Justin: Well I mean, that’s what we as fans like to do. I’m sure you’ve been on Hyperfunk [The RAQ message board] and you know, that’s what fans do, we’ve got to complain about something… [laughter]
Michetti: Yeah, I guess so. No it’s cool, I mean the RAQ fans can be tough sometimes, I’m sure every fan can be tough, but we love them.
Justin: So talking about now you’re playing with more confidence, you’re realizing you need to be your own person, what are your own personal goals for the future? I remember when you were in RAQ there was this interview where you and Burwick (Jay Burwick, bassist of RAQ) were talking and Burwick was saying “we’re not going to stop until we play MSG.’ What are your own personal goals for the future?
Michetti: Well I don’t think about MSG anymore. I’m in my mid-thirties, you know? I have a family, I’m just trying to make a living doing what I like to do. And MSG was the old dream. I don’t know if it is necessarily is still the dream for me, but I feel like…*
Brownstein: Are you kidding? Get out of my band! [laughter]
Michetti: He’s freaking out. The peanut gallery over here.
Brownstein: You don’t want to play it? It’s still our dream!
Michetti: It’s definitely still the dream. Alright, we’ll play MSG.
Brownstein: You don’t want to play it? Fuck that.
Michetti: I do want to play MSG, I do. But it’s baby steps for me, baby steps. In RAQ we would think MSG, I think when we thought MSG and only MSG we’d lose sight of what it takes to get to MSG which is the baby steps and enjoy every moment of the process, you know what I mean? And that’s basically what it is right now, it’s enjoying the process.
I just want to create, I want to stay current. It’s the music business but I don’t even pay attention to the business, I’m probably the worst about business, I double book shows all the time. [laughter] My business sense is horrible but I just want to stay current with my music. The music changes so much and it feels great because we just played a RAQ show and someone who plays guitar said, “That’s great, you guys are rockers.” And then to come back and make some sick banging electro…
We’re doing a couple of remixes right now of current pop hits that Conspirator management got us stems of. I do a version of, my own version of it for Michetti [his solo project], which is now what Syzzup has become, it’s just Michetti now because no one likes the name Syzzup since it’s a codeine drink reference. And then there’s the Conspirator remix, and they’re both totally current and so much fun to make.
And then when Conspirator_ plays_, you’re also adding shredding guitar on it, so it’s almost like the next level thing. It’s not necessarily jamtronica it’s like newtronica, it’s like new shred, it’s fuckin’ shredding!
So I would love to stay current and I’d love to just keep on making music. I would love to play MSG too. Whoever owns MSG, if they read this, get me in there. That’d be awesome. But I’d rather play a small place with music I believe in than play MSG doing something I don’t want to do, you know?
Justin: Yeah, one day at a time.
Michetti: One day at a time, totally. And enjoy the process, because it’s a lot of fun. And I think that maybe I used to lose sight of the whole process, you know? It’s awesome. I feel so lucky, this summer, I feel like the luckiest guy in the world, you know? Coming from RAQ we were never necessarily in the “it” club, you know what I mean?
Justin: Absolutely.
Michetti: And someone was telling me “Now you’re in the cool guys club” and I was like, “You know what? I have a new club and it’s called the real guy club,” because I’ve been in this other club and now I’m just so appreciative, you know? None of this stuff goes unappreciated. When I see people out there enjoying music, enjoying what we’ve written, or enjoying just the way that we’re playing or even just seeing friends…Seeing Michael Travis at the Big Up, high fiving him, having a great conversation with someone I really admire and he treats me like a colleague. It’s awesome. It’s a cool, cool feeling. It’s something I do not take for granted.
Justin: Yeah definitely, it seems like you’re making connections and getting your name out there. Maybe not more so then when you were in RAQ but the Biscuits definitely have a huge family environment and it seems…
Michetti: Yeah it is more so, it’s definitely more so. It’s a bigger thing. I don’t think we ever reached that point in RAQ, or maybe we never wanted to. I don’t know what it was but it’s definitely exciting. We play with Adam Deitch and Mike Greenfield and Darren [Shearer], he’s amazing. These guys are amazing.
I mean, [RAQ drummer] Greg Stukey is like my brother, you know? And together we would watch Adam Deitch and be like “Woah, that guy is fucking sick!” and the first time I played with him I was fucking nervous. And then now he’s my friend. It’s great, it’s cool. And that’s another thing I’ll tell you, in your thirties, most people have kind of have met their friends, you know? But in the span of like a year, I’ve been welcomed into a huge family of amazing people and it’s a super blessing.
Justin: It seems like every new interview I read you’re getting new remixes, new stems, and all that. Can you tell us more about the collaborations?
Michetti: Well with the Michetti project and the Conspirator stuff we’ve gotten some stems, we’ll do two versions of each. Like we’ll do a Conspirator version or Marc will do a Conspirator version and then when I’m home I’m doing the Michetti stuff which is all pretty much 140 dubstep, you know, 140 beats per minute. I don’t know what dubstep is other than it’s a tempo and that it’s a fucking free-for-all. So, I call them bangers, you know. I love that style, I think it’s cool, actually Barber [Disco Biscuits guitarist Jon Gutwilling] is the guy that actually turned me onto it. This was a couple of years ago, he’s like, “this is the metal of electronic music” and I was like hooked instantly—“This is so fucking cool!” Going to see those raves and those dubstep shows is awesome. It’s like a high energy ragefest. You know? And getting into the production, the chief guys are just so good at it—Skrillex and Nero and Flux Pavilion and Doctor P, they just blow me away. I just got hooked on it and I started making these tracks and then I played them for people and they’re like “Dude, we want to put these out.”
So now I’m getting stems, I just did a 12th Planet remix and that was really cool, and we did an Avicii remix of “Seek Bromance,” we’ve actually done three remixes of that song, we’re just finishing the third one right now which is I think going to be the official Conspirator one and it is smokin’! It’s the tune “Seek Bromance” which is at like fifty million views on YouTube right now so, that’s pretty cool.
I’ve got all these stems lined up and it’s really cool. Porter Robinson we’ve got, and Zeds Dead…It’s not necessarily working with them, you know? We’re not necessarily working with the artist, we’re remixing, which is a lot scarier I think. [laughter] It’s just like “Here’s a remix of your amazing song, what do you think?” But it’s fun, it’s awesome.
Justin: Yeah, I would think that they would be flattered by it.
Michetti: I would hope, I don’t know, we’ll see. Hopefully they don’t throw it away and be like “SHIT! Get this crap away from me!” [laughter] But it’s good stuff, you know? For the remixes you just try and do your own spin on them. And it’s such a cool thing about the electronic music world right now, that one guy puts out a song and then he gives it to these other people he likes and they all do these takes on the same song. It’s really cool to see how the brain works differently, you know?
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