Iman Gilani (Wayne) and Simon Widman (Woods) make up the duo that is Wayne & Woods and we had a chance to talk with them about their single “Ghetto Funk,” which was released today on Beatport, and get to know more about them. Wayne and Woods have been producing together for about three years and met in school in their hometown of Solna, just outside Stockholm in Sweden. Their production together has steadily improved up to this point. After recently releasing an equally solid tune, “Favela,” their new track “Ghetto Funk” is a one-of-a-kind house banger (you can listen to a preview below). According to the artists, this one has been in limbo for some time.
“We have had this track a while and we've been back and forth on it… but we've always loved it and it has always been special to us,” Simon said. “The vocals in the break is actually Iman and he actually hates it (laughing)… the other one is from a sample pack. The song has nothing to do with Ghetto Funk except the vocals before the drop but its still very funky.”
The song was premiered first by BBC Radio 1 and the response has been large.
“So far, We have got really good feedback and that’s always good… It's a very rewarding feeling when your own tracks is been played by Danny Howard or Pete Tong on BBC 1,” Iman said.
It's no surprise to see why the duo is getting acclaim from the best in the business and it's a testament to the variety in their music. Iman explained, “we spend a lot of hours in the studio and we love to learn new things, and hopefully we're getting better… When we are not making music, we're doing shows and when we're not doing shows we're making music (laughter).”
On Twitter, the guys recently posted a screenshot of the song artwork for “Aerosol Can,” one of the new songs off Major Lazer‘s Apocalypse Soon EP featuring Pharrell. I asked them about their influences and what it's like coming from Sweden, a mecca for house music.
“We've never seen music in a competitive way, but a journey always have ups and downs but we're in better shape than ever right now… We get influenced and inspired by different things all the time it's hard just to name one artist or thing but Pharrell is for sure one of them. That's a great track and Major Lazer has some really cool tracks.”
In regards to future collaborations, the Swedes are well connected and they boasted, “We have two big tracks that is floating around now with Sunnery James and Ryan Marciano and Chris Avantgarde. There is also a couple of other collabs that we can't mention yet but they're coming!”
When you make it out a Wayne & Woods show, the guys say to expect “a lot of energy, good music, and a sick party!”
Make sure to follow them for the latest announcements on their Facebook Page. Preview of “Ghetto Funk” below:
