Dragonette - "Pick Up The Phone" Daisy O'Dell Remix (Download)

You may know Daisy O’Dell as one of the celeb favorite DJs, who Roxy recently selected to be the face of their new headphones. We talked to Daisy about what she likes to do outside of music that inspires her, what’s going into her new Roxy mix and the first talk about releasing her original work. Oh, and she's playing The Hideout tonight!

Boy Kings: So, where are you right now?

Daisy O’Dell: I’m in Los Angeles, which is home base for me. I’m here until Saturday and then I’m off to New York to play some shows, and then Toronto, back to LA and then toward you in Chicago.

BK: How did you get into music and get into DJing?

Daisy O’Dell: I was into music at a very young age. I think I always sang [laughs], from the time I could talk. I took classes, I was in musicals, I loved it, loved it loved it. I played double bass, viola and steel drums when I was a kid. I went to a performance arts high school, so music was always a huge thing for me. I feel like early on I loved singing but I didn’t necessarily want to be a singer. And it was through singing that I got in touch with DJ culture, and that snowballed into this awesome thing, where I realized I could produce music and sing on it sometimes and not others. And incorporate all my favorite bands. Collecting records has been something I’ve done since my early teens. It started at yard sales. My grade school would have this big yard sale and that’s where I would get all these good records. I’ve always been obsessed with the 70’s. I always go through different genre fads.

BK: What genre phase would you say that you’re in right now?

Daisy O’Dell: That’s tough. Right now…literally, right now…today I’m making a mix for Roxy. They along with JBL, sponsor me and we came out with an awesome line of headphones. They sound great and they look really cool. For long headphones wearn’t interesting. They were practical and got the job done. These get the job done and they get to be in bright colors which I love.

BK: Word is you DJ a lot of “hot” celebrity parties—for lack of a better word. How did you become the go-to DJ for celebrity parties?

Daisy O’Dell: That’s funny. The thing is I live in LA and there are events here all the time. Every week there are premiers, and openings and birthdays. And in this town it happens to be a lot of celebrities. There’s a lot of DJs and a lot of events and I think I just happened to luck into it at the right time. And as DJs know if you perform and do a good job and people see you, they will ask you to do their event. I lucked into that scene, which I guess is a pretty cool and exclusive scene but I can’t really talk about it, as I won’t be able to do those events any more. But you know, people are people and they dance and go crazy. I’ve gotten to DJ for Prince on his birthday—that was amazing—and I’ve been able to play for some of my favorite actors. I’ve been really fortunate.

BK: You’ve been in Chicago a lot lately. What brings you around here so often?

Daisy O’Dell: Well, this summer I came to Chicago on my way back from Europe. I played a bunch of festivals in Europe and I came home through Chicago for Lollapalooza. I did a bunch of after parties there for Hard Rock and for ASICS. And that was really cool, it was my first time at Lollapalooza. I love festivals. I’ve been fortunate enough to play some. And it’s great, you get to wander around and check out all these other acts. I’m such a music fan, first and foremost. I’ll geek out. I’ve played with some incredible people. When I was in Chicago I played with Passion Pit and Brazilian Girls. I play with all these people, but I still get a kick out of it. Like, I’ll play my set and then sit and watch.

BK: To change gears a little, what remixes are you working on these days?

Daisy O’Dell: I have a few that are coming out and I’m not sure what I’m allowed to talk about. Health came out last week. I did a remix for them. I have a single coming out with Dragonette. and obviously I worked with Cut Copy. I toured them and did a remix of “Hearts on Fire”. I’m really a fan of post-punk disco. So, everything I do is danceable but it’s not aggressive. It’s an acquired taste I guess [laughs]. From a dance point. If you’re into it, you’re into it. But I like my songs to be melody driven and musical, and a lot of percussion elements from the 70’s—the cowbells the hand claps. And I’ll sing on a lot of them.

BK: DJing must seem easy after learning so many instruments.

Daisy O’Dell: I’m not particularly good at any of them. I’m one of those people where I love sounds and I’ll have a keyboard and I’ll play on it, but I’m not classically trained. One of the producers I’ve actually been working with…From the Hydro Twins. Those guys are so talented, Mathew and Iread.

BK: What are your thoughts of the growing trend in remixes outshining the original? Take Kid Cudi, for example, and the start of his career.

Daisy O’Dell: I’m not going to disagree with that. That’s pretty universal that people think that that remix launched the song and that in turn launched the artist. And he’s doing really well now. So, in my opinion, how could that be a bad thing? If it’s exposing you as an artist to the world I think that’s fantastic. Remixes are interesting…songs are broken down into their elements and then put back together. Or not put back together at all and just retain the melody, the vocal sound and then build around that. For instance Tommy Sunshine and I did the same song and we did totally different versions of it. And both of ours are completely different from the original. Some people might like one more than the other, but it’s subjective to taste and opinion. I think it’s really cool that you can take the same core elements and make three different ways. A lot of hard work goes into remixes but then they also shouldn’t be taken too seriously because it should be fun.

BK: Do you think remixes will take over eventually?

Daisy O’Dell: Not necessarily. I think everything has its place. Each and every piece of music should be looked at away from one another. I think that as the technology becomes more accessible. More people are going to download inexpensive programs that allow them to create, but it still takes a level of skill and talent and natural instinct to be successful. But I don’t think it will take over because people will always want to create original music.

BK: So when you’re not working on music, what kind of stuff to you do to get away?

Daisy O’Dell: Fun? I work all the time. I do a lot of work in the community and do a lot of work around here. But it’s so nice that I get to make my own schedule, but I think you have to be incredibly focused to get yourself up and make yourself work. And the rest of my time scouting music, talking about music, reading music.

BK: So what’s some of the music going into your Roxy mix?

Daisy O’Dell: Well, Chicago’s own Moneypenny. It’s a cross section of a lot of my favorite bands right now. Fool’s Gold, Simian Mobile Disco, a Horrors remix of “Heartbreak,” that awesome Holy Ghost song I’m forgetting and the list goes on.

BK: What haven’t you done as an artist that you’re chomping at the bit to accomplish?

Daisy O’Dell: I’ve never DJed in Japan. I’ve always wanted to go to Tokyo. And I think it’s coming, possibly early next year. And I’ve been really lucky to play with a lot of my idols. I got to play with Lou Reed, which was amazing.

BK: So when are we going to see a solo album or EP?

Daisy O’Dell: There is some original music floating around. And you will be hearing it at some point. When I’m ready to put it into the world. I have a bunch of shows all over the country that you can check out Daisyodell.com for all that information and when I’m allowed to put the original stuff out you’ll see it there. The work is done, it’s just a matter now of getting firm dates for releases.

You can check out Daisy O’Dell tonight (Saturday, October 17th,) for Life During Wartime at the Hideout (1354 W. Wabansia).