Article by: Sam Wolloch & Christian Langston
With over 10 years of producing and touring experience, acclaimed electronic house artists Walker & Royce set out on their 9-city, 4-week Winter tour — Just What The World Needs — named after their recent 2-track EP that just dropped. Released on their label imprint, Rules Don’t Apply, the EP features collabs with Mindchatter and VNSSA.
Moon Lvnding was able to catch up with Walker & Royce to ask them some questions after their stops in Detroit and New York City, as they make their way west for the California leg of the tour, with stops at The Midway in San Francisco Friday, Feb. 3 and The Shrine in Los Angeles Saturday, Feb. 4.
Moon Lvnding: The Just What The World Needs Tour is limited to just nine cities over four weeks. What is the process like for determining which cities are lucky enough to catch your EP tour?
Walker & Royce: For this tour, we chose big cities that we have always had fun playing in and that we have a history with. We haven’t played these cities in a while and it had really lit a fire under us. We have been working hard to debut a bunch of new music we have been working on. We are very excited for all of the shows! The size of the venues also had a lot to do with the cities we chose.
ML: On this tour, you visited the historic Knockdown Center in New York City and soon you’ll play at legendary venues like LA’s Shrine Expo Hall and Chicago’s Concord Music Hall. How important is the venue to experienced DJs like yourselves and what do you look for in a good venue?
W&R: The venue is the most important thing after maybe the sound system. If the venue is wrong the party will suffer, it’s that simple. We are really excited to go into these newer spots, they are big but legendary and we know that we are going to have great parties.
ML: While we’re still talking venues, what are a few of your all-time favorite venues, both domestically here in the US and also abroad?
W&R: There are so many we love in the US! Right now we really love Discopussy in Las Vegas which is nothing like a Vegas club. It’s not a bottle service or anything like that, just a good room and a great sound system. Let’s not forget Elsewhere in NYC, Sound in LA and Space in Miami. As for clubs outside the US, we’ve played some pretty legendary spots in Europe like Ministry Of Sound, Fabric and Watergate. In Australia we really loved Chinese Laundry and Revolver.
ML: Are there any venues you’ve yet to play that are on your bucket list?
W&R: We haven’t spent much time in Ibiza and there are a bunch of spots on the island we would love to play like Amnesia, DC 10 and Ushuaia.
ML: Turning to the Just What The World Needs EP, you chose to work with two producers who also use their vocals on the tracks. Was this a deliberate decision when looking for collaborators?
W&R: Not necessarily… We just made these tracks with two producers we really love. It’s our third track with VNSSA so we were just really wanting to get back in the studio with her. We had remixed Mindchatter a few years back and kept in touch to do a collaboration. We are really happy with how the tracks came out.
ML: You’ve also enjoyed prior success working with VNSSA and Mindchatter. How has your collaboration process changed since you are familiar with working with them already?
W&R: We aren’t sure how it changed, but we know it did. Our first time working with Mindchatter was a remix for him so we mostly had control over what was happening. With VNSSA it was a bit different, she has developed so much from the first time we worked together. We are always so inspired by her DJ sets and making this track with her was so much fun.
ML: Through all those years, you’ve traveled the world. What is your favorite or most memorable location you’ve visited through all that time touring?
W&R: This may sound silly but we really love what we do so it is impossible to pick a favorite moment from touring. It would probably be easier to pick out some bad times but we aren’t going to do that. Hahaha… ML: No worries, completely understand, we know it can be hard to pick favorites and we appreciate you keeping things positive and informative. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us and have a great time with the rest of your tour!
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