Popping Up: Timeflies
Popping Up is our recurring look at new artists making noise on the music landscape. Because, hey — Madonna and Britney were once unknown, too.
The music of Timeflies is hard to pin down. The duo’s songs all have an electronic sheen, but not in the overpowering sense that would warrant them a dubstep or EDM label. Further complicating labeling is the fact that singer Cal is prone to unleash some rapping, and that he and producer Rez have a keen ear for radio-friendly pop. It’s this agility that enabled them to record seemingly effortless covers of Taylor Swift‘s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and Rihanna‘s “We Found Love,” both of which garnered them a host of new fans online.
But with their just-released EP One Night, the guys are now succeeding on their own terms. The EP was #2 on the iTunes charts its first week (behind Alicia Keys‘ Girl On Fire) and they sold out New York City’s Terminal 5 so fast that a second show was added — but they told us T5 is just the beginning. Watch the interview up top, and read on for more Timeflies trivia.
FULL NAMES: Cal Shapiro (vocals) & Rob Resnick (production)
HOMETOWN: Larchmont, NY & Montclair, NJ, respectively.
SOUNDS LIKE: We’d say there are hints of Alex Clare, whom we’ve classified as soul-step, perhaps with some Owl City thrown in. But we like Rez’s description better: “We always go with the not really fair answer: electro hip-pop dub-something.”
INFLUENCES: Both guys (not surprisingly) cover the spectrum. Cal’s influences include Robert Johnson, Janis Joplin and Big L. As for Rez, he lists Porter Robinson, Benny Blanco, Pretty Lights and JR Rotem as inspiration.
BIG BREAK: If they had to point to a specific moment, it would have to be when they posted their 2011 cover of The Little Mermaid‘s “Under The Sea” for their weekly Timeflies Tuesday web videos. “That was when people started really seeing us as something they wanted to come back to every week,” Rez said.
Those web covers built up momentum for their debut LP, The Scotch Tape, released in September 2011. “Being able to be on the iTunes charts at all was just a really exciting feeling,” Rez said. “I feel like every time we do something we’re really excited about, then about a month later something else happens that’s like, ‘Whoa, this is even crazier!'”
TERMINAL 5 TAKEOVER: “It’s a lot cooler than Tammany Hall,” Rez quipped. “We’re always looking for bigger venues and bigger places to play. T5 is awesome, we’re excited to do it for two nights. Hopefully next time, Madison Square Garden?”
“But Tammany Hall was pretty awesome,” Cal added. “This is absolutely wild. We’re loving this, we get to do what we love to do.”
WHAT’S NEXT: These dudes like to work. So much, in fact, that sitting down for the interview was basically their equivalent of a coffee break. “We’re back in the studio working on another [album], probably later today,” Rez said. “We gotta get back to work and get another full-length out.” They have no timeframe yet, but told fans to be on the lookout for possibly a new single in early 2013.
