A new dark prince of alt-pop to start rooting for – MIXTAPE MAESTRO
Always with the muthafuk’n flugel horn – STEREOGUM
Dark side of alt-pop phenom – CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND
Remixer extraordinaire – ARJAN WRITES
Alternative pop at its best is Doctor Rosen Rosen – MINORITY WEIRDOS
The evolution of rogue-pop producer/writer/remixer DOCTOR ROSEN ROSEN began in Sun Valley, Idaho when his older brother handed him a Yamaha DX-100 synthesizer, which sparked his obsession with producing music. Upon graduating from the University of Montana, Doctor Rosen Rosen moved to Brooklyn where he honed his dark-synth-pop sound as producer and vocalist for his band, The Handsome Public. After the group's final performance at the Iceland Airwaves Festival, Doctor Rosen Rosen decided to move to Los Angeles to focus full-time on production. Bootleg remixes became the order of the day, and the blogs gushed. This caught the attention of Interscope Records, who hired him to remix the Timbaland-produced "Scream". More official remixes followed of artists including La Roux, Drake, Lady Gaga, M.I.A., Weezer, Britney Spears, and Natalia Kills. Now working out of The Lab in Silverlake, Doctor Rosen Rosen is currently writing and producing original material with artists on Universal Republic, Interscope, Prospect Park, and Sony. Additionally, Doctor Rosen Rosen is developing new artists, the first being Meg Myers who has been touted a breakout artist of 2012.
Name
Doctor Rosen Rosen
Have you always wanted to be a Doctor?
No, not always. When I was a kid I wanted to be a part of the “royal family,” which was Michael Jackson, Prince, and Madonna. Unfortunately, I had no shot at being a part of any royal family, because I was 1/2 Jewish and lived in Idaho.
When did you know you wanted to be a Doctor?
In 1992 when Dr. Dre’s The Chronic came out. That record was like nothing I had ever heard. The sonic formula sounded so fresh and amazing, mixing hard spare beats, melodic samples, slick bass lines, and nasty synths. I was 13 at the time, so the foul language and drug references definitely seemed cool too. I even had a marijuana hat like the one Snoop Dog wore in the Nuthin’ But A G Thang video. I can’t believe my folks let me wear that thing.
Was there other music that inspired you?
Absolutely. Some of my biggest influences past and present are: Tricky, Ani DiFranco, Fiona Apple, The Pharcyde, Björk, Operation Ivy, The-Dream, George Michael, Built To Spill, The Clash, Devo, Duran Duran. Kanye West, Pulp and many more...
Tell me a little about your background and family.
I grew up in Hailey Idaho, which is a small town outside of the Sun Valley Ski Resort. My Mom is a teacher, my Dad is in the auto-parts business, and my older brother is a musician (He gave me my first sythesizer, which was a Yamaha DX-100; I still use it 20 years later). It was a great place to grow up – I got to snowboard in the winter, skateboard in the summer, and party in canyons. For college, I went to the University Of Montana, where I got to snowboard in the winter, skateboard in the summer, and party in canyons.
What is the reason for your poor grades sophomore year of college?
I would have to blame the grades on a Tascam 4-Track Cassette recorder, an Alesis SR-16 Drum Machine, and Old English Malt Liquor.
What was your score on the MCATs?
1,000?
What do you think about euthanasia?
Well, the Japanese are notoriously huge music fans, especially the youth population. I would love to tour there.
Tell me about your research.
After college, I moved to New York City and started a band called The Handsome Public with my friend Vickers Bastard Gringo. We split vocal duties, I did all of the keyboards and production, and Vickers played guitar and made videos for our live shows. We called our sound rogue-pop, which was like a mix of Talking Heads + Danzig + Duran Duran + Justin Timberlake. One of my favorite moments was playing the Iceland Airwaves music festival.
Where was your residency?
At a really shady hip hop studio in New York. The hours were crazy and I never got paid, but there were some amazing producers coming through, so I stuck it out. I met Styles from the production team, Dangerous LLC, who was producing 50 Cent songs. He liked my stuff, gave me a CD with drum samples, and told me to get to work. That CD changed my life - I became obsessed with making hip-hop beats, and the next thing I knew, I was delivering my beats to G-Unit Records.
I understand you recently set up your own practice. Tell me about that.
After Living in NYC for 8 years, I decided to focus my concentration on producing, so I moved to Los Angeles and set up a studio (aka: The Lab) in my house. I dove into bootleg remixing, starting with a very dark remix of Britney Spears Womanizer that took off on the internet and put my name on the map. Just two months later, I got my first big break and was hired to do an official remix for Interscope records, remixing the Timbaland produced Scream by Chris Cornell. Everything has grown from there – I’ve been holed up in my lab working on tons of remixes and original productions for amazing artists like Meg Myers, Drake, Kay, Weezer, Lady Gaga, and many more awesome folks.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
In N Out Burger having lunch with Mariah Carey and Björk
Where do you see yourself in the next 10 minutes?
In N Out Burger having lunch by myself.
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