You have a background in metal and punk bands. How come you ended up making drum and bass, dubstep and EDM music?
Growing up in France, we heard about The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk at a very early stage and it had a huge impact on us. We discovered the possibilities that electronic music offered in terms of soundscapes and textures. These duos had a punk attitude in their music that really resonated with us. Soon after, we were swept up by drum and bass, which had a similar intensity and grittiness to metal. We fell in love with the energy and the forward-thinking nature of the scene. In the early 2000s, Pendulum paved the way for blending drum and bass and metal with a super-powerful mix and sound. We started Dirtyphonics by making drum and bass, and we knew we wanted to create something that would blend many influences, including metal. Shortly after, as dubstep evolved into a more distorted version of itself, it shared similarities with drum and bass, just slower, like a breakdown part in a metal song. We’ve always been into trying new things and blending many of our influences together because we get bored quickly doing the same thing over and over. One constant, though, is the energy that comes through in our music.

Mentioning how these can be traced back to how you sound now. Is this blend something you’ve actively sought or did it simply come naturally?
It definitely came naturally. Guitars have always been a central part of our writing process, and you can hear it in the riffs, even when we’re writing synths parts. It was only a matter of time before we incorporated actual guitars, bass, and metal drums into our songs. We wrote “Walk In The Fire” for our debut album, and the love we received for that song, along with the energy it created at shows, motivated us to write more metal/rock-influenced tracks. “Power Now,” “Gasoline,” the entire “Vantablack EP” with Sullivan King, and more recently, ‘Burbank Nights’ are all essential parts of the music we’ve released. Learning the basis of writing and mixing music during our metal bands era definitively has had an impact on the way we sound.  

Since starting out, you’ve released remixes on tons of major labels and collaborated with artists like Linkin Park, Skrillex, Steve Aoki, Kaskade and many more. How do these collabs normally happen? And which have been some of your favorites so far?
Our “Scary Monsters” remix is an interesting story: Skrillex called us while we were in the studio and asked if we wanted to remix his hit song “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.” It was one of his biggest tracks, and since Noisia and Zedd had already remixed it, it was a pretty big challenge for us to come up with something different and unique. He said, “If you’re down, you have 48 hours to deliver it.” We accepted without fully realizing what we were getting ourselves into. We spent the next 48 hours in the studio, working non-stop, and delivered it on time. This was the fastest we’d ever written a track, and I think it forced us to get to the essence of who we are. Sometimes having too much time slows you down because you can imagine too many possibilities and directions. You shouldn’t question your choices too much, or you can lose yourself in the rabbit hole of musical options. Most of these artists approached us for collaborations or remixes. If you had told us when we were teens that we’d work with Marilyn Manson or Linkin Park, we would have freaked out. We’re very honored to have had the chance to do this and are looking forward to the next opportunities.

Growing up, you spent practically every waking hour playing and practicing guitar. Looking back, what motivated you and what was your ultimate goal?
Well, when I started playing guitar around age 10 I quickly realized that technique came more easily to me than to most others, and it was exciting to see where the limit of that might lie, so I was always looking for the next hardest thing to practice and master. I got really addicted to playing and pushing my skill and I started staying up all through the night playing guitar unplugged. I guess it’s always been, “I want to be Eddie Van Halen,” though such a feat is obviously impossible!

You’ve said that by the time you were 16 or 17, you could basically do everything that you can do today on a technical level. Looking at yourself as a player, though, what is the difference between now and then on an overall level?
Honestly, I might take that statement back these days! I was probably faster back then in terms of raw speed, my hands aren’t getting any faster anymore. But where I’ve improved massively since then is control and expression. Control of vibrato, timing, dynamic, cleanliness, etc. Also how to phrase a solo, or write a song. I am a bit of a music theory nerd as well and am always looking for a new harmony trick to add to my bag. 

Which are some of the players that you think helped shape your sound?
Eddie and Yngwie are the first to come to mind as they were and remain my original two guitar gods. But right up there for me as well are Blues Saraceno, John Sykes, Paul Gilbert, Jason Becker, Mattias IA Eklundh, Michael Romeo. These guys have all had considerable influence on my musical mind, my hand tone, and my techniques. But there are also some guitar players who inspire me greatly with their songwriting finesse, they are no slouches but maybe not influences on my actual guitar playing. Some guys like that for me right now are Trevor Rabin, Kerry Livgren, Nik Kershaw. My wheelhouse as a listener is really that style of art music from the ‘70s and ‘80s which lies somewhere between prog and pop.

To you, what is the most important trait in a guitar player?
Always to me, the most important aspect of guitar playing is in bringing the notes to life, playing the passage with the right feeling. I was actually always a little jealous of pianists, because they have access to so many notes across so many fingers, can play rhythm and lead simultaneously, etc. So to make the most of my choice to be a guitar player, I decided I should try to master the thing that I felt only guitar can do. String bending, vibrato, sliding, legato, the overtones and harmonics of a distorted guitar, all tools of expression that allow your guitar to sing like a voice. So the most important trait to me, is how GREAT can you make a simple set of note sound and feel? I usually judge a guitar player in the first handful of notes I hear them play! I don’t need to hear anything fancy, just their delivery.

Do you still practice your instrument regularly? If so, what does your routine look like?
Most of my time spent playing these days involves a task, to write songs or solos, make instructional content for my Patreon, shootout tones for engineering. But there is an amount of time I spend sitting on my couch running some exercises. Generally I pick a technique I feel I could be better at and just work through it. Hybrid picking with my pinky for instance has been a focus lately, as well as mastering pickslanting for alternate picking. I’ve always relied on my economy and sweep picking to get around, or downstroking on rhythms, selecting my pick directions carefully. So I never really felt like a master of alternate picking! I chip away at those kinds of deficiencies in my spare time. But no I don’t have a serious practice routine, the way I play now is very economical to the point where there is really no maintenance necessary to keep my usual lead chops up.