Desert Hearts co-founders (L-R): Lee Reynolds, Porky, Marbs and Mickey Lion
Photo: Connor Lee

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Desert Hearts TV: How The San Diego DJ Crew Are Tuning In During The COVID-19 Crisis

The dance collective on cultivating community, wellness, weirdness, service worker appreciation and a rump-shaking good time in the age of a global crisis

Jaime Sloane

MusiCares

May 18, 2020 - 12:03 pm

Saturday, April 25 was supposed to be the day when 4,000 house and techno aficionados caroused on a dusty Indian reservation just south of San Diego at Desert Hearts Festival.

Instead, the California dance music collective’s co-founder Mikey Lion is headlining the first ever "Desert Hearts Digital Festival," and broadcasting a 10-hour, rip-roaring set of underground tunes via Twitch from the comfort of his home. Even in the absence of shared wine bags and warm embraces at the off-the-grid bacchanal, the party rages on digitally thanks to the newly-minted Desert Hearts TV.

Watch Desert Hearts Digital Festival: Mikey Lion from desertheartsrecords on www.twitch.tv

Meanwhile in an unaffiliated, fan-founded Zoom room hosted by AllDayIStream.com called ‘QuarantineHearts,’ 500 isolated fans from around the world have congregated to watch the stream together. While Desert Hearts’ Twitch provides an audiovisual portal into Mikey’s set, the online conferencing platform empowers viewers to approximate communal clubbing by streaming their own housebound dance parties.

In the midst of digital toasts and rump-shaking mayhem, respiratory therapist Eric Ogada — otherwise known by his nickname, Easy — appears on-screen donning full protective gear, hospital scrubs, a bouffant cap, a medical face mask and all. He’s tuning in from a New Jersey hospital, where he’s working the night shift and waiting to assess his next patient.

In a few moments, Easy will be taking strangers’ temperatures, checking their lung capacity, and making the decision about what department they’ll be routed to. But for now, during a brief break, he’s with the people of Desert Hearts. It doesn’t take long for his presence to prompt a deluge of supportive messages in the chat room from his fellow Zoom revelers.

“With DHTV, it’s people just relaxing and having fun, and people actually saying thank you for your service,” Ogada says. “That's therapeutic, because these patients can't say thank you, they’re dying so quick. You're just so busy and overwhelmed, it really helps when somebody actually says thank you.”

Lee Reynolds

Ogada has worked at hospitals for 14 years, and has been serving as a respiratory therapist for the last six. His "work hard, play hard" lifestyle has seen him visit 19 countries across the world, including annual pilgrimages to electronic music meccas like Ibiza and Tulum. Like many other music enthusiasts who’ve been left heartbroken by the shutdown of the concert and festival industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ogada has turned to DHTV’s weekly programming to fill the void of human connection and camaraderie.

“This community has been here before COVID-19, and I love seeing everyone vibing together,” he says. “It’s a tight-knit community, and as a transplant [from Boston] I already feel welcomed with open arms.”

The Heart In Desert Hearts

Desert Hearts began as a renegade desert party in the Mojave, but it’s since ballooned into a kaleidoscopic world of international initiatives: the annual sold-out festival, a respected record label, and a globe-trotting showcase series that’s touched down at festivals and clubs from Berlin to Sydney.

Built on the mantra “House, Techno, Love – We Are All Desert Hearts,” the festival was founded in 2012 by four San Diego DJs who wanted to create a judgment-free playground for their friends to let loose while coalescing over a shared love of underground sounds.

Marbs

As opposed to typical electronic music festivals, which reliably offer up a medley of stages to careen between and sonic styles to hear, Desert Hearts Festival programs more than 100 uninterrupted hours of house and techno on one sole stage. Attendees bask in a singular, shared communal experience, and effortlessly connect with friends and strangers alike, all united under the “One Stage, One Vibe” ethos.

“We've met so many people that have said, ‘When I got introduced to this community, I really didn't even listen to house music,’” Desert Hearts co-founder Marbs says. “People come to our parties not necessarily for the music, but just because of the environment, how comfortable they feel with the people that are at that event, and then associating the music with that feeling of belonging.”

Beyond the jacking basslines and pulsating decibels wafting from the festival speakers, Desert Hearts is regarded as a bastion of creativity and unabashed self-expression where weirdos of all stripes can let their freak flags fly. Attendees are encouraged to rock avant-garde outfits, paint psychedelic art pieces, or host pop-up wine and cheese parties — whatever tickles their fancy.

For many Desert Hearts devotees, the accepting, open-minded environment is what keeps them coming back year after year; it’s the same quality that made its four founders — Mikey Lion, Marbs, Porky, and Lee Reynolds — hustle to migrate its palpable sense of community online.

“Our focus is on the people, and how to keep the people connected,” Marbs explains. “The people are the most important piece of the puzzle through the whole thing. And it's so cool to see that when we think we're about to go through a time that's going to rock us, the community somehow grows.”

Marbs and his fellow ringleaders were forced to cancel the 12th edition of Desert Hearts Festival on March 16. Just a week later, they launched DHTV. The online extension of Desert Hearts serves up varying content each week, ranging from marathon DJ sets mixed by its architects and cohorts, to the recurring "Wellness Wednesday’s" series which features yoga, meditation, and sound baths. The Desert Hearts Digital Festival was a tour de force of underground soundscapes designed to simulate the nonstop nature of the originally-planned festival; more than 25 international artists performed (nearly) around the clock for four days straight.

“The people are the most important piece of the puzzle through the whole thing. And it's so cool to see that when we think we're about to go through a time that's going to rock us, the community somehow grows.” -Marbs

In addition to DJing, the Desert Hearts founders also personally lead interactive specialty programming, like crate-digging with Lee Reynolds and Dutch pour painting with Marbs. Porky, Mikey Lion’s younger brother, kicked off DHTV by hosting a "Tubby Tuesdays" cooking lesson, where he guided viewers through making their own sushi-burritos. Marbs said the personalized offerings aim to give people a glimpse into their everyday lives and passions outside of music.

“The whole idea is to close the gap of distance between us all,” Marbs says. “And the more intimate and interactive we can make it, the more that it feels like we're actually hanging out, even though we're on screens.”

Welcome To The Lions Den

Every Saturday evening, comedy buff Mikey Lion hosts ‘The Lions Den,’ a 10-hour hybrid DJ-stream-meets-variety-show. When the clock strikes midnight, he blasts Olivia Newton-John’s anthem “Let’s Get Physical” as he and his wife Cookie lift free weights with grins plastered across their faces. Cookie has become a staple in the skits on ‘The Lions Den’. One of the more memorable entries saw her take on the role of Maxine, a sassy publicist who sports oversized sunglasses and struts across the camera’s frame with audacious panache. It’s all a part of the master plan to help fans mentally escape the Coronavirus epoch, if only for the weekend.

“Giving people an outlet to release during such a tough time is super important,” Mikey Lion says. “Our community is rooted in spreading as much love and positive energy as possible, and people are willing to roll with the punches, even in such a horrible time in history for all of us - but we're not going to let that stop us from having a good time, creating love, and pushing positivity to one another.”

Mikey Lion

Fans have turned Desert Hearts’ Twitch channel chat forum into an endless source of cheeky messages, inside jokes, and general musings on isolation insanity. Whether it’s festival veterans bonding over their favorite Desert Hearts memories, or newcomers forging relationships with internet friends miles away, DHTV mirrors the festival’s authentic innervation of belonging and togetherness.

“Just like with any kind of underground music scene, if you're going to shows consistently, you start to recognize the same people,” Garrett James, who handles Desert Hearts marketing, says. “Eventually, you're going to talk to them and become friends with them. And that's how these Twitch chats are; every time, without fail, the same people are there.”

“Giving people an outlet to release during such a tough time is super important.” -Mikey Lion

When COVID-19 struck, James pivoted Desert Hearts’ marketing focus online. Now, he and Brooke Sousa — a longtime friend and resident party conductor among the crew — have been tapped to serve as moderators within DHTV’s chat room. The pair work to foster the good vibes and make all participants feel welcome, while ensuring the chat’s ridiculousness never gets too out of hand. James notes how Desert Hearts Festival’s infectious spirit of friendship permeates the digital realm.

“I feel like that aspect of connecting with people, even in a virtual space, is still happening, just in a very different way,” he says.

On the unofficial Zoom video chat, newfound friends bask in a raucous free-for-all, with nearly 500 fans simultaneously cutting rugs, taking shots, flashing some skin and trying to outweird one another. One couple coordinates dance moves for their ferrets. Another pair, who broadcast under the username ‘Legohearts,’ shows off a full-blown lego replica of the Desert Hearts stage and speakers, with their child play-dancing his Lego characters across the imaginary dance floor.

“Desert Hearts is where I get to be my realest, truest self, and everyone is being weird, and it invites you to not be afraid to be weird too, and I think that's the part that people love the most,” Sousa explains. “You get on screen and get to wave your freak flag just like at the festival, where you get to be whatever crazy version of yourself that you decide you want to be. Not only that, but you have everyone cheering you on and encouraging you; nobody is judging, everyone is just thinking ‘What can I do next that’s even crazier?’”

Desert Hearts’ Digital Future

While DHTV provides fans with a welcomed distraction from the uncertainty of life under quarantine, it’s also a much needed creative outlet for the Desert Hearts impresarios. For artists who are used to breakneck tour schedules with firm performance times, DHTV encourages them to fluidly experiment with extended sets, test out new material, and push themselves technically.

“Streaming has helped me tremendously to get out of my comfort zone,” Porky explains. “I've always personally hated staring directly into the camera — and I cringe when hearing my voice — so it's really rad to use this opportunity to try something new. It's still extremely stressful every single time, especially when you're playing a 12-hour livestream and have to dodge all kinds of obstacles, like internet speed and a place to stream without noise complaints. But, the show must go on and we work as a team to find the solution.”

Porky

DHTV has become a restorative wellspring of communal hope, and will remain a permanent facet of the Desert Hearts network long after quarantine ends. Since launching DHTV mid-March, the Twitch channel has already amassed more than 628,000 live views from more than 18,000 subscribers. DHTV continues to innovate, and will host the inaugural ‘City Hearts Digital Festival’ on May 28 - 31, replicating the brand’s one-day mini-festival series that’s sold out previous installments in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego.

“Waking up to messages everyday saying "DHTV saving my life during this quarantine," will never get old, because everyone needs to tune out of the bullshit and get a boogie in,” Porky says. “We hold a special, comfortable space where people can express themselves without any judgement, and that's where all the magic happens.”

“We hold a special, comfortable space where people can express themselves without any judgement, and that's where all the magic happens.” -Porky

Music lovers around the world have been in isolation for more than two months. That’s hundreds of festivals canceled, thousands of deaths per day, and countless, chaotic nights in the hospital for Easy. But even though the respiratory therapist won't get his summer reprieve of dance floor-fueled travel, he’s still grateful to get lost in the music alongside the new friends he’s made within the Desert Hearts community.

“If you need an escape, go on DHTV and the Zoom just vibe,” Ogada says. “You just imagine you’re somewhere else, and you can relax. Because you just need to get past that day, and everything will be alright.”

Learn more about how you can donate to or apply for assistance via the Recording Academy's and MusiCares' COVID-19 Relief Fund.

Learn more about the financial, medical and personal emergencies services and resources offered by the Recording Academy and MusiCares.

Lady Gaga

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

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Lady Gaga, The Naked And Famous, Bruno Major & More Artists Talk Staying Grounded During Quarantine

Justin Michael Williams, Mikey Lion, Cassian and Paul van Dyk also offer insight on how they're confronting these chaotic times

Ana Monroy Yglesias

MusiCares

Apr 21, 2020 - 10:43 am

These days of quarantine are unprecedented, intense and have disrupted almost every facet of our daily lives as well as the global economy. While the coronavirus pandemic has affected everyone differently, it has hit people and companies in the music and live event industry incredibly hard.

Over the past few weeks, we've been checking in with artists, many of whom have not been home this long since before their artist careers, to learn what has been helping them feel grounded amidst the current state of chaos in the world. Read on to hear what The Naked And Famous, Bruno Major, Justin Michael Williams, Mikey Lion, Cassian and Paul van Dyk shared with us in recent conversations over the past weeks of quarantine. GRAMMY-winning pop queen Lady Gaga recently spoke in-depth on mental health and staying grounded during the pandemic, so we've included thoughtful quotes from her as well.

Kindness Matters

Gaga points out this is a traumatic time for everyone, so it is extra important to be kind. She notes this will hit those with less resources harder than someone like herself, who has means. "Being kind is the most powerful thing we can do right now; being kind to each other and being self-aware… I am in a home that is safe, I can eat sanitary food. I can keep doing my work. This is not the same for everyone and I know that. Being self-aware, I think, is very important in how we stay together."

In the conversation, the "Born This Way" singer stresses the importance of mental health care and, understanding that many people don't currently have access to therapy, shares some helpful grounding techniques from dialectical behavioral therapy, or DBT, which has helped her.

"In DBT, it's called 'distress tolerance skills,' which is basically the skills we use to manage our stress. And one thing I can just offer people that are watching, and to also spread as a message to others, is one thing to ground yourself if you're panicking during this time is to say, okay let me get a bare on my surroundings. So for example you can say, 'My feet, where are they? My feet are on the ground. I'm looking at my hands. I'm sitting in my living room… My children are playing. My couch is white.'

Once you start listing and naming things and looking around the room, slowly it can bring you back down into where you are, so that you can feel grounded and can feel safe because there is going to be a wave of shock and trauma people are experiencing all over the world and it's just natural because this is very scary."

11 Meditation Apps To Help You Get Calm & Centered During Quarantine & Beyond

Slow Down

These days have been a stressful time for so many of us, especially with the double-whammy of extensive uncertainty and so much more time at home with ourselves. Just as Gaga highlighted the importance of being kind to each other and focusing on the present, alt-pop artist and meditation teacher Justin Michael Williams reminds us that it's more than okay to slow down right now amidst all the chaos.

"Remember that it's okay not to be super productive and overachieving during this time. This is especially hard for those of us who have gained our value from validation and 'success.' Typically, the world asks us to do more, be more and push harder. But right now it's time to pause," the "I Am Enough" singer recently told us over email.

"Pay attention. This is the flow of the universe. The whole world is slowing down. If you can, take this moment as a sacred pause. Instead of forcing yourself to 'do' more, give yourself a chance to 'be' more—and see what arises from there. Let it be okay that you don't have the capacity to overachieve at the level you were before. You're doing fine. Trust yourself."

As Williams' wisdom suggests, taking this global pause to see what comes up when you stop doing so much can be a great way to reevaluate old habits and routines. Examining the contrast to how hard you were always working or the speed at which you were constantly moving can be eye-opening for touring artists or anyone else who travels regularly. This can be a great time to catch up on or rebalance the things that tend to go to the wayside while on the road or otherwise constantly busy.

Start & Keep A Routine

For GRAMMY-nominated mixer/producer/DJ Cassian, putting energy towards finding a new quarantine version of his routine has not only been something that's kept him grounded during all the change, but will likely result in shifts in his routine post-quarantine.

"Everywhere I go really, I'm such a creature of routine; whether I'm in L.A. or when I'm in touring in Australia, I still get to have my routine more or less because my family's out there. So it's been hard to figure out what that new quarantine routine is like. I'm trying to stay focused on figuring it out, which is what's helping me stay grounded," the Aussie artist recently told us.

"For my workouts, I used to get up super early and go to the gym every day at the same time, same gym. Now, I've been exploring the neighborhood I live in, and walking around more. I'm definitely going to be doing more of that, definitely going to be cooking for myself more. My old routine I would just get up, workout, go to the studio. I would just be in the studio all day, have dinner at the studio, then come home and just sleep. Now I'm realizing I didn't need to do that, and I've set up a little studio at home, so now I can just work from home when I don't feel like going to the studio. Also, I traveled so much and I didn't question it, and took it for granted. And [now] it's been a conversation I've been having with my team."

Recovery & Sobriety During Quarantine: Online Meetings Become Game-Changing

British singer/songwriter Bruno Major also feels centered when he has a routine he can count on, with something he can ground the days to but with enough variety to keep things interesting.

"Being a musician, I've had zero structure in my life since I was 16 or 17 because I left school. So, [typically] I go the gym every morning and make sure that I do something every day that's the same. I feel like I need routine in my life. If you don't have it, you have to create it yourself. So just make sure you exercise every day or do something that isn't just Netflix. Learn a new skill, read a book, learn the piano. Just try to vary your days up," the "Old Soul" singer shared with us over the phone.

Like Cassian, he also sees this disruption in our regular routines as something that may act as a big life lesson for so many of us who've been "too busy" to stop and reconsider it.

"I think there's a great lesson to be learned here as well. When you don't have the thing that you should be doing every day, then you're just left with the things you want to do. And you have to worry about what it is that you want. I think people are learning a lot about themselves during this period."

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Seek Balance

For Alisa Xayalith of electro-pop duo The Naked And Famous, sleeping adequately, exercising, cooking and watching cooking videos all help keep her calm and centered. "When I don't have enough sleep, I don't feel like I can focus or perform to the best of my ability. But in times where I need to feel grounded, I usually exercise."

"[Also,] I cook. That helps me feel grounded. I was on tour for the last month so I haven't been able to do that very much. Cooking and baking is something that helps me feel super grounded, which is why I have gotten into making sourdough bread and I have things that I love to cook. Just the process of preparing everything, cooking everything, and the end product is going to be delicious—it always feels good to me."

For her bandmate Thom Powers, he stays grounded with critical thinking and the balance of his partner. "I don't really have one thing that I do to stay grounded. Maybe reading. I think I am a grounded person by nature just by being very critical, by working on my critical thinking skills as a hobby. I am not a very smart person, I didn't go to university or get a degree in anything. Critical thinking is probably what keeps me grounded and realistic. Also, my partner keeps me very grounded when I get delusional, or worried about things," Powers said.

"I think when I am least grounded, I have a very unrealistic view, a very envious, jealous and comparative view because of the way music culture has shifted to this online content provider paradigm. Some days when I wake up and I feel negative, I just feel this immense pressure to be this content provider, which is something that does not come naturally to me, it's difficult. But some people, it just comes so naturally to them to put their unedited selves up on the internet."

He brings up a great point about social media, and how he sometimes feels pressure to be more engaged with it and "better" at having a social presence like other artists or influencers. Xayalith underscored that social media can be overwhelming at times for everyone who engages with it, which is why she opts to generally limit social media scrolling to watching cooking videos, which she finds "super soothing" and sometimes inspiring for her next meal.

In contrast to trying to keep up with social media, staying in touch with your friends and family over the phone and with video calls can be really nice during these times. Not only is it a great practice to have little mental health and wellness check-ins with your loved ones, catching up while apart can help with feelings of isolation.

Practice Self-Love

DJ/producer and Desert Hearts leader Mikey Lion echoes the importance of both self-care and staying in touch with the people you miss. "I'm really focused on staying healthy right now and exercising. Just going on walks and keeping things the more-solo parts of my normal routine. I've also been calling my friends and my family and seeing how they're doing. It always keeps me grounded and since we are all in it together, that collective group thing of getting through it and knowing and taking comfort in the fact that we are all experiencing this together. That's what keeps me the most grounded."

During quarantine, Zoom video calls have become a popular tool to gather virtually—many March and April birthday parties, yoga classes and dance parties happened (safely and remotely) thanks to Zoom. Lion shares how his crew of fellow DJs and creatives used Zoom to reconnect shortly after quarantine began. "I just took some time to call a bunch of my friends and it felt so good, we had this huge Zoom chat with 20 of our friends from our Burning Man camp. We literally had a livestream party for four hours with all of our best friends. We were all taking shots almost every 30 minutes and coming up with new games and new rules. Oh my god, it felt like we were all together, just having fun. It was this massive release and way for us to blow off steam. It was really amazing."

The Desert Hearts squad has also been sharing a bunch of live DJ sets and other content with their daily-ish DHTv livestream series, which have been a fun way for them to keep sharing music with their loyal fanbase. Many other artists have been doing regular musical livestreams as a way to keep everyone dancing and singing along from the safety of their homes, including Paul van Dyk with his regular PC Music Night on Facebook.

How Will Coronavirus Shift Electronic Music? Maceo Plex, Paul Van Dyk, Luttrell, Mikey Lion & DJ Manager Max Leader Weigh In

The creativity, generosity, kindness and love so many people have shown each other during this global crisis, especially where their nation's leaders and systems fail them, is quite powerful. For legendary GRAMMY-nominated German DJ/producer Paul van Dyk seeing this love and compassion as people care for each other gives him hope right now, and the partnership and love he feels with his wife helps him feel grounded.

"It's love on all levels. It's the love to your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your wife, your husband; in my case, obviously, my wife. It's the love and caretaking that people have for each other and how we all stand together. This is something that I see that I feel is a little bit of a positive out of all this that. We as a species, have to survive this and have the possibility to come out of it stronger."

Now more than ever, this is the time, as Gaga said, to be kind to each other, and as van Dyk's and Lion's comments highlight, to really appreciate the people in our life who are there for us—and to be there for them to. And there is no time like now to create a personal dancefloor in your living room and for artists to share some tunes with their internet friends to keep everyone grooving.

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Why? Because It's Christmas Album Cover

Photo Courtesy of Artists

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'90s "Mickey Mouse Club" Members Reunite For Holiday Album, 'Why? Because It's Christmas'

Featuring more than a dozen former Mouseketeers, the 17-track holiday album will benefit MusiCares and other charitable organizations

Ana Monroy Yglesias

MusiCares

Dec 8, 2020 - 10:12 am

Disney Channel's "The All-New Mickey Mouse Club," which ran from 1989-1996, is forever cemented in pop culture psyche as the kid's variety show that launched the careers of Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera and Ryan Gosling. Yet they weren't the only talented, charismatic young people in the show's cast to continue on to careers in film and music.

Always In The Club, a group composed of former cast members from "The All-New Mickey Mouse Club" across the years, brings together the show's alumni to keep spreading joy and to fundraise for important causes. On Why? Because It's Christmas, more than a dozen former Mouseketeers reunited virtually to create a 17-track holiday album, released Nov. 27, that delivers cheer and financial support to those directly impacted by COVID-19. Proceeds from the album will be donated to MusiCares, the Brave Of Heart Fund and Cast Member Pantry.

GRAMMY.com checked in with singer/songwriter/producer and "Mickey Mouse Club" alum Tony Lucca, a performer and co-producer on the album, who spoke about Why? Because It's Christmas, his time on the iconic show and the vital connection between art and service.

What sparked the idea for the Why? Because It's Christmas benefit album? What does it mean to you to be able to give back to those impacted by COVID-19?

It stemmed from the fun and excitement we, the cast of the "Mouse Club," shared during our MMC30 reunion in Orlando last year. Our castmate, Tasha Danner, had casually suggested we do a cast holiday record together, and the wheels got turning instantly. Fortunately, it was Dale Godboldo, along with Chasen Hampton and Always In The Club president, Lisa Cannata, who were doing the turning.

Always In The Club is an organization that serves as a philanthropic conduit for various charitable organizations year-round, pandemic or not. Having them as the driving engine of this collaboration provided for a very clear intention for us to get behind creatively. As for the three organizations that we chose to [donate to], I simply can't imagine any other causes that could possibly be more near and dear to our hearts as a team: those within the music industry, those on the frontline of this horrendous pandemic and our fellow Disney cast members.

"I've always maintained the belief that empathy lies at the heart of creativity."

What does the connection between art and service look like to you?

I've always maintained the belief that empathy lies at the heart of creativity. It's why so many artists, musicians, songwriters, actors, painters and authors tend to ally themselves with noble causes throughout their careers. No one's ever obligated to serve or "give back" as they find success in their line of work, but it's no surprise to me that artists tend to be the ones that do.

What did it feel like to virtually reunite and collaborate with your fellow "Mickey Mouse Club" alumni on a Christmas album during a year that's felt very isolating and dividing?

From the very first Zoom conference we had, seeing each other "face-to-face," sharing in the enthusiasm this project was no doubt going to require, I can't tell you how much fun it was and a rather welcomed distraction! As a producer on the record, having a front-row seat to each and every performance, I would just sit there and radiate pride and appreciation for just how much talent exists amongst this group. It was great to see how much growth and maturity has taken place and wonderful to hear these endearing and familiar voices again. It truly was a pleasure.

What is your favorite song from the project? Who decided which Christmas classics to include?

Well, I think "Go Tell It On The Mountain" is one of the best group songs "The Mickey Mouse Club" has ever presented. It's just so much fun and came out so timelessly wonderful. I love that it starts off the record and really sets the tone.

Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't admit that I'm also really proud of "Auld Lang Syne." [Editor's Note: Lucca performs this song on the album.] I've always been a fan of that song and kind of always saw it as the holiday season "bonus track." I'm also a fan of "firsts" when I make records, and this recording marks the first time I ever recorded myself playing slide guitar. I thought the "Amazing Grace" melody laid real nicely over the "Auld Lang Syne" progression, and the slide seemed like the best way to do that.

What was the biggest thing you learned during your time in the "Mickey Mouse Club"? If you could give that younger version of yourself any advice, what would it be?

I learned the beauty and value [of] the art of collaboration, of taking pride in your role, your work, your contribution to the bigger picture. I learned how to show up and take chances. Looking back, I'd say I could've savored so much more of it at the time. Granted, we were kids, teenagers. It's not really in our nature to savor too much at that age. But yeah, I'd probably have quite a few more stand-out memories had I had realized how quickly and easily it can and will eventually all go away.

To learn more about MusiCares and how you can support music professionals in need, visit musicares.org.

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Daft Punk at the world premiere of 'TRON: Legacy' in 2010

Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/WireImage

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'Tron: Legacy' At 10: How Daft Punk Built An Enduring Soundtrack

Released December 3, 2010, the soundtrack album pushed Daft Punk's music to new, exciting places and underscored the duo's prowess with live instrumentation

Gabriel Aikins

GRAMMYs

Dec 6, 2020 - 12:57 pm

In December 2010, The Walt Disney Company took a chance—the kind only a business can take when they're the most powerful entertainment conglomerate in the world. They took Tron—a 1982 film about the world and programs living inside computers that enjoyed a dedicated, if small, cult following—and gave it a sequel. Tron: Legacy brought back original star Jeff Bridges, alongside fresh faces Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde, to revisit the film's computer world of "The Grid" with the help of some much-updated digital effects.

As a film, Tron: Legacy was a mixed bag at the time, earning a modest, by Disney's standards, $400 million over its theatrical run. The movie garnered praise for its impressive visuals, while drawing criticism toward some questionable acting—and even more questionable de-aging effects on Bridges. Ten years on, many aspects of Tron: Legacy hold up quite well, especially its soundtrack, composed by none other than French electronic music duo, Daft Punk.

By 2010, Daft Punk were already legends in the electronic music community. The duo, composed of producers Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, had three studio albums under the belt across a career that was nearing its second decade by then, but each release showcased the meticulous genius of their craft. So, too, was their artist persona well-set, with their signature robotic helmets and gloves and their aversion to interviews combining to craft an enigmatic aura around them that only heightened their mythical status.

One only needs to look at the singles the group charted throughout the decades to understand the vast breadth of Daft Punk's skill and musical knowledge. "Da Funk," off their 1997 debut album, Homework, naturally draws from the groovy basslines and percussions of funk. The shimmering "Face To Face," off Discovery (2001), incorporates disco into the mix, and the undeniable "One More Time," from the same album, mashes sampled horns, jubilant dance music rhythms and French house music into a track that remains a foundational piece of electronic music in the 21st century.

Even with that amount of range and expertise, it was no sure thing from either side to have Daft Punk compose the film's soundtrack. In one of the few interviews the duo gave about Tron: Legacy, Bangalter told The Hollywood Reporter that director Joe Kosinski had reached out to them all the way back in 2007, with no script in hand to reference. "We were on tour at that time, and it took almost a year to decide whether we had the desire and the energy to dive into something like that," Bangalter recalled.

As well, there was initial hesitation from Disney to give the duo free rein. Another interview with the Los Angeles Times revealed that the original plan was to pair Daft Punk with a much more traditional and established film composer like Hans Zimmer. Instead, the final product saw Daft Punk forging ahead largely on their own, and the results speak for themselves.

A conversation about the artistry within the Tron: Legacy soundtrack has to mention the original 1982 Tron soundtrack. Composed by Wendy Carlos, a pioneering electronic musician and composer, it planted the seeds for Daft Punk. While the original soundtrack is largely a traditional symphonic score, Carlos did incorporate synths where she could, like on mid-movie track, "Tron Scherzo." Even where she didn't, the physical instruments mirrored the chimes and notifications of a computer system, as in the intro to "Water, Music, and Tronaction." Daft Punk took these concepts and ran with them.

It's evident from the intro of Tron: Legacy's "Overture" how the duo innately understands the sounds they're working with and how they operate within the world of Tron. Instead of drawing from French house or club music, they pull from the sounds of an actual computer. The low thrum in the opening seconds sounds like a system booting up, and the lone horn delivering the main melodic line instantly connects this soundtrack with the original. The duo told the Los Angeles Times that the original film captivated them, and these direct links back to it prove they did their homework.

Read: 20 Years Ago, 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' Crashed The Country Music Party

Each track Daft Punk created stands on its own without the film. The cascading synth building with a sense of urgency on "Son Of Flynn" is prime Daft Punk in its understanding of tempo and musical momentum. "Derezzed," played in the film's neon club scene—in which the duo make a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo as the DJs—is an electronic dance track through and through. "Adagio For Tron" is a moving, sorrowful ode to a fallen hero, with a minor key and just a hint of a synth beat under the orchestral rise.

Altogether, the production across the soundtrack is topnotch. Moments like the live percussion blending into the synths in "The Game Has Changed" show a great understanding of both film scoring as well as the concept of bridging technology and humanity, a central theme in the film.

Much of Daft Punk's approach to Tron: Legacy is rooted in a darker, more ominous sound, which is a major reason why the soundtrack and the movie both still resonate today: They're decidedly more cynical and pessimistic than the original. Tron arrived at the dawn of widespread home computing, and both the film and its soundtrack embody the optimism of what technology could do for the average person. In 2010, things were vastly different. Mass data collection, security hacks and stolen information, social media toxicity, and disinformation spread were the name of the game; it's only gotten worse over time.

Consequently, Tron: Legacy is cynical in its view and appropriately more sinister in its aesthetic, an approach Daft Punk heightened with their soundtrack. "Rinzler," the theme for one of the film's main villains, drips with menace from its abrasive percussion and moody synths. Even "Flynn Lives" and "Finale," two of the tracks at the end of the movie where the heroes emerge triumphantly, are more subdued than a typical climactic piece, with horns that fade quickly and quiet string sections taking their place.

2010 was a high-water mark for popular artists stepping into film music, with Daft Punk's Tron: Legacy soundtrack and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' The Social Network score dropping in the same year. Still, the influence has been felt periodically on film scores since. Sucker Punch (2011) leaned heavily into dance and electronica in its cover album soundtrack, and Arcade Fire provided a futuristic tilt to Her (2013). For its part, Disney clearly learned the right lesson when it came to pairing a visionary film with an equally visionary artist: On the Black Panther soundtrack album (2018), Kendrick Lamar married his music with the film's fictional world of Wakanda, an approach extremely similar to what Daft Punk created on Tron: Legacy.

Read: Daft Punk, 'Random Access Memories': For The Record

Daft Punk, too, learned some things they took to heart. The integration of more live instrumentation within their production, an understanding and homage of music that came before, and the challenge to explore new genres resulted in something truly special: the duo's 2013 album, Random Access Memories. It's a disco album that switched gears heavily to include more live instruments than Bangalter and de Homem-Christo had ever used in their own material before, and included direct tributes to electronic music legends like Giorgio Moroder. (The duo's magnum opus, Random Access Memories won the coveted Album Of The Year honor at the 56th GRAMMY Awards in 2014.) And each of these new elements can be traced to the work they started on Tron: Legacy.

It's fitting that Tron: Legacy and its soundtrack released in December. The cold winter matches the darkness of The Grid and the tired cynicism of what technology can achieve. But December is also so close to the start of a new year, to the hope of something different and to the promise to do more and to do better. On Tron: Legacy, Daft Punk reached deep into their knowledge to push their music to new, exciting places. It still endures as a testament to their craft 10 years later.

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Inside VAULT Productions' Real-Time Doc On Electronic Music's Evolution During The Pandemic

See how you can support the making of this independent, women-lead film and MusiCares' ongoing efforts to help music people in need

Nate Hertweck

MusiCares

Sep 22, 2020 - 3:25 pm

Electronic music remains one of the most nimble, connected and innovative communities in the industry, even as its musicians, professionals and fans have been drastically affected by the 2020 coronavirus crisis. Now, a unique new documentary from VAULT Productions is exploring the devastating impact of the pandemic, how the genre has adapted and how the music will continue to pull us through. Check this out:

"Electronic music halts, evolves, and heals the world through the 2020 global pandemic and social revolution," the project's GoFundMe page. In addition to seeking to raise funds for the film's production, VAULT is also donating a portion of all proceeds to MusiCares.

The documentary will tell the story of today's unprecedented pandemic through the lens of electronic music and feature artists such as Sofi Tukker, Channel Tres, VNSSA, and Rinzen. The film will take you behind-the-scenes with well-know industry titans such as Billboard Dance, VitaMotus, Sound Nightclub, KCRW, Beatport and more, capturing the initial live event shutdown in March 2020, the subsequent rise of virtual performances and beyond, whereever the journey takes us.

"We’re living this story in real time, and will be in production until the day we capture artists stepping foot on a festival mainstage. Until that day, this production is our lives," the project's backstory reads. "So we’re committed to seeing it through with you."

The unconvential project exudes the passion and fierce indepent drive of the duo who back it, VAULT's Stephanie “Zilla” Barbosa and Leah Barylsky. The duo were both raised in Hawaii, althought they met on the mainland at a chance encounter after moving to Los Angeles to pursue careers in music, Barbosa as a DJ and radio producer and Barylsky as a cinematographer and editor.

"We discovered a shared reverence for electronic music and the community it birthed in warehouses, clubs, and festival grounds; a true melting pot that reflects the values we grew up with back home on the islands, sharing deeply-held beliefs about the power of both music and cinema, we knew we had to create together," they said. "Documenting this historic time from within our beloved electronic music community was a clear inspiration."

VAULT began to tease the documentary in early August, launching the GoFundMe shortly thereafter and setting out on a quest to raise the money needed to fund the film, all while supporting the ongoing offorts of MusiCares to help those in the music industry affected by the pandemic. Now you can get involved and support this independent, women-lead production while also helping music professionals and serving all genres of music.

"Our intention is to cinematically illuminate the unsung heroes who create your live music experience, and celebrate the resilient culture of the underground," they state, "right up until its onstage return."

Read more about VAULT Productions on their website. To learn more about the ambitious documentary and contribute to its making as well as to MusiCares, visit the project's GoFundMe page.

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