Perry Twins

The multifaceted Perry Twins are DJs, producers, songwriters, not to mention dancers, that consist of doppelgangers Doug and Derek Perry.

Darlings of the dance/pop scene and world renowned for their DJ and song-charting expertise, the twins have a solid reputation that continues to grow year after year.

With such a busy and successful career the P squared are tough to pin down. However, I managed to catch up with half of this dynamic duo, Doug, for a C&V chat.

MS: Well, I knew this day would come; the day I finally interviewed one of you is here!

DP: (Laughs) It was inevitable!

MS: It was! So what's going on with you guys lately?

DP: We're working on some new music, getting together our tour. We're doing a compilation CD for Centaur, which should be released in March.

MS: Sounds great! The latest song you guys produced is "We'll Never Know" with Abigail, correct?

DP: We recorded it about a year ago and we just released it on iTunes. We are getting some re-mixes done right now and then we are going to start sending it out to all the DJs.

MS: The last time I saw you guys was at the release party for your single "Bad, Bad Boy" featuring Niki Harris.

DP: We went number one on the Billboard Hot Club Play dance chart with it. That was really huge for us! We have had remixes go to the top before, but that was the first time a song we had written and produced went to number one. Niki Harris sang back-up for Madonna for years, but it was the first time she was the main vocalist and went number one, too.

MS: Tell the Chorus and Verse readers how twins decide to follow the same career path.

DP: Being twins, we are really close. When we were young, we would do it for fun, but when we were in college we started taking DJing seriously. Derek got into it first. We were both radio DJs, where it was more voiceover/announcing type stuff. It was not the mixing kind of thing. Derek started getting into the spinning and mixing aspect of it, then I got into it afterward, but did not take it as seriously. The both of us realized that working together as twins was something that was unique in the DJ world and it would help us book more gigs to work together rather than separately. It makes it more fun working as a team.

MS: If I am not mistaken, you both studied dance as well.

DP: We started taking dance classes when we were 3 or 4. So we did dancing for a while and then we got out of it because it was before dance styles like hip hop were being taught. We wanted to dance to pop music and, at the time, the classes were not really doing that sort of thing. Then, when they started teaching more popular dance styles, we got back into it and formed a dance troupe. We were the leaders of it and choreographed shows for different artists and did back-up dancing, performed at clubs and festivals. So we have always basically always worked together. (Laughs.) The dance troupe happened in college as well. This was something that we had always been interested in and done for fun as well. In college it all came together.

MS: When did you guys hit your stride and really start taking off?

DP: Definitely when we moved to Los Angeles. We are originally from Rhode Island. We were doing everything in that area, a little in New York, but once we moved to Los Angeles we really hit our stride and began to take it seriously, and people began to take us more seriously, too.

MS: I bet!

DP: Another thing that really got us more DJing jobs too was writing and producing songs. Our parents are musicians so we had always written music. Once again, it was all about us taking it seriously.

MS: So, was "Activate My Body" your first single?

DP: Yes, that was the first single that we wrote and produced. Jania sings the vocals, we collaborated on it with Quinn Coleman. It was number three for two weeks on the Billboard dance chart, but it was number one on some other charts, like Cashbox and Logo, which was great since no one really knew who we were then, and we are still trying to let people know who we are. (Laughs.)

MS: Since we haven't tackled your remixes, name some that you really enjoyed doing.

DP: We had a blast remixing Erin Hamilton's "Control Yourself" and are huge fans of Kristine W's and we finally got to do a couple of remixes for her. We also did a remix for Jennifer Lopez and one for Jason Dottley called "Hit Play" which was also a fun one. He's been performing our mix of it lately.

MS: Speaking of Jennifer Lopez, have you seen the new season of "American Idol"?

DP: I have it on the DVR, but I haven't got a chance to see it yet.

MS: Her being on it makes you realize how stale the show had gotten. It is a breath of fresh air.

DP: Derek has seen it and he feels the same way.

Want to double your fun? Keep with the twins at www.perrytwinsmusic.com.