With a drive of performing live, the EDM group (We Are) Nexus just launched their first tour, spanning 7 cities launching from their home base in Chicago and wrapping up at the nation’s capitol on April 10th. Nexus Radio had a chance to sit down and talk with the group on the eve of their tour.

How did the two of you meet?
We met in Santa Barbara, California at a little wine bar right off of State Street! We knew we would be connected, one way or another! There was just something in the air. We were right!

Chicago is first city on your tour, what are you looking forward to the most?
We love Chicago! Playing here first and kicking off our tour in this beautiful city just makes sense to us, both logistically and emotionally. We have friends coming to our show in Chicago and it makes us feel like we are at home! It’s also tricky and risky to book shows in colder climates so we wanted to make sure Chicago was covered while we at home before we headed out!

Speaking about Chicago, are you both from here?
Nick was born and raised in the UK living most of his life in LA. Carmen was born and raised in Maine moving to Orange County, CA when she was just 8 years old! We both moved to Chicago in 2012 after meeting in a Santa Barbara.

What about “It Feels So Good” inspired you to cover it for your debut?
First and foremost, it’s an amazing song! We personally wanted a new generation of ravers to hear something that was big from the recent past. It’s probably one of the most memorable and melodic pieces we can remember hearing! We wanted to pass that melody forward in a way that fit into today’s “EDM” world. Nick also had an opportunity to meet and hang out with Sonique at WMC in 2007, it just made sense all around to choose that song!

For your song-writing which comes first – the track or the lyrics?
Great question! We’ve tried both approaches and I think we’ve recently decided that writing top line and lyrics first ultimately works best for us. It’s easier for us to build our tracks around the vocal, framing the most important aspect of the mix.

How do you choose the remixers for your songs?
It’s a combination of multiple things. First and foremost we want to work with great and relevant producers! We believe a great remix package must cover all of our multiple marketing goals. If we want to cover the blogs, we try to find a known remixer there. If we want to cover a certain aspect of radio, we try to find a remixer there, for example. Of course, we want our originals to be the primary focus, but we also realize that this remix community has a strong backbone and influence in the dance marketplace! We want to embrace that community as well.

Carmen – What did you learn from acting that has influenced your vocal / performance style?
Recording vocals in the studio requires a dramatic approach! Just singing a song straight can sound really boring. You literally have to act out the part when singing it! I feel like an actress sometimes when recording! Being on stage is just an amazing experience, period. Whether your acting, singling or simply just being on stage, there’s nothing like it for me! Put me on stage and I am a happy camper!

If you could cover or remix any Aerosmith song, what would it be?
Ha! Probably “Walk this Way”. So much swagger and everyone knows that song!

What was it like shooting your video for “They’ll Never Stop Me” on the streets of Chicago?
Really really cold lol. We wanted to do something ourselves without a bunch of fancy effects or crazy cinematography. Plus, video is one if those things that if you make it a big adventure it costs a fortune! We didn’t have that in our budget so it was really fun to come up with the simple “stop / go” inspirational message of the video. And representing Chicago was just simply awesome and completely necessary!

What can fans expect next from (We Are) Nexus?
Ooh, we have an awesome track scheduled for May/June titled “Numb”. We are actually introducing it on our tour. It’s kinda a drinking song, but only because the topic is about drinking to numb the pain of a breakup! The vocal has a bit of a country twang with backing acoustic guitar all set against a festival sound at a traditional dance tempo! Come hear us play it live!