Q&A: JUMP SMOKERS Spill the Details on Their New MARIAH CAREY ‘Memoirs’ Remix Album, much more

Originally published July 21, 2009 – Couple things to note: The Mariah remix album ended up being shelved by Island/Def Jam. And their album that came out last year ended up being called ‘Kings of the Dancefloor’ not ‘Electro-Pop.’

The hottest (in my humble opinion) new remixers/producers, the Jump Smokers, are on a major roll – and they’re just getting started. The Chicago-based group, aka Roman, Reydon, V-Skratch and Johnny Digital, first made a splash on the scene with their track ‘My Flow So Tight (Anti Breezy)‘ otherwise known as the ‘Chris Brown should get his ass kicked’ song, and it’s been full speed ahead since.

Roman of the Jump Smokers (pictured to the right, over there) was kind enough to take the time to talk with Muzo about all the details about their remix album for Mariah Carey‘s ‘Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel,’ their own major-label debut album ‘Electro-Pop,’ due out in March on Ultra Records, their vid/single (and future work) with Pitbull and Honerabel, advice for newbies breaking in the Biz – and of course, what a dude should do in the sack.

And who knew that Chris Brown beating up Rihanna would jumpstart a dance revolution for the 2-10s.

*****JUST IN: The MariahDailyJournal featured portions of this interview along with some other great Qs of their own, like if she will be re-singing the mixes and more – click here to check it out.*****

Lets get to it…

Muzo: Congrats on working with Mariah for the ‘Memoirs’ remix album, how did you get involved with that project?

Roman: Our manager is very close with Mariah’s camp, so they gave us a shot at remixing her ‘Obsessed‘ single. That remix just took off like crazy & not only was it included on her actual ‘Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel’ CD, but it also got us hired to remix her 2nd single ‘H.A.T.E.U.‘ The feedback on that remix has been absolutely unreal, which has led to us landing this entire remix album!

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Muzo: Are you guys remixing the entire album or just a few of the tracks?

Roman: The Mariah Carey Vs. Jump Smokers Remix Album will feature 12 tracks off ‘Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel.’ (Obviously ‘Obsessed’ & ‘H.A.T.E.U.’ are 2 of them.)

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Muzo: I’m a huge Mariah fan (especially her remixes!), so I’m really looking forward to what you guys do. Any hints?

Roman: Our one & only mission with this remix album is to turn ‘Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel’ into a KILLER dance record!!!

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Muzo: Album is due out early 2010, have you guys already started working on it?

Roman: Yup yup…we’re actually in the studio right now finishing up ‘Candy Bling’ and then we’re gonna move on to ‘Ribbon’  (Muzo’s favorite track off ‘Memoirs’!)

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Muzo: What all goes into that? Do her people give you an idea of what they want or do they just say, ‘Do with Mariah as you wish!’ (Hot…)

Roman: Probably the biggest compliment that we’ve gotten so far as this group is the label told us that they don’t want dance remixes, they don’t want hip-hop remixes….they want JUMP SMOKERS remixes!!!

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Muzo: Favorite song off ‘Memoirs’?

Roman: Well according to Roman, it’s DEFINITELY ‘Angels Cry,’ but we’re still lovin’ our ‘H.A.T.E.U.’ remix!!

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Muzo: How did you guys first hookup as a group and decide to work together?

Roman: Not gonna lie, it started out as a side project…our first single was called ‘My Flow So Tight (Anti-Breezy),’  which is also known as the ‘Chris Brown should get his ass kicked’ song lol That song blew up WAY bigger than any of us ever imagined & next thing we know, we signed a record deal with the biggest dance label in the world & are remixing songs for legends like Mariah Carey!!!

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Muzo: Plus, your major label album debut is set for 2010, too – details!

Roman: We are SO excited for our debut album ‘Electro-Pop,’ which will be out in March of 2010…the list of artists that are gonna be featured on it are insane, don’t really know how we managed to get all that star power for our first album, but we’re NOT complaining about it!!!!  Ps…there will be some kind of Mariah Carey presence on it even if it is one of these remixes lol

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Muzo: And you dudes are from Chicago – I was born there, and my family lives out in the burbs. Aside from Portillo’s and Gino’s, if someone’s never been to Chicago, what do you recommend they check out?

Roman: Honestly, if you only had a few minutes to go to ONE spot to eat in Chicago…it’s all about Portillo’s!!!

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Muzo: I feel like your track with Honorebel and Pitbill ‘Now You See It‘ is everywhere. Pitbull, as you may or may not know, is very popular with the gays (he fine!), what was it like working with him and Honorebel?

Roman: Wow…we were not aware of that lol  Pitbull is SOOOOOOO frickin’ dope & he’s a big fan of our Jump Smokers sound!!!  We were actually just with him on Saturday at the B96 Jingle Bash & we can’t say enough about that guy…not only is he an amazing performer but he’s one of the most down-to-earth guys in the world!!!  We’ve only met Honorebel once (at the “Now You See It” video shoot) but he’s a cool dude too…LOVE his flow…

We actually worked with both him & Pitbull again on a song called ‘I Wanna,’ which should be coming out soon.

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Muzo: Where’s the name Jump Smokers come from?

Roman: It actually means nothing…it all kinda happened by mistake.  We were all brainstorming group names when somebody shouted out ‘Smoke Jumpers’ cuz we are all obsessed with the TV show ‘Entourage’ (for those that don’t know, Smoke Jumpers was the name of the movie that the lead character Vinny Chase was filming a few seasons ago).

So for a few weeks we actually called ourselves Smoke Jumpers…but then when ‘My Flow So Tight (Anti-Breezy)’ blew up on radio nationwide, we quickly found out that somebody else owned that name!!!  (Rookie mistake lol)  We had to change the name very quickly but still wanted to capitalize on all the publicity & airplay we had received, so we just switched the name over to Jump Smokers which again, means absolutely nothing

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Muzo: Your all-time favorite album?

Roman: I’m gonna have to say Michael Jackson ‘Thriller…there will NEVER be another MJ!!!

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Muzo: Remixers/DJs/producers you admire?

Roman: Reydon has been inspired by Justice, Timbaland, Dave Aude & The Swedish House Mafia.

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Muzo: Celebrity crush?

Roman: Jessica Alba will always have my heart…

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Muzo: Top 5 most played songs on your iPod?

Roman: Mariah Carey ‘H.A.T.E.U.’ Jump Smokers Remix

Honorebel feat. Pitbull & Jump Smokers ‘Now You See It’

Jump Smokers ‘Faded’

Jump Smokers ‘Rock It Like It’s Spring Break’

Rihanna ‘Russian Roulette’ Jump Smokers Remix

hahahahaha

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Muzo: What’s someone gotta do to get naked witchu?

Roman: Ummmmmmmm…wow….this is a pretty blunt site huh??? lol

Muzo Note: Well?? lol

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Muzo: Complete the sentence: ‘On a date, the guy should…’

Roman: ALWAYS open the car door…no matter how many dates deep it is…

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Muzo: Complete the sentence: ‘In bed, the guy should…’

Roman: ALWAYS use a condom…no matter how many dates deep it is hahaha

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Muzo: Advice for newbies who wanna get into remixing/producing?

Roman: Find your own sound and then stick with it…remember that you can’t please everybody.

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Muzo: What’s next for the Jump Smokers?

Roman: We are currently in studio lockdown, cuz both our debut album ‘Electro-Pop’ & this Mariah Carey vs. Jump Smokers remix album are due by the end of the year…the pressure’s on!!!!