Life of the Party: Interview with Redfoo

We sat down with party animal, Redfoo, just minutes before his performance at Club Sir Teen last Wednesday (July 8). We chatted about fashion, growing up around some serious Motown legends, and his creative process. Watch out for his new full length album Where the Sun Goes dropping this September.

You have your own fashion line, Party Rock Clothing, who would you say is the biggest influence on your aesthetic?
We started doing patches and stuff, every now and then I get super obsessed with clothes and style. Growing up people like Eddie Murphy and Rick James were a big influence, a lot of hip-hop stuff and rock n roll.

Were you tempted to buy that pink DeLorean during the production of the “New Thang” video?
It’s my friend’s. I have two friends that both have DeLoreans, and one wrapped his pink. I wouldn’t buy his, but they could get me one because they are very into collecting those cars. I just bought a 1976 CJ5 Jeep, with no doors or roof. That’s the car in the new video for “Where the Sun Goes.”

In the track “Juicy Wiggle,” (see above) it’s cool how it has a kind of 50s or early 60s boogie going on. How did you decide to use this motif?
I think that comes from my dad, he was really into that boogie style piano and early rhythm and blues. I was getting into it and playing in this style when I was making that song and I thought I wanted to make it all major chords and the 1,4,5 blues scale is all major chords and I thought that’s it! I have a couple other songs on the album with that same scale.
 

Who are some musicians that you enjoy from that 50s, 60s era?
You know Little Richard, The Contours' “Do You Love Me,” and Jerry Lee Lewis. There are a thousand songs from back in the day that have that sound. That whole genre is incredible.

Your father is Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records. Did you meet a lot of interesting people growing up, and who stood out to you as a special and unique artist?
Yeah, Smokey Robinson was a great guy and really funny. He taught me that you could be really famous, but then privately you could be cool, humble, and fun. Michael Jackson was the same way. Rockwell, who did the song “Somebody’s Watching Me” is my half brother. Also, Stevie Wonder sings on my new track “Where the Sun Goes.” I would see them at family gatherings, at Christmas and Thanksgiving, where they would perform. Also, Rick James was a friend of my mother, and she acted and directed all of his early music videos.

Finally, what’s your creative process like in the studio? Do you usually write alone, and then slowly incorporate other people into the track?
Lately I’ve been writing songs on the piano, which helps creating melodies but sometimes I’ll just remix something to kind of create a mashup and I'll say I want that same dynamic. Like I'll use an old rock song and mash it up with a new electro beat. Doing straight EDM isn’t exciting.

In terms of collaborators, I have some friends like Brandon Garcia, who has been with me for a long time. He is the main engineer and co-writer. I have another guy who’s a guitar player named David Boyles. He’s been on the road with LMFAO and Redfoo. We got a great dynamic and we’ve been coming up with some amazing, original stuff.

Photo: Uni