It seems like only yesterday — three years, actually — when emerging UK house duo Waze & Odyssey embarked on their first DJ pilgrimage to North America. Serge Santiago and Firas Waez had only been working together since 2011 but their career was taking off. It all started when they began anonymously posting tracks on SoundCloud. Before they knew it they had gone from veritable unknowns to remixing Disclosure, T.E.E.D and Compuphonic and playing top clubs such as Fabric and Panorama Bar.
Drawing on a wealth of influences, they issued edgy tracks for US labels including Throne of Blood and Let’s Play House as well as Kerri Chandler’s MadTech and Berlin imprint Dirt Crew Recordings while curating hot joints on their W&O Street Tracks. Then came their top 3 hit in the UK in 2014 in the form of their party perfect remix of R. Kelly’s “Bump n’ Grind” and the duo’s profile has blown up internationally.
In March the twosome once again descended upon America, albeit ever so briefly, hitting up Bardot and the Street Tracks Showcase in Miami, Beyond Wonderland in San Bernardino, California and Love + Propaganda in San Francisco. With their latest release “Go Go Go/We Go Home” for Dirt Crew, and upcoming Ride My Truck EP dropping April 29 on VIVa MUSiC, buzzing loudly during Winter Music Conference, here’s their account of five whirlwind days in the States that was full of what’s most important in life — quality music, yummy food and good people.
We kickstarted the tour in Miami for Winter Music Conference. We settled into things with with some sashimi and sushi with these two mad heads.
Met a lizard. He was just hanging out poolside doing his thing.
The best thing about Miami was loads of the mates being there. As well as checking out some of the parties, there’s also the all important party preparation. Lining the stomach pre-game is about as integral as polishing your boots. Here’s Alfie firing up the cylinders with a Pisco Sour.
San Francisco was hella fun. Managed to get out and about the day after our gig and go for a walk around. It will also be remembered as the city that introduced us to Fried Chicken Eggs Benedict.
Big fun in LA. We had a chilled day with our friend Cooper in Downtown LA. He was the first person to ever book us in Los Angeles, and his parties are the best. He now runs the Faraway parties with Sage Caswell and Jen Ferrer. Lovely people with an amazing party on their hands — they always manage to get really interesting locations and rock out some wicked guests.
Now we know it’s not all about that backstage life, but the setting at Beyond Wonderland Festival was pretty special. We had a blast at the festival. We DJ’ed after Patrick Topping and before KiNK. Armand Van Helden was on the stage too which was pretty mad as obviously he’s a bit of a don.
Needless to say we enjoyed a few beers and soaked it up. Patrick played a mighty fine set and it was the first time we’ve managed to catch him to DJ. Top lad to boot.
Here’s a blurry one of us DJing at Beyond Wonderland. We ended up playing for two and a half hours just before KiNK’s live set. Loved it!
We hit the Red Bull Studios in Los Angeles with our friend Taylor (Urulu). He’s a great producer and DJ from California, currently residing in Berlin. We just messed around and got our jam on to take away with us to work on in the coming months.
We ate some great tacos in Echo Park. There’s a place called Guisados that a friend took us to once and we were staying nearby — the food is pretty amazing.
Coffee with Kim Ann Foxman in Brooklyn. Kim’s such a top girl. We’ve played loads of gigs with Kim so have ended up being friends. One of our favorite DJs.
Went out to watch Butch DJ. He was playing with Kenny Dope at Flash Factory Wicked to check his set. He’s still rocking it out and hasn’t lost his vibe one bit. Was amazing to see people like Todd Terry and Dennis Ferrer come down to check it out. Proper NY.
We met Julia when we DJ’ed with her in NYC last summer. We bumped into each other at the gig the night before — she got the intel on the good coffee in East Village and showed us the area. For the record, if you’re over there check out Abraço. It’s really good.
