Exclusive Interview: Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano
Sunnery James and Ryan Marciano are no strangers to the world of deep house music. Known for headlining some of the biggest events in the world, they’ve set the standard for what music is and what it should be. The deep powerhouse duo definitely live up to their name of being “sexy by nature” by the way they play and energize the crowd. Not only is their music impeccable but so is the content of their character! It’s always such a pleasure running into them – this time it was at New York City’s Governors Island.
EPIC PRODUCTIONS: How are you guys doing today?
Sunnery: Pretty good! We only got 2 hours of sleep so we’re ready. We’re in the middle of a tour going country to country. From Europe to the US to South America to wherever… The summer’s been fun!
EPIC PRODUCTIONS: What’s been your favorite spot so far this summer?
Sunnery: So far…. not counting this one right?
EPIC PRODUCTIONS: You haven’t even played yet!
Sunnery: We love New York! But for the summer, Tomorrowland!
Ryan: and EDC Last Vegas but definitely Tomorrowland.
Sunnery: We did Noa Beach Club in Croatia, which was really fun!
Ryan: We actually have a lot of moments. We had a really good summer.
Sunnery: So, if we had to choose… Wait, no, sorry forget it, it would be Untold Festival in Romania. The stadium had over 50,000 people and everyone was in sync going wild, jumping, dancing, it was eventful.
EPIC PRODUCTIONS: You guys have toured the world. Compared to your first time performing to your performances now, do you still get the same goose bumps or butterflies running through you?
Ryan: The first time? I think it actually sucked
EPIC PRODUCTIONS: Really?
Ryan: Yeah because I thought I could play but I actually couldn’t.
*** Kim and Sunnery dying from laughter ***
Ryan: It was not that good!
Sunnery: You can play but when you’re in all of these different clubs, the monitors aren’t all the same, the DJ equipment is different, and your references aren’t the same. So you can play but you have to get more experience in the DJ booth so that’s how you get better. I remember my first show actually and Ryan was my judge. I played for four people and they told me I was a really good DJ and should do this more often. Then we started playing together. That was 12 years ago.
EPIC PRODUCTIONS: Is that how you guys started playing together?
Ryan: Kind of. We actually started playing at home; we were living together like you know, husband and wife.
Sunnery: No… Like friends **haha**
Ryan: I had equipment and he didn’t so he started playing on my equipment all the time in my room. The same records for HOURS! Then I was like “buy your own stuff and practice.” That’s what he did and now we’re here.
EPIC PRODUCTIONS: What’s it like touring, with what I’m guessing is one of your best friends?
Ryan: He’s not one of my best friends, he is my best friend.
Sunnery: He is THE best friend!
Sunnery: When you think about it, it’s not normal to tour with your brother, best friend, or the person you trust the most. It’s a blessing actually. If I would have to tour with another Sunnery, I wouldn’t last three days – there’d be a fight already. We’re best friends. Think of a battery, I’m the plus and he’s the minus, vice versa. We’re opposites that are connected and work together.
Ryan: We run into so much crazy stuff. If you’d have to do it on your own, it’s not fun.
Sunnery: We’re brothers. Imagine touring with one of people you love most in life and being able to share all the beautiful things like sitting here with you enjoying the day.
Ryan: It’s good but even when some of the moments suck, you can enjoy it anyway!
EPIC PRODUCTIONS: Describe what you think “Sexy By Nature” is.
Sunnery: It stemmed from a different project. We thought it was time to do something more and out of the box. We needed a concept to build a platform for new data. We figured out that we needed a new name so we went on a social and we were just reading comments from people on Instagram. It was all “sexy beats, sexy this, natural” and that’s how we came up with “sexy by nature.” “Sexy by nature” has to do with our weekly radio show, which we started last year. We want to bring people more than one charm of dance music. House music is so diverse. We try to do tribal beats, progressive sounds but sophisticated. We don’t want to give simple music like what you hear on the radio, we want to give something special. That’s how we approach our sets. When we play 3-hour sets, we want to give the same experience from left to right, up, down, and give better experiences. The audience will know the tracks but we always make it different.
Ryan: It’ll be really fun. Sometimes we’ll play a really old track and people will react like “wow is this new?” No, it’s very old! For example, people from New York will ask where it’s from. It’s like c’mon, New York has some of the best producers.
EPIC PRODUCTIONS: I feel as though it’s a newer scene in the States than it is in Europe.
Sunnery: The funny thing is that the sound we play that inspired us 15 years ago all came from New York. Dennis Ferrer to Jerome Sydenham to Miami’s OscarG. There’s massive work in New York!
Ryan: It’s amazing when we run into them because they’re our biggest inspirations. Last year we had Oscar G in one of our events and we were like “wow, he wants to be play with us?” It’s amazing!
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AUTHOR CREDIT: KIMBERLY PHAN