on a global scale. On our Kiss show we’ve been battering it without fail, but we try to mix it up occasionally with one of the remixes. In early March, we were lucky enough to be joined by the S-Man Roger Sanchez for a back2back session so that was a perfect opportunity to showcase his remix.

How will you be celebrating its release?
We’re actually away when it’s released on a stag do! We’re going skiing in Bulgaria so we’ll probably be at the top of a mountain when we get the phone call from our manager to let us know how we’re getting on. Perfect opportunity to decide to ski down or jump off!! Hopefully we don’t get too carried away and make it home in one piece.

The video is so much fun; whose idea was the tight shorts, lotion and babes in bikinis?
Yeah – the video is jokes! The character was based around our manager John, who loves to wear ridiculously tight clothes and smothering himself in lotion. We actually had a long Skype call with Craig Moore who came up with idea for the video and shot it. We all agreed that video had to be fun and the lead character was a natural at playing the fool, Rob Van Vuuren is a great comedian and was perfect for the role. Everyone knows an idiot like the guy in this video so the shorts and lotion were a must!

Let’s go back to the beginning; how did you first meet and decide to form Tough Love?
We were both playing the same circuit in London and had similar taste in music, although we came from totally different musical backgrounds. We got in the studio without any real plans, we just wanted to make a few tracks and see what happened. We realised pretty quickly that we were on to something, but more importantly we were having fun for the first time in ages. Tough Love was born after three studio sessions together in which we made an edit of R Kelly’s ‘She’s Got That Vibe’ and later went on to make and release our first single ‘Cold Blood’.

What are your personal tastes in music and do you apply these to your productions? Any surprises?
We both have a really broad taste in music, growing up on everything from blues, rock, hip-hop, house, and garage. We were both born in the ‘80s, so have lived through a whole lot of trends in music, but house has always been something we’ve both loved and mixed for many years.

As well as original material, you’ve remixed Clean Bandit, Meghan Trainor and Le Youth; if you could choose one song to remix, which would you choose?
There’re so many! We’ll have to see how things progress for us, then look into the back catalogues and see what is available. At the moment we’re really focused on our original material for the album – classics can never be outdone so it’s all about making potential future classics.

Say you both disagree over something in production, how does it get resolved?
It’s pretty rare, but it has happened before. We’re honest guys so we always say how we feel in any situation. There’s no ego with us, so when it happens on productions we just keep working with it and testing the track out in our sets until we’re both 100% happy with the end product.

What do you think have been the standout tracks of 2015 so far?
Illyus & Barrientos are on fire right now, they’ve had a number of stand out remixes in 2015 already and we’re pretty sure they’re going to come with something original soon that will take them to new heights. Jonas Rathsman ‘Wolfsbane’ looks set to have an impact in Miami and into the summer. Taiki Nulight recently released a record called ‘Higher’ on our label Get Twisted; this has dominated our sets for the last four months and is setting the underground alight at the moment. We’ve got some great material coming on the label so definitely keep an eye on Get Twisted.

What are your plans for the European summer? Any festivals confirmed?
We’ve got a hectic touring schedule this summer, unfortunately we can’t announce many of the festivals yet, but we’ll be all over the UK, Europe, and of course some Ibiza dates to confirm. We’re also in talks of an Australia tour, which we’re both buzzing to try and get finalised.

Thanks, guys!