Meduza: "For Us, Quantity is Not What Counts – It's Quality"

We caught up with MEDUZA at Escape Halloween and talked new music, their production process, the state of the scene, and more!

MEDUZA, a trio of powerhouse producers from Milan, Italy, have been dominating the scene since their first breakthrough tracks in 2019. From chart-topping smashers, like “Piece Of Your Heart” with Goodboys and “Lose Control” with Becky Hill and Goodboys to taking the stage worldwide at such renowned events as EDC Las Vegas and Tomorrowland, there’s no denying the name they’ve built for themselves in the industry.

The individual MEDUZA members sometimes performs separately while under the same moniker. Recently, while Simone Giani took the stage at Savaya Bali, Mattia Vitale and Luca De Grigorio were on site at Escape Halloween at the NOS Event Center in San Bernardino, California. Of course, we saw this as the perfect opportunity to sit down with the talented artists.

From a recent collaboration with HAYLA to typical studio sessions, thoughts on the scene, and more, MEDUZA offered much-appreciated insight into their work and process. Keep on reading below for our full interview with Matt and Luca of MEDUZA!

Stream MEDUZA – Another World on Spotify:

Hi, MEDUZA! Thank you so much for chatting with us. So, you’re here at Escape Halloween, and you’re going to play the festival soon. What have you noticed about the crowd here that’s different from other festivals?

Matt: They’re all dressed up except for us; that’s the main thing [laughs]. It’s always cool to come back to the US, especially for Halloween, because everybody is just dressing up and having fun. It’s always a great time.

Jumping into your music, we’re loving your latest release with HAYLA, “Another World.” What was it like working with her, and how did you bring it to life?

M: She’s amazing; she’s so talented. We’ve been trying to do something with her since before she was on a John Summit song. She was working with deadmau5 and even before with some club stuff. We’ve always been a fan and were always trying to find a space in our schedules to find time to go to the studio and write new music.

It was honestly pretty easy with her, and we got this song finished in like a week. It was magical. Then, it took a few months to test it out, playing it in some shows, and seeing all the changes to make in the song, but that was more like a producer thing. The song was already there.

Speaking of producing, there are three of you. When you guys are in the studio, what does a typical session look like for you, and how do you make sure each voice is heard?

M: I mean… Luca here next to me. He’s more the guy on the machine.

Luca: We all start playing something — some sounds, chords, or progression.

M: Then, we come up with ideas. Maybe I’m more the one on the arrangements, and Simone is the musician, so he works more on the melodies. There’s not a rule for “I do this and you do that.” It’s just jamming freestyle, coming up with ideas, and seeing what is right or wrong.

You guys do work very well together. You also recently performed a few very long sets, like a five-hour set at Club Space, six hours at Hï Ibiza. Do you go about preparing these sets in a certain way? How do you keep the energy going the whole time?

M: It’s impossible to prepare so many hours. Even when we do Space for ten hours, the vibe is going to change during those ten hours. The same people are not always in the crowd, so it’s all about taking the people on a journey. Sometimes,_, it can be more melodic, then the hour after you just go more tech, and then you go back to progressive or more indie. So we like to take the people on a journey and play different music, but it’s impossible to prepare that because you don’t know what to expect from the crowd. You feel the vibe that you get in the room and express that. It can be challenging as a DJ.

It’s an art. I feel like you have to read the crowd and tell what they want.

M: Yeah, I’ve been lucky because I grew up as a local resident DJ in Italy, so I just understand how to read the crowd and how to test out a few things and see if those tracks are right or wrong in that moment. From there, you construct the set step by step.

Touching on your music, you’re sitting on a lot of unreleased tracks, and I see you teasing them out on Instagram. Is there anything really exciting we can expect in the future, more collaborations, or anything to hint on?

L: We have new music, but we can’t spoil anything I think [laughs].

M: I mean, we can, [laughs] but you have to show up at the show we’re going to play later. So, if you’re in the crowd, you may be listening to something new and a few IDs.

Where do you see the dance music scene heading within the next few years, and do you find yourself adjusting to the trends?

L: Wow, good question.

M: Yeah, the music industry has changed a lot since our big high when we released our first two songs, “Piece Of Your Heart” and “Lose Control.” Now, I notice that people, compared to five years ago, are not paying that much attention to the music. It’s not listening to music anymore like they used to do. We would love to have that back a little bit, because for us, quantity is not what counts — it’s quality. We prefer to release a few tracks a year where we are 100% sure that what we are releasing is good. It’s good for us, it’s good for the people, maybe [laughs]. They can decide.

But now, I think it’s just all about the trends on TikTok and on social platforms, and especially the new generation is looking more for that minute they’re using on social instead of just listening to the entire song. It’s a little bit sad, especially for us producers when we put everything into our work, when we build up a song from the first second until the last one. But I think the music industry is a cycle, so it will come back.

Now we’re going to end on a fun question. I saw you guys were at Tomorrowland, and one of your favorite things that you posted about was the gelato there. What’s your go-to flavor?

L: I think one of the best for me is cookies.

M: I always take stracciatella and hazelnut; that’s my classic [laughs]. I’m a standard guy.

L: I love to try different flavors, too.