Metronome #119: Bad Royale

Insomniac’s Metronome series features mixes from some of today’s fastest-rising electronic stars, as well as championed legends. It takes listeners deep across a wide range of genres, movements, cultures, producers, artists and sounds that make up the diverse world of electronic music.

Bad Royale describe themselves as three producers and an idiot, but it hasn’t stopped them from becoming one of the fastest rising acts in clubland. Indeed, the self-effacing sense of humor functions like a siren call, summoning irreverent revelers to the dancefloor.

As purveyors of their own genres (“kingstep” and Caribbean bass), Elias Ghosn, Bruce Karlsson, Maor Levi, and Kevin Wild run their own label and have been featured on some stellar rosters, including Anjunabeats, Atlantic, Toolroom, and Ultra. Most recently, they dropped the tropical sing-along single “All I Can Do,” featuring a mini-film that includes both a fight club and lemon squares. We caught up with them over the July 4 weekend to discuss unreleased material, launching their Rude Mood imprint, Steve Aoki, and the weirdest beats they ever recorded.

You recently asked your fans via Twitter: “Should we release a free album of all these tracks in hiding?” What’s the status on all of that unreleased material?
We are currently going through all our old, new, and unfinished work and figuring out what makes it onto the next big release. We still have to go through an internal A/R process, because not everything fits in the sound and image we want as Bad Royale. Right now, we are reaching out to a lot of vocal artists in the Caribbean to get features. Once all those come in, it’ll be the home stretch to our next EP.

You have a very self-deprecating sense of humor. Let’s play therapy: coping device, genuine humility, or a mix/something in between?
It’s 98 percent coping device (we are very ugly) and 2 percent humility (for those moments we don’t see a mirror and think we are amazing).

Tell us about meeting and working with Steve Aoki. How did it happen, and will there be more collaborations coming up?
Steve got in contact with us when we were first hitting the bass scene. He liked what we were doing and invited us to come show what we were working on. We ended up going to his Las Vegas studio and knocking out some work, which is just now releasing on his new album Kolony. Almost positive there will be future collabs. He’s an awesome dude—one of the best guys in the industry, seriously.

What was the toughest part about starting up your own label, Rude Mood? In hindsight, what’s one thing you’d do differently that others might want to consider?
The hardest thing about starting your own label is the same with any business: marketing and showing people what you have to offer. Our label is specific to the Caribbean islands, though, so that’s something special we are doing. Rude Mood is a place for up-and-coming talented people in the Caribbean who don’t have the label and distribution options that we have in EDM (which is a huge market and fairly easy to get out there).

You were pretty supportive of Daniella’s cover of “All I Can Do.” How do you feel about the current state of the industry in regard to copyrights, artists being compensated properly, and collaborating openly? Has technology made things easier than the old label model?
We personally feel that as long as attribution is given, then it should be an open playing field. Take our work, sample it, remix it, bootleg it, and cover it—whatever. It’s cool to just see that people are out there who are inspired by our work to make more. It’s not like we are losing anything from it.

What is next for Caribbean bass? How do you plan on evolving the sound?
We normally stick to the heavy side of things. Lately we have made some jumps into radio-pop-influenced tracks, though we are about to take a step back to our roots and release a nice, heavy EP like the early days of Bad Royale.

What’s coming up next for Bad Royale?
Becoming the world’s #1 DJs and producers, and make a billion dollars, and fly private jets into the sun.

You posted on Twitter: “The world of music is so big, there’s room for whatever you want to make.” Is the industry too caught up in genres?
We don’t think it’s about genres. In fact, we really like genres. It’s a great way to find similar music that you like. It’s like a category system, but that doesn’t mean an artist has to stick to one. Make whatever you want. It’s crazy that anything you make, there are going to be people out there somewhere who like it—seriously, anything. We were rapping over beats made from farts, and there were people who thoroughly enjoyed it. Music is weird.

Track List:: Beenie Man ft. Major Lazer “I’m the King”
Bad Royale “Poppin All Night”
Bad Royale ft. Dominique Young Unique “Pop”
Silento “Watch Me” (Bad Royale Remix)
iHeartMemphis “Hit the Quan” (Bad Royale Remix)
Migos “Look at My Dab” (Diplo x Bad Royale Remix)
Bad Royale ft. Mark Hardy “Galaxy Ranger”
M.I.A. “Swords” (Bad Royale Remix)
Bad Royale ft. IAmStylzMusic “Dutty Heart”
DJ Snake & Yellow Claw “Ocho Cinco” (Bad Royale Remix)
Bad Royale ft. Richie Loop “One Puff”
Major Lazer ft. Ellie Goulding & Tarrius Riley “Powerful” (Bad Royale Remix)
Hailee Steinfeld “Love Yourself” (Bad Royale Remix)
Bad Royale ft. Fly Boi Keno “$hakebox”
Bad Royale ft. Timberlee “Fi Go Squeezy”
Bad Royale x Suit of Black “Suit of Black”
Sia ft. Sean Paul “Cheap Thrills” (Henry Fong x Bad Royale Remix)
Fat Joe & Remy Ma ft. French Montana & Infared “All the Way Up” (Megamaor Remix)
Rihanna ft. Drake “Work” (Bad Royale Remix)
Tory Lanez “LUV” (Bad Royale Remix)
Bad Royale ft. Kim Nain “What U Wana Do”
Major Lazer ft. M.I.A. & Busy Signal “Sound of Siren” (Megamaor Remix)