Marshmello
Appearances
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
But all my other music, I was like, I have to be in the studio with my keyboard and my mouse and my monitor, and it's all so fancy. You know what I mean? That's what I thought I needed. But for some reason, when I started this Marshmallow Project, I was just cranking out my own little version of Jersey Club. And Jersey Club, it's like all kicks the whole time. And that was fine.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
But I also wanted to experiment with putting a snare on that third kick. So it's like... So people would... I thought maybe it'd be a little bit more mainstream, you know, because sometimes just Jersey is a little confusing. And I really liked how it sounded. And so like once I kind of did that, I feel like for like two years, all my music was just doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah, I mean, because like
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
it can like make people jump and they have that like call and response of the kick snare that they're so used to and all other kinds of music you know so anyways yeah so i was just running with this like i said it's just like caught it just caught something in my body where i was just like i couldn't stop making this music it was so exciting i felt like there were no rules you know and so
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I just did that, sent it to my manager. I think I had like eight or nine songs done in like the first five days or something, four days, whatever. And he's like, you know, we should start a project, man. Like something new. And me living at home still, I'm like, yes, I'll do anything like, like whatever. So we sat there and came up with the marshmallow, you know, mellow melodies and
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And just musicians in general. Factual. It's insane. People just think it's just like music. It's just like, there's like, you know, it's not any deeper than that. It's just like, well, they make songs.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
It was kind of mellow, chill, you know what I mean? Like, even, like, my first kind of... My first single single was Keep It Mellow with Omar Lynx.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And that was, like, we shot a music video, my first music video. We, like, went to Borbor's house and shot it there and, like, invited all of our, like, DJ friends out and stuff. And it was a crazy time. But that's, like, a very mellow song, you know what I mean? And that just kind of all kind of fell into place. You know, I got a lot of remix opportunities, which were really huge for me.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Which, like, looking back, like... I was making them at my parents' house. I didn't know what was going on, what this project was, what everything, because I was just so tunnel vision on my music and I'm going to make this work. So yeah, just kind of all just kind of fell out, just snowballed.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah, it kind of, I always said it kind of felt like a culmination of everything I learned since that garage band day when I was nine.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
You know, the trap drums, the melodies and stuff, the chords and, you know, a lot of this stuff lends itself where I was coming from when I wrote a lot of, you know, the chord progressions or the melodies, very like pop punk oriented. You know what I mean? Like, New Found Glory and Sum 41 and Good Charlotte and, like, all that stuff. You know what I mean?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like, it's... Nursery Rhyme-y sounds, like, kind of, like, bad in connotations, but it's kind of like, you know what I mean? It's like a melody that goes up and a melody that concludes, you know? A lot of that music was like that, and that's the only stuff I grew up on. And...
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah, so when it came time to write melodies, what was in my blood, in my DNA, were these very catchy, like, pop-punk-esque, you know, melodies.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah. That was kind of instantaneous. Really? Which also, I think why, I wouldn't say I was like disconnected, but I was just cranking out music and I knew it was, I knew it was gaining attention. You know what I mean? Because like the SoundCloud days, you know, just all the metrics right there, you know, and you could just see everything and the shares and the comments and stuff. It's like,
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
It was so exciting for me, you know, because I had been trying for so long to make something work and things went really well here and here and here, but nothing really fully came to fruition until then. So I was just cranking out remixes, you know, for Selena, remixes for Ellie and Calvin, all these remixes. And like, I just like didn't know what was going on.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I was just like my face in my computer.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah. So it was just a really crazy time, honestly.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
What really pushed to the next level, I would say, you know, there's a few pinnacle things. I remember I put out the Calvin Harris, Ellie Goulding outside remix. And I listened back to it the other day. And I was like, this is kind of like swaggy. I was like, I'm like, this is pretty sick. I was like, what was I thinking? Not like, what was I thinking? Like, oh, what'd you do? But like.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I don't know where I was at. Why did I choose to pitch the vocals? Why did I choose to have claps running the whole drop? Don't twerk shit or something. There's no rules. I was just doing whatever. DJ Snake hit me up off that remix.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah. If we're talking remixes, strictly remixes, he was like, yo, you got the juice, dude. Good shit. That's incredible. You know what I mean? And then the real one was when Sonny reached out for me to do the Where Are You Now remix. Yeah, what did that feel like? That's the remix. That's the remix. You know, Skrillex, he hit my manager up, I think, and I had just originals out.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And he hit my manager up and was like, dude, I have to know who Marshmello is. And Mo, my manager, was like, I'm not going to tell you. And he's like, come on, man. I'm like, it's fine.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
whatever so like all that transpires and and we get in contact and you know we were really close and you know I released some songs on Ausla and but before that was the Where Are You Now remix because I remember I made that back in you know my parents basement and
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
that was the one well first of all i remember when i heard where are you now i was like this is where my head is with like marshmallow like the original song i was like damn i was like that's like what i've been chasing this sound this like this this vocal little chop that has like a really small reverb a really small room reverb on it and it's distorted and it has like
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
the deep house baseline, you know what I mean? It was everything that like I was going for. And I was like, oh man. And then they're like, yo, you want to remix? I'm like, yeah. So what I did was I put, you know, that, that like drum loop that we were talking about earlier, huge saw bass chopped up and made my own little melody of the lead and they loved it. And I was just so happy.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
That was the one that really was the one because it kind of like, it was like everything that was going on at the time, you know, like all came together. Right there. With that remix.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Remix wise, yeah. It was a crazy, crazy time.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
It was, I was like, so nervous. You know what I mean? My manager was like, call him back. I'm like, no, dude. I'm like, that's Skrillex. You know what I mean? I'm like, what? I just came like I just came I was just living with my parents in my childhood home, and I'm like calling These big DJs and all this stuff.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I'm like this isn't like this is I'm like just hold on like I just couldn't get a grip on what was going on Did you decide to call him? Yeah?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
that was that was that conversation i was like no dude i'm not just gonna call skrillex are you insane you know i mean because i understand like coming up in college and all that stuff learning how to do this who else was there who was at the top you know like so he's like call him i'm like all right fine he probably won't pick up like i'm like nobody and he picked up and it's katie couric and i'm like
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
what's up katie couric and she's like yo i'm here with sunny and sunny's like oh yeah this new kid marshmallow you know he's cool and i was in la and i was gonna see him he's like i'll see you later man like you get the interviews up still um but that was that was the thing i turned my manager i'm like dude i think i'm i think that like i think i might be on the news
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And he's like, who's Katie Couric? You know, I'm on the East Coast, so like, you know, I forget what the news thing was, but she was like a huge East Coast personality. She's a huge personality in general. I'm like, I think, I think they might put that on somewhere. He's like, no, no, no. I'm like, yeah, you're right. I'm probably just like freaking out.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I was just like generally freaked out in the beginning of my career. You know what I mean? Just everything I was like, this can't be right. What's happening? You know? And sure enough, I get a text. He says, fuck. Not fuck.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I forgot but he sent me a text like yo look and it was the interview That just went crazy like so okay the first time you call Skrillex ever was that no no no I oh Maybe that's why I was so nervous at the time. I don't remember yeah That's just it very well could have been it very well could have been that's incredible Yeah, because it was always through you know I mean like I
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
My manager was, like, the social one, you know, when I was coming up. Yeah. So I was, like, just, like, making, you know, like I said, making my music, just, you know, head in my laptop. And he's like, yo, this person, you know, wants to meet and all this stuff. So most likely, yeah, that was my first time.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah, it was insane. It's just crazy, man. I'm just, like, so grateful for everything. You know, as you get older with anything, you kind of, like, reflect. Yeah. I'm definitely, like, in my reflecting stage the last few years.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I could tell right away, I was like, this guy's going to be around for a while.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I think it was just kind of like, let's see where this goes. You know what I mean? We had a thing in the beginning. It's like mysterious, no voice. It's like, you know, I'm like kind of goofy. You know what I mean? So I was like kind of acting like funny.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah, you know, all that stuff. And at the time that was like, that's what it needed to be. You know what I mean? That's what I like doing. You know, because it all ties back, like, the antisocial aspect of being a producer. Like, fine with me. I don't have to talk. I don't have to think about, like, interviews and saying the right thing and all this pressure, you know?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
That's a good way to put it. I guess I am pretty recognizable, the face, the helmet.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
That's what I'm really, like, thankful for, you know? It's like, I kind of got to, you know, there was obviously plenty of pressure in other areas, but... some parts that artists deal with where they have pressure interviews, you know, talking on stage. I always talk on stage, but you know what I mean? Like being more social, more vocal, more of a personality.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I kind of got to like circumvent that for a while, especially at the peak of my career, which I think helped me a lot kind of maintain, you know, the person who I am and kind of, you know, keep what I like to think a level head, you know? obviously have my moments like everybody does, but it was, I'm really, I'm really grateful for that. It was odd though.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
You know, like looking back, I'm kind of like, Oh man, I was like really dancing like a crazy person doing all this stuff. But every phase of marshmallow and everything I've, I'm just so,
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
so especially especially just grateful for and every phase is so different so right now it's like you know 10 years in man like i did the whole charades thing you know i did this i did the writing on a thing oh it's so funny he doesn't talk But now I'm like, yo, I have so many things to tell, you know? Even on the production stuff, too, man.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I just put my first production video up the other day on the first track on my Roots EP. It's like a trap album, a trap EP.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I did that explain to everybody you know very just nonchalant you know maybe too nonchalant for some people they were kind of upset with me about not being like too detailed but it's my first one so you know I'm like learning how to do it all but you know there's all these things I've always wanted to do that that wasn't like the protocol back then you know no talking or this which is I was on board with two you know but now just feels right and I feel you know more in touch with the brand as a person.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Everything about like that we're talking about there's always there's like always a little disbelief still mixed into everything you know I mean because I just think it's so important and especially just you know catering to everybody of My fans yeah, you know I mean like even my sets like just everything the music I make like how diverse it is you know I mean and there's been a lot of songs I've passed up on like culturally because I didn't really know what to do with them You know I'll only do something if I'm like oh yeah, okay this like
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Feel this like through my soul. This is what I want to do. You know, I mean like one of my biggest cultural impacts song wise was Biba I did for India and Bollywood and all this stuff and
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
grew up in the suburbs like I don't inherently I didn't you know I don't know but they brought me this opportunity and I just learned so much and I went over there and met all these dudes and and went to parties out there yeah it's like with these people I'm like just these people in a different country it's just so crazy you know I'm like this is so awesome and it's still in disbelief you know I mean it's just like a constant a constant like murmur of disbelief and everything
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And like, yeah, it's just so cool.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
That was the first time, that was the first take when I picked up that drum. Really? That's why those reactions, everybody's like, oh my gosh. I was like, I grew up playing drums too, you know, drums, guitar. So my rhythm's like, you know, good. So I just like picked it up and they were like, oh my gosh. It was like two culture shocks. Yeah.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Been really in, like, my trap wave, you know? Marshmello's always been trap leaning, but, you know, with this kind of, like, resurgence, underground resurgence, I would say trap is, like, underground right now, you know what I mean? It's, like, back underground, you know, because it swaps, like, house, trap, you know, they just kind of do, like, a carousel. Like, Iso, you know what I mean?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
He's, like, definitely the king. And it just kind of like, you know, that door cracked a little bit and I'm obviously like familiar with trap music. So I'm like, all right, let's, let's try this again. You know, I've been doing that a lot of like speed garage, like speed house, like I call speed house, like anything above one 30. Gotcha.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Already did. Really? Or no. It might be really close. Oh, wow. I know it's either super close or it already did. I know it's like in the 900s. But what else? Silence with Khalid. Love that one. Be Kind with Halsey. That's sweet. It feels weird, like rambling off my head. I don't know. A bunch of others. A bunch of others.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I mean, it's not like true, you know, working with Hamdi and stuff. He put me on to like so many genres when we made our song fired up. But yeah, so I've been you know, I've been experimenting a lot with You know the melodies of marshmallow sounds of marshmallow under some like even like low even like speed lo-fi house You know, I've really been that's good.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah He's trying to get like creative, you know Yes, I love trap and and I got that EP out and I was like really happy with that, you know and the response was really good and the you know, I from all the trap kids, from the marshmallow fans, you know, everything. And those are my roots, you know, and that's why I named it the roots. Um, yeah. And I love it.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
So I'm going to work on a second roots project for sure.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I forget, but it's like kind of a lot of like the marshmallow template, but with like, you know, house drums that, you know, I put together and everything.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Which one? Which one out of the three I've ever done?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah. Yeah. It's like, you know, we've danced around in circles. Not like circles, like our social circles. We've danced around like we always run into each other, you know, and stuff like that. So it's never officially happened. But, you know, I was happy to do a little bootleg.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah DTMF so and like that's how I like that's house like that's where I would see like The marshmallow like kind of like just call it four on the floor side, you know Somewhere in that realm. No, I'm still working on it. I made a bunch of I've been making a bunch of remixes and stuff Was this always the helmet? Always. Just very, very significantly.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
The weights are very different from the first one to this one. What do you mean by that? So the first one had like, this was like perforated steel, like thick steel, like this thick. Oh, jeez. It's like Kevlar and like, not cement, but like something crazy inside. The helmet was 14 pounds.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
But I was a young kid. invincible with this new project playing all these shows living my dream out i didn't feel that 14 pound helmet's cons until years later and i said you know what i think we should maybe invest into something lighter You know, I really retired the weight, the heavy duty helmets with the lights. I used to have to wear like a CPU on the back, on my back.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I would have this like waist trainer thing, like that wrapped around my stomach and my waist. And the back was a CPU or GPU, a CPU with a little fan. And these, you can see in photos from my side, I always hated it. Like,
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
wearing long sleeves or whatever, I would turn to the side and you'd see this huge box on the back, like this huge wire, like this thick, running all the way back up and this heavy helmet. And the lights looked awesome though.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah. And, you know, that was something that was like definitely, you know, a point of like not conflict, but kind of like debate within, you know, like my, my camp was like, yo man, the lights are awesome. It's like, yeah, but like my back and my spine and my joints and stuff, man, like, I think I care more.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And, and it took a while for me to really totally like, okay, I'm going to stop doing the lights. You know, I've thought about bringing them out for here, there, you know, stuff like that, but I probably will in the future, but this is two pounds. Much better. Let me just start by saying, yeah, so 12 pounds lighter. Yeah.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
But the very, very, very, very, very first helmet that I wore on the Hard Day of the Dead clip commercial thing, the first time Marshmallow was ever seen. It was like a yoga mat that my manager found this dude on like Etsy or Craigslist or something. He's like, yo, this is like what we're thinking for a logo. Can you like make this? Wait, I think I have it. Yeah, I moved it. I might have it here.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
There is a picture on billboards.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
When you tell your family, guys, we figured out the name. It's gonna be Marshmallow. They're like, what? What? I'm like, you got to trust me. My manager's a genius, okay? I'm in good hands with him. I got the music, all this stuff down. I'm in good hands with myself. We're going to make it happen. They're like, oh, they're so supportive. Okay, sounds good. Can't wait.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
A little initial apprehension, yes. You know what I mean? But I saw it, and I'm like, let's rock. Let's go. I'm in.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
was first of all probably like a billion actually you know what i mean like it takes so long to to craft your sound and and see what works and learn you know what i mean because like a lot of music producers are born with the talent but it's a whole other muscle when it comes to production you know what i mean yeah and like i always joke with like my artist friends like that or maybe like the singers you know what i mean like they've always been singing they've always been on stage you know like
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah. I mean, you know, we license out to the labels, you know, the rights to it. But I've signed one album deal with Sony. Wow.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
being so technically yeah you know what i mean but no i've never been signed no like signed like to a term no i mean that's incredible it's crazy and it's like i gotta give props to my manager for that one i am not i'm i'm learning but i'm not the business yeah i mean yeah there's like there's the there's this the spectrum of the business guys and the creatives you know what i mean i mean some people might like see the success and how like
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
not know about everything in the past and might see how quickly it happened and like assume certain things a lot of assumptions yeah um what would you say to those people who have those assumptions well there's a bunch of different kinds so like off from your perspective what do you think is assumed about we're talking about like the rise what would you think is assumed about all of that maybe like i'm an industry plant
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
For sure. I mean, of course. But number one, I feel like industry plants, like you need a label behind you.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I can tell you right now. there's no money behind when we were first starting, like living, still living with our parents and stuff, man. Like, so it was just like, we obviously had connections. Like I had a few blog homies, you know what I mean? My manager was on, I was on by Gore working for Borgor, you know? So we had like our friends there. That's it.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I don't know what was going on in the universe that time, but for my marshmallow music uploading every day, My manager being who he is, how he thinks, how he sees people. He just knows, you know what I mean? He like, just like, like reads it like a battlefield or something. He just knows how to move like that with the sound that I guess people didn't know they wanted it.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I would assume just perfect storm. So it was like perfect, perfect storm situations.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah, it's definitely definitely, you know, like. I was just happy to be there, man. Like, I just like, I got the helmet on. I'm like, I'm happy with this. I'm just like happy to be here. Right.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
So I just like, didn't, you know, in the beginning I didn't want to make it about, I just like wanted everybody to be able to connect and not worry about, you know, if I had a face and all this stuff, then I'm a person. Then you relate to me. In a lot of good ways and a lot of bad ways, right? Like I wouldn't do that. I don't agree with what that person did.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
But with the mask and marshmallow and I got to always like be like happy and like go lucky and like, you know what I mean? Like jovial.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
So it was an amazing escape for me. And it just connected with so many people. Like, it's just a vibe, honestly. You know what I mean? It was just like the vibe of the project I think people were attracted to. And it's kind of like peculiar wearing a mask like this and like seeing somebody wearing this play like a big show. Like, I kind of want to see what's up with that.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Then you see the community and you see what people are saying, you know? And you're like, oh, I want to be a part of this. Like, that's like such, that was such an important thing that, I was so grateful for that. That's how it was in the beginning.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah. I'd like to think so, at least. You know what I mean? My piece of the pie. Just, I don't know, man. Like, I remember when I was kind of finding myself as a music artist, I remember I'd go on, like, Reddit or just go on, like, forums.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
and see what other producers said. Something that, I hope I don't misremember this, but I'm almost positive, it was R.L. Grime said something like, I just kind of started making stuff that sounded good to me without any... I'm going to make festival trap music. And so I boxed myself, and then I figured it out in that box for me. But I read something, I'm pretty sure it was R.O.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
we as producers like we had to like exile ourselves and like really nerd out like this isn't like this it's not a social it's not like a social job you know it doesn't put you in social situations and until you make it and even some of the biggest producers are like very reclusive you know what i mean so there's a lot of time spent learning and making songs and scrapping songs you know i mean i feel like every producer can attest to they probably made like a million songs but
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Grime, and he was like, I just started making music until it sounded cool to me. I didn't really know what it was. I didn't really have a plan. And so once I started doing that, I was like, well, I know how to... I know how to make trap drums. I know how to be very melodic. And at the time, Progressive House was so big.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And I was like, what if I did this weird mix of Jersey Club, like what Trippy Turtle was doing, and like trap. with progressive house melodies, you know what I mean? Cause I loved Alesso. I loved like just all those people from that era, you know, watching Ultra Cruella was like such a big, Cruella was such a big, such a big inspiration to me, man.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like just all those melodies and everything, just that whole era. I was like, Oh, what if I just blended it all? Like there's no box really. I'm just going to try to make it sound cool. I have nothing to lose, you know? And so whatever kind of music I spat out during that first year, I guess people were like, yep, this is cool. And I'm just thankful for that. Crazy.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I'd be interested to hear.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
All right. One of my favorite stories ever, for real. Sweet. I feel like every story about how a song is made is like, you can't pick, like, your favorite kid.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
They're all so special and so blindsided every time. It's like, every hit I've had, I'm like, came out of nowhere, no planning, just like, Silence, right? Yeah. I could really tell the long-winded story if you'd like. It's pretty cool.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Khalid had his first hit on that album, 18. Forget the first name of the song. The first song, Location.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Young Dumb and Broke was after Silence, right after Silence. Really? Yeah, or it was like around the same time. Okay. Yes, because I remember like both those singles took off and he was like doing Young Dumb and Broke and Silence and we were just like hitting the award show circus just like so exhausted. I'd always see him. I'm like, you doing all right, man? He's like, I'm so tired.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I was like, me too. I was like, I love you, dude. We just keep going our separate ways. So anyways, he put out Location.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And it was like a sound, it was like the heyday, the SoundCloud days. in the YouTube days. They just like worked in tandem with each other. You could comment, it was like almost like forums, you know, all this stuff. And it's just so, that's like right when Post came around too. He had Holyfield, the song Holyfield is like one of my favorite songs. Anyways, there's a certain vibe, right?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
It was till I got like my, let's just call silence. Or you could call it alone. My first hit, you know what I mean? Alone was relatively early in my production career. You know, I started producing even when I got like my first Mac when I was a kid in GarageBand. You know what I mean? That's when I realized I could put a loop.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
So there was like everybody online, Hype Machine Kids, all this stuff, knew about Khalid, but he was picking up on YouTube, stuff like that, but he wasn't this like household name. And I was kind of new and I saw this like young kid like blowing up. And so I just, you know, I thought I loved his song.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
So I was like, yo man, like number one, checking in and just like, how are you doing with everything? Like, cause I know it gets crazy, but it was so early. He's like, oh man, this is amazing. And I was like, yo, uh, I didn't even really hit him up to make music, dude. I don't know. There's something about him. I don't know what it was.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I was like, yo, do you want to come to Coachella and just like hang out? Like, I'll just like take you around. Cause I don't really know what I'm doing either. And he's texting me like, that's how early it was. Do I like, do I need security with me? Like, do you know, like, like, what do I do? Like, I don't really know how to play this. I was like, I don't know, man. Just like,
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I was playing Coachella that year. I had this big house. I was like, come stay with me. I'm like, just, there's like, it's like a huge house. Just like stay in one of the rooms. I'll make sure you're like off to the side. Like you don't have to, you know, cause I want to be like practicing and stuff like that. Cause that was the year I drum battled Travis Barker.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I only played Coachella once, but like I had like a drum set, all this stuff. I was like, it's gonna be really crazy. I know you, you're blowing up. You have your own life. Come stay with me and I'll just like make sure you're good. And so we do the whole Coachella thing and he's like texting me like,
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
this is so crazy man like i just met this person all this stuff like i'll be at the house whatever and he just like brought his friend they were just like stay in the room and and his managers i guess would just take them around coachella so we bonded like a lot right there and then he really blew up dude Like after that, like insane. Right. Location really caught fire as a household song. Radio.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Good vibe, you know, like everybody's rooting for like the young kid, you know, he's just amazing voice. You can't believe this. This album's 18. He like he made these songs was like 17. It's crazy. It's crazy. You're like this kid sounds like this. It was just so, just such a unique thing. And I was like, yo, man, I'm in the studio. Same studio I made alone. Small room, dude. Small room.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Something called, I forget the name, Lemon Tree Studios. Okay. It was in Ausla because they were an imprint of Atlantic. You know what I mean? It was like an Atlantic, like Blood Pop worked there. But he bought his own room at the very end of this very small building But he had like a huge room and legend blood pops definitely such a such a legend.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Um I'm like yo dude come through it comes with all of his homies and this small tiny room and everybody kind of like gets the hint like Oh, this is a little too small. So everybody leaves and it's just me and Khalid and
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I'm playing through loops I mean just chords with like different sound textures right so pad sometimes people like piano I was still I was still new to studio sessions like I remember my first few studio sessions the A&R pulled me out was like hey man this is usually how studio sessions go you have to like let people like I was like oh my gosh all right so I kind of got it down by then you know I I was doing studio sessions for like six seven months at that point
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Then I could put, like, a piano loop on a drum loop and, like, does something. You know what I mean? And I'm like, I really like the Beastie Boys. Like, I wanted to make, like, hip-hop beats back in the day. And so I was on GarageBand, like, doing all that. So if you count from there to Alone, it's a lot. A lot, a lot, a lot. A lot of time.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like, he didn't pull me out. We had, like, a break. And maybe I was being too overbearing or something. I forget what it was. Or too, like, I can't even remember, man. It was, like, ten years ago. But he didn't, like, pull me out. Like, can I talk to you? Just kind of like, oh, hey, man. Like, this is usually how studio sessions go. I'm like, okay.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
So I knew, like, just come prepared with some loops. Not, like, full EDM beats. You know what I mean? So I'm cycling through loops. There's this tiny little couch behind me. Literally, like, right where this table is. That's how small this room is.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And the walls are probably halfway where that couch is from the wall right so This tiny room okay, okay padded over great like awesome speaker stuff like that He's like laying down, and he texted me and he's like you know what man like I'm so so busy, but like You're my like you're my brother. I love you. I will I'm gonna cancel some shit. I'll be there He's like I'll come by like 100%.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
So I'm like, amazing. So I don't, you know, with like really, really, really famous, busy people, you know, their intentions are good, but sometimes maybe they'll miss the studio session, whatever. So I wasn't really expecting much, but he came through and he's laying sideways on the couch on his phone. I'm like, damn, like, he just showed up just, like, to be nice.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like, maybe he doesn't want to make me, I didn't know what was going on. So I'm like, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to play some whack-ass, horrible loop I know he doesn't want anything to do with. So I play it. And he's like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Go back to that other one. Because he's, like, laying on his phone. I'm like, he's, like, scrolling, you know? I'm like, what?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I'm like, okay. I didn't even know you. He's like, yeah, go back to that one. What are you doing? I'm like, my bad. And then, No joke. Plays for about five minutes. That whole time he was writing the full song on his phone. Didn't change lyrics once. Sits up, sits up like this, lays up. I thought he was on like, you know, Instagram or something.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
He sits up, comes like vertical, kind of scoots to the edge of the, just us two, by the way. Scoots to the edge of the couch, closes his eyes, sings the whole song. No way. Completely. We did the second verse later. Sings first verse, whole hook, didn't change a word. Didn't change a word, dude. Closed his eyes, sang from the heart.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
If you look at the credits, producer Marshmello, writer Khalid Robinson. That's incredible. And then I was so inspired because I had a full beat to it.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah, but I didn't I just knew that like I knew how the verse would sound with that like won't be like random serum patch or whatever is like I found peace and I was like, dude, that hook is gonna go so good over this thing that I wrote because I was just playing eight bar loops for him, you know, wasn't playing like full things. I just trust people to be so good.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
A lot of time spent, like, in my bedroom, in my parents' basement.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
How could you not be inspired by somebody doing that? Like, dude, what? And so I go back home, load his vocals up, produce Silence Out full in two and a half hours. Do you understand how hard it was for me to keep it that simple, but know that that's what was called for? You know what I mean?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Cause that's what sounded good to me. I'm like, this is too simple, but it sounds good.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I'm like, like I said, like I always felt like I had nothing to lose, you know? Cause I was, I was just so happy to just like even be playing just a bunch of shows.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I can't even remember. Like one bass layer, one sub. It sounds good. It's catchy. Such a bad sub. It's just so funny. It's just crazy.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
So it was actually interesting because... I got thrown into being Marshmallow. Like, I'm on outside, all this stuff, right? And I'm like, okay, well, a lot of my peers are on the radio. You know what I mean? I'm like, I immediately have to go for radio. That's what I thought. So I was like slaving, like just in my studio, just like trying to say, okay, what are these guys doing?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
GarageBand, I was probably... 10 9 10 really messing around and then to alone i was what probably 11 no no 13 years wow that's incredible bar mitzvah age in fact bar mitzvah yeah but yeah yeah it took a while a lot of youtube tutorials
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
What are these guys doing? And nothing was coming because all of a sudden I put myself in that box and I was like telling myself I wouldn't. I didn't feel like free. After a while, after talking to a lot of my peers that were really big, they're like, don't chase that. You want that to come as late as possible as long as you have steam. You don't want to jump right to the radio.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
It's really hard to follow up with. Chainsmokers did an insane job. Follow up after follow up. Crazy. I felt pressed personally. I felt pressed to be up there with all these guys on the radio. But After a while, I was just like, you know, man, this isn't working. After a few kind of like, not like depressing months, but a lot of frustrating months, I couldn't get anything. You know what I mean?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Because I didn't know how to maneuver. As soon as I let go, again, as soon as I let go of the reins, the box, silence happens. And it just organically goes to the radio. You know what I mean?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And yeah, and that's how that went, man. That was just crazy. And then we just tour. We did so much promo. I remember like there are these photos. He'll die at this story. There are these photos. It's so funny. There's like us in a tree house, like poking our heads out of the windows, like like Three's Company or something like. And we're like, yeah, those are good photos. We're going to do this.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
We were in Florida where he's from. in the middle of like the jungle, like shooting content and we're so hot and like, it's just such a funny day. And we were like in the back of this SUV. I don't even think like the AC works or something. We're like recording these liners and he's new and I'm new. And it was just such a, it's like those, those moments.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like, the age of promo is kind of, like, changing.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I'm so alone. I specifically wrote that song because when I moved across the United States, I left everything I knew. Was this always the helmet? The helmet was 14 pounds. Oh my gosh. I was just living with my parents. In my childhood home.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like, post, like, the TikTok and just, like, whatever. You know what I mean? Hopefully something catches on. Yeah, and then maybe you'll do promo. But, like, back in the day, promo was your best foot forward. You didn't have a gauge like TikTok. You didn't have these. Maybe you had some, like, social media stuff, SoundCloud metrics, stuff like that. But back in the day, you have a single.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
You're doubling down. You're 10 toes down on that single. You're going to run promo. So a lot of the closest relationships I have with artists were from that pre-TikTok, whatever it was. I don't want to just say, oh, just TikTok, blah, blah, blah. But whatever it was before that, those are all my closest artist friends.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And Khalid, we ran that back for Numb.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Round two's been doing really well. Kane Brown, I did One Thing Right and Miles on it. You know? The round twos have been going really well, so I think I might continue. And Jonas Brothers, I just put out Slow Motion. Yeah. And Slow Motion, I really like because it's kind of like an ode to Friends, like the production style on Friends.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
It's like same tempo and like hip hop and there's like scratches and stuff like that. That song's great too. Thank you. I was like really stoked about that.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
All right. Funny enough, talking about promo, talking about silence, I was doing promo for silence in the UK. Traveling around with my day-to-day at the time. Bussing around to like all these like, okay, we got this MTV thing, we got this, we got this, we got this, you know, the age of promo. Like that. And... I'm just so tired, man.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like I like, I had to like jump at the time zones, you know what I mean? And it's just crazy. You know, when you talk about like, oh yeah, I'll just like flip times, you know, a lot of artists will just like flip time zones for two days, have to just suck it up, figure out your sleep and then go right back to the U S or wherever they came from. I was feeling like that feeling very like
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
It's very lethargic, tired. And they're like, yo, after all your stuff, there's a session with Anne-Marie. And I've told her this too, so I can say this. No feelings will get hurt. I'm like, I knew Anne-Marie. She was awesome. I was just so tired. And, you know, you have like weak moments, you know what I mean? Sometimes where...
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
maybe you're like that night i was like no i don't want to do a session i'm too tired but i'm thinking like what am i doing like my whole mentality of this marshmallow thing was like do the stuff that you know like your peers or other people wouldn't do like they they're like sane enough not to you know not not that going to the studio at 9 p.m in london it was crazy after a day of promo it came from the same spot like dude push yourself man you have to like why are you here
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
you know um and so i'm like you know that's fine cool so pull up i have this like guitar loop uh back when like splice was new i mean it's like prime a lot of producers know prime loops was like some of the og loops uh you don't like looper uh what is it uh loop masters you know what i mean stuff like that um whatever got this little guitar thing um Meet Anne Marie and Nat Dunn.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Nat Dunn's an absolute legend as well. I'm not sure if they're still writing partners, but they were writing partners back then, from what I understood. And I have this loop. It was funny. I wasn't really, like, tempo-oriented back then. Now I have to be mindful of tempo. You know what I mean?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like, if it's 90, it's going to be some sort of, you know, trappy, twerk-esque, you know what I mean, drums. You know, happier, I would even call, like, twerk drums. You know what I mean? Because if you just strip all that out, it's just like...
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
it's almost like breakbeat or something it's like with like claps and all the stuff so but whatever it was like 95 with this loop and play it for her boom right then and there she's like talking about oh you know let's write a song about the guys people that can't take a hint you know like we're just friends like and me i'm the i'm like at this point i'm like totally removed from writing lyrics i'm like
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
yo, I'm just here for the music, you do your thing, you know? And artist writing is the best. I love writing with artists. Like, it's so different. Me and my, like, all my writing homies, or actually, like, my real homies, we always, like, joke, like, okay, guys, are we going to do a songwriting song or are we going to do an artist writing song? Because artists think differently.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
They can get away with more, you know what I mean? Like, songwriters are like, well, we already said back, so we have to do it, but we can't write. I'm like, guys... Go listen to, like, Yellow Lead Better by Pearl Jam. There might be a few words. It's just mumbles, and they're, like, top of the charts. It's, like, this insane thing. Anyways, so Anne-Marie's writing artist style.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
You know what I mean? She just has her homie writing.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
crazy concept all this stuff and so we write that and i'm so tired i don't really understand what i have until the next morning and i'm on my laptop and we're running around all the promo and i'm making this song i'm so inspired like i'm making this song because at the time i i don't think i ever did like a 95 bpm marshmallow song you know what i mean maybe one um
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Anyways, so I'm just, like, making this thing in the back of this van. Like, me and my day-to-day just traveling around London. And life then was, like, if somebody, like, took your head and just, like, shook it constantly, like, that's how, like, life felt back then. You can't really get a grip. You know where you are. You can kind of see, but you can't really, like, you know what I mean?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
You can't really, like, just stop for a second and be like, oh, okay, this is what my life is going on. Just going, going, going, going. I didn't realize what I had until I got back to my apartment in North Hollywood. And I sit there and I hear friends with the drums that I put on and my laptop speakers, all this stuff. I'm like, okay, all right, something's here.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Spent that day and then it came down to the bridge. And this is like the perfect example of like how I was feeling about making music at the time.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I think it's like three, I think it's like three semitones. I forgot what I would, I had like a template, you know, back then. Like if I was going to sing, it'd be, I'd pitch the whole song down by three or four and then pitch it back up, sing it, pitch it back up.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
You know, there's trap elements in Friends, but I got to the bridge, and I was like, wouldn't it be, like, funny if I did, like, this, like, West Coast, like, thing with the bow-wow and the on, like, the pitch bend on the, you know, like, little triangle or square, whatever wave that is. Um. And I did it because there's no rules. Like for me, I was like, I can do whatever I want.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And so I have this whole song with an acoustic guitar and trap drums and like horns in the chorus.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
It's like, what's happening in this song? It's ridiculous. Uh, and then I was like, you know what, just double down West coast for no reason, West coast bridge. And everybody was like, my team was like, yes, we don't know why, but yes, that's why. And, uh, we did that. I did that. Maybe finish it that day.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I think that one, I chipped out a little bit longer, but no more than like a week or whatever. Um, Yeah. And so then I was like, yo, Anne-Marie, like, we're going to become friends. No pun intended. I was like, I know how promo goes. We're going to be doing this a lot. And we, you know, went and did promo around the world and got super close.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
All right. All right. Happier is also just very just. Just like the universe, just like dropping things like in your lap. You know what I mean? I went, I decided to take a break, right? A break for me back then, a long break for me back then was like five days. And so I go to like Hawaii with my friends, whatever. We're all chilling there.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
and, you know, we're partying a lot, and I come back into the room, take a breather, maybe take a shower, I forget what it was. I open my laptop, and there's a demo in my email from my manager. And my manager, you know, I never had a label, no A&R or anything.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah, so I had just moved out here from my hometown. And I don't know, man. I was just, like, really, really, really could not. It was, like, a fuse. It was, like, undeniable. I couldn't stop making marshmallow music. You know what I mean? Like, I was just running with everything. I felt like I had this new, like, sandbox, like, play box, like.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
So my manager, not every time, but he'll send a lot of stuff through, and then it'll click for him, and then it has to click for me, and then that's, you know what I mean? So I get to set this thing. He's like, hey, this sounds pretty cool. And it was happier, but nothing even remotely close to what you hear now.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah. Steve Mack produced it.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Wow. Steve. I'll see you soon. Yeah. Insane. So he sent this over. He's like, this is a very important song to me. You know, and Dan was singing it and I was like, oh my gosh, like best deal. Insane. You know? And I, a lot of the times, like, it's kind of like, it's almost like, remember that show That's So Raven?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And she kind of stares off and she's like, and she's like, comes back. That's like a dramatic thing, but With a lot of these songs, when I get demos, it's like, I just kind of stare off. And I'm like... That, I was like, I know exactly what I'm gonna do. I'm just gonna do it when I get home. So I closed my laptop, went back home. It's like, this is insane.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I was like, the structure's wrong in the demo, but for me, like in my head, it's wrong. But I'm gonna, you know, I'll figure it out when I get home. I'm supposed to be relaxing and having fun, right? So closed my laptop. Don't open it until I get back to this house. And I'm moving in here. There's nothing in my house, but except for my little studio. It's like echoey. It's like just the worst.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
for making music, you know, Echo, you know, something like that. Tiny little room downstairs, and I sit there, I strip every single thing off of, I don't think I use one element, just vocals, which is what I do for like a lot of demos, and we could talk about some other songs,
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Stripped it completely just had these this vocal from Dan, which is like you get to listen to it acapella You're like, this is an amazing song like his voice is just so good. You don't need so good I'm like so much of the heavy weight pull like being pulled from Dan's voice because he's a monster and I sit there and you know, I'm going through just samples and stuff and
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
A lot of times I'll listen to samples, but the first two chords of a sample will be like, oh, I like those, oh, but those last two ones, they aren't right. Or, oh, that middle chord's wrong. Then I'll just redo it, you know what I mean? You can plug samples into MIDI analyzers. Back in the day, it wasn't that good. So I kind of had to learn.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
This was during the moment with my piano, like we talked about. I wasn't really too savvy with chords, like I am now. And so I was like, you know, really like drawing them out, you know, drawing these chords out. I'm changing a lot of the chords in this original sample, forgive what it was. Anyways, came up with this chord progression I really liked.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
The first thing, the first sound I ever made was this, that weird like slow attack, all the way wet reverb piano in the beginning of Happier. There's like this weird like... You know, and I was like, holy shit. I was like, that's it. Like such a relief. I'm like, I didn't have anything else. Just those chords. It's like just that alone. Like, I feel like I can't lose.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I was like, I feel like I can't lose this. Happier took like six months, dude.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Five months, which goes against everything that I did before being like, you know, a hit comes by real quick and you know it and you finish it and it's done. But happier, I wanted to get a little bit more intensive. You know, there's like strings in there and a lot of stuff. So I remember just sitting around chipping away at it.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
with all these different things that I learned over the years of how to produce, you know? And I had always... I've always been, like, kind of, like, singing, you know? But I was really in, like, metal bands and stuff, you know? But I knew that I would love to, you know, incorporate some sort of singing into this Marshmello project, which at the time was, like, a year old, if that.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And the funniest thing, the most ironic thing, how simple is that happier melody? It's like right up there with silence. It's like, what is this melody? That took me so long to realize, oh, it's that simple. It's like a riddle, dude. It's like solving a riddle. You're like, oh, duh. This whole time I was like, you know what I mean? With like riddles, it's like Tuesday doesn't mean Tuesday the day.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
It was actually this. And you're like, of course.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
You know, I mean now you stuff like that. That's how it felt for happier with that melody Everything else I knew the drums, you know, I mean I wish The laptop of dawn is getting fixed right now, but it's like so many iterations as I happier v1 through fucking 25, you know, I mean and I finally got it and you know, it's so funny about the bridge and
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
those guitars are like just simple like vengeance or what it was i put that in just to send to my team as a placeholder like i'm gonna figure out what to do on the bridge i didn't tell him that i was just like yo here's what i have they're cool done song's done that's it and i was like The bridge is cool too. Yeah, it's awesome. Like those guitars.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And I've always liked guitars like we talked about. And I'm like, okay, well, okay. I was like, okay, I guess that's the song then. I'm just not going to touch it. If everybody says it's good, I think it's good. I'm just not going to touch it. And that was also a big thing about producing. There's honestly a lot of mess-ups.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
you know, stuff like that in my songs that I just leave in because I'm like, whatever, sounds cool, sounds fine. Like it adds a little like character.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah, and human, I guess, right? But that was like one of those things where it's like, I could have really gone in on that bridge and like, Who knows what it would have came out? Cause I was like really into bridges back then. You know what I mean? How much can I flip the song on the bridge with like the West Coast thing with Amory or something like that?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Um, it's like, I'll just throw these guitars in and just send it out and then I'll fix it later. They were like, no, this is perfect. I was like, all right, screw it. It's perfect. You know what I mean? So just left that there, man. And then if I thought my life was a blur before that,
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
that happy run just during that whole thing i can't believe they let me wear such skinny pants that's criminal criminally skinny pants i should have been stripped of my career right then and there dude what was i thinking nostalgia right there I look like, I don't even know, dude. I look like the 35-year-old that still hangs out at the skate park, dude. Nothing wrong.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
With my big high tops and like so skin tight. But they weren't even like flex denim, dude. These are like real denim. Like, I don't know. That was a crazy move.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I would say... silence wolves with Selena and and What's it called? silence wolves and happier That was like who is this guy? Okay, and they're like okay one song. That's fine then friend the wet wolves came before friends. I think I'm forgetting Pretty sure wolves when it came before I forget anyways um Okay, he did it with wolf All right, too. That's fine.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Give it to like the helmet guy then three Then happier that he has the juice. You know what's so funny about that? All those songs are solo produced except for my boy Andrew Watt on Wolf. Shout out Mr. Andrew Watt, dude. Legend. Me and that guy, man, we hung out so much back then. He had this house in Beverly Hills and he was renting it. And I'm like, you're renting this?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
You know what I mean? Maybe if that. Maybe less than a year old when I made Alone. And I was like... you know, I'm going to try singing, but I don't want to be like, which is, which is no shade to anybody, but like, I didn't want to be like the DJ that came and, you know, was a DJ. And now all of a sudden I want to be a singer. You know what I mean? Like I just really wanted a DJ.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
What is this studio down here, dude? He's like building into the house. Like building a studio. I'm like, dude, but you're renting, aren't you? He's like, who cares? It's like, we're making, we're making magic down here, man. Like, who cares? It's like mattresses on the floor. It's like chairs, like a drum set, all this stuff. Me and Andrew just like cranking out.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like I remember we like sampled a vacuum. We were working upstairs in the, he'll remember this too. We were working upstairs in his living room. There's somebody cleaning the house working on like I think it was like an iconic pop song and That shit the the person throws on the vacuum and
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
and it hits the hits the note of the song we both we didn't know it was coming we're just working we both look at each other we're like oh my god it's like wait turn it back on so we like voice memo and like throw it in the song i think we use it as like a riser or something which song was that it didn't come out got it i've been crazy yeah me and andrew have some crazy songs man is that the time when you were working with andrew's that how wolves came about
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah. Andrew reached out to me and was like, Andrew's a really smart guy. I'm sure. Yeah. As you know, very, very, very, very, very smart. And he just knows, he knows music, he knows the industry. He just knows everybody. And he's like, okay, I guess he was sold on the marshmallow thing. So he's like, Hey man, got this song, um, wolves and would love for you to do your thing on it.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And I remember feeling a little bit nervous. Cause like, I'm like, this is like the big dogs. Yeah. Like what's going to like, what if I can't get it? You know what I mean? Sure enough. Throw in, I knew like four on the floor wasn't me back then. You know what I mean? So it was 128 halftime. So I was a little apprehensive about that, you know?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
But I was like, just stick to my code, stick to my protocol. And I was like, we'll just halftime it out and we'll just make it work. And me and Andrews worked in tandem and just made that song happen. That was a really big moment for me too because I did the award shows that year. And I'll tell a story. This is how disconnected, not disconnected, but this is how just like what is happening.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I went to rehearsals and like I should be thinking like, yo, I'm Marshmello, man. People know, you know, people know who I am. But I went to rehearsals with Selena and like I wasn't wearing the mask. So I was just a guy. It's like sat down for our song and I was also like shy man. You know, I mean like it was like Goes back to the producing antisocial thing. Like I'm shy. I'm with Selena Gomez.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah, I was gonna go talk to her if that's insane I just like sit at the little V drum electric drum set that I'm playing for the thing. I might have said hi, maybe It's like played. It's like oh, this is good. Is this good? Is this good? I
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
So I didn't want to like put my real voice on it. So I just decided to pitch it up. And it was also kind of like with that little, like cutesy bubbly, like marshmallow sound that I was doing back then, it just really made sense that I'd pitch, you know, pitch the song up. So whatever. So I moved from, you know, East coast and, um,
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
this dark like red room like rehearsing um and i just and i just like left i was just like so just like i just like couldn't come to come to terms come to grasp what was going on you know i mean and then we went and did that and me and andrew watt were like in the corner of the stage it was like vibing out on my like electronic drum set because that's why i chose that i wanted to play for the song and then andrew's on his guitar and stuff you know i mean anyways yeah so crazy crazy times
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
First thing everybody says, I just met John Mayer the other day. He said hi. But the second thing, like, what's up, John? He's like, what's up? So you can walk around and just, like,
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
you can just walk around like that's it you can just walk around like imagine just like not being able to just like walk around like you have to like plan it out you know what I mean like post we've been friends since that the Khalid Coachella story you know what I mean yeah that Holyfield and White Iverson you know what I mean so him he's like man I'm so jealous dude like I remember he said something like you can just like take it off put it on carry on with your day um
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah, I was literally just talking to somebody about that. Who was I with? I forget. Somebody for Grammys. I was like, yeah, I think that may be why I'm kind of like not, I don't know, not that I'm not crazy, not that artists are crazy, you know, but I've never had that, that like societal pressure walking around here. Kind of vibe out.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I have so many things to tell, you know? And then he'd freestyle. He'd be like, yo, put on an Eminem beat. In between, freestyling his own songs. That's crazy. My whole mentality of this Marshmello thing was like, do the stuff that you know, like your peers or other people wouldn't do.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
driving this new kid juice world's out he has this album like like yeah just like this kind of like new wave like i'm super drawn to it because it's like super pop punk coded you know i mean like emo days like there's like a video of juice like singing every single word to like escape the fate yeah i mean like he's really he's really like that and like i was like yo this is amazing like for me as an artist where i was like
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
just sitting in a studio down on 7th Street in downtown LA, and I was like, you know, like, I was just having a conversation with an artist actually on the way here about this, about lyrics, and how about, I'm the guy that's, like, not a lyric guy, like, in writing sessions. You know what I mean?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
The melodies and stuff. You know what I mean? It was like that. I'm like, man, this is insane. I just couldn't stop listening to it. Non-stop, man. Non-stop. All the way to Coachella. All the way back. All partying the whole time to Juice WRLD. Who is this? Oh, it's Juice WRLD. I get a text downstairs. And, you know, Juice lives in a different world. You know what I mean?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like times that he was awake, stuff like that, right? So I'm sitting downstairs. It's like 1 a.m. I'm about to go to bed. They're like, yo, Juice sort of wants to go in the studio tonight. I'm like, what? It's one. They're like, Mo's like, my manager sucks. And I'm like, you're right. It goes back to like, I'm just going to push myself. You know what I mean?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like normally people be like, no, I'm not going. You know what I mean? It's too late. But I'm like, this is the, these are these moments. Marshmallow. When you go, you do this. I think there's like a party or something too. I wanted to go do it. And I was like, no, we're going to go here. I sit there with Juice. And I'll just tell you a story about when we first worked.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And go into this living room. Just like this shirtless dude. He's like, what's up, man? I'm like, what's up, dude? Meet all his friends. I was friends with his engineer, Max Lord. Max Lord was there.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
and so i felt really comfortable you know because i because you know at the time i was pretty shy still you know so i go into this room with like all these people who i don't know you know i'm like a little i'm not just gonna go say hi to everybody like i do say hi but you know it's a little but i know max lord so i like flocked to max lord hey max lord i got all these beats stuff like that load up the beats one thing with like me and juice like
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
We were cut from the same cloth as far as musical interests, right? From the pop-punk wave. And we both knew that. So any beat I would drop to him, he would rap on. Because it was infused, you know what I mean? The melodies I was writing was very infused. I think we cut three, four songs that day. First song, Soda Pop. I just played it on Kai Sinat's stream. Got Roddy Ricch on it. That's fire.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I really want that song to come out. They said it would. We'll see. He's just sitting there. So strange, though. He's sitting on a bar stool. It's not like a comfy thing. It's like sitting on a bar stool with a mic. Just, like, hovering, like, on the ground, just, like, chilling with the shirt off, watching TV. And he's like, alright, load it up.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I swear, he's just rapping and watching TV, and it's, like, the best shit you've ever heard in your life. And then we were watching Scream. You pull up the song. He's like, red bottoms bleed like a murder scene, like the murder scene, like the movie Scream. And he turned to me before he dropped the line. He's like, yo, watch this. Like a murder scene, like the movie Scream, like the movie Scream.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I'm always, like, sitting next to the writers, like, it's all right, like, let's just use the simple words. It's like, let's not, like, freak out about, you know, is this word right? Are these big words? You know what I mean? So I've always, like, melody is king, you know? Um, so that day I was like, I'm so alone. I was like, is that too simple? I'm like, yeah, but it sounds good.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And I was like, this kid's a Martian. He's an alien. But he's not writing anything down, dude. He's like, think about anything you can do subconsciously. That's what he's doing. He's like with rapping. Insane. Like he's just like, he's like sitting like with the mic here. Just like watching the movie and like, all right, let's go. And then, all right, let's go.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like watching, going down, watching, going down. You know what I mean? And I remember we were chilling. He's like, I'm gonna go ride my dirt bike. It's like, all right. Go outside. Homeboy's just like doing wheelies. It's like back and forth, back and forth. He's like, then he sits down on a stoop You know, this is late.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I'm not used to you know, I mean, I'm like this is so crazy it's like really my first touch with like hip-hop at the time and I did some stuff like Migos stuff before but this is like I was really there with this dude, you know, I mean he's like, all right, let's go let's go and Yeah, we just proceeded to cut I might have rolled up with six beats, and we did three or four.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
That was just the first time.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And he'd, like, rap about, like, he'd rap about Scream. It's like, I'm like, what? I, like, just, like, forgot about everything else in the world right there. When you're with somebody like Juice WRLD, you have to understand, like, some of these, like, super, super, super famous people, and Juice WRLD isn't even just super talented. Aura, you know what I mean?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
when you're with some of these people, it's just like, it's like, you know, like in a video game where like behind you isn't actually rendered, but like when you turn around, the game renders it for you. When you're with these type of people, that's like beyond the walls, like aren't even like, it's like, you're just there in this room with this like alien. You know what I mean?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like that's what it was like with Juice. And like, that's why I was so, I was drawn to him because of his talent, his personality. And he was just like, like a nice like kid, man. Just so nice. He's just like, He just always meant well. Every single time I was with him, dude. The last time we were together, we did, I forget. There was a lot of sessions.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Everybody talks about his movie theater studio in Encino. A lot of stuff. A lot of songs happened in that room. We did Hate the Other Side with Polo. Me, Polo Juice that day. And, you know, we're just like all hanging out and I remember... I'm getting them confused. We had one day when it was only me and Polo, and this might have been the same day. Maybe Polo left.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
It was the same room, same time of night. It's just me and him. And he's like, you know, man, like... Just talking about his life and stuff, you know? And, like, I don't want to go too far. I'm not going to speak on, like, him or anything. But we were talking about, like... You know, he's like, I started smoking weed again. I'm just going to do that. He's like, that's all I want to do.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I'm like, bro, you just should, man. He's like, I don't know. This, that, this, that. Just kept talking. He's like, I love my music. He's like, I don't know. It was just a crazy one-on-one. And I think that might have been the last time I saw him.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
You know what I mean? Trying to find my way back home to you. It's like, it's very simple, concise. You know what the song is about. And it just sounded good. I, I didn't think anything of it, you know, cause at the time, like I was like buzzing on like blogs and stuff, but I was not, you know what I am now, obviously, you know, cause I was like 10 years ago.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah. Horrible. Yeah, it was horrible. I found out of his passing, actually, in this room. That was sad. That was really bad. Same with, yeah, crazy. But the music we made, let's go on a happier note. I would drop him beats because it was so late. I'm like, geez, I'm going to fall asleep here, man.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I remember he did a We Don't Get Along, which is like a pretty sought-after demo online from his fans. There was like Mellow Made It Right playlists on Twitter. It was weird to get in contact with Juice. Because him and Maxwell shared a number. So I would text two people on one number. So I go on live, I'm like, oh, Juice is on live.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And he's like, did the whole song to that beat and didn't even tell me. This viral live clip of him singing this song, We Don't Get Along. Like this thing I recorded on a guitar over there. Just like, I don't know, he's just like, any beat, just kill it. Kill it, kill it, kill it, kill it, kill it, nonstop. And then he'd freestyle. He'd be like, yo, put on an Eminem beat.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
In between freestyling his own songs. That's crazy. I'm like, what? I come in and he's like bodying this Eminem beat, dude. And then he's like, all right, load up the song. Full song.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And he's like, yo, put on the DMX beat. Like, I'm like, man, I don't know. I'm like, dude, one of those guys are just like, yo, I have no idea what you have going on, dude, but just keep doing it. Like, I don't know how you're like this. It's just nonstop, man. Big guy, it was nonstop.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah. It's on the beginning of a song called No Jumper that's not out. I had him do a bunch of tags that night.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Okay, so I'll tell the story. I do. So let's talk about Come and Go. Yes. All right, that's perfect. So we obviously made a million songs together. I mean, a million being like ten, in the double digits, right? Ten or something. So I had a really good relationship with Max Lord and obviously Juice and this whole team. Come and Go, I'll tell like the intentions of Come and Go.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Come and Go was going to be the first song on our project. And we were going to shoot the music video to Come and Go the Friday after he passed away on Sunday night. The Friday at the end of the week, I went to a party. It's like MGK, Bozzy, all these guys were here. I landed from, this is crazy.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
So I just made it cause I thought it sounded good, you know? And Yeah, let's just put it together and probably... A few hours, you know, just banged it out. And I was like, this is kind of cool. And then sent it to my manager. He was like, yeah, it's cool. And I was like, it's cool. And it sat on SoundCloud. Monster Cat hit us up. And I was like, we would love to release a track with you.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
landed from chicago i took off from chicago the same place that night when juice came into chicago okay juice was landing we're at the airport where he passed away i i don't even like i don't know talking about it it's just it's just crazy like i'm not trying to speak on behalf of anything you know what i mean it's just stuff that's already known so we take off each other right and
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
from each other's spots. I land, I go to this party, I'm telling all my homies, me and Juice WRLD, we have this project, dude. It's gonna be so sick.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
gonna be so sick like we're shooting the music video on friday for the song come and go with all these songs got roddy rich on soda pop telling you know a bunch of like la artists that were just like hanging out you know because there's like obviously friend groups within the industry so i know all these guys i'm like bouncing around the party like you have to this is gonna be so sick
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
uh and so i do that and like whatever so party like dies down it wasn't i just wanted to go hang out it wasn't like even a really crazy party get back here in this room and the last kid who i was raving about this project and was texting me like i'm so sorry right and then i was like you know because because me and peep were you know talked a lot too
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
so i know that text you know thankfully i haven't lost a lot of you know close you know i haven't really dealt with you know a lot of that but i know that text right so i open up twitter i just see it for one second i throw my phone across here this used to be a wall And I called my parents. I called my parents that night. It was like middle of the night for them. It's like losing my mind.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I just couldn't believe it, you know? Horribly tragic. But lighter note, come and go. He was like so stoked on it. You know, they sent me that. They're like, we think this could be like some like EDM buildup song or something. You know what I mean? They didn't know like what to call it. And so I... Took just the vocals. Like I did with Happier. Like I did with One Thing Right with Kane Brown.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And stripped all the demo. And then came up with... I have this... I think I'm going to do a production breakdown video actually on Come and Go. My next one. It's like this... I wrote this, like, chord thing with arps, but then I put that plug-in halftime on it, which was really big back then in hip-hop. I started this whole thing. I was like, this is sick.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Then I just, you know, played that guitar and just did the whole thing and, like, did the little marshmallow melody. You know what I mean? Over some trap drums with, like, rock hi-hats, like this weird mix of, like, rock and all this stuff because I knew Juice was down with that, you know? And so we got it to a place where he's like, this is so sick.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
crazy but i'm just so glad that he got to you know because you see a lot of like the posthumous work you know like i was just thankful that he knew that song before he passed you know what i mean like that it had his blessing not his team's blessing you know what i mean it had his blessing and it just came out just like it left it you know what i mean
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
like straight up like even the stuff we put out since with juice didn't touch it no matter how bad the kick is no matter how bad the snare is no matter if the low end is still on the hi-hat that's like clipping it into the sub you know what i mean just leave it but come and go yeah that went number two on billboard and that was true you know i mean that was true to us because he had he knew that song while he was still alive so it's like really really really
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
thankful and proud that I think that might be my favorite song I've ever made I love that perfect personification or like representation of his sound and my sound like you know what I mean like the hip hop verses you know stuff like that and then it goes into the guitar which we both liked you know just crazy
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And we gave them kind of the library of SoundCloud songs that I had, like on private. They chose Alone. And the video helped it. Obviously, probably one of the biggest driving forces of that song, other than the song itself.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah, I don't... Yeah, I just have them. I just still have them all. I even think we mastered. I didn't even have the project file for some of these songs that I've previously released with him. After he passed, I just gave him the wave. I'm like, this is the true version. I figured out, master it, do whatever you have to do, EQ it, whatever. You know what I mean?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
It's like they try their best, and then I'm like, no, just use the original. We need to master it.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah of the song and in other songs, too Yeah, yeah right here right there if you're gonna bring it out here Yeah, this is the one I use for everything I This and Guitar Rig. Andrew Rott showed me Guitar Rig. Yeah. Is it VST? Yeah.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
This, I don't remember. It wasn't like from a childhood. It was like when I moved out here.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah, it was like everybody had strats. You know what I mean? I'm like, I don't want to be like everybody. I'm like, you know, obviously telecasters are popular, but it's like all my homies had strats growing up and everything. I was like, look at a telecaster. I just liked like the vibe of this, man. You know what I mean? Like the cream, like with the white.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah, this was, it's tuned to, I think it's It's very out of tune. It might be tuned down. But anyways. But yeah. This was Come and Go. This was One Thing Right. You know what I mean? I can't remember. Andrew Watt did the guitar on Wolves. So that wasn't in there. A lot of stuff. Like on Here With Me. You know what I mean? This is layered into the bass stabs. The... You know what I mean?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah, I was talking to somebody the other day. They're like, wait, you... Well, first they were like, wait, you mix the songs?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
No, no, no, no. DJs are like, oh, you don't just press... So they were there. I was like, oh, well, guess what? It's like, I play piano. And they're like, what? I was like, guess what? I play guitar.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
It's that kind of stuff I can't wrap my head around, you know what I mean?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And drums. But, yeah, I mean, you know. But, yeah, like, let's call, like, so come and go solo produce. Here in this room over here. Happier solo produce. Friends solo produce. Silence solo produce. You just like guitars and random stuff.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
What I do is I always sleep on it. And however many times I have to wake up from that sleep, because you forget about stuff that you did. And bad shit will jump out at you when you listen back. So I'll make a song, sleep, try to do some other shit, forget about it. Forget about the things I added. Forget about the melody. I really don't want to remember the melody. Go back.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Number one, 100%. And number two is just like how it felt when I made it. How I was just like cranking out music to it becoming that is like a very paradox, you know, crazy paradox. Just so different, you know?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like, oh, that's wrong. The day I wake up, there's nothing to change? Then I'll send it over. Send it to my manager. You want to put this?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I feel like the story that I've been, like, foaming at the mouth to say was, like, the Come and Go story. Because, like, I just, like, I started recording my sessions. But I wish you could have seen.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah. Just in case, it's like you catch something. If you go on my TikTok, like Harley Quinn, I just made it for Fuerza Regita. I had to explain to them. I sat down, all the Fuerza Regita dudes, like 15 of them sitting on the couch, right?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And, you know, one dude plays a stand-up, one guy plays a guitar like this, and there's the other, then there's a 12-string, and there's, you know, J.O.P., the singer and all that stuff. When I was explaining to them, like, playing in 4-4... Instead of 3-4? Because all of Corito is 3-4, right? 1-2-3, right? So I was like, guys, we're going to do a 4-4 song.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Even just then, they're looking at me like, J.O.P. told me after, he's like, dude, I was looking at you like, wow, this is not going to work. What is this kid talking about? You know what I mean? And I have that all on video. So I started recording, like explaining to them, no guys, so we play, like it gets an extra beat and then we got it down and I'm like, yes.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And then I'm like, okay, it's like the trombone guy and you're going to play like a little melody right here. It's going to break out into drums. I'm like standing there like a conductor, like talking to all these guys because it was actually this couch right here, but it was, but it had like a whole L. Imagine this whole couch full of dudes looking at you like, what is this kid talking about?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
You know what I mean? It's like stuff I have to deal with, you know, but
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
uh anyway so reason why i say that is because that is all on video it's on my tick tock obviously my face is blurred out you know but um that day with come and go when i picked up that guitar and wrote the dinner i was like it's like that that's a raven moment you know what i mean yeah where you're just like your eyes glaze over just like just go crazy.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And for me, it's Ableton, you know, like I wish I had a video camera to show like it happening. Yes.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
So now I'm like, I'm going to videotape everything.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
That wasn't there for come and go. There was already a beat on it. And they were like, Hey man, like, we're not really like we just want to see what you would do. We have, we have like high hopes for the song. Like we have a gut feeling. So shout out Max Lord. And Juice. Obviously Juice.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
But Max Lord, that was the one I specifically talked to when he's like, hey, me and Juice want you to work on this.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah. But yeah, that, on my other songs, like the Harley Quinn one was funny with Fuerza.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Cause yeah, like I said, they were just like, what is this kid talking about? Like this is not going to work. And then we added, like, Jersey Club. Like, my homie Hart produced it with Monk. Monk the Immortal is his full name, but Monk produced it. He was like, let's do Jersey, like, Jersey on the second verse. I'm like, I don't know.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I'm like, we're already pushing it with making Corito at 4-4, right? I'm like, whatever. J.O.P. 's like, yeah, that shit's fucking tight, man. And so then they, like, opened up this, like, Jersey Club, like, You know what I mean? Because I think, I don't know, maybe I put it in as a joke and he's like, no, keep that.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Oh yeah, let's tell that. Wow. Okay, which one would you like first, my friend? Let's start with Be Kind.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Be Kind. Sitting on a couch at a house not too far away, my friend's house, get an email with Be Kind in it. Amy Allen singing it, who I know you know. I didn't just talk to her the other day.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Grammy-winning songwriter, but of course, like, Amy Allen. Come on. Amazing. Like, another alien. Another alien writer. You know what I mean? Just like, how is it? How are you real? How do you, like, what goes on, you know? Shout out, Amy Allen. I get this sent to me. The chords in the song in the demo, I'm like... I think it was, like, a three chord. It was very minor. Very, like, dark.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah, it kind of a hundred percent because like we were just talking about, like to be a producer is not to learn how to produce music. Every single producer can a hundred percent attest to this. When you really get down to the nitty gritty, you're missing out on those social situations. You know what I mean?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like, not evil, but, like, just dissonant. I'm like, oof. Like, I think... Had that thing when I heard happier when I when I hear these demos that I don't write, you know I'm like, oh I know exactly what I'm doing. I played it to This girl I was seeing at the time. It's like here this I Was like watch what I'll send it to tomorrow.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I got I'm gonna like do my thing on it and Sure enough like and I'm and I'm and I'm like fairly positive, but I'm not like a hundred percent like yeah I'm gonna body this you know what I mean? I'm like I have a good I think this might be about then I went in there and stripped the whole strip the whole All the production. Redid it all.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And Be Kind came. And, you know, so this was right before the pandemic. We sent it to Halsey. Halsey's like, she's like, you know, I think at the time she's like, I'm not really trying to like. You know, I'm like writing my own stuff, you know, stuff like that. But she told me, she's like, I'm like in my dressing room. I'm in backstage of this award show. I can't stop playing this demo. I have to.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And it was right. when we knew there's some, there's like a virus or something going, you know what I mean? Like we didn't really know. So she came over and we were like, should you stay on? Like there was nothing declared. We didn't know what was going on. You know what I mean? And she's kind of like slips into the booth over here. Like I showed you earlier and cuts be kind.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And she just sounds amazing. Cause she sounds amazing. And she is amazing. Like, and I was like, okay. And she was, she, we went and shot promo at her house. Really really passionate about the song she was like When you work with artists like that are like not just like transactional like yeah, I'll cut this sound cool hit Let's keep going like she's like really putting time.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
She music video like she's like this whole dance. Yeah choreography And she did a great job. She did an amazing job. The cinematography in it was amazing too. She's like artistic like that. You know what I mean? Like any facet of artistry.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
She sang the song. She's in the music video. She's dancing the whole time. And she did this painting. Like she is like the artist artist. Like she is just that like type of artist. And it was just so great working with her because I was like, Oh my gosh, you like, you really, you care about this song. Like, like I do, like you really do. So I love Halsey and yeah, she's awesome.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
You're, you're like, hold up, you know, like you don't really want to see people after a while. You're used to being alone and learning. So You kind of get outcasted a little bit, you know, in the beginning when you're learning. And, you know, I specifically wrote that song because when I moved across the United States, I had some friends out here, but I left everything I knew.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Shout out Miranda, too.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
That was crazy. Yeah, amazing. I obviously know iCarly, but I wasn't really sure what she was up to at the moment, but yeah. And, you know, I actually just talked to her the other day. I was like, yo, thank you. Like, thanks for being in that music video.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah, she's like, oh, thanks for having me. I was like, yeah, no problem.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Well, I think like, Like, I kind of understand why, you know what I mean? It was kind of like a meteoric rise. Very peculiar, like wearing a helmet and it's just like, there's no, like, I think they're thinking like, there's no way this is working. You know what I mean? How is this happening? And guess what I was thinking this whole time? How is this happening? Like, you know what I mean?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like, I'm in the same boat as these guys. True. You know what I mean? But like, granted, obviously,
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I'm like really really really really really putting in a lot of work man like me and my manager like night and day you know what I mean like anything and everything saying yes to like everything like do you want to do that third show who like nobody wants to especially in a helmet but that's why I do it because like I know oh it's gonna it might you know take me to that next level you know
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
But as far as the industry plan, let's just talk about specific industry plan. Like a label gets behind, right? You have a funder, you know, something, you know, pay for this, pay for that. We started Mellow, we were living at our parents' house, respectively, you know what I mean? Like, I was at mine, he was at his. Like, he was, like, managing people, but it was, like, you know?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
It wasn't this, there wasn't this, like, fund or these people or, like, label. I've never been signed. So, like, what's... What's the industry, right? It's like, what is there? There's nothing. There's no label. There's nothing. It was just us, like, grinding on SoundCloud and sending it to, like, thissongissick.com. You know what I mean? Like, old blogs like that.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And just making the right move, man. Like, my manager's a genius. Like, we held off on shows for, like, the first year. And I was like, let's go play shows, man. Are you kidding me? I'm still back home. I'm like, he's like, dude, trust me. I'm like, all right. Held off on shows until, you know, we found the right one. First one was Skrillex in New York. Gave me, like, direct. I was like, what?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like, that's the tone. Like, I got direct with Skrillex. My first show, like, what is happening? Right? And like I said, I feel like all the people that are, like, industry plan, they're thinking, what is happening?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
You know, like I visited L.A., got an apartment or found an apartment that day and then moved from the East Coast like three days later because I just knew I had to. I knew I couldn't stay. So I got out there and I'm just alone in this studio. And I'm like, I don't know. Let's just write about I'm so alone. It was just that, you know, it's just like that first line. I'm so alone.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I mean obviously like seeing this helmet Probably also added like some insult to injury like okay, and he's wearing this like crazy and he's like this little dude like jumping around and and it's working and he's on the radio and he's all I said there's no way that That's what's happening. And that's what I'm thinking too.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I'm like, hey, there's no way this is really happening seriously Like I'm just in my apartment making music
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
like i'm like it's just crazy you know it's like it's hard to respond directly to that but i mean that's what i would say man like i was i was putting in the work so it made sense you know i mean there's this little peep quote and they said he said are you shocked something like are you shocked at where you are right now and while i was very confused like just like oh my god thankful but just it was just such a blur like so crazy
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
The quote from Peep is like, somebody asked him like, are you surprised at where you are? He's like, no. Like, no. He's like, I worked so hard to get here. Like, I'm here because of it. Like, it makes sense. You know what I mean? So at the same time, it was like, especially reflecting now, it's not shocking. You know what I mean?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
The work that I put in, the work that my manager put in, he built a whole thing. You know what I mean? Like, it's very strange. On the outside looking in at the very first layer of this dude wearing this, having this crazy run. But looking back on it now, it's like, no.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I mean, it makes sense if you were, you know, if we all had body cams attached to us that whole time and you could see what we were doing. That's one thing that also sucks. Like, so I'm wearing a helmet, right? I'm not wearing that all the time, especially during like the hard decisions or maybe we get in fights or whatever, like making decisions and doing all this stuff behind the scenes.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And then whatever comes after, I think I even just freestyled the whole thing.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And I kind of, I went on that Kai Sinat stream and he's like, inspirational speech, go. And I'm like, so I kind of touched on this, right? I remember, also big, big advocate of mental health. So I've been in therapy for a long time. I remember telling my therapist, like, when I visioned myself,
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
this is way way back when i was coming up when i really wanted it when i envisioned myself and i look at and i look at the stage like i don't see that's not me like i can't be that guy like see the thought of me being on stage with like even a remotely big crowd i was like that can't be me like i can't see it there's no way like it's just not gonna there's just it was this weird mix of
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Not the whole thing. Like it's some like huge, long winded lyrical song.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like, there's no way that this is going to happen. And also at the same time, like, I don't want to do anything else with my life. So I'm like, you know, I already expected nothing to happen. No fame, nothing, dude. Like, I remember telling her, like, I need to get over this, like, this mental hump. Like, when I see myself, maybe I even, like, stage dive off, you know what I mean?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like, off the stage because, like, it's such a cool show. I'm like, that will never be me. Like, ever. And...
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
there's like such a duality like in your brain right there's always like the anxious part and then the logic part right so the anxious part's like that's not going to be you there's no way right no matter what is that for me it was the music for anybody even in my everyday life you know what i mean like what if it was his interview like oh you're gonna mess up man it's not gonna be a good interview but then you have that other side that like glimmer that's like self-confidence logic you know what i mean i remember thinking
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Well, okay, that side of the brain, you can just keep thinking that, like, anxious side of the brain. But I'm just going to keep doing what I know. I think I'm getting good at it. You know what I mean? I'm pretty sure I'm getting good at it. And I have nothing else that I want to do. So it's almost like you're seeing your, like, anxious brain as, like, a hater.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
you know what i mean you're like you know i'm talking about like yeah so i'm like all right like you keep thinking that because i know you're just there to like mess with me you know i mean and just keep doing you man and like okay maybe you don't make it to stage or maybe something else happened like maybe this leads you somewhere you know but it's all about just following your gut like truly like
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
A lot of assumptions, yeah. What would you think is assumed? Maybe like, I'm an industry plant. I already expected nothing to happen. No fame, nothing. That would never be me.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Just do like, like I knew in my gut right then and there, even I was having these thoughts, still do, dude, still to this day about my performances or stuff like that, like still. And I just know that's just like, it's just like yap. It's just yapping. You know what I mean? Like if you just follow.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like, I know it sounds so cliche, like if you follow what's like inside, what you feel with your chest, you know what I mean? Will you be willing to like puff your chest out and put on the line, like follow what you're feeling? Like something will happen. It's about like talent and opportunity. You know what I mean? Like put yourself in those situations, follow it.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
It's going to lead you somewhere. You know what I mean? A hundred percent it will. And just keep following it, honestly. And that's just kind of what I did. And
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Oh, dang. Let's do side by side, man. What do we think?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
No, no, no. This was... I didn't even wear this to a show. Oh, this was... This was the hard day of the dead only seen once.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
That's crazy. Yeah, man. You ready? What do we got in here? Hey. Oh, okay. This used to hold a 9-volt. Okay. It has these little lights you can see here that are super glued in. They like lit up. A little construction hat, right? That's incredible. A little computer fan up there you can barely see.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah, well... The dude is probably like, I'ma put a fan in there. It's like a little mouse blowing on you, dude. Like a full breath from a mouse. Like a full-grown field mouse. Just blowing on the top of your head. Uh, yeah, dude. I don't know. It's kind of silly, but you want to know what? Like, this is a testament. Okay, you know what's funny about this? This is where our heads were at.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
This is how far we thought this was going to go. We're like, let's just get this made. Cool. This is like the like embodiment of like, this is where me and my manager thought like, okay, yeah, this is cool. Like, let's just do this and it's cool.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Sure, yeah. My parents are not musical, but they insisted on me being musical. interesting yeah don't know why but it's you know i they put me in like toddler like percussion classes or something like weird which is like babies just bang on the ground my dad is like he's a genius I was taking piano lessons when I was four.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Okay. Hey, everything I just said about like, I can't be that guy. Listen. I put this on my head and made it work. Alright? You can make it work. No matter what it is. Just trust me. Take it from me. Take it from this guy. Don't even take it from actually me. Take it from this guy who ordered it. Alright? Let's put that there for the last.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Thank you. That was so much fun.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Thank you for being so nice.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yes. Thank you. And I got a little letter. Thank you, guys. Thank you, man. Good man. Thank you. Thank you.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
They were sitting with me, holding my back, so I wouldn't fall off the chair. I wasn't like a savant, you know what I mean? But I learned piano from a very young age.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I wanted to play the guitar so badly, but they were like, you have to play piano until you're 10, for whatever reason, and then you'll get a guitar. As soon as I got that guitar, I never played piano again.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Like I always I know my way around a piano and since like since you know and and I kind of lost it for a little bit and then now that I've been like writing a lot for the last few years I Like taught myself back how to do you know chords and all that stuff But I've always been able like a lot of the marshmallow stuff's like melodic.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I can always like run scales I've always been able to but I was really guitar oriented which is why a lot of my earlier stuff is very like almost like punk guitar leaning, you know? Uh-huh. Especially, like, Come and Go with Juice WRLD, stuff like that. Love that song. Thanks. The guitar's right here, actually, that I played it. Really?
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Every song I, like, play guitar on, that specific guitar is here right now. It's over there. We're definitely gonna have to check that out. We'll break it out later. Sick. Yeah. It's all beat up. It's actually pretty cool.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
I sure do. Give me that thang.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
So I had been an artist, a lot of artists, a lot of different artists, bands, stuff like that, you know? But, you know, I got, I was just messing around with like, I got like a huge sample pack from a friend and just messing around with, you know, I never really used a lot of samples coming up. You know, I always thought like,
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Sorry, like even like kick sample snare samples for some reason when I was like learning how to produce I'm like I have to do it myself and like layer four snares together Layer of three kicks together and you cue them all and put them in a chain But I come to find out all my peers are just using sample packs So I'm like what am I doing like this expedites so much instead of spending a day making a half a day making a kick I just drag a kick that already sounds good.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah, and I remember like learning that so right around then and I just started making, I've always loved melodies, you know, like melody. It's definitely some of my favorite part, my favorite part of writing music. And I was just writing, you know, I came from the East Coast, so, you know, there's a lot of Jersey Club over there, a lot of trap music. That's how I grew up.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
Yeah. Gives a good voice to it. Thank you. Not really behind the scenes. Yeah, but it's just so fun. So many people are so oblivious to producing.
Behind The Wall
Marshmello's First Full Interview - Behind the Wall (Ep. 20)
And, you know, I just started writing. Making Jersey Club mixed with this and throwing samples and throwing these vocal samples and all this stuff and you know before I know it I made I was making like, you know, three songs a day Wow And laying down on my bed, on my stomach, making these songs.