With the summer heat blazing across Ibiza's party scene, I had the privilege of connecting with two titans of the dance music world: Meduza and James Hype. Our chat came amidst the buzz of their recent full-club takeover of Our House at Hï Ibiza and their 2024 Club Room residency.
With their chart-topping singles and magnetic performances, they become firm fixtures, not only in the island’s clubbing framework, but in the global dance music scene.
We delved into their thoughts on the upcoming summer season and the enduring allure of their increasingly essential Our House project, now in full swing once more, commanding Friday nights alongside industry heavyweights David Guetta and MORTEN present Future Rave.
Lissy Lü chats to... Meduza and James Hype at Hï Ibiza
How are you feeling about your Our House full club takeover? Are you excited?
Meduza: "Oh, yeah, definitely. I've been waiting for one year."
It must go so quick though, right?
MV: "It does, it really does."
Meduza and James Hype took over the whole of Hï Ibiza with Our House on 31 May
We're going to start from the beginning on how you two met. Where did it all start?
James Hype: "Well, the first time I ever met Mattia, it was at a Christmas party in London. Basically, we’re under the same management and they threw this party with the whole team. That feels like a long time ago now.
Since then, we both made loads of music and did loads of cool things individually. And then we were like, 'hmm, maybe we should kind of link-up and do some of this stuff together?' Yeah, amazing."
Last summer, Our House became one of the Club Room's most successful residencies. But for those who haven't attended, are you able to describe the vibes and the music they can expect from you this summer?
JH: “The good thing about Our House is the name kind of sums it up pretty well. We bring together our love for House music and it's non-discriminative. Like, whether that's Tech House, soulful House..."
MV: "Yeah, any kind of House goes. And we hope that we can play it in a way that speaks to all the people on the dancefloor and we can take them on a journey through all of these different styles. I think it's gone quite well so far."
Do you guys ever go back to back or do you play separately - how does it work?
MV: "We don't have a rule like it has to be back-to-back or solo. We just play freely.
Sometimes, we don't have to do back-to-back but we go b2b anyway because we’re just having fun and we don't prepare anything before any set. So we're just following each other's vibe and the vibe of the room.
That's probably the best thing of Our House. It's just like you go to a party and you don't know what to expect. You just live in the moment."
DJing style
James, you have a very unique way of DJing from your full textile to your in-ear monitoring. A lot of preparation goes into your sets. How do you prepare for a set at such a high-calibre club?
JH: "When I'm preparing for a set at Hï Ibiza, there's a lot of different things to take into consideration because people have an expectation of me to DJ in a certain way. People have tracks that they expect me to play, like my own big tracks.
At the same time, I know how it feels to be on the dancefloor in the best club in the world at 04:00 in the morning, having the best night of your life with your mate. That's the magical thing about Ibiza - everyone who's on the dancefloor in this club is in a different head space.
That's the magic of Ibiza. When I'm preparing for a set here, I'm factoring in all of these things and that kind of makes the process different to how I would prepare for a festival or club show elsewhere."
Mattia, as Meduza you are part of a collective. Can you explain what each of your roles are within the collection?
MV: "I am more the DJ of the group.
I grew up like being a DJ - a 'local DJ'. So when I'm in the studio with the guys too, I am the one working more on the arrangement for the clubs and trying to improve all the elements that work more in that environment for me, because I get to see the reaction of the people.
I test out tracks before releasing them and tell the guys what I think needs changing, what feels right and what doesn’t work.
Luca is more the nerd of the group, the one on the machines, the one that finalises every track."
Does that mean it's just you behind the decks?
MV: "Yeah, mostly. Sometimes Simon is behind the decks too, because it's impossible for me to stay in the same place. Like if we have dates in America and Ibiza at the same time or in different time zones. Simon is also a great musician. He's the one that often comes up with the melodies.
Those are the main roles for everybody, but when we are in the studio, there are no rules. You just go freestyle and you can just have the idea or do some playing some piano chords and just start from there."
The hype around James
Coming back to you, James. I watched your interview that's been ten years since you started producing. How would you say your sounds evolve or change in that time?
JH: "The crazy thing with being a music producer is, even on the day that you decide to become a music producer, you already know exactly what you want to make in your head. The journey that you go through is the process of learning how to make what is in your head.
It's like learning to speak a language and every day I'm amazed. Every day I'm amazed, because I can hear something in my head and I can make it happen and that's like, 'Whoa, I've learned the language.'"
"Starting as a new producer can be frustrating, because you have these ideas and you can't really execute them properly. You can get something similar but you can't do it perfectly.
Then as you progress you're able to make the sounds that you always wanted to make and that frees you up for more experimentation.
I find myself trying to incorporate weird things into the world of House music that I haven't heard in so many other places and hopefully that's reflected in the output."
Would you say your sound is more commercial or more underground now?
JH: "I think my sound is more my sound. Maybe when I started out, my sound was the best I could do at the time and it emulated a lot of other sounds.
Whereas now, I feel like through the process of doing it over and over I've just gotten narrower into my own sound. And in some environments that might be perceived as commercial and in other environments that might be perceived as being underground?"
Mattia, Meduza are known to have collaborated with a lot of talented artists on some of their biggest tracks. Do you have any collabs in the works in the near future?
MV: "Yeah, we have a few tracks in the pipeline. We are working on a new one with Ryan Tedder (of One Republic) after Fire. We are trying to also follow the trend of collaborating with AI. That's also always a good experience.
You know, you always try to find the best feature for you. I have to be honest. I like AI but just a little bit just of experience, because the magic you create when you're in the studio with the feature, it's something that you cannot replicate with AI. It's just electronic.
So that thing, instead of being you just texting to the laptop or to the computer, is just like creating a magic connection with another person that has other ideas and works in a completely different way."
"We are filled up with new material that takes us all the way to next year. We’re also not trying to focus solely on features, but also working on our stuff.
Even without the feature, even with young talent unknown in the industry, there are a lot of talented people in this industry that are unknown until now. So we'll see."
It's interesting you've experimented with AI. Have you, James? Or is that not something you're interested in?
JH: "My last release has an AI vocal on it."
James, you rose to fame in around 2017 with your single More Than Friends and now arguably you could be best known for your unique music style and your 2022 single Ferrari.
Do you have a clear direction of where you want to be in the next five, ten years? Or do you just go with the flight?
JH: "I don't really have a defined direction at all. I just want to make music that excites me."
"And the same goes for DJing. I want to be able to DJ in a vast array of places like Hï Ibiza and then also like huge festivals, main stage, underground, late night. I love the diversity in the music, in the crowds and in the venues."
Do you have any exciting producers you would like to champion coming up on your label Stereo Hype?
JH: "I've got a track signed by DJ SKT who's like a legend from the UK and I've been a fan of his for so long. I'm really excited to have a track signed by him."
Euro 2024 anthem
Mattia, you’ve just released a single with Leony and One Republic as the official UEFA Euro 2024 anthem. Can you talk to us about how that came about?
MV: "Basically, it was a surprise for us too! We got the management and the label calling us and saying, 'can you guys come to Milan, the office in Milan, just for a meeting?' because we live there.
When we went there and there was like from one side of the table there was the management and then the other side of the table there was the UEFA management. And we said, ‘wow, what's going on here?’"
"They explained to us that UEFA got the request to do the official anthem of the Euro 2024 with us, One Republic and Leony. For us, because we are big football fans, it was a dream coming true. We’re connecting the two biggest passions that we have in our life: music and football.
It's been a long journey, like almost a year working together, but of course, it's not just about the song itself. You need the orchestra version, like all the versions for the stadium, then you have to do the preparation for the exhibition during the final, like all the ceremonies. So it's a long process."
And you're going to be performing it live at the tournament?
MV: "Yeah, before the finale. I'm still nervous about it now just talking about it. But, yeah, it's going to be probably one of the biggest highlights of my life."
Stepping in for the big man
Last year you stepped up when David Guetta wasn't available at the last minute? How much pressure did you feel stepping into the shoes of a legend and how did you go on?
MV: "I have to be honest, let me tell you this. There was a pressure, because you know David is a legend, so you're playing instead of him and so people were expecting a classic David Guetta set. But we are Meduza and James Hype.
It was pretty easy between me and James. We just text each other what we're going to do tonight and it's just Our House. Just Meduza and James Hype. Just whatever we have done during this last year. And it went down pretty well."
JH: "Yeah, I agree with Matt. There was a pressure there, because everybody has so much respect for David and he's been one of the biggest people in dance music for as long as I've known dance music.
Okay, the pressure was insane but when we got to the club that night and we were playing at the peak time in The Theatre, I think part of me was conscious that people would be like, 'oh, you're not David Guetta', but the music just brought people together and there was nothing to worry about in the end."
Definitely. Do you think there's a difference between playing in the Club Room compared to The Theatre?
MV: "In some ways, I prefer the Club Room, because you get more intimate contact with the crowd. You're closer, you're more surrounded by the people. The main room is cool, but to me it sometimes feels like you are too distant from the crowd.
Don't get me wrong, I have great memories from that."
What does the future hold for Our House?
MV: "Oh, I'll tell you what the future holds for Our House. We're making a record together. It's a work in progress, though, but all I know and all I can tell you is it's incredible."
JH: "Yeah, there's a big hype around that track. Especially because it's not been made yet. It's just an idea. It just exists as a few demos at the moment.
We're just trying to understand which one is the best direction. We're going to test it out for sure this summer throughout the season. So if you want to check this track, you have to come to Hï Ibiza on Friday. Every week, in fact, because maybe there's a different version every week!"
Meduza and James Hype present Our House takes place in the Club Room every week at Future Rave, Friday nights at Hï Ibiza from now until 4 October.
Head below to secure your ticket and be invited into their House!
PHOTOGRAPHY | by CM. Robinson
