On Saturday July 14, Robbie Rivera brought his legendary “Juicy” show to Governor’s Island in New York City. TheBeatMill crew had a chance to sit down with him before his set. Check out what he had to say:
TBM: So everyone knows you do Juicy in Miami, how did you finally decide to make it move out of Miami?
Robbie Rivera: We thought about it so much, you know- leaving Miami. We came to New York and we finally decided. This is my favorite place. It’s beautiful and only a 10 minute boat ride to get to. So we thought, you know if the weather’s great and its summertime, it’ll be great, and we just took the risk and did it. And I mean; I know it’s definitely busy out there!
TBM: It is pretty busy, I’ve been here the last couple of weekends and it’s an amazing venue, probably one of my favorites in NYC. So how did you choose just New York and Toronto?
Robbie Rivera: Well what we’re going to be doing is everywhere I play now is going to be branded “Juicy” and then the name of the city. Just to really let it be known that that brand is going to continue growing and growing. We want to do bigger parties like this. We may do one in LA, maybe one in Europe, we have a lot of plans I don’t want to jinx them by telling you them all. But this is the first one and so far it’s a success, so we’re gonna blow it up.
TBM: Is every one going to have the feel of “Juicy New York” or are you going to change it up based on location, lineups, etc.?
Robbie Rivera: That’s a good question. I do the whole lineup based on the music, I play and the artists I like at the moment. I always like to incorporate new guys, guys that haven’t played a lot in that area.
TBM: I like that. It gives your shows an ‘artist’ feel instead of just a DJ or producer; you’re really conveying what you like.
Robbie Rivera: Yeah it sucks sometimes that you see someone play the same music at the same festivals over and over. I like to have fresh music and I want the people to have a good time listening to it. I hope people realize that.
TBM: You work with your wife right? How do you like doing that?
Robbie Rivera: Yes I do. It’s great man. We’ve been together for like 14 years. She’s not so hard for the business anymore. Now we probably speak about work once or twice a week. But it’s been great though. She’s very creative and comes up with a lot of really great ideas. I think I’m probably one of the few DJs that is happily married (laughter).
TBM: At least she likes the business though, right?
Robbie Rivera: Yeah dude and that’s the most important.
TBM: You’re from Puerto Rico. So that obviously had a big influence on the music you originally made. How do you continue to re-invent your sound considering you’ve had such a long career?
Robbie Rivera: And I’m still around! [Laughter]. Well since I travel every weekend I’ve seen the generation that has enjoyed my music and now that generation has kids. And I’m learning right now as we speak the new generation. They like a particular different sound, a little harder, a little crazier. You know like dubstep and just noisy stuff. But if you listen to my old stuff I had my crazy moments too, so I just bring it back.
TBM: On that note, people are saying your new ‘Dance or Die’ album is one of the more innovative. Why do you think that is?
Robbie Rivera: A lot of the older albums I would work on trying to get music to get played on the radio. I really wanted my songs to get played on the radio just because it was one of my goals. And I’ve had songs on the radio. But I just really wanted to make an album, and that’s very hard to do. Basically a song gets played on the radio because you’re lucky and a lot of other factors. So when I did this album I was thinking, screw this I’m going to do something straight for my fans. Big room, pounding beats, some vocals.
TBM: Last question. How do you test out your tracks?
In my car. I have a really nice car, a BMW X6M, and the sound system is insane. It sounds like a club. Basically I do the track in my studio then I go in my car downstairs and blast it so loud. I’ve actually had neighbors come out and ask what was going on. That’s really my test. And then of course I test it again on the weekends in clubs.
TBM: Thanks so much. Looking forward to the set!
Check out our review of Juicy New York!
And be sure to check out these links below for more on Robbie and his awesome music:
