LoudLife sat down with DJs From Mars – the Italian duo of Lanfranco Malaguti and Emanuele Pascale, known for blending EDM, hip hop, and pop since 2009 – to talk about their brand-new single with David Guetta, Things I Haven’t Told You, their iconic box heads, and how they’ve shaped the modern electronic scene.
Interview With DJs From Mars:
It’s a pleasure to have DJs From Mars with us at LoudLife! How is the Life in the Box?
Hey hey! Our Pleasure!!
Life in the box is always good – even if we love to think and act outside the box, haha!
Congrats for the newest release “Things I Haven’t Told You”. What does it personally mean for you to have your name next to David Guetta on an official release?
Thanks 😉 For us it’s definitely a dream come true!! We work with him for the mash-ups and we already released some official remixes for his tracks…. but a new track together is really something we have been dreaming of for a very long time! You know, when we were resident djs in our hometown Turin, like, 20 years ago, we used to play David’s tracks to fill the floor because he had the biggest hits. “Love Is Gone”, “When Love Takes Over” and “Sexy Chick” were the floorfiller tunes to bring everybody on the floor. We have our name in a release with him now, guess how exciting this could be for us? If we thought about this 15 years ago, we would just laugh about it like it would never be possible, but hard work and perseverance brought us here today so we can’t be happier for this release!!
Were there any funny or unexpected moments during the making of “Things I Haven’t Told You”?
Actually, we were opening for David last year at Ushuaia Ibiza, in July 2024, and we jumped on stage with him to announce the new release together! So the track has been a year in the making!
But then, David suggested some minor changes, plus we had to wait for the publishing clearance, and most of all, we had to find a free slot in David’s release schedule which is insanely busy! He’s releasing a track almost every 2 weeks, and they’re all MAJOR collabs so it was really hard to find a slot for this one. But in the end, here we are!
You’re instantly recognizable for your signature box heads, how did that idea first come about?
It’s funny because it started as an “anonymous” mask, like we wanted to give the idea of the djs without a face. It was the idea behind a video we released in 2009. Suddenly, we started playing our first small shows as DJs From Mars in our hometown, and people who didn’t even know the project came to the DJ booth to take photos with us!
So the anonymous idea turned out to be the most recognizable feature of our project 😉
Be honest – how many boxes have you gone through over the years?
HAHA good one! The first version was really really basic and homemade. We can’t watch those old pictures anymore because it was really cheap, hah 😉 Then we had a second version, better looking but still not perfect, heavy, and too big to be carried as a hand luggage. As a result, the bag with the boxes got lost, especially in long international flights, and we land in, let’s say, Beijing, and the boxes are in Moscow! So it was a problem every time. The new version is light and foldable so we can bring it as a hand luggage and it’s the final version!
You’ve been in the scene for a long time – what’s the biggest change in dance music since you started?
Well, before DJs From Mars we were working in a studio in Turin, we were still producing tracks on vinyl. The releases were like, 10 good records every month, so it was easier to be noticed. Also you needed an actual studio with expensive equipment to produce a track.
The biggest change we notice is that today, you can make a hit with your laptop in your bedroom or on a plane. And this is great because everyone has the chance to be a DJ if they’re talented enough. The bad thing is, since the amount of music released every day is really huge, it’s very difficult to be noticed. Also you need to use social media to make sure your music is delivered to a big audience. So yeah, the market completely changed but we love to face new challenges, electronic music is avantgarde by definition so it’s good to evolve the way you do things, it’s challenging and keeps this job always exciting and never boring!
If you could give one piece of advice to upcoming DJs who dream of such high-profile collaborations, what would it be?
We think the most important thing today is being unique. There’s millions of producers in the whole world, when a new trend comes out probably everyone is trying to follow the trend. So the best thing is doing something completely different. So it will be noticed at least!
For example, we focused on mash-ups instead of original production at the beginning, and we were unique in this, so the project was noticed! Being original is really crucial today; we really believe that following trends, if you’re not a big name, could be a big waste of time…
What’s next for DJs From Mars? Any exciting projects or surprises you can give us a hint about?
Yes! We already have new tracks lined up for releases in the next months – but of course we can’t spoil them yet…..we suggest you stay tuned and follow our social profiles to discover more real soon!
