June 30, 2023 • 28 mins
Celebrating their smash “Hungry Heart” hitting #1 on the dance charts, Steve Aoki, Christian from Galantis, & Hayley Kiyoko share how the song was born and how many different versions there were before it was released. Plus Christian talks Galantis’ new smash “BANG BANG”!
The three all take on #FinkysFirsts!!
Find out about:
Follow: @AmericasDance30 on all socials!
Count down the biggest dance songs in the country every week with Brian Fink on America’s Dance 30; listen on dance stations around the world!
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The three all take on #FinkysFirsts!!
Find out about:
- the first time they all met
- the first song they wrote/produced
- the first thing they do when they get to a city they’re performing in
- the first thing they bought when they made it
- the first thing that makes their hearts hungry when they’re out of town
Follow: @AmericasDance30 on all socials!
Count down the biggest dance songs in the country every week with Brian Fink on America’s Dance 30; listen on dance stations around the world!
AmericasDance30.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:10):
Dance counting down the biggest dance songsin the country. This is America's Dance
thirty man. This is a fullhouse. Steve Aoking Christian from Galantis,
Hailey Kioko, welcome to America's Dancethirty. Thank you. It's gonnae to
(00:33):
be here. It is so awesomeseeing you guys. Now, you know,
with some songs on first listen,it takes a couple of times to
get a song. But you knowwhat with Hungry Heart, the first time
I heard it, I was like, this is a smash. Congratulations on
(00:55):
a Hungry Heart going number one.So it's such an honor too, because
I am such a massive fan ofSteve and Christian and this is my first
number one, so this is veryspecial. I know. You gotta,
Haley. In celebration, We're allgoing to head to Steve's house and do
(01:17):
the cold Plunge right now. Now, I'm throwing you. I'm throwing you
your first number one, your firstcoal pluge. You gotta do the Christian's
gotta hold my hands. Thank you. I could see all of us just
standing on the edge of the tub, holding hands, jumping in at the
same time. It's a beautiful boldwin your first time and you're like,
(01:41):
we're gonna do this. Let's gogang, you know. And because I
have what I call the party Plunge, it could fit twenty two and its
degrees, so it's like perfect,Yeah, I made I made a big
one. Instead of doing these soultanks, I made a big one.
So like all my friends, andthen we like, before we do a
(02:01):
studio session, I'm like, allright, guys, we got this.
But before we go in the studio, I'm gonna invigorate your brain cells and
then we're gonna have the most insanesession ever. And then I convinced them
and then we all jump in,so we're gonna be a heart. I
can't wait to see the video forthat. Well, I can't wait to
(02:22):
hear the genesis of this song becausewe've got all aspects from production to singer
songwriter. But before we talk allthings hungry Heart, let's get to know
you guys a little better with anotherround of think He's first good. So
(02:45):
when was the first time that youguys all met. Well, this is
the first time I've met Christian actuallyend and stuff like you know, like
twenty twenty three people do, butlike This is the first I've seen each
other in person, which is soexciting. Let me make this official.
Christian Haley, Haley, Christian,we've been talking out of a waste and
(03:10):
guest on camera, you know.Yeah, yeah, this is the first
time seeing each other visually, whichis very exciting. That is amazing.
Now, Steve and Haley, whendid you guys first meet? What was
that about? What Bally met?Um? I feel like it's when you
when we did the music video thatwas the first time Hungry Heart. Yeah,
(03:31):
right, everything was just through WhatsAppand DM yeah, yeah, exactly
exactly of the song and then themusic video. Shoot, yeah, yeah.
Because it's like, it's funny becausewhen you when I think when I
met you, then I felt likeI met you earlier because we were talking
so much. Yea, And I'mlike, oh, actually we haven't met.
You've just seen pictures of each otherand videos on Instagram or something and
(03:53):
then talking and I'm like, no, we actually never met. I guess
is the first time. That's socrazy. That was kind of the same
way with me and Sophie Tucker.I talked to them so much during the
pandemic that when I finally met themin real life. It was like we
were best friends by now. Itfelt like we knew each other. Now,
Haley, is it true that youwere first discovered at five when you
(04:14):
went to a photo shoot with afriend. I'm pretty sure that's what Wikipedia
is. It is it is.If that's really the fact, I don't
even know who's riding Wikipedia. Ithink my parents first discovered me when I
was out of the womb. No, I wasn't like discovered at five with
(04:38):
a friend America. I was goingto ask you if you knew where that
friend was. Now, oh mygod, that's hilarious. Now, Steve,
your latest song that you just droppedlast week, and forgive me,
I'm gonna butcher the heck out ofthis. But in Vitama Cafe, Yeah,
(05:00):
I own cafe. It's so thatthat's like a classic iconic song from
the eighties or from like I'm notsure what period of time, but it's
from you know, from the past. And that's an igulars one of her
favorite songs. So when we're inthe studio, when I was working on
the record with her, I waslike, what's like, what's the song
(05:21):
you grew up with? And shestarted singing that one, and then I
heard her voice. I was like, let's let's remake it, you know,
and and then that was born.Well, congratulations on that. But
do you remember the first song youever produced? The Okay, the first
song I ever produced is actually,I would. I don't want to ever.
I'm not gonna say the name becauseI don't want people to listen to
(05:43):
it because it's out there. It'sit's god awful, like it's so bad.
Um. I produced it on reasonin two thousand and two, I
think two thousand and one. Um, and it's, uh, it's under
a different name, and I've gotto drop the name. It's it's it's
actually out there because it's on democIt's on my record label, so I've
(06:06):
released it under my band name.I sing on it, and I produced
the beat, and it's like,I'm like, I gotta take it down
so horrible. You realize I willnot sleep tonight until I find that song.
Now, Haley, your latest songis green Light. Do you remember
(06:29):
the first song you ever wrote?I do, actually, and luckily it
was not released. I wrote asong called Shooting Stars when I was six
six years old on the piano.I still remember it shooting stars up and
sky falling down. It gets reallydeep. It gets really deep, and
(06:54):
I had never experienced love. ButI completed out on the piano. But
that was the first song I everwrote, and it will haunt me and
live with me for the rest ofmy life as well. Meanwhile, I
am like stepping off to Boggins andgetting hit in the face by snow at
six, and you're writing songs atsix? What the heck? Christian?
(07:15):
The latest Galantis song is Bang Bang? What was the first song you ever
wrote, first song that I everwrote. I mean, I'm from I'm
from punk Rocks. It was onethat was like about thirteen, and I
was I was singing and playing aguitar, and a bunch of punk rock
bands put songs like every day,three chord masterpieces. All I'm learning from
(07:44):
this is we need to get Steveand Christians singing on the next song that's
put out. All right now,Christian, speaking of Galantis music, how
was this smash Bang Bang born?Well, it's it's just so funny.
It's like it happens like there's somany times. I think Halien Steve would
(08:07):
recognize this. You worked on abigger piece of music like an album.
For a long time. Everything isplanned out like singles, whatever, and
then the last thing you do,just before you close everything, you wrote
something. Yeah, it's like Ihave like, you know, like an
hour thing and that's the one that'slike comes out. It's always like I
(08:31):
feel bad for the other songs.I'm like this to fare like we've been
waiting two years. Why why isbank bank getting in front of every line?
Right? Yeah, that's what itis. It's so true. We've
talked about this in the past.Christian wasn't it was it peanut butter jelly?
That's sad for ten years? Yeah, you have a good memory.
(08:52):
That is crazy now, Steve,you are on your massive summer hero Quest
tour right now. Now, thatis insane the amount of shows that you
are doing. What is the firstthing you do when you get to a
city that you're playing in. Itry to do a workout, because if
you don't work out right when youget in, it's not gonna happen all
(09:13):
day. It's just it's just likeyou have to get it out of the
way before you eat. Once youeat, like you're not You're not gonna
go to the gym, Like that'sfor sure. Once. I mean,
I'm like, I'm good. I'myou know, do you cold plunge in
(09:35):
every city that you go to orjust when you're home? Yeah? Actually,
like we so I have my team. They tell the hotel, depending
if it's if it's a decent hotel, uh, to get bags of ice
um and have it have it deliveredup to the bathtub that you fly your
own plunge. This is I'm gonnalove these answer. Steve's got the ultimate
(10:00):
rider. No hotels, they totallythey're like they get it. They're like
like, mister yoke, you're here. We got the eyes coming up to
your room right now. I'm like, this is fantastic like that. It's
just I love like having that.Like I'm like, okay, because you
know, it's like when you're athome, you have everything in it,
like in your perfect environment and youcould be like, you know, whatever
(10:24):
you want to be, and thenon the road, like my discipline goes
out the window. So you haveto figure out how to master it at
home and bring it with you onthe road. And um, that's that's
the transition I'm really trying to figureout. So if they don't bring the
ice. You might actually see SteveAoki at the ice machine running back and
forth. Now, Haley, youjust wrap the Panorama tour. What's the
(10:48):
first thing that you do in differentcities? I wish it was working out
now I'm like having to rethink mywhole life. Same well, I I
might life. I mean, theylike Steve's on tour like three fourths of
the year. I only go fora couple of months. But for me,
when I get to a new city, my main thing is finding an
(11:09):
awesome breakfast or brunch spot, sobecause that's like my only time to see
the city before you like eating greetsand stuff, so like breakfast brunch is
like my experience and like safe Havenand I get my macha and I'm a
big foodie, but like Steve said, I eat and then I definitely don't
want to. But I do dancetoo, so I you know, I
(11:31):
get my work out in the show. So it's a nice balance. Christian,
you guys are doing some US showsright now. What's the first thing
that you like to do when youget to a new city that you're playing
in. I don't know, LikeI order room starry setting. This is
Christian, I should have asked youfirst, because this is kind of like,
(11:54):
Steve, you started it way toohigh. Listen, I was backed
at all. It is awesome.Now. Over the weekend, I was
talking to a friend of mine abouthow when I know that I've made it
is when I've got enough money tohire somebody to just clean out my cat's
litter box. That's going to betheir only job. Steve, what is
(12:18):
the first thing that you did whenyou finally made it? What did you
buy something? Big? Oh?God? First? Okay, so I
got out of debt. M Iwas in a sinking hole. I think
twenty eight. I think it waslike twenty seven. It was installed at
twenty eight. So when I firstwhen when I when I finally got enough
(12:39):
money to buy something. I boughtmyself a car. It was a Prius
at the Toyota dealership. I broughta bag of cash. It was like
script for money. Cash. Itwas dirty twenties, tens fives because because
I would get paid in cash,you know, I got two hundred dollars
shows like you know, the barsall over LA. I just dropped it
(13:03):
on the table, all the cashI had, and it was like around
eighteen thousand something dollars and uh andthen the Da Prius was twenty grand and
and the guy's like, I mean, like come on, like what us?
What all this cash? I'm like, this is all the money I
have my piggy bank. I'm droppingyou here. Take your leave it.
This is all you're gonna get becausethat's all I have. And uh and
(13:26):
and the guy took it. SoI drop off with my toy Frius.
I was like, sweet that,I remember that forever christ And what about
you well, I mean I madea deal with Pontus Avaunt I produced with
uh. I was also in MikeSnow that when like if we get when
(13:48):
we get the first cut, right, let's buy something that we always wanted
but never bought, you know,like something stupid, and we like every
cut, we bought most controlled thingsand planes and then a lot of really
expensive stuff to air guns and stuff. That's what every time, Like everything
(14:11):
that I wanted as a kid,I bought when we got a cut.
Heck yeah, absolutely, Hailey.What about you well, I don't know
if I've made it yet. Everyone'sgonna take me to my prius, okay,
and my nerd guns. I'm onmy way. But I do remember
(14:37):
my first like job when I gotlike a check. I had booked this
Cinnamonto's Crunch commercial when I was likeyounger, and Gwen Stefani had these like
lambs sneakers and they were like sparklygold and they were like one hundred dollars
and I remember buying them and Iwas like, I'm rish and I'm nodded
at the Third Street promenade and SantaMonica. I was like, I have
(15:00):
made it like I was in middleschool. So that was like that was
like one memory that I have thatwas like really cool and special. Do
you still have those shoes? Yes? I do. I barely wore them,
like they just kind of sat inthe closet and I just stared at
them as like a trophy or likea prize. You know, that is
amazing. Now finally they're really cool. Finally, in Thinky's first in honor
(15:24):
of Hungry Heart, going number one, what is the first thing that makes
your heart hungry when you guys goout of town to perform? Steve,
what do you miss the most?Well? You know what, like well
before he said what do you missthe most? The first thing I thought
about was my comfort food? Myfavorite like guilty food is um a cinnamon
(15:48):
bunshot is so good. Yeah,like it's like like anything with cinnamon.
Like I like, i'm chios whatever. I'm like, I'm that's because I
think about hungry heart. Like,man, you guys are hijacking this interview.
(16:11):
So what do you actually miss whenyou go out of town? I
mean, like, like I wassaying earlier, like being home is like
vacation for me because I have everythinghere, Like I have all my stuff
that I do. I have awhole routine that I do every day,
and I can't really do all thatstuff. So I mean, and I
should be missing humans, But likeI've really missed the routine. I missed
(16:33):
my mom. I'll say that becausehe lives around the corner. I miss
my family, my sister. Idon't have many kids, I'm not married
or anything like that, but mymom and my sister who's like around the
corner, I always see them allthe time. So I'm gonna say that
because if I say, don't sayhumans, I'm a horrible person. Now,
I totally get it, though,I'm the same way with routines.
When I go out of town.It screws me up because I've got my
(16:56):
routines, but mine is my cats. Like I miss my cast legit the
first second I'm out of town.Hayley, what about you? I think,
I mean, there's just like acomfort of being like still and like
not moving from place to place andliving out of your suitcase. So I
do just like when I get home, like or when I leave, I
just missed like the stillness element ofit. But obviously I do miss like
(17:21):
my girlfriend and my family and myfriends and that kind of thing. Because
like I love like game nights,so I love having people over and just
like playing card games. So likejust having like those moments like at home.
It is nice. But you try, you know, when you're on
tour, you try to FaceTime oryou try to have those connections with you
know, other people, and uh, you know, you make it work.
But don't let Steve guilt you intosaying humans. You didn't have to
(17:44):
say that. I do miss human. I do. Christian, what about
you? What do you miss whenyou're on tour? It's easy. It's
my daughter's Oh I missed the everydaystuff I miss, like uh, you
know, dropping him off at school. And picking them up like those things
I miss. Actually same same withmy cats. They're they're actually an elementary
(18:11):
school right now. I got topick them up. Right when I get
done with this interview, let's talkabout this number one smash, Hungry Heart.
How was this song born? Idon't know who wants to take it?
Where did it start? It's reallystarts with Haley, want starts with
me? Yeah, I mean Iwrote this song. I'm trying to remember.
(18:32):
I think I wrote this song inlike twenty nineteen, wow. And
I wrote the song, and Iremember working with Sean Douglas and Joe Jenniak
and we were trying to figure outthe chorus and the drop and my music
is not really like Dancy and so, but the song was just like lending
for this like massive like drop,and I couldn't fight it. I just
(18:55):
had to let this song like tellme what it needed. And so my
dream was to get you know,very successful producers and DJ's potentially like a
part of it. And I forI forget when we sent that song to
you, Steve, but I rememberjust being like, I forget what year
it was. I think it wastwenty twenty, Yeah, twenty it was
twenty twenty. I sent it tohim, was like, hey, say
(19:18):
something you'd be interested in, andI was very I mean, I'll let
Steve take it over, but Iwas very grateful that, um, they
believed in the song. And thenI think we were going to release it
multiple times, and but you know, it was the pandemic and then there
was just a lot of that kindof happened. And then what was it
last year or this year? Youhead up Christian and then we kind of
finished the whole song together and itfinally took it over the finish line.
(19:41):
Christian was a huge help in makingthis this this whole vision really come to
fruition. Yeah. Yeah, Igot the record, and I was I
was toying with it, and Iwas never really truly happy with my own
(20:03):
production and and I've been dying towork with Christian, Like I'm I know
Christian for a long time, likelike over a decade, and and uh,
we always support each other at allour shows. I'm always like,
God would be so sick to makea song on glance. It's like it
would be like it's just it's likewe're never like there to the point where
(20:26):
we have the idea because you haveto have to have a really strong thing
to work on. And as likeChristian, I got the record for us.
I don't know if you remember that. I was like, I got
it for us, man, You'regonna love this so good. And then
I said, She's like, isHaley gonna be still beyond the record?
It was so important the prison thatHaley was still on the record, like
(20:48):
the hook is there. I belike, but it's Haley gonna be on
him? Like, yes, sheis. She's gonna be on the record.
So I'm so happy that Christian reallywanted Haley on the song and loved
the idea. And I was like, this is a match being he because
we all want to work together.And I reached out to Haley and then
she's like, oh my god,Glanches, I love them. Yeah,
(21:11):
like and so it was that wewere trying to find that the drop balance
and me and Christian went back andforth. No, I mean, I
fell in love with the song thefirst time I heard it, but this
one was it was hard for mebecause I liked the song so much.
You know this, Steve, Isent you so many versions and I was
(21:32):
never like satisfied with what I didfor the songs. I kept on working.
I kept on working like seriously,and I I love that I didn't
give up because you didn't give upeither. Usually after like that, many
like, oh something is just notI'm not, you know, doing this
(21:55):
one, But uh yeah, no, I was stoked about working with with
both you guys, so I reallywanted to happen. I love the song
and I think it was a greatidea that Steve had to bring it to
a house tempo and uh yeah,so was it imaginally slower? Oh yeah,
I mean the original the original songbefore I sent it to Steve,
(22:18):
it was it was it was justmore it was more of a vocoder thing,
and it was just kind of moreempty. But it lent for this
massive hook that I knew that Steveand then and Christian was able to finally
bring the song to Fruition. Andit's so crazy because I I'm so grateful
for Christian too, because I UMike Snow. I got to open for
(22:41):
Mike Snow years ago, and youguys were one of the first artists to
bring me on tour and was ableto be able to be a supporting act,
which I was extremely grateful for andobviously I've been a massive fan of
Steve for very long time. Soall of this is just so beautiful and
wonderful that we were able to cometogether and we all come from very different
worlds and spaces to be able tomake this record happen. Well, hopefully
(23:03):
that makes you feel a little betterknowing that Steve said that he couldn't finish
it up, and even Christian waslike, I just can't finish I mean,
you all had the same problem withit. It's so incredible that it
turned out you knew it was cool, Like you knew it and I knew
it, and so it's just it'sjust really cool because this is this is
(23:25):
a mass of honor and dream thatthis song, you know, because you
write, we write so many songs, so you do so many songs and
so many records and they can beso great and then you just can't quite
get it to the finish line becausethere's something missing or there's something that's not
right, and then it just kindof gets pushed to the back burner.
And so for it to be ableto go through it, to go through
(23:47):
the pandemic, to go through notreleasing it, not releasing and then finally
releasing it at this moment um intwenty twenty three. It's just it's just
amazing. It needed all of usto make this happen, and I think
that's it's so beautiful about it.Just we all come from different worlds and
you know we were able to likego, okay, we we we feel
(24:07):
the magic in this one. Andthat's the great thing about this idea.
It's like, once I heard itdoesn't matter if it's from twenty twenty,
it could have been from like tenyears ago. It doesn't matter because the
hook is so powerful, the lyricsare amazing, It's song really well.
Just now we have the main,the main thing that has to be really
really good. And since we havethat and we're able to get it to
(24:30):
the finish line, well, nexttime you guys all hit a wall,
feel free to reach out to me. I will be glad to help you
out. Something that I love tofind out that you guys are touching on
here is how many different versions thereare of a song, from when you
start working on it, tweaking itthrough the entire process to when it's finally
released. Haley from the songwriting aspectof it were there are different versions.
(24:55):
When you were writing it, actually, this song just kind of like you
know, some songs, you rewritelyrics, you rewrite melodies, and this
song, I mean it just camevery easily. I mean we wrote it
in a couple of hours and Ididn't really tweak it. The thing that
was the hardest thing to crack wasthat that post hook was that drop was
where where it leaves you after hungryHeart and where it takes you from there
(25:19):
was like the most challenging part ofit. And for me, I was
like, I am not capable offilling this hole, Like this hole needs
to be done by a professional inanother field, in another musical world that
I can't I can't bring. Soand then Steve, when it got to
you, how many versions did yougo through before you sent it to Christian?
I mean it was living so likeI mean, the matter versions I
(25:47):
have, it's got to be likefive five different versions and they are all
different tempos. Wow, Like yeah, because like I think, originally because
the song is song, it likeeither like a seventy bpm or or like
a seventy five or something like that, but like I like made it more
of a one forty one forty fivebpm thing, and I'm like, this
(26:10):
has got to be more on thehouse tempo, Like, can't we drop
it to one twenty eight? Youknow, because if you dropped to one
twenty eighth, then it's it's gonnahave a whole different vibe. You know.
It's like the halftime drop all thissort of stuff, and it just
it's like it was there, butI'm like, it's it needs needs to
be amazing, you know, Andand then like passed over to Christian.
(26:32):
I'm like, Christian, please doyour magic to this thing. You know,
like, let's let's get to onetwenty eight with this baby, you
know, like Christian, no pressure, but you're amazing. How many versions
were they're on your end? Ohyeah, I gotta say that this is
probably one of the ones that Ihave the most versions of them. And
I actually really really liked the versionthat Steve sent me, and then you
(26:57):
sent me another one that good.I was like, but all the pressure
on me is like, oh,I'll have to beat two versions, but
uh yeah, I kept on.I don't know, I kept so many
different drops on this one, andI kept sending to Steve and he was
like oh, I like this,and then I was like, what is
(27:18):
it good enough? Though? Like, yeah, I guess wanted to keep
going U. So yeah, Hayley, did you have any idea all this
was going on. I didn't knowthere were that many versions. I mean,
I know, I know Steve andI went back back and forth a
couple of times, um, andyou know, in the initial beginnings and
then and then for me with Christian, it was just like, you know,
(27:40):
like we got glances on this,like check this out, and I
was like, holy, this isamazing. So I luckily was spared the
five to ten versions pounding his headon um and uh. But yeah,
I mean it all worked out,and I mean people love the record and
it's it's really amazing. We allsaw the potential of the hook and the
(28:03):
vision, and we all challenge eachother to do the best we could possibly
do. And it's always really funto have a record like that because you
know, we all do a lotof music and so to have something special
to stand out like that's really cool. Well I'm so number one. Yes,
I'm so glad you guys gotta overthe finished line Steve Aoki Christian from
(28:25):
Galantes, Hayley Kioko, congratulations onyour number one. Thank you guys so
much for your time on America's Dancethirty. Thank you guys so much.
Let's go America's Dance thirty, countingdown the biggest dance songs in the country.
America's Dance thirty
Dance counting down the biggest dance songsin the country. This is America's Dance
thirty man. This is a fullhouse. Steve Aoking Christian from Galantis,
Hailey Kioko, welcome to America's Dancethirty. Thank you. It's gonnae to
(00:33):
be here. It is so awesomeseeing you guys. Now, you know,
with some songs on first listen,it takes a couple of times to
get a song. But you knowwhat with Hungry Heart, the first time
I heard it, I was like, this is a smash. Congratulations on
(00:55):
a Hungry Heart going number one.So it's such an honor too, because
I am such a massive fan ofSteve and Christian and this is my first
number one, so this is veryspecial. I know. You gotta,
Haley. In celebration, We're allgoing to head to Steve's house and do
(01:17):
the cold Plunge right now. Now, I'm throwing you. I'm throwing you
your first number one, your firstcoal pluge. You gotta do the Christian's
gotta hold my hands. Thank you. I could see all of us just
standing on the edge of the tub, holding hands, jumping in at the
same time. It's a beautiful boldwin your first time and you're like,
(01:41):
we're gonna do this. Let's gogang, you know. And because I
have what I call the party Plunge, it could fit twenty two and its
degrees, so it's like perfect,Yeah, I made I made a big
one. Instead of doing these soultanks, I made a big one.
So like all my friends, andthen we like, before we do a
(02:01):
studio session, I'm like, allright, guys, we got this.
But before we go in the studio, I'm gonna invigorate your brain cells and
then we're gonna have the most insanesession ever. And then I convinced them
and then we all jump in,so we're gonna be a heart. I
can't wait to see the video forthat. Well, I can't wait to
(02:22):
hear the genesis of this song becausewe've got all aspects from production to singer
songwriter. But before we talk allthings hungry Heart, let's get to know
you guys a little better with anotherround of think He's first good. So
(02:45):
when was the first time that youguys all met. Well, this is
the first time I've met Christian actuallyend and stuff like you know, like
twenty twenty three people do, butlike This is the first I've seen each
other in person, which is soexciting. Let me make this official.
Christian Haley, Haley, Christian,we've been talking out of a waste and
(03:10):
guest on camera, you know.Yeah, yeah, this is the first
time seeing each other visually, whichis very exciting. That is amazing.
Now, Steve and Haley, whendid you guys first meet? What was
that about? What Bally met?Um? I feel like it's when you
when we did the music video thatwas the first time Hungry Heart. Yeah,
(03:31):
right, everything was just through WhatsAppand DM yeah, yeah, exactly
exactly of the song and then themusic video. Shoot, yeah, yeah.
Because it's like, it's funny becausewhen you when I think when I
met you, then I felt likeI met you earlier because we were talking
so much. Yea, And I'mlike, oh, actually we haven't met.
You've just seen pictures of each otherand videos on Instagram or something and
(03:53):
then talking and I'm like, no, we actually never met. I guess
is the first time. That's socrazy. That was kind of the same
way with me and Sophie Tucker.I talked to them so much during the
pandemic that when I finally met themin real life. It was like we
were best friends by now. Itfelt like we knew each other. Now,
Haley, is it true that youwere first discovered at five when you
(04:14):
went to a photo shoot with afriend. I'm pretty sure that's what Wikipedia
is. It is it is.If that's really the fact, I don't
even know who's riding Wikipedia. Ithink my parents first discovered me when I
was out of the womb. No, I wasn't like discovered at five with
(04:38):
a friend America. I was goingto ask you if you knew where that
friend was. Now, oh mygod, that's hilarious. Now, Steve,
your latest song that you just droppedlast week, and forgive me,
I'm gonna butcher the heck out ofthis. But in Vitama Cafe, Yeah,
(05:00):
I own cafe. It's so thatthat's like a classic iconic song from
the eighties or from like I'm notsure what period of time, but it's
from you know, from the past. And that's an igulars one of her
favorite songs. So when we're inthe studio, when I was working on
the record with her, I waslike, what's like, what's the song
(05:21):
you grew up with? And shestarted singing that one, and then I
heard her voice. I was like, let's let's remake it, you know,
and and then that was born.Well, congratulations on that. But
do you remember the first song youever produced? The Okay, the first
song I ever produced is actually,I would. I don't want to ever.
I'm not gonna say the name becauseI don't want people to listen to
(05:43):
it because it's out there. It'sit's god awful, like it's so bad.
Um. I produced it on reasonin two thousand and two, I
think two thousand and one. Um, and it's, uh, it's under
a different name, and I've gotto drop the name. It's it's it's
actually out there because it's on democIt's on my record label, so I've
(06:06):
released it under my band name.I sing on it, and I produced
the beat, and it's like,I'm like, I gotta take it down
so horrible. You realize I willnot sleep tonight until I find that song.
Now, Haley, your latest songis green Light. Do you remember
(06:29):
the first song you ever wrote?I do, actually, and luckily it
was not released. I wrote asong called Shooting Stars when I was six
six years old on the piano.I still remember it shooting stars up and
sky falling down. It gets reallydeep. It gets really deep, and
(06:54):
I had never experienced love. ButI completed out on the piano. But
that was the first song I everwrote, and it will haunt me and
live with me for the rest ofmy life as well. Meanwhile, I
am like stepping off to Boggins andgetting hit in the face by snow at
six, and you're writing songs atsix? What the heck? Christian?
(07:15):
The latest Galantis song is Bang Bang? What was the first song you ever
wrote, first song that I everwrote. I mean, I'm from I'm
from punk Rocks. It was onethat was like about thirteen, and I
was I was singing and playing aguitar, and a bunch of punk rock
bands put songs like every day,three chord masterpieces. All I'm learning from
(07:44):
this is we need to get Steveand Christians singing on the next song that's
put out. All right now,Christian, speaking of Galantis music, how
was this smash Bang Bang born?Well, it's it's just so funny.
It's like it happens like there's somany times. I think Halien Steve would
(08:07):
recognize this. You worked on abigger piece of music like an album.
For a long time. Everything isplanned out like singles, whatever, and
then the last thing you do,just before you close everything, you wrote
something. Yeah, it's like Ihave like, you know, like an
hour thing and that's the one that'slike comes out. It's always like I
(08:31):
feel bad for the other songs.I'm like this to fare like we've been
waiting two years. Why why isbank bank getting in front of every line?
Right? Yeah, that's what itis. It's so true. We've
talked about this in the past.Christian wasn't it was it peanut butter jelly?
That's sad for ten years? Yeah, you have a good memory.
(08:52):
That is crazy now, Steve,you are on your massive summer hero Quest
tour right now. Now, thatis insane the amount of shows that you
are doing. What is the firstthing you do when you get to a
city that you're playing in. Itry to do a workout, because if
you don't work out right when youget in, it's not gonna happen all
(09:13):
day. It's just it's just likeyou have to get it out of the
way before you eat. Once youeat, like you're not You're not gonna
go to the gym, Like that'sfor sure. Once. I mean,
I'm like, I'm good. I'myou know, do you cold plunge in
(09:35):
every city that you go to orjust when you're home? Yeah? Actually,
like we so I have my team. They tell the hotel, depending
if it's if it's a decent hotel, uh, to get bags of ice
um and have it have it deliveredup to the bathtub that you fly your
own plunge. This is I'm gonnalove these answer. Steve's got the ultimate
(10:00):
rider. No hotels, they totallythey're like they get it. They're like
like, mister yoke, you're here. We got the eyes coming up to
your room right now. I'm like, this is fantastic like that. It's
just I love like having that.Like I'm like, okay, because you
know, it's like when you're athome, you have everything in it,
like in your perfect environment and youcould be like, you know, whatever
(10:24):
you want to be, and thenon the road, like my discipline goes
out the window. So you haveto figure out how to master it at
home and bring it with you onthe road. And um, that's that's
the transition I'm really trying to figureout. So if they don't bring the
ice. You might actually see SteveAoki at the ice machine running back and
forth. Now, Haley, youjust wrap the Panorama tour. What's the
(10:48):
first thing that you do in differentcities? I wish it was working out
now I'm like having to rethink mywhole life. Same well, I I
might life. I mean, theylike Steve's on tour like three fourths of
the year. I only go fora couple of months. But for me,
when I get to a new city, my main thing is finding an
(11:09):
awesome breakfast or brunch spot, sobecause that's like my only time to see
the city before you like eating greetsand stuff, so like breakfast brunch is
like my experience and like safe Havenand I get my macha and I'm a
big foodie, but like Steve said, I eat and then I definitely don't
want to. But I do dancetoo, so I you know, I
(11:31):
get my work out in the show. So it's a nice balance. Christian,
you guys are doing some US showsright now. What's the first thing
that you like to do when youget to a new city that you're playing
in. I don't know, LikeI order room starry setting. This is
Christian, I should have asked youfirst, because this is kind of like,
(11:54):
Steve, you started it way toohigh. Listen, I was backed
at all. It is awesome.Now. Over the weekend, I was
talking to a friend of mine abouthow when I know that I've made it
is when I've got enough money tohire somebody to just clean out my cat's
litter box. That's going to betheir only job. Steve, what is
(12:18):
the first thing that you did whenyou finally made it? What did you
buy something? Big? Oh?God? First? Okay, so I
got out of debt. M Iwas in a sinking hole. I think
twenty eight. I think it waslike twenty seven. It was installed at
twenty eight. So when I firstwhen when I when I finally got enough
(12:39):
money to buy something. I boughtmyself a car. It was a Prius
at the Toyota dealership. I broughta bag of cash. It was like
script for money. Cash. Itwas dirty twenties, tens fives because because
I would get paid in cash,you know, I got two hundred dollars
shows like you know, the barsall over LA. I just dropped it
(13:03):
on the table, all the cashI had, and it was like around
eighteen thousand something dollars and uh andthen the Da Prius was twenty grand and
and the guy's like, I mean, like come on, like what us?
What all this cash? I'm like, this is all the money I
have my piggy bank. I'm droppingyou here. Take your leave it.
This is all you're gonna get becausethat's all I have. And uh and
(13:26):
and the guy took it. SoI drop off with my toy Frius.
I was like, sweet that,I remember that forever christ And what about
you well, I mean I madea deal with Pontus Avaunt I produced with
uh. I was also in MikeSnow that when like if we get when
(13:48):
we get the first cut, right, let's buy something that we always wanted
but never bought, you know,like something stupid, and we like every
cut, we bought most controlled thingsand planes and then a lot of really
expensive stuff to air guns and stuff. That's what every time, Like everything
(14:11):
that I wanted as a kid,I bought when we got a cut.
Heck yeah, absolutely, Hailey.What about you well, I don't know
if I've made it yet. Everyone'sgonna take me to my prius, okay,
and my nerd guns. I'm onmy way. But I do remember
(14:37):
my first like job when I gotlike a check. I had booked this
Cinnamonto's Crunch commercial when I was likeyounger, and Gwen Stefani had these like
lambs sneakers and they were like sparklygold and they were like one hundred dollars
and I remember buying them and Iwas like, I'm rish and I'm nodded
at the Third Street promenade and SantaMonica. I was like, I have
(15:00):
made it like I was in middleschool. So that was like that was
like one memory that I have thatwas like really cool and special. Do
you still have those shoes? Yes? I do. I barely wore them,
like they just kind of sat inthe closet and I just stared at
them as like a trophy or likea prize. You know, that is
amazing. Now finally they're really cool. Finally, in Thinky's first in honor
(15:24):
of Hungry Heart, going number one, what is the first thing that makes
your heart hungry when you guys goout of town to perform? Steve,
what do you miss the most?Well? You know what, like well
before he said what do you missthe most? The first thing I thought
about was my comfort food? Myfavorite like guilty food is um a cinnamon
(15:48):
bunshot is so good. Yeah,like it's like like anything with cinnamon.
Like I like, i'm chios whatever. I'm like, I'm that's because I
think about hungry heart. Like,man, you guys are hijacking this interview.
(16:11):
So what do you actually miss whenyou go out of town? I
mean, like, like I wassaying earlier, like being home is like
vacation for me because I have everythinghere, Like I have all my stuff
that I do. I have awhole routine that I do every day,
and I can't really do all thatstuff. So I mean, and I
should be missing humans, But likeI've really missed the routine. I missed
(16:33):
my mom. I'll say that becausehe lives around the corner. I miss
my family, my sister. Idon't have many kids, I'm not married
or anything like that, but mymom and my sister who's like around the
corner, I always see them allthe time. So I'm gonna say that
because if I say, don't sayhumans, I'm a horrible person. Now,
I totally get it, though,I'm the same way with routines.
When I go out of town.It screws me up because I've got my
(16:56):
routines, but mine is my cats. Like I miss my cast legit the
first second I'm out of town.Hayley, what about you? I think,
I mean, there's just like acomfort of being like still and like
not moving from place to place andliving out of your suitcase. So I
do just like when I get home, like or when I leave, I
just missed like the stillness element ofit. But obviously I do miss like
(17:21):
my girlfriend and my family and myfriends and that kind of thing. Because
like I love like game nights,so I love having people over and just
like playing card games. So likejust having like those moments like at home.
It is nice. But you try, you know, when you're on
tour, you try to FaceTime oryou try to have those connections with you
know, other people, and uh, you know, you make it work.
But don't let Steve guilt you intosaying humans. You didn't have to
(17:44):
say that. I do miss human. I do. Christian, what about
you? What do you miss whenyou're on tour? It's easy. It's
my daughter's Oh I missed the everydaystuff I miss, like uh, you
know, dropping him off at school. And picking them up like those things
I miss. Actually same same withmy cats. They're they're actually an elementary
(18:11):
school right now. I got topick them up. Right when I get
done with this interview, let's talkabout this number one smash, Hungry Heart.
How was this song born? Idon't know who wants to take it?
Where did it start? It's reallystarts with Haley, want starts with
me? Yeah, I mean Iwrote this song. I'm trying to remember.
(18:32):
I think I wrote this song inlike twenty nineteen, wow. And
I wrote the song, and Iremember working with Sean Douglas and Joe Jenniak
and we were trying to figure outthe chorus and the drop and my music
is not really like Dancy and so, but the song was just like lending
for this like massive like drop,and I couldn't fight it. I just
(18:55):
had to let this song like tellme what it needed. And so my
dream was to get you know,very successful producers and DJ's potentially like a
part of it. And I forI forget when we sent that song to
you, Steve, but I rememberjust being like, I forget what year
it was. I think it wastwenty twenty, Yeah, twenty it was
twenty twenty. I sent it tohim, was like, hey, say
(19:18):
something you'd be interested in, andI was very I mean, I'll let
Steve take it over, but Iwas very grateful that, um, they
believed in the song. And thenI think we were going to release it
multiple times, and but you know, it was the pandemic and then there
was just a lot of that kindof happened. And then what was it
last year or this year? Youhead up Christian and then we kind of
finished the whole song together and itfinally took it over the finish line.
(19:41):
Christian was a huge help in makingthis this this whole vision really come to
fruition. Yeah. Yeah, Igot the record, and I was I
was toying with it, and Iwas never really truly happy with my own
(20:03):
production and and I've been dying towork with Christian, Like I'm I know
Christian for a long time, likelike over a decade, and and uh,
we always support each other at allour shows. I'm always like,
God would be so sick to makea song on glance. It's like it
would be like it's just it's likewe're never like there to the point where
(20:26):
we have the idea because you haveto have to have a really strong thing
to work on. And as likeChristian, I got the record for us.
I don't know if you remember that. I was like, I got
it for us, man, You'regonna love this so good. And then
I said, She's like, isHaley gonna be still beyond the record?
It was so important the prison thatHaley was still on the record, like
(20:48):
the hook is there. I belike, but it's Haley gonna be on
him? Like, yes, sheis. She's gonna be on the record.
So I'm so happy that Christian reallywanted Haley on the song and loved
the idea. And I was like, this is a match being he because
we all want to work together.And I reached out to Haley and then
she's like, oh my god,Glanches, I love them. Yeah,
(21:11):
like and so it was that wewere trying to find that the drop balance
and me and Christian went back andforth. No, I mean, I
fell in love with the song thefirst time I heard it, but this
one was it was hard for mebecause I liked the song so much.
You know this, Steve, Isent you so many versions and I was
(21:32):
never like satisfied with what I didfor the songs. I kept on working.
I kept on working like seriously,and I I love that I didn't
give up because you didn't give upeither. Usually after like that, many
like, oh something is just notI'm not, you know, doing this
(21:55):
one, But uh yeah, no, I was stoked about working with with
both you guys, so I reallywanted to happen. I love the song
and I think it was a greatidea that Steve had to bring it to
a house tempo and uh yeah,so was it imaginally slower? Oh yeah,
I mean the original the original songbefore I sent it to Steve,
(22:18):
it was it was it was justmore it was more of a vocoder thing,
and it was just kind of moreempty. But it lent for this
massive hook that I knew that Steveand then and Christian was able to finally
bring the song to Fruition. Andit's so crazy because I I'm so grateful
for Christian too, because I UMike Snow. I got to open for
(22:41):
Mike Snow years ago, and youguys were one of the first artists to
bring me on tour and was ableto be able to be a supporting act,
which I was extremely grateful for andobviously I've been a massive fan of
Steve for very long time. Soall of this is just so beautiful and
wonderful that we were able to cometogether and we all come from very different
worlds and spaces to be able tomake this record happen. Well, hopefully
(23:03):
that makes you feel a little betterknowing that Steve said that he couldn't finish
it up, and even Christian waslike, I just can't finish I mean,
you all had the same problem withit. It's so incredible that it
turned out you knew it was cool, Like you knew it and I knew
it, and so it's just it'sjust really cool because this is this is
(23:25):
a mass of honor and dream thatthis song, you know, because you
write, we write so many songs, so you do so many songs and
so many records and they can beso great and then you just can't quite
get it to the finish line becausethere's something missing or there's something that's not
right, and then it just kindof gets pushed to the back burner.
And so for it to be ableto go through it, to go through
(23:47):
the pandemic, to go through notreleasing it, not releasing and then finally
releasing it at this moment um intwenty twenty three. It's just it's just
amazing. It needed all of usto make this happen, and I think
that's it's so beautiful about it.Just we all come from different worlds and
you know we were able to likego, okay, we we we feel
(24:07):
the magic in this one. Andthat's the great thing about this idea.
It's like, once I heard itdoesn't matter if it's from twenty twenty,
it could have been from like tenyears ago. It doesn't matter because the
hook is so powerful, the lyricsare amazing, It's song really well.
Just now we have the main,the main thing that has to be really
really good. And since we havethat and we're able to get it to
(24:30):
the finish line, well, nexttime you guys all hit a wall,
feel free to reach out to me. I will be glad to help you
out. Something that I love tofind out that you guys are touching on
here is how many different versions thereare of a song, from when you
start working on it, tweaking itthrough the entire process to when it's finally
released. Haley from the songwriting aspectof it were there are different versions.
(24:55):
When you were writing it, actually, this song just kind of like you
know, some songs, you rewritelyrics, you rewrite melodies, and this
song, I mean it just camevery easily. I mean we wrote it
in a couple of hours and Ididn't really tweak it. The thing that
was the hardest thing to crack wasthat that post hook was that drop was
where where it leaves you after hungryHeart and where it takes you from there
(25:19):
was like the most challenging part ofit. And for me, I was
like, I am not capable offilling this hole, Like this hole needs
to be done by a professional inanother field, in another musical world that
I can't I can't bring. Soand then Steve, when it got to
you, how many versions did yougo through before you sent it to Christian?
I mean it was living so likeI mean, the matter versions I
(25:47):
have, it's got to be likefive five different versions and they are all
different tempos. Wow, Like yeah, because like I think, originally because
the song is song, it likeeither like a seventy bpm or or like
a seventy five or something like that, but like I like made it more
of a one forty one forty fivebpm thing, and I'm like, this
(26:10):
has got to be more on thehouse tempo, Like, can't we drop
it to one twenty eight? Youknow, because if you dropped to one
twenty eighth, then it's it's gonnahave a whole different vibe. You know.
It's like the halftime drop all thissort of stuff, and it just
it's like it was there, butI'm like, it's it needs needs to
be amazing, you know, Andand then like passed over to Christian.
(26:32):
I'm like, Christian, please doyour magic to this thing. You know,
like, let's let's get to onetwenty eight with this baby, you
know, like Christian, no pressure, but you're amazing. How many versions
were they're on your end? Ohyeah, I gotta say that this is
probably one of the ones that Ihave the most versions of them. And
I actually really really liked the versionthat Steve sent me, and then you
(26:57):
sent me another one that good.I was like, but all the pressure
on me is like, oh,I'll have to beat two versions, but
uh yeah, I kept on.I don't know, I kept so many
different drops on this one, andI kept sending to Steve and he was
like oh, I like this,and then I was like, what is
(27:18):
it good enough? Though? Like, yeah, I guess wanted to keep
going U. So yeah, Hayley, did you have any idea all this
was going on. I didn't knowthere were that many versions. I mean,
I know, I know Steve andI went back back and forth a
couple of times, um, andyou know, in the initial beginnings and
then and then for me with Christian, it was just like, you know,
(27:40):
like we got glances on this,like check this out, and I
was like, holy, this isamazing. So I luckily was spared the
five to ten versions pounding his headon um and uh. But yeah,
I mean it all worked out,and I mean people love the record and
it's it's really amazing. We allsaw the potential of the hook and the
(28:03):
vision, and we all challenge eachother to do the best we could possibly
do. And it's always really funto have a record like that because you
know, we all do a lotof music and so to have something special
to stand out like that's really cool. Well I'm so number one. Yes,
I'm so glad you guys gotta overthe finished line Steve Aoki Christian from
(28:25):
Galantes, Hayley Kioko, congratulations onyour number one. Thank you guys so
much for your time on America's Dancethirty. Thank you guys so much.
Let's go America's Dance thirty, countingdown the biggest dance songs in the country.
America's Dance thirty
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