FETISH – Nothin’ But Mammals (Original Mix) + Interview

On April 17, 2019 by ocedm

When your first original mix is signed to a major label like Tchami’s imprint Confession, you know you’re on to something. That’s what happened to Los Angeles based duo FETISH when they sent their track to the Paris based record label. “Nothin’ But Mammals” was officially released today, a “deep, dark house production with samples that sound straight out of a nature documentary” that will make you want to turn on Animal Planet or Discovery Channel!

The guys say that “Every one of our originals will be focused on creating a visual and emotional experience for our listeners. On “Nothin’ But Mammals”, we spent a lot of time designing some of the bass fills to sound like a “whooping” gorilla and incorporating the dialogue about the silverback to help produce that powerful, primal energy this song embodies.”

Read on for an interview with FETISH about their beginnings, how they connected with Confession, and some of their favorite tracks!

Hey FETISH, thanks for your time. Introduce yourselves to those who are hearing about you for the first time.

Names are probably a good place to start: We’re Ahaviah Bessemer, 26 and Justin Snyder, 25 and together we make up the production-duo FETISH.

The best way to describe what we’re like is to imagine if Nick Kroll and Calvin Harris had brainchildren.

If that’s too hard to picture, then think about whatever marks halfway between going out for Tacos at 4AM and a Joe Rogan Podcast…

In short, we’re two guys that spend a lot of time in the studio, producing and listening to music. We met at production school and quickly learned we had a very similar taste in music and sense of humor. Lastly, we’re excited to share that our first original song is coming out on Tchami’s label CONFESSION this Wednesday, April 17!

I saw that you guys graduated from Icon Collective last year. What was that experience like and what kind of connections did you make?

JUSTIN: Graduating from ICON was an amazing experience for both of us. We learned so much from working with all of the other students and mentors that we met during the program. We’ve been working on our music together for a couple years and I think very early on we knew what we wanted FETISH to be as a brand. We’re stoked to finally share what we’ve been writing. Aside from the big strides we made in our production ability, I think biggest benefit from attending ICON was the “collective” aspect of it. The friends and connections we made throughout our time there—and even the year after, has opened the doors for some really cool opportunities. I was able to meet my current roommates all of whom are producers and killing it. Avi also lives in a house with several other producers, so there’s a constant state of collaboration and learning which makes producing so much more fun.

AHAVIAH: I dropped out of Cal St. Long Beach a year prior to enrolling at ICON and it was the best decision I ever made. I knew I’d apply the moment I took the school tour. I felt the energy of the place, there was a real sense of community and whatever burning motivation I already had just grew exponentially. Through chance I sat next to Justin on the first day, and it didn’t take long for us to realize that our tastes, goals and values aligned. What solidified our belief and  desire to build the FETISH brand came upon the completion of the school’s “COLLAB PROJECT”. Sort of like the equivalent of a senior thesis only instead our task was to write an EP. The classes at ICON were small. 15-20 students tops, so by the end of the year everyone gets to know each other well. I’m still close with seven or eight of the producers from my class and see them regularly.

A few months ago, you launched the project by releasing remixes of Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina’s “Stereo Love” and Eiffel 65’s “Blue“, tell us about those song choices.

JUSTIN: We wanted to launch the project with these two remixes because we loved both of these original songs so much, and knew we could do an awesome FETISH version of them. We both grew up loving the originals, and as soon as we started writing deep house basses and combined them with those vocals, we both thought “this is gonna be sick”. We wanted to put these out first because they represent some of the qualities that are most important to us in our own music. They’re emotive, powerful, and deep.

AHAVIAH: Eiffel 65 was my introduction to electronic music. The first album I ever owned was “Europop”, and despite the lyrics being incredibly cheesy, I’m still able to throw on the album and have the music impact me on an emotional level. Both Stereo Love and Blue have such strong top-lines that remixing the two songs was a lot of fun. The musical foundation was already laid out for both, we just had to put our spin on both tracks and see our vision through.

Your first original mix “Nothin’ But Mammals” was released on Confession, quite an impressive feat for a debut track. How did you get in touch with Tchami’s record label to release the song and what was your reactions when they signed it?

JUSTIN: We got in touch with CONFESSION through their demo email. Initially we didn’t hear anything back, but after several weeks we ended up getting a response and said they loved “Nothin’ But Mammals”! I was FUCKING ECSTATIC. We are both huge fans of Tchami, Malaa and a lot of the artists that we’ve heard on the label. Being so inspired by their body of work, it was clearly one of the/if not the most important places for us to send our music. So when they reached out to us and said they liked one of our songs, it was insane. We were so surprised and thrilled. Both of our reactions were: “holy shit they want this track, one of our favorite artist wants this on his label. LET’S FUCKING GO!”

AHAVIAH: I found out N’BM got signed in Israel. I had just landed after 14 hours of flying and the moment I turned on my phone and had 117 missed calls/texts from Justin, I knew something big just happened. I called Justin right away and remember being emotional to the point that airport security was looking at me suspiciously. It was one of those “holy shit” moments I hope everyone gets a chance to experience. We’re incredibly grateful to Tchami—who we’ve been listening to for years—and the entire CONFESSION team. They’ve been so helpful and have been in communication with us every step of the way.

IMPORTANT NOTE: We have a ritual for every time we finish writing a song. Once we’re happy with the mix, the arrangement and it passes the all-important car test; we take a moment and utter a little prayer to Moby.

….Yes, that Moby. So we feel it’s only right that we also take the time to thank Moby for actually listening to our prayers.

What’s coming up next for FETISH?

JUSTIN: We have a whole bunch of songs that are finished and ready to go. I think we both want to keep doing what’s working for us. We are writing like animals and finding a lot of success in the studio. The response so far has been fucking awesome, especially with finding a home for “Nothin’ But Mammals” on Confession. We can’t wait to put out the next several songs and see what the simulators have in store for us.

AHAVIAH: We spend the majority of our time in the studio. There are days when one of us will point out that the sun is about to set, and then we we’ll have this moment that’s like: “Shit, we’ve been in here for 12 hours!”

Favorite song of 2019 so far:

JUSTIN: Hikaru Utada & Skrillex – “Face My Fears“. Not only do I love the Kingdom Hearts games, but Skrillex is not a human, and if anyone doesn’t believe that just listen to this without crying.

AHAVIAH: I’ve listened to “Jackie Chan” the Tiesto and Post Malone song so many times that it almost feels like a guilty pleasure at this point.

P.S. “Habibi” by Ghali was a close second. It’s from the FIFA 19 soundtrack and I turn up the TV a few clicks louder every time it plays.

Best track to play at peak time:

JUSTIN: Skrillex and MUST DIE – “VIPS

AHAVIAH: FISHER – “Losing It

Unexpected remix to switch things up:

Justin: Eiffel 65 – Blue (FETISH Remix) 😉

Ahaviah: …..Yeah, what Justin said.^

Vocalist you’d most like to work with:

JUSTIN: Sam Smith or Selena Gomez.

AHAVIAH: Sia or James Blunt.

Upcoming artist(s) to watch for in 2019:

JUSTIN: All of my roommates are insanely talented and on the come-up. Seriously, I live in a full house of wizards: PEEKABOO, Effin, and Sully to name a few.

AHAVIAH: My friends and fellow ICON graduates SULLY and Nate (EFFIN) are making some pretty dope stuff. Definitely keep your eyes out for them!

Be sure to check out “Nothin But Mammals” by FETISH below!

FETISH – Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Soundcloud

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