Music is one of the most sacred forms of art that is subjective and open to interpretation.
Certain records are illustrative of a moment in time or shared experience throughout life that allude to a transcendental importance of conscious recollection.
EDM (Electronic Dance Music) is like a culmination of synthesized beat patterns infused with small samplings of today’s intrusive sounds that draw euphoric appeal to anyone under the oscillation of rhythmic cadences – further exposing the innate desire to cavort and sway appropriately.
The dyad of creative geniuses that share the Saurer surname, better known as Hippie Sabotage, have become a staple within the modern day EDM sound that continues to exhibit existential growth on a global scale.
“We speak through our music. We’ve learned that people can feed off our work and tell when you’re speaking your truth. There’s always a time and place for what you’re trying to say”.
Jeff and Kevin both have ample experience in the creative and production aspect behind the curation of music, tracing back to their days of adolescence in Sacramento, California. Hippie Sabotage’s origin is riddled with noteworthy encounters and nostalgic overtones that provide further context on what it truly means to put in your 10,000 hours worth of work to achieve musical prowess.
We had the opportunity to house a dialogue with the eclectic tandem prior to their set at Day N Vegas to talk about the current state of EDM, who exactly Hippie Sabotage is and future endeavors.
How did Hippie Sabotage originate?
Jeff – We started out skateboarding, we were really little skateboard-rap kids. All the skate videos had the dopest instrumentals, so we wanted to make our own music to put in our videos.
We just fell in love with making the beats and I ended up going to music school and this fool (points at Kevin) went to intern at a studio for the longest time.
Kevin – It was just something we were obsessed with at like a really young age – making beats and sampling, we became like really huge record collectors. We had a huge soul collection, jazz collection, we were just very interested in records.
All the skate videos, the beats in the background were like old alchemist beats or like a high-tech beat or any ill producer from that era.
With you being from Sacramento – how did that environment play a role in developing/influencing your sound?
Jeff – Sac’s (Sacramento, California) not a part of the Bay but everyone listens to Bay music here. A lot of the Bay artists actually come to Sac to record, because there are cheaper studios you can record at. He (Kevin) worked at a studio for like 4-5 years and E-40 and other Bay area cats would always come through.
Our first placement in stores was on Yukmouth’s album ‘Free at Last’. We had the title song ‘Free at Last’ and 2 other songs on there, and that was when we were like 17.
Kevin – And that charted Top 50 on Billboard. I was winning beat battles in Club Six in San Francisco when all these kids weren’t thinking about music man.
Jeff – Also losing (hahaha)
I read that initially you were Hip-Hop producers – what ignited the change to transition into a genre like EDM?
Kevin – It’s crazy because our whole approach to beats is what lead up to our break out song ‘Stay High’. Which was created with a sampling hip-hop production.
Jeff – We used to only sample old soul records. I was going to music school in San Diego and met this dude Mike Al who was part of the Low End Theory Crew and he really introduced us to the beat scene out there – that was like 2008 to 2012’ish. He just really opened up that door for producers to put out albums and for people to be willing to accept it.
We just said fuck it and started sampling pop music.
How do you feel about the current state of EDM?
Jeff – I like how everyone is open to everything. Dub-step kind of rules that world right now.
Kevin – I think there’s a lot of great acts who are trying to expand the genre space as much as possible. I feel like some of the hip-hop super producers of today should try and include themselves in the space that we’re in a bit more.
If you’ve produced 5 hit singles for Drake, you could make a pretty dope beat set of your own original music.
Do you think people shy away from “crossing-over” to that genre because they don’t want to test the waters or are they more so apprehensive in making an attempt because of perception?
Jeff – I think some people are shy and don’t trust themselves. When we first started, we had no idea what the fuck we were doing – people were like just go on stage and play the music.
I’m the producer, I never thought I would be on stage. Once we got past that mental block, we realized we could control the crowd just like anyone else.
Kevin – Like Metro Boomin, he’s been doing his own solo sets and I’d love to see more of that, following that Flying Lotus model.
With having 10+ years of experience in being involved with music – outside of the accolades, what has been one of the most rewarding aspects of the journey thus far?
Kevin – For me personally, seeing how proud our parents and family are of us. I think that’s been extremely rewarding. They just saw us perform live a few weeks back in Austin for the first time – it was a huge crowd and just a wonderful moment in general.
Jeff – I agree, our parents. Just being content with where we are in life right now.
Do you have a favorite city or location you enjoy playing at the most?
Kevin – It’s really been a pleasure to play almost everywhere honestly.
Jeff – The most hyped show in the states are Atlanta. Atlanta goes the craziest, I love playing there and the shows get bigger and bigger every time.
Kevin – If we were to record our Atlanta show this year, it would’ve blown peoples fucking mind, it was some other shit. There’s killing it and then there’s transcending into just…
Jeff – The screaming was so loud I couldn’t even hear the stage monitors.
I know you’ve been on the road and have seen some peculiar things along the way – If you had to narrow it down to one thing, what has been your craziest tour experience so far?
Jeff – This is a funny one about some kid who got fucked up at a show. We were opening up for a band in Denver, finished our set and walked outside. There was a kid and he goes “Yo, I got kicked out the show”. We go get something to eat and come back to the show and we see the kid in handcuffs getting arrested. We were like “bro, what happened?”. The cops tell us he tried to break back into the show after getting kicked out and broke into this old grandma’s house instead of the venue.
Kevin – Yeah, he was tripping on acid.
How have you been able to maintain authenticity with regard to your creative expression over the extent of your music career?
Jeff – Our strategy is to throw shit out on the internet and let it be. We once had a meeting with a real big record label and they told us a hit is a hit.
Kevin – That was the best and most accurate advice we’ve ever been giving by anybody. If a song is truly a hit, nothing will stop it. That song “Devil Eyes” got like 3M hits on Tik Tok alone this year, three years later after its release.
Jeff – It started blowing up in South America and over the last six months it just went crazy – number one of the electric charts a few weeks back.
We’re living in a digital age where social media and technological advancements have made everyone virtually accessible. All things considered, what has been one of the most challenging aspects of being immersed in such a digital-based music scene?
Kevin – Just navigating the ever-changing media environment of the last few years with so many platforms coming and going. It’s just a challenge to be patient with yourself.
Jeff – You just have to have tunnel vision with your ideas and don’t focus on what’s going on around you.
Music can be very therapeutic for some, sort of like a creative release in a sense – With that in mind, is there a specific song that challenged the depth of your vulnerability while being recorded?
Kevin – The last 15 songs we’ve put out are word-for-word what’s been going on with us. For better, for worse we put 100% of our emotional and artistic selves into our music. People relate to emotion regardless of what it is.
Jeff – We speak through our music. We’ve learned that people can feed off our work and tell when you’re speaking your truth. There’s always a time and place for what you’re trying to say.
