Brothers Lenny and Lawrence Burden (along with revloving members Lynell, Lance, and Lorne Burden) make up Detroit-based DJ/producer Octave One. With over two decades of experience making and playing music, they have released several hits on their own label, 430 West Records, among others, and have remixed for the likes of Massive Attack, Inner City, The Trampps, and Steve Bug. The guys will touch down in New York this weekend for The Offiical BPM Festival Pre-Party at Sankeys NYC on Saturday, December 28th. We had a change to catch up with Octave One ahead of their New York gig to disucss playing in the Big Apple, New York pizza, working so closely with family, and some highlights from their recent tour.Be sure to get tickets to their Sankeys NYC show on Pulse Radio!
You’re set to play at Sankeys NYC on December 28th for The BPM Festival Pre-Party. What have you heard about the new space? What are you looking forward to the most? We hadn't heard much of anything about the new space because our gigging schedule has been keeping us quite busy, but a couple of days ago we had the privilege of having dinner with a longtime friend Chez Damier and he told us some great things about the new space, so we really look forward to experiencing the energy of the NYC peeps for ourselves.
What are some of your favorite things to see and do when you’re visiting New York? When we're in NYC we don't really get the opportunity to do a lot of tourist things because we have so many friends there and we find ourselves spending time catching up with them, but we do get the opportunity to go to some amazing restaurants. We spent a lot of time in Italy so we're very familiar with Italian cuisine there, but NY has some of the best Italian pizza we think we've ever eaten.
As brothers spending a lot of time together in the studio and on the road, how do you keep from driving each other crazy? Are there ever points of conflict? We still haven't figured that out yet but we're working on it. Yes, just because we're brothers doesn't mean that we don't ever have conflict, but it;s how we deal with it when we do that's the most important thing. You've got to forgive and just move on even if they don't ask for forgiveness.
As artists who have been making and playing music for over two decades, how has the scene changed in the US in your experience? Well, it's the most commercial than its ever been in history. Dance music probably hasn't been this big in the States since the disco era mainly because of EDM, but people that long for deeper vibes know where the deeper can be found and seek it out just like they've always have done.
You recently toured in Europe including stops in Amsterdam and Charleroi. What was that like? What were some of the highlights? It was great and inspiring at the same time! The fans were energetic and it was good to perform in front of a truly educated crowd. They knew songs that we played which we're sure some of them couldn't have been any older then five or six years old when we created them. They really researched who we were and what we've done.