Levi & Suiss: ‘We Would Love to Tour India’

Tel Aviv-based DJ duo Shlomi Levi and Aaron Suissa. Photo by Mohan Kumar K.

It was only a matter of time until DJs and music producers Shlomi Levi and Aaron Suissa [popularly known as Levi & Suiss] chose to combine forces to take over the Tel Aviv nightlife and become known for their ability to move the crowd.

Not too long ago, Suiss, who grew up in America and moved to Israel as a young adult, had a whole other lifestyle ”“ one riddled with street fighting and drug peddling. Having left all that behind, Suiss took a new direction in life and became a DJ. “I am not proud of the beginning of my life, but I am proud of what I have become. Now I aim to be a role model to those who seek to transform their energy and passion into making their dreams come true,” he says.

Suiss shared his inspiring story at Tedx Talks in 2013, describing his journey to becoming a successful DJ. All this couldn’t have been possible without Levi, an already established name on the electronic music circuit, who took Suiss under his wing. Who knew they’d soon form a formidable duo! As a DJ team they bring a lot to the table – Levi’s technical prowess combined with Suiss’s spirited on-stage synergy. In the past three years, Levi & Suiss have played to audiences in countries ranging from the UK and Italy to Germany and even China.

I caught up with the duo in Tel Aviv recently and got them talking about their musical ambitions and touring India, among other things.

Tell us about how you guys met and formed the duo.

Levi: We met around three years back in a club, where both of us were booked to play a gig. Straightaway I picked up on the fact that there was something special about him, his vibe and the energy makes people want to be around him. This led us to becoming partner on stage and friends in life.

Suiss: To us it came naturally, like it was meant to be, like we have known each other already. A few months down the line, we started working on our first collaboration and formed a duo.

What’s the music making process like? Who handles what?

Levi: First of all everything starts with an idea. We get inspiration from the life around us, from our shows and mainly people who love and listen to our music. When it comes to music production, we go through the process together starting with an idea, which leads into making of the melody and then adding lyrics. All of our tracks tell a story and are closely related to our life experiences, we aim to create music that can move people and touch the lives of others.

Suiss: Of course, before calling it a track we try to play it live to the crowd, to see if it works for people.  If it doesn’t, we go back to the studio and keep working on it. Levi is a perfectionist and that is exactly how we want our music to be.

What kind of music did you guys grow up on? How did electronic music happen to you?

Suiss: I grew up on the east coast of US and the music there that was trending at the time was hip-hop, rap and gangsta stuff. It was very different from what I listen to right now, but at the time it was the reflection of my reality. When I moved to Israel, I got involved with underground bass music scene, drum ”˜n’ bass, jungle music, dubstep. I wanted to make drum ”˜n’ bass initially, but then I fell in love with house music and electronic dance music. When I met Levi and we both started making electro progressive house.

Levi:  I was born into classical music with some touches of blues and jazz, with some Moroccan, Israeli and Arabic vibes. When I grew up and I could choose my own music, I automatically went to revolutionary electronic music, which is – Pink Floyd, Depeche Mode, Jan Michael Jarre and all of the electronic music pioneers.

All of this combined — rap music influences from Suiss’s side with very melodic influences from my side — makes all the difference to our style. Electronic music didn’t happen to us, we chose it. We like it, we love it, we feel it, and that’s the reason why we create it.

How has living in Tel Aviv helped you guys mature as electronic musicians, since the city is known for being a nightlife hub?

Levi: When people look from the outside into the Israeli market, they have an impression that it is a big nightlife and music hub. Obviously everyone wants to play here, but when you live here, you understand that it is a very small market and we kind of took over the Tel Aviv scene very easily.  We don’t think it came from releasing the greatest songs or playing the best gigs, it simply came with a vibe, we are Tel Aviv, everybody knows us, everybody talks about us… This is what made it easy for us to build the best electronic dance music label in Israel.

Right now, we are focusing more on the international music scene. We already achieved all we aimed for in Israel and now it’s time for us to repeat the same in other countries. 2015 has been a defining year in our music careers ”“ we have signed a management contract with London based management company Lev Entertainment and have plans to start touring internationally in 2016.

Levi and Suiss have plans to start touring internationally in 2016. Photo by Mohan Kumar K.

What do you guys enjoy more, own compositions or remixes?

Levi: We definitely go for original productions. Remixes are fun but [we prefer] our own compositions. When you play your own track in the club, you take the volume down and you hear everyone singing with you ”“ [that feeling] is a hard on, it is the best you can have.

We also do remixes, but not a lot; we don’t just pick up hottest hits. If we do a remix, it’s because we think that song needs a remix.

Suiss: We have a lot of new ideas for tracks and have quite a few collaborations with internationally recognized DJs. This allows us to bring other sounds to our music production and create even more versatile tracks.

Do you guys think you have found your sound or are you still working on it?

We definitely have found our sound, but we continue to experiment with it in many different forms. It is a Levi & Suiss sound, and it is growing and developing just like us.

 

Which music venues are on your wish list?

Levi: We want to play everywhere, but the main goal is to have people come to the shows because they want to see and hear us perform, not any other reason.

Suiss: I would love to perform at all big festivals around the world, to give out my energy to all those people”¦[at] Amsterdam Dance Event, The Governors Ball Music Festival, TomorrowWorld, TomorrowLand, Ultra Music Festival, Way out West, What the Festival.

Are you guys planning a tour of India anytime soon?

Suiss: We would love to tour India and we are definitely planning to come out to India and play a few gigs and festivals in 2016.

Levi: India is growing rapidly in the EDM scene and hosting more and more international artists, so we definitely have it on our list.  India is also known to the electronic music scene, which is adapting Israel sounds, trance, Goa trance etc.

Is a full-length album in the making too?

Suiss: A full-length album is definitely on its way; it’s just a question of time. We have a lot of releases planned for 2016, some of them will be individual track releases others will go into the album. What is certain, that you will definitely hear a lot more from us.

As a duo, what’s the one thing you guys love and hate about each other?

Suiss: Shlomi thinks he is always right, and I don’t like it.

Levi: But you like it that I am always right [laughs].