EDMTunes was able to head out to Virgin Mobile’s FreeFest in Columbia, Maryland and interview the energetic Brooklyn duo of Josh Ocean and Eric “Doc” Mendelsohn that make up Ghost Beach. Ghost Beach switches between live performances and DJ sets, getting the best of both worlds. Perhaps one of the most talked about stages at the Virgin Mobile FreeFest is the Dance Forest stage, nestled in the wooded grounds surrounded by plenty of trees. Ghost Beach had the privilege of opening FreeFest on the Dance Forest stage. The duo did a fantastic job of pumping everyone up for the fun-filled day with their lively show and energetic stage personalities. The eager fans did not hesitate starting their day off dancing to Ghost Beach’s poppy electronic sounds. Ghost Beach sat down with us and discussed how to describe their sound, their upcoming set at TomorrowWorld, and how they infuse their live show with their DJ set.
Could you tell our followers about Ghost Beach and how you would describe your sound for those who haven’t heard a track of yours yet?
Josh: We are a duo from Brooklyn, and we call our sound tropical grit pop, we draw a lot from the ‘80s, such as late ‘80s pop music kind of influences, with programming, and I think our sound is very colorful and bright.
What can people expect if they are coming to a Ghost Beach show?
Josh & Eric: A lot of jumping up and down to our energetic music.
Ghost Beach is on the lineup for the first ever TomorrowWorld next week. How do you think this will compare to other festivals you have performed at?
Josh: Well, we’re DJing at TomorrowWorld, and so we’re probably going to do some DJing of some of our songs, and do some vocals. I think it’s going to be crazy. We do a lot of things with different electronic sounds. We also have high expectations for the stage at TomorrowWorld.
It says on your Facebook that you will be doing a DJ set for TomorrowWorld, do you have a personal preference for either your live show or a DJ set?
Eric: We mostly do play live.
Josh: I think we prefer playing live, but it’s also really fun to DJ because it’s a nice way of coming down after a show. Tonight we’re going to DJ the after party here. We’ll still be getting that energy out to the crowd.
What was the main reason behind going from being band performers to DJS?
Josh and Eric: We sort of started the band with the idea of being in the middle, like performing live and DJing. So we are trying to bring those two elements together. We’re constantly trying to figure out new ways and like we said earlier, a lot of what we do is samples, we’re using Ableton and our sample pads, and we are constantly live playing everything to try and capture the sonic intensity of a DJ set. And that’s one of our driving inspirations for what we do live. So I think that we learned a lot from the DJ aspect of it.
Eric: It’s a natural connection and progression. They both work into our performances.
Do you have any intentions of ever fusing your band-like personas with your mixing in a live performance?
Josh: Yeah, that’s what we are always trying to do.
Eric: I think in both spectrums too. I think with DJing we are trying to bring a lot more of the live sampling and we do a lot of triggering of clips.
What other DJ/group would you say that your DJing style is best compared to?
Josh and Eric: We just kind of have fun. We are doing our version. We usually have a good time.
Anything else you’d like our readers to know?
Josh and Eric: Our debut album is coming out early next year and check out our site, we like to give a lot of music away for free!
