Far East Movement är aktuella med nya albumet Dirty Bass och WiMPs Niklas Krigslund tog ett snack med dom.

They canvassed the streets of L.A. and handed out demos with their telephone numbers scribbled on the back. They hit the clubs on weekends and made sure every DJ in town had their tracks on deck. Any industry event they would be there. Hell, they even interned at record labels.

Now they’re touring the world and having movie night with Quincy Jones and will.i.am at Jimmy Iovines house like it’s no big deal. If anything Far East Movement is proof that hard work and persistency pays off.

The quartet formed in 2003 but didn’t catch their big break until 2009 when ‘Girls on the Dancefloor’ started doing the rounds on local radio stations and eventually became a hit in clubs around the world. The track was included on their third album ‘Free Wired’ which also featured ‘Like A G6’ and the Snoop Dogg-collaboration ‘If I Was You (OMG)’.

With the cross between hiphop and electronic dance music seemingly more popular than ever Far East Movement couldn’t have chosen a better time to release their fourth album ‘Dirty Bass’.

We talked to main rapper Kev Nish about their humble beginnings, the current popularity of dance music and recording vocals in hotel bathroom.

You’re not one of those bands that blew up instantly, you’ve had to work quite hard for your success. How do you go from interning at record labels to watching movies with Jimmy Iovine and Quincy Jones?

»We started out by pressing our own CDs with our names and telephone numbers on them and then we walked around the streets of L.A. and handed them out to anyone who would take them. We pressed our own t-shirts and learned how to record vocals in our bedroom. Later on worked at Interscope and tried to build a movement from inside the record industry. We’ve always had that D.I.Y. spirit.«

What have you learned from it?

»For us it was just survival. We didn’t have a lot of money, so we couldn’t get in the studio with the best producers or do a big budget video. We had to figure out how to record our own music, market it online and make sure all the djs had our tracks.«

»A big part of this new album is done that way. We would literally get off stage performing with Lil Wayne or Rihanna and go straight to the hotel, hook up a mic in the bathroom and record.«

Really? You did the demos in hotel bathrooms?

»Well, we did the actual recordings that ended up on the album.«

Wow, that is D.I.Y. Coming back to your sound there seems to be this very productive cross pollination going on between hiphop and electronic dance music right now. What are your thoughts on this?

»We love it! The way dance music and hiphop are being fused together mimics the ideology we grew up on, just mashing up songs and genres. People like LMFAO and David Guetta are really opening up doors and making the sound more widely accepted. They definitely paved the way for a band like ours.«

Why do you think it’s become so popular?

»People just love to dance and I think it has to do with the fact that everyone can produce these amazing dance floor rocking beats from his or her bedroom. All you need is the right software and a computer and that gives this music a better chance to live and grow. People have been finding this amazing music online from all these producers and now it’s trickling into the radio and mainstream.«

How far do you think it can go? Has it peaked or will it keep getting bigger?

»It depends. Not sure where it’s going, but it will definitely evolve. I think you’re going to see harder producers doing electro influenced by dubstep. For us we’re interested in doing 808 driven booty shaking records. People have proven they want to dance!«

Any new producers out there you want to recommend?

»Definitely. DJ Alvaro, Quintino and Sidney Samson. Those are three really dope Dutch house producers that are linking up with rappers and r&b-singers. You’re going to hear a lot more from them.«