RouteNote Interviews: Mike Emilio
Mike Emilio is a talented, popular Swedish producer and DJ. He’s amassed millions of listeners on tracks like his hit Fugazi on Spotify and SoundCloud. Mike has found his way onto top lists around the world including in the top ten Latin American charts and 2nd place at Spain’s biggest radiostation.
We managed to get in a few questions with Mike between producing his next hit singles.
How did you get into music, was it a natural passion or something you learned to love?
I grew up in a musical family where both my father and brother played several instruments, we built a studio and I got my first pair of drums when I turned six years old. I got raised with a lot of new metal and hard rock so that was the genre that started everything.
Over the years I started to produce hip-hop in high school and later switched on to EDM. I think my musical background is so important and I don’t want to label my music, I want to mix everything and produce music I love doing.
You’re part the recently launched Shape Music network and record label, what’s it like and were you a part of it’s inception?
I founded Shape Music now in 2016. Before that we were a music collective with four artists including Modo (NY), Tareq (SWE), James Wilson (SWE) and myself. I have been working on trying to cover every part needed, everything from producing to marketing – make everything from scratch and be able to finalize the product.
I have been lucky to be able to work with RouteNote that helps me distribute our songs worldwide. Music is so much more than just making the music, and that is what makes it so fun – to be able to be innovative and creative on so many levels.
You work with a lot of artists, recently you’ve worked a lot with Modo and James Wilson. How does working with other artists affect your creative process?
Connecting and working with other artists is something you must do, you learn a lot from the process and you reach sounds you never thought you would accomplish. Every artist is unique and when you finally feel that you have found the people you love working with, everything gets so much easier.
You stumble upon a lot of people that just want to use your ability of working without giving anything back, so I am happy to be a part of my team containing reliable and talented artists. Hard work pays off!
You’ve already been very prolific this year. Can we expect to see even more releases from you in 2016?
We will have a lot of releases coming up, not in the same tempo as we started 2016 though. We had a project where the team made several songs (over 15-20 so far) so that we could reach out as much as possible. We have new projects ready to be released with some really interesting artists. Some tracks are signed at major labels as Sony Music as well, we want to try to be seen and heard everywhere.
If you could choose to work with any artist/musician, past or present, who would you choose and why?
If I had the possibility to choose an artist/band it would be MUSE, I have been listening to them for so long and I can always go back to their old albums and just get nostalgic – there’s no ‘Best Before Date’ on their songs.
If we talk EDM it would be Skrillex or Deorro, no doubt.
Imagine you’re stuck on a desert island and can only take 3 tracks to listen to and one possession. What would you choose?
Hmmm, three tracks:
Muse – Hysteria
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dm_5qWWDV8?rel=0&w=560&h=315]
Toploader – Dancing in the Moonlight
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yBnIUX0QAE?rel=0&w=560&h=315]
Jillionare & Salvatore Ganacci – Fresh ft. Sanjin
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2g5F1gTxNk?rel=0&w=560&h=315]
Pretty mixed genres! I would bring a guitar.
If you can choose, which of your own tracks would you say is your favourite or you are most proud of?
I would have to say Fugazi that I made together with Modo since that song opened so many doors and helped me in so many ways.
What does the future hold for Mike Emilio?
I’ve just signed a new song with Treyy G (Trumpsta) and Frankie Carrera at Sony Music/Disco:Wax and we are shooting the music video with the talented Samuel Leijon as we speak. Last weekend we also recorded the official video for Fugazi 2016 that will be released through Shape. Modo has been doing a great job together with his crew on that one. I am hoping to take Shape Music into the next level and we got several interesting things going on.
What advice would you give to other aspiring musicians and producers?
You learn as long as you keep doing what you love, don’t let other people that doubt you affect you negatively. We all start somewhere and you must try to find your own path through the labyrinth of music. There will always be people trying to stop you from doing what you love just because they haven’t found out what they want to do yet.
Believe in yourself and don’t be afraid of trying!