RS: So did the plan morph into starting as remixers to build the name and then transition into being artists?
Josh: We got a little too swallowed up in the remixing, because when something starts rolling it start rolling really fast. Our plan was to always be working on the original music simultaneously but then the remixing really started to get off the ground and we just realized that we were tapping into a sound that although it was happening in Europe, it hadn’t quite made it over here yet. So our first few records that we did, we weren’t sure if DJs were going to spin them if they were a little too much like Depeche Mode for people and not enough like Victor Calderone. Fortunately we had really good timing and I think we were a few months ahead because it took people a few records before they started. Around the time of Dave Gahan’s “Dirty Sticky Floors” and Daniel Bedingfield’s “If You're Not The One” was when the mixes started to get a lot of recognition. I mean, I still hear up in Boston that they play The Passengerz version of “If You're Not The One.”
RS: Yes, that turned into a big radio hit for you guys.
Josh: Yes, it did. So we kept working on the original stuff and our plan was to put an album sampler together, which we did, and we ended up filming a five-minute DVD video bio. Our goal was to start shopping it hope that people would know of us through the remixing and that would be a place to start talking.
RS: Then what happened?
Josh: You can really click well creatively but sometimes just personalities rub a little bit. The three of us in that group, we really enjoyed doing what we do and it was a situation where I think we wound up doing so much remixing that our energy kind of got low and we weren’t able to really focus on the original music like we wanted to. When it comes to being in a band, because Sean and I have been in several bands, you have to really build up momentum. Sometimes your momentum when you start is not your momentum a year and a half later. It was a situation where I felt that it was time to go do my own thing because felt that in several situations that I was carrying a lot of the load. It wasn’t that people weren’t doing what they needed to do when they needed to do it, but I was always the common denominator because Omar and I did all the club records, we are the ones that really developed the electro sound. Then Sean would work on the radio mixes, pop and rhythm, and I would help him with those. So I was always involved with the mix either way.
The way the original music wound up was that Omar and I developed this sound and Sean did a lot of the song writing, although I did do it with him. I did really hit a point where I wasn’t having a good time with it. I can’t look and point to one thing, I just wasn’t having fun and I wasn’t happy in it because it felt like it was becoming like a factory.
RS: So you stopped working with and left the Passengerz.
Josh: Initially, I was going to step away from doing club mixes and just work on the original music but things got strained and I felt like it was just time to go. It’s my understanding that The Passengerz is now just Sean. As we were getting down the road, looking at signing contracts and about to shop a deal, it ended up not being the right thing for Omar and I. Sometimes that’s just what happens. We did great work and I wish Sean the best of luck. He’s very talented and he’s a great writer, so we’ll see what happens. My feeling is that I really am happiest when I am able to do my own thing and produce on my own, which doesn’t mean that I don’t like working with people. It just means that I feel that my strongest work and my strongest records, whether it’s rock or pop or dance are done when I am working with an artist or an A& R person on a remix. Sometimes with other people you feel like, you've got to appease them and they want this part in the song that you don’t and things like that.
