Vermont-native Morgan Page has been active on the dance music scene for nearly a decade, consistently delivering bold, unique vocals with every track and playing stages from Coachella, Electric Daisy Carnival, Electric Zoo and Ultra to New City Gas, Avalon Hollywood and THE LIGHT Vegas. Having explored electronic music, DJing and interning at record labels since a young age, Morgan Page and his expertise of the scene contain both breadth and depth.
The two-time Grammy nominee recently put out his third release on Armada Music, "Fight My Way," a contagious track that balances clean vocals from Moses Keenan with power synths. We sat down with Morgan before his set at Marquee NYC to find the inside-scoop on his creative process, passion for technology and thoughts on the EDM bubble.
Welcome back to NYC! Anywhere on tour you’re particularly excited for?
New York is always a good time because the crowds come out. I’m playing a couple random festivals this year so it’ll be a nice, crazy summer. It’s always fun to do daylight shows in Vegas as well.
You seem to be a big foodie...favorite eats?
We did two David Chang restaurants this trip - Momofuku Noodle Bar and Momofuku Nishi.
Lots of new music coming out! Where would you say you’re headed with your sound?
It’s all over the place, experimenting with anything that’s not just the usual 128 bpm. The new single, “Fight My Way” is more typical Morgan Page sound, but "Other Girl" is slower, more tropical. It’s gonna be all over the map, but still strong vocals. I think that’s what I do best -- create timeless vocals that will last and have that framework that I can breakdown into a banger mix as well as have a more mellow mix. Strip it down to acoustic so I can play piano and guitar.
You’re always venturing into different territories with your music. Have you faced any difficulties with staying fresh and diverse?
There’s always challenges in term of making sure it translates. If you’re doing slower stuff, how is that gonna work live? That’s been the big challenge now. Now the set is more of this rollercoaster where in the breakdown I’ll drop the tempo down from 128 to like 100/110 to get to those slower moments and then build the energy back up. That makes DJing more challenging and I have to do special edits for that.
In terms of the tricky part with production, it’s making sure it’s unique, but familiar. That's always the hard part in the studio. There’s a lot of songs where I love it...I think every song is gonna be a hit, but you never know how it’s gonna be received. You do your best, you check with people and embrace collaboration, hope for the best and push it as hard as you can.
How do you go about choosing who you collaborate with?
People who have complementary skills. Not so much who is hot at the moment. You always wanna catch guys, like when I hired deadmau5 to remix "The Longest Road", he was at this arc in his career when people didn’t really know who he was yet and he was still affordable. [Laughs]
It’s harder sometimes if you’re trying to like, do a song with Adele. We actually were talking to her and she got back to us...I mean there was never actually a possibility of a song, but you never know what will happen when you reach out to people. You always hope that there’s gonna be mutual fans. It’s easier to work with the newer names and the up-and-coming people and just stay ahead of the curve.
How do you discover new music?
I have a music assistant who helps me filter through everything. We get so many submissions for our radio show on SiriusXM. There’s always different outlets, whether it’s manual submissions by people I trust or if they come in directly or I see guys who I hear about or I hear someone play something.
It’s different now...it was easier with Beatport Top 10, but now that’s not so relevant for what I play. I like 1001tracklists as a resource. Pioneer has Kuvo and that hasn’t really taken off yet, but I think it will change and become a real-time resource.
Do you prefer getting recommendations or finding your own music?
It’s fun for both. The trusted sources, where I know the label and I trust what they’re sending it - l like that. I like the thrill of finding that undiscovered gem too.
Between producing, doing radio/podcasts and playing live, which is your favorite?
The studio is one of the best feelings, where the song is just magic and you get goosebumps. When you don’t want to leave and 3 hours feels like 20 minutes. That’s the best. I really like playing live -- that’s instant gratification. The hardest part is making the song and also the most rewarding.
What are your preferred venues to play?
It’s more about location and crowd energy. Festivals are fun, but you really gotta make something happen in an hour. My favorite length set to play is 1 ½ hours.
You knew from a young age that you liked music and dance music, how did that come about and what motivated you to take action like you did?
It’s funny now because I’ve been thinking about it a lot. What was the trigger? If you look back, it’s easier to find that passion than you think because it’s sort of staring you in the face. I was attracted to technology and music when I was 10-12 years old and I just felt it in my blood. I’d pick up an instrument -it was the first time I’d touched a synthesizer- and it was just magic. When I found out you could actually DJ for a living, I thought it was impossible. I still think it’s crazy. It’s really weird; you’re born to do something. If you focus on what excited you as a kid, it opens a lot of doors.
You really had a clear vision of what you wanted.
Yeah. There was definitely a lot less exposure to different types of music where I grew up, on the edge of farms and suburbs. There weren’t blogs or streaming music, so that wasn’t really a viable career option. I didn’t have any friends who did it for a living. I think going to school in Boston and then taking internships at record labels in the summer gave me perspective.
Congrats on signing last year to Armada. Has anything changed since joining the Armada family?
It’s still so new, we’ve done ~3 or 4 singles. It’s great because they’re a specialist at dance music and the network is really good. It’s a whole new approach now with streaming; we’re doing a new single every month and following up with a remix pack and I think this new technique is working well.
The big change is that I’m not spending two years working on an album and putting it out a year later. By spreading it out, I think it reaches new ears.
So you’re big on environment and technology. Are you think of incorporating more tech in future projects?
I want to get back to that, but it’s so expensive. We may bring it back.
What’s the coolest new tech you’ve tried?
Room-scale virtual reality. Where you totally forget where you are. I’m designing a room in my house where it’s gonna have all the technology for the studio and then get everything out of the way to get VR space.
What was the coolest thing you saw in the oculus?
There’s this DJ thing called The Wave which is really cool. Tilt Brush is amazing and Vanishing Realm. I’m not a huge gamer, but some of these games where you’re using your natural movements to block attacks get pretty intense.
Do you think EDM will really take music/user experiences to the next level with tech?
I hope so, if you look at podcasts they’re mostly electronic and people gravitate towards that and use technology as a vehicle to spread the music. There are certain genres…like indie does well with spotify, hip hop is less tech-focused. I think there’s gonna be that next phase on what’s gonna keep EDM healthy since there’s a lot of competition from hip hop that’s shifting the focus a bit.
What are your thoughts on the EDM bubble?
I don’t think it’s ever gonna burst. As opposed to a puncture wound, I think there’s been a correction...fees have changed for DJs. It was too easy for a lot of people, they would just show up and put their hands in the air. But you need to back it up with ticket sales and big songs...it’s a lot of work.
What has been your favorite memory so far this year?
Just plugging away everyday at the studio and seeing the reaction from fans. I don’t know if it’s a single event, but yeah.
Can you tell us 3 artists who you’ve been digging for the past week?
On the pop side, I’m gonna do a bootleg of Julia Michael’s "Issues" which I love. I think Dash Berlin has been really consistent lately and Yellow Claw.
Morgan Page Tour Dates:
6/23 – New York, NY – Marquee
6/24 – Houston, TX – Stereo Live
6/30 – Boston, MA – Royale
7/1 – Las Vegas, NV – DAYLIGHT
7/14 – Columbus, OH – Dahlia
7/15 – Atlanta, GA – Goldroom
7/29 – Stockton, CA – Bump Festival
8/12-13 – Baltimore, MD – Moonrise (Pimlico Race Course)
8/25 – Denver, CO – The Church
8/26 – Albuquerque, NM – The Stage
9/1 – Atlantic City, NJ – Premier
9/2 – Tijuana, MX – Darkwoods Dream Festival
9/29 – Sunnyvale, CA – Pure
9/30 – Las Vegas, NV – DAYLIGHT
10/20 – Philadelphia, PA – Rumor
10/21 – New York, NY – Lavo
12/1 – Austin, TX – Kingdom
12/2 – Atlantic City, NJ – Premier
