Don't knock 'em

This Friday at Cloister marks the third incarnation of RyGroove, a benefit concert organized by Josh Miller '12. Performing that night are three up-and-coming artists who are on their way to making major waves in the music world: Princeton's own MashMaticians, The Knocks and The White Panda. We got a chance to sit down with The Knocks - a production duo from New York, who have worked with artists including Sky Ferreira and Ellie Goulding - and talk with them about their transformation from producers to independent artists.

Q You guys have been together as The Knocks for a few years now, doing remixes, production for other artists and original tunes as well. How did the whole project begin?

A It started when Mr. JPatt and I were roommates and made hip-hop beats. We had gotten introduced to each other through a mutual friend after we had both just moved to New York City, and at first we were still doing our own thing in our own separate bedrooms, working on our own separate things. Eventually, though, we started going into each others' rooms and making stuff together and it just became The Knocks. We got the name because whenever we would play music or work on music, our neighbors used to knock on the walls.

Q When did things start to click?

A The thing that really brought us together was when we started working with [then-unsigned artist] Samuel. It was just a really great mix: Mr. JPatt comes from more of soul and R&B background, while I do more sample-based stuff. When we started working with Sam, everything came together, and it became our artist and our project.

Q In addition to being producers and artists, you also own and operate your own studio, Heavy Roc Music. How did that come about?

A [The studio at] Heavy Roc was a big shot in the dark. It was expensive - we would rent it out to other people to help keep it open - and it could have just ended up going broke. But Sam started doing well and we started doing well there as The Knocks, and Heavy Roc became the brand. It's really helped a lot because it gave us a place for us to create and it helped legitimize us.

Q Initially, The Knocks were known more as a production team than as a live act. How did you transition from producing for other artists to becoming your own independent group?

A After Sam got signed [to Columbia Records] we started being asked for more remixes and we started getting put in the studio with more artists. Additionally, we also worked on Sam's album for about a year. Once we finished that, we felt like we gained a lot of experience and that we were ready to go on our own. We got a great manager and we wanted to take the artist thing seriously. We put out "Can't Shake Your Love," and it got to No. 1 on The Hype Machine without us really doing any promotion or pushing it in anyway. After that, we thought, "Whoa, we can do our own shit."

Q What's next for The Knocks?

A We're going to be taking the live show on the road. We've been working on it for a while and have a lot of great gigs lined up, so we're excited about that. From a musical standpoint, next up for us is really working on our album. It's going to be kind of like a "producer album" with a lot of features - sort of like what Timbaland does. We just finished a track with Jack Penate, so things are definitely looking good.

Interview conducted, condensed and edited by Kiran Gollakota.