Chus & Ceballos is a household name in the house industry. From energetic livesets to groovy remixes, these guys do everything with a high level of quality. They do more than just produce and DJ, as they also A&R for Stereo Productions; a fantastic house label. As they get geared up for a summer tour schedule that crisscrosses many house music hotspots, we managed to catch up with them about their sound, the growth of their career and the growth of their new Iberican Republica concept.

How would you describe your sound to those are not as familiar?

We’ve been recognizable over the years for our imprint ‘Iberican Sound’ and there is a quote that means everything to us ‘From House to Techno, Drums Always Present’. This is the milestone of our style and the common path of our music, the groove and the sense of rhythm elements are what identifies us the most and what people recognize by the first impression in our sets and productions. We also love to tell a history when djing, creating expectation, climax and many other different sensations. Our music is full of organic elements, nice melodies and ethnic vocals, cause music to us its all about to spread a message and release yourself dancing. We play music with passion for your body and soul. We love to take our audiences on a musical journey and you can experience this perfectly in our extended sets where we move between styles, changing often the dynamics of the night with ups and downs bringing a full experience on the dance-floor.

What is the biggest difficulty you have faced in your career?

Probably to work as a duo and sacrificing individual egos to coming along for a unique goal, the success of our love for music.

Over the years we’ve learned that music is a sharing experience and collaborate with other people is a never ending learning process, it forces you to improve every single day, leaving your comfort zone and pushing and motivating each other to get further.

What would you say was the greatest inspiration behind your Nomads album?

With no doubts, the spark that started the fire of this album was our life-changing experience at Burning Man in 2014. It was an incomparable spiritual experience at Black Rock Desert surrounded by art, music and friendship. We got inspired musically and personally to get into the studio and transform those life experiences in music, and not a regular bundle of tracks but a long player project, conceived as a listening experience, an inner trip to our deep and ethnic roots exploring new musical landscapes and vocal collaborations unknown for us.

How do you manage all of the demands that you face on a daily basis (DJing, producing, managing your label, etc.)?

There is only one way to face on our daily demands, hard work, full-time dedication and task scheduling.

We also have an amazing team of professionals working together to get everything updated.

How has your production process changed over the course of your career?

We live in a constant learning process, evolving over the years but also keeping our identity and own style, the album making opened our eyes and ears about what can we do in the studio. The factor of not have to make a dance-floor oriented single open our creativity and we broke some unexpected music boundaries leading us to explore new musical landscapes.

Nowadays we feel very confidence with our sound and its essential to develop our careers and keep going on this competitive market.

How did the Iberican Republica idea come about?

We’ve started cooking this idea right after finished ‘Nomadas’. We wanted to create a concept to have all the talents around us involved, the ones who work closely with us, DJs and producers who we have so many common points with, the same life philosophy and passion for music. We inspire each others so the great vibes that we have together at the label showcases makes our fans have an unforgettable experience and this is all about. We are marathon a family, we are an Iberican Republica!

How is the new Iberican Republica concept unique in the music industry?

We really don’t know if this concept is different to others, but we are totally sure that this is the best way to experience a real journey to the Spanish Fiesta culture! its a musical celebration where everyone counts, dancing together, feeling the good vibes that we imprint in our dj sets spiced with the expertise of our talents.

What is the significance of starting your new concept at a venue like Space in NYC, and then bringing it worldwide?

There is not a better way to start something than doing it at home, and we consider NYC as one of our homes, we have many homes actually, lol. Space is a major club with all the requirements needed for a proper musical journey, and best of all an amazing and musically educated crowd that love music as much as we do.

What has been the best moment of your musical career so far?

We had very emotional moments across our careers like the first time we met our mentor Danny Tenaglia many years ago. In terms of production the biggest moment was to see how our first album ‘Nomadas’ showed the light, we made a big effort on this project and it was fantastic to witness the extraordinary welcome we had. In terms of DJ’ing we feel blessed to have the chance of playing Marathon sets in many special places like Stereo Montreal, Space Miami or Vertigo in Costa Rica. Also to play in the last 3 years in such Festivals like Ultra Music in Miami, EDC Vegas, Digital Dreams in Toronto o Burning Man in Nevada desert for the first time was a big accomplishment.

What is in store for Chus & Ceballos over this coming summer?

We are in the main process of finishing a few studio collaborations along with Adrian Hour, Rafa Barrios and Supernova, also doing a new original vocal track with a singer we respect from a long time called Cari Golden and also a few remixes for Christian Nielsen, Stefano Noferini, Vangelis Kostoxenakis and John Creamer & Stephane K to name but a few.

Top 5 Songs:

1. Francesco Tristano – Place on Lafayette (Thomas Gandey & Radio Slave Remix) Get Physical
2. Klondique – Jaad (Original Mix) Stereo Productions
3. &Me – Shadows (Original Mix) Saved Music
4. Vangelis Koxtosenakis – Lovair (Original Mix) Stereo Productions
5. Kydus – 1985 (Original Mix) Stereo Productions

If you want to really get a feel for the Chus & Ceballos style of music, we’ve got a treat for you. They recently played live at Club Vertigo in San Jose de Costa Rica a few weeks ago, and are giving away the six hour liveset they played that night. Stream it below, and download it here!

About Thursday Thoughts:

At Dance Rebels, we strive to bring our readers as close to their favorite artists as possible. One of the best ways to make that connection is to discuss a wide range of topics with the biggest names in the dance music scene. If there is an artist that you think we need to talk to, reach out to us on Facebook or Twitter!