Los Angeles-based DJ and producer Goldroom—a.k.a. Josh Legg—is no stranger to playing in Mexico. He's played DJ sets in Cancun this spring and now has come to the country's west coast to play a set at Corona Capital in Guadalajara, which features a lineup he's excited about. "I think I want to see 95% of the acts on this lineup. Will be dreaming about this festival for the next few weeks," he tweeted before the fest.
Known for his songs like "Till Sunrise" and "Silhouette," Legg is now venturing into the business side of music, having recently launched a label with RAC called Minerva Music.
The Recording Academy caught up with Goldroom about Tk, Tk, Tk
So, you're no stranger to playing in Mexico. How does it feel to be here for Corona Capital Guadalajara?
Amazing. Every year I feel more and more thankful that I get to come back so often. Especially getting to play with Corona, they've been so good to me. I got to play at Corona Capital in Mexico City two years ago. It feels great to be here, especially with the band because I come down to DJ so much. It feels like I get to deliver the real show today. It feels great.
What's the audience vibe here like—how does it compare to other cities?
Just so open. I love the Mexican audience. Every fan that I've gotten to play for because they just ... Sometimes, crowds in the U.S. are a little more subdued. Maybe their arms are crossed.
I just feel like I've always gotten a lot of love here. A lot of people that really know everything about Goldroom and know all the songs and will sing the songs with me. That's what I'm most excited about. The level of passion.
I feel so happy to be here. I hope that I get to keep coming back. You never know who's going to connect with your music. Thank god for the internet. I started putting music out in 2012, and all of a sudden I realized that I was getting messages from people in Mexico. I got to come down and start to play shows. I feel really blessed to have the fans here that I do.
What can fans expect in today's set?
It's a full, live band set, so it's only the second time that I've brought the whole band to Mexico. Of course, lots of Goldroom material. I'm in the process of putting out a new album so there's new music that we're going to play today, which is exciting.
We have a couple of covers thrown in there that are going to be nice little surprises. I'm excited. I've DJ'd so much, it's a different kind of emotion and something really special to be able to get on a microphone and sing the songs that I wrote, rather than DJ-ing them. That's what special, I think.
I'd love to hear more about that. What is the difference for you?
I love doing both. When I'm DJ-ing, I can go wherever I want in the world. I can play any type of song. I can go in any direction. When we're playing live, we have a set list so we're playing the songs, but, it's so much ... There's so much more emotion in it because these are songs that I've slaved over and I wrote from my heart. And now I get to look somebody in the eyes and sing that song to them. It's really special.
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You just launched your new label with RAC, Minerva Music. How's that going?
We just put the first single out last week [NASAYA's "Patterns"]. Mostly, we're happy with the music. The song's doing really well. It just went number one on Hype Machine; I'm very pleased with how the release has gone. But, mostly, we're just excited because we've signed a whole bunch of artists that we think are writing timeless music, and the song writing's the most important thing. We're not trying to chase trends. We really just want to help artists create long careers, because both André [Allen Anjos, of RAC] and myself, we've been doing this for almost 10 years and we're lucky that we've been able to build a long career out of music. We want to help other artists be able to do the same thing.
Is that the mission behind Minverva?
Definitely. We want to help new artists. We want to help older artists. I think there's a big problem with the industry not helping artists get their catalogs in order, and the great thing about the internet is it's so much easier now to be able to monetize yourself every time people are using your content around the world.
Even five years ago, if you used my song in a YouTube video, I wouldn't have a way to get paid off of that. And now, that's changing all across the internet and there's lots of artists both new and old that really need guidance to help them get to that place. Our mission statement really is to help artists young and old be able to build long, sustainable periods.
How long was that idea in the works?
Almost two years. André and I had been talking about it for a very long time. We really just wanted to make sure that we have the right partners in place. And that we felt like we could really launch with our full hearts behind it.
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We hear you're embarking on a boat tour? What's the physical experience of DJing on a boat? Do you get seasick?
No. See, I grew up on boats. I've been competitively sailing my whole life. It's really been a huge inspiration for me. It's a big part of where the inspiration for my music comes from. I wanted to find a way to combine my passions. The other problem is I make music that's a little more fitting for the day time. It's just light and groovy and happy. I wanted to that's the perfect setting for my music. I wanted to be able to have a place where people can enjoy my music in the way that they would want to enjoy it. Maybe it's a little better then at 2:00 AM in a nightclub.
You spoke a little bit earlier about new music. Can you tell us anything more about what's in the works?
I'd love to; I can't really except to say I've put three singles out already. The fourth one is coming out on Friday, May 17, and that's only the beginning. I have so much music coming out this year. It's a project. How it's coming together, everyone's going to have to wait and see, I guess. After my neck injury in 2017, I wrote a lot of music and it's just, it's taken me a really long time to figure out what I wanted to put out, and how, even though I've written so many songs. Really excited to be able to pull all this music together, finally get to share it. It's really two years of my life. Recovery from that injury; it's really telling that story.
How has that transition been for you?
Difficult, I think. Just because having had my career going for half a decade, then I have this injury and I'm trying to write, and figure out what comes next for Goldroom, and I think that was just a difficult process. I've wrote so much music and it took me a really long time to figure out what message I wanted to put into the world, and what I wanted to release next. I'm really proud that I've gotten to the point not where I know what I want to do, I'm so excited for everybody to hear it.
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