Hello guys and happy new year to you! First off, how are you both doing and where are you speaking to us from right now?
Hi! Happy New Year to you too! Right now we are located in St. Petersburg, Russia. This is our hometown where we live and make our music.
We’re excited to be chatting with you ahead of the release of your collaboration with world renowned music icon, Pete Tong!
Congrats on this release, can you tell us a little bit about how the collaboration first started?
We didn’t know each other personally, but we listened to Sir Pete Tong’s weekly BBC show “Essential Selection” for many years. The tracks that were selected for this radio show were always the benchmark of dance music for us. Getting on this program with our music was our dream. And then in the summer of 2019, Pete Tong heard our unofficial Depeche Mode remix of “Master & Servant” somewhere and we got an email from the BBC that they wanted to feature it in the Essential New Tune section as the top new thing of the week. They weren’t even embarrassed that the remix was a bootleg. Our joy couldn’t end! After that radio premiere, Pete Tong played it on his show as many as 12 times. In the fall, Pete Tong contacted us and offered to release it on his Three Six Zero label (a Sony/Columbia sublabel). He personally negotiated with Depeche Mode and the track could be released officially, but not as a remix, but as an original Goom Gum track using the “It’s A Lot” sample. As a result, Goom Gum’s “It’s A Lot” was released in the fall of 2019. After that, we invited Pete Tong to work together and showed him the demos we started working on. He was hooked on the idea of the “Signal” demo.
What was the process like working with Pete on ‘Signal’?
Pete Tong suggested making two versions of the track – one more electronic (the original) and the other softer, more ethnic (Tulum version). He invited percussionist Marc El Khoury to work on the track, with whom they recorded the drums. The track had been waiting for more than a year. Because of the lockdown and the pandemic, we were not in a hurry to release it. Pete Tong has been a major figure in the development of world electronic dance music for decades. And at the same time, he is still a creator who is open to everything new. We are new little-known artists for him, but he communicated with us as equals and we always felt a very friendly and positive attitude from him.
Renaissance makes a brilliant home for the release, how did the EP find its home on the label?
“Renaissance” is a legendary label. Some of their releases are dance music anthems. We sent them one of the first tracks and they responded almost immediately that they liked the release. Of course, we’re glad it happened that way.
The EP also features some brilliant remixes, two courtesy of Anja Schneider and one from Bora Uzer. What were your reactions when you first heard the remixes?
We would never have seen this track ourselves the way Anja Schneider and Bora Uzer did. It’s a very unusual sound for us. But we guess that’s the point of remixes. It is important to make the main idea of the original play in very fresh, unexpected colors. It’s good that the listener has an opportunity to choose the sound that he or she likes the most without losing the main line.
2021 saw some very strong releases from yourself, on the likes of Avtook Records and Highway Records. How was the year for you as artists?
Despite the pandemic, we played almost every weekend. Most of the time we played in Russia, but we also went to Egypt, Turkey, Serbia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Belarus, and even did a big tour in India. We had 10 releases, the most successful of which we consider “Freedom” on Selador Records and “Starboy” on our own label “Avtook”.
What can we expect from Goom Gum in 2022?
The year 2022 starts for us with the release of “Signal” with the legendary Pete Tong, but our collaborations with other artists do not end there. We are also planning releases this year with artists like Rafael Serato, Stylo, Mozaik, Niki4. They are already recorded and you can hear them at our shows. In addition, the year begins with our first mini-tour of Mexico (Mexico City, Guadalajara and Tulum). There are a lot of cities and countries in the plans. The main thing is to get all the pandemic bans on entry to other countries lifted as soon as possible.
Thank you for chatting with us guys! Congrat again on the upcoming EP and wishing you all the best for the year ahead. To round off, is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
We wish you and all your readers a prosperous year in 2022. That you, your friends and loved ones are healthy! And that, finally, the opportunity to travel without restrictions and go to parties anywhere in the world comes back to all of us. We’re preparing a lot of interesting releases, which should charge you and cheer you up 😉
