Digital Farm Animals a.k.a. Nicholas (Nick) Gale has been hot on the scene as one of the world's leading DJ/Producer. His hits such as ‘Millionaire ft. Nelly' and ‘Digital Love' have joined the 1 million club with over 1M listens on Spotify. When DFA (Digital Farm Animals) is not making music, he keeps himself busy with songwriting for the likes of Rita Ora, Will.i.am and other talented artists. EDMSauce had the opportunity to sit down and chat with the multi-talented Producer at New York City's restaurant and nightclub Lavo. Among other things, DFA and I discussed DFA's upcoming music, what it was like working with Louis Tomlinson of One Direction, his life as a Lawyer prior to spinning tables and one of his lesser known talents, singing.
Friday's show would be the first time Digital Farm Animals would throw it down in the Big Apple. While, Nick has been to NYC over the years, Nick and I spoke about what it means to him to be back in New York City and performing a live set at NYC's premier club, Lavo in front of an American crowd.
DFA: I love NY, I've been here quite a few times. I spend a lot of time in L.A. and I've been waiting to come back to NY for quite a well so I'm excited. I heard great things about Lavo too. We have been playing quite a few gigs in the U.S. lately and the crowds are crazy, they all go mental which is good! This will be the first time performing in New York.
We played here in Sacramento, California recently and it was just crazy. I think the crowd here is a bit more rough….a bit harder here in the States. [compared to U.K & Europe]
Digital Farm Animals has just come off the major success of his most recent single ‘Digital Love' ft. Hailee Steinfeld which has reached over 1M plays worldwide on Spotify since the track debuted six months ago. I asked DFA about the process behind ‘Digital Love' and working with Hailee Steinfeld.
I was lucky enough to be working with Hailee Steinfeld, who is an amazing performer and that was really good. And it's really funny, the song came out for a little while now but is still is getting a lot of plays which is really cool.
Prior to the success of ‘Digital Love', Digital Farm Animals had another hugely successful track titled, ‘Millionaire‘ featuring the rapper Nelly. I had to ask what it was like to work with Nelly!
Before ‘Digital Love' we had released ‘Millionaire' and that one was pretty crazy. And Nelly is the nicest guy! It was a bit weird, I didn't expect him to be so down to earth and normal as he was and that was really cool!
Now, Digital Farm Animals is working on another banger, Louis Tomlinson's ‘Back to You' which is set to be released next Friday, July 21st in collaboration with American artist, Bebe Rexha. I asked how the collaboration came about and he let us in on what it was like to work with a former member of One Direction.
So, I am signed to the same label as Louis, Syco Records [owned by Simon Cowell] in the U.K. and we met and we just got on really well, and we decided to work together. He's a really cool guy and it seemed to fit. He really liked what I was doing and I'm a big fan of his music. I won't say too much about it but it's a slightly different direction then his last track with Steve Aoki, it's a quite fresh sounding tune.
No, not at all! I never thought I'd be working with a member of One Direction. It's very very weird but it's amazing. He's like a really really cool guy! I've happy to be working with him.
Besides, his most recent tracks that were released not too long ago, Nick let us in on new music and projects we can expect from him in the near future.
I have something coming out with Shaun Frank, dropping in the next few months which I'm really excited about. I'm also singing with the singer Dragonette and I have something coming out with a girl from Norway called Astrid S., she's a really dope singer and has been doing of stuff all over Europe. I have also been working on other people's music too, I will be producing for Rita Ora and doing more stuff with Will.i.am, I've done stuff for him in the past. And I'll be working with Dinah from Fifth Harmony as well. A lot of new stuff, been busy!
When he's not producing music, you can find Digital Farm Animals performing at music festivals across Europe later this summer.
We have loads, we will be playing Tomorrowland, B festival and Mysteryland in Amsterdam. Mainly, we will be performing in Europe but we will back in New York City in October.
Nick has collaborated with various artists across multiple musical genres from hip hop to pop and he named his top picks for a future dream collaboration.
I always say this, my favorite artist is Coldplay, so Coldplay although Chainsmokers just did that so maybe I have to think of something more original now. But I love Coldplay, but I'd also love to do something with Imagine Dragons, or a band. I'm actually working with a band called Saint Phoenix, they are friends of ours. We have a song coming out sometime this year with them, it's completely different from anything I've done before it's like a rock song with electronic production.
Digital Farm Animals also let us know a surprising little fact about his musical talent that most of us might not know about at first listen.
I don't really play any instrument but I sing and program. I've sung on a lot of songs but you probably wouldn't know it's me who's singing because my voice is all pitched up. I'll be singing on the newest track with Shaun Frank called “Tokyo”. But I'd like to keep singing, I wrote a song for Galantis recently called , “No Money” and my vocals are in that one as well. Basically if you heard me singing last year, it just sounded like a girl!
Prior to making the decision to DJ full time, Digital Farm Animals shared with us a very unrelated career path he chose.
I used to be in law before I was in music. I trained to be a lawyer, and then gave that up. I worked for a year and then went back into music. I was really bad at law and I really hated it so I decided to do something I would enjoy.
With the career on the rise around the world, I wanted to know what his advice would be for up and coming DJs.
My main advice is to put in hours and hours and hours. I think the 10,000 hour rule is probably quite accurate you have to put those hours in. I think also, these days it's so easy to get cool sounds from the internet everyone has access to it but everyone is listening to the same music and music sounds all the same at the moment. I think, listen to stuff that people aren't really listening to at the moment and maybe go back in time and listen to what was cool 20 years ago and maybe take some inspiration from that as oppose to listen to people who we all love like Drake or something who are all getting their inspiration from other places as well. I think it's just about keeping it fresh.
When I first starting making music it was impossible, you had to understand some degree how to produce to get good sounds and now you can just download it and put it together and be creative.
When asked what his inspiration came from he explained that inspiration was something that can come from almost anything, anywhere at anytime.
Inspiration, it's a funny question. I don't really know, I'm quite competitive and like to make something better than I've done already…. i like trying new things. I can just wake up and sing weird shit. Sometimes it works something it doesn't. I just love making music and hopefully it won't ever stop!
After our interview, Digital Farm Animals put on a killer set at Lavo night club. We can expect new songs and productions from Digital Farm Animals. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for his new track with Shaun Frank to be released in the next few months. “Back To You” ft. Digital Farm Animals & Bebe Rexha will be out on Friday, July 21st, make sure to take a listen!
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