An internationally praised electronic act, Cash Cash, comprised of best friends and brothers (Jean Paul Makhlouf, Alex Makhlouf and Samuel Frisch) are hailed for their infectious dance-pop original tracks, vibrant remix productions as well as their energetic live DJ sets on festival mainstages and clubs spanning across the globe. Cash Cash emerged from the start with global recognition and support from renowned DJs and peers, including Tiesto, Hardwell, Zedd, Nicky Romero, captivating dance music insiders and friends along the way. Their hit song “Take Me Home” featuring Bebe Rexha has gathered over 50 million Spotify streams, over 20 million YouTube views, and Gold certification in the United States; while latest single “Surrender” broke the Top 40 chart, the trio’s second #1 song on dance radio. Currently in the studio working on new music, the guys are working with Busta Rhymes, B.o.B, Fitz & The Tantrums, Capital Cities, Christina Perri, and more.
You guys are a great example of a band who really transformed its sound and was successful. What was that process like — going from “scene kid” pop to contemporary electronic pop?
Well, we were always a electronic band, like synth pop or electro-pop. We always had keyboards, synths and electronic drum production and we were doing remixes for artists in 2008, like with Cobra Starship, and other remixes on the side when we were bored. Then our original music started to get influenced by our remixes and then we started to work with different things and it was just an evolution on a macro scale.
It feels seamless.
It was! Whether we are working with hip hop artists and rappers, or rock artists and pop singers, we were just building our production that we knew around them. It was cool, because we would take things to different levels that we would have never done with just one singer. I think we did that on our new album with songs with Nelly, Fitz and the Tantrums, Busta Rhymes. That is what we are kind of unified by — electronic production and dance music! That’s what keeps it cohesive.
Collaborations you’ve done in the past few years, like “Take Me Home” with Bebe Rexha, and now “Matches” with ROZES, have really exploded. How do you pick an artist to work with? What do you look for in a partnership like that?
We like to go with someone who isn’t obvious. A lot of bands use the same features over and over and over again, we don’t want to do that. So we go with distinct voices. When you hear Jon Resnik‘s voice from the Goo Goo Dolls, you know it’s him! People aren’t used to hearing that voice on a electronic produced track. So that’s fun for us. Hearing a voice like Christina Perri’s on a dance anthem changes it up!
Agreed. What inspires you to get into the studio, even before you have a featured artist in mind?
Anything can spark a certain type of sound. When we work with an artist who is used to doing a certain genre, it is cool to put certain guitars in a song or do something that is piano-based, but as long as it’s still electronic, every song is different.
We’re also constantly working on new music. We’re a trio, so when two of us tour, that leaves one person in the studio to start or work on something that we couldn’t finish when we were home.
What song do you wish you wrote?
[Laughs] Good question. Daft Punk‘s “One More Time” — I think everybody wishes they wrote that song! You can always put it on. It never gets old.
Who do you want to collaborate with next?
We love working with people on the opposite sides of the spectrum, so I think it’d be cool to do something with Oasis. Their voices are amazing and I would love to work on a dance anthem with them. In a club, you can go from playing an EDM banger to Oasis and the whole crowd will sing along! Adam Levine would be a great one. In two seconds, you know it’s his voice.