Sirus Hood Talks Booty House in iEDM Exclusive Interview

It's two weeks post Elements and yes, I'm still experiencing major withdrawals. I mean, with a stellar lineup and unique festival setup like theirs, it'd be hard not to miss that.

During my time of frolicking and prancing around in the Brooklyn sun while getting down to some funky beats, I got the chance to sit down and chat with the hilarious and humble Sirus Hood.

Following releases on Amine Edge & Dance's label CUFF, as well as on Dirtybird, Sirus knows how to serve up the best G-house around and make a crowd shake their booties to his "booty house."

-Photo Credit: Anthony Kane-

iEDM: Hey Sirus! Thanks so much for sitting down with me and hanging. You excited to close out the Water Stage?

Sirus: Yes, I am so excited! It was always the kind of place that I was dreaming to play; summertime, people enjoying, sunglasses everywhere. It's super cool.

iEDM: Awesome, what do you do to prepare for a set to ease any nervousness?

Sirus: Most of the time for regular gigs, I'm not nervous. But this one is very special for me, and although I'm very excited to close, I'm also very nervous. So what I do is spray water on my face when it's warm because this saved my life. I hang with my friends in a very calm area a few hours before, kind of like meditation, you know?

iEDM: How'd you come up with the name Sirus Hood?

Sirus: Ooo interesting. Well 4 years ago, I was in Ibiza and I was looking for myself. I was in an apartment in front of the sea and I heard the name Sirus in my head, I don't know why and I don't know how it came to me, but I heard it. Then, I was looking for a last name. I don't remember how I found hood, but I know it was a combination between the ghetto style that I love and that inspires me, and the hood that you can wear, which was in the same mood that I was going for- that dark, underground image that I wanted to have.

Sirus' Girlfriend Manda: He used to play with a hood!

iEDM: You're not bringing the hood out for today's set?

Sirus: Nope not today, it's too warm.

iEDM: Tell me about the creative process you have when making a track.

Sirus: It's always different. What I always love to have is new Analog toys in the studio, so I'm always looking for new toys like new drum machines, new synthesizers, and I just play around with them without thinking that I have to make a track. And when I feel like it's interesting, I just click record and I start to record what I'm doing. If I'm really enjoying it and it feels fun, then I try it out at a club and see if people like it. If it works, I release it.

-Photo Credit: Anthony Kane-

iEDM: So you have G-House influences but you wanna push the limits for the whole "booty house" movement. What exactly is booty house to you?

Sirus: In the 90s, there were some artists and a specific label called "Dance Mania" and they made music called ghetto house, and booty house is the same thing, because you shake your booty to it! It's a groovy sound that's also very ghetto and funny too. So pushing the limit is giving the sound an update, you know? The sounds are still working, but not always and not everywhere, so I give them my own personal thing, like a part of my soul.

iEDM: I feel that! Do you have any new releases coming out either on Dirtybird or CUFF?

Sirus: Yes! I have a lot of tracks coming, but I can't talk about them at the moment. We're signing all the contracts right now and before everything is done, we can't talk about them. But this year, for me, is an exciting year and I'll actually be trying some of the tracks tonight.

iEDM: So you collabed with Ardalan on "Paris To SF." What was it like making that track and working with him? Because to be totally honest, it's one of my favorite tracks of all time.

Sirus: Really!

iEDM: For sure, 100%!

Sirus: I was playing in SF with Amine Edge & Dance and I stayed at Justin Martin and Ardalan's place. They invited me and they were so nice, I love them! We wanted to make a track together, so we stayed two days in the studio together. I'll be honest, we started this bit 1 year before and we didn't really enjoy it. We weren't totally satisfied with it, so we recycled that bit and ended up making this track instead, very quickly.

Everything came so naturally, and then we were thinking of song lyrics. He lives in San Francisco and I live in Paris, so naturally, "Paris To SF" was the story of this track, the story of this trip. What's weird is that we made this track, and then very sad things happened in Paris with the attacks. I played in SF that night the attacks happened and I was so sad, but it was a sign for us that we have to help and understand each other in this life.

iEDM: Totally agree. Moving on, do you have any hidden talents?

Sirus: *hesitating* Ummm, I make very good animal screams.

iEDM: Really?! Well obviously we have to hear it now. What animal?

Sirus: I'm not gonna tell you the animal, I'm just gonna do the scream, okay? *makes screeching bird sound (kinda sounds like a seagull or a penguin)*

iEDM: *laughs* So some sort of bird!

Sirus: Yes, a very "Dirty-Bird."

iEDM: I see what you did there! Very clever!

Sirus' Girlfriend Manda: That's the sound he makes when he hurts himself. *laughs*

iEDM: Everyone's gonna laugh at you when you hurt yourself then! Is that the only animal screech you have?

Sirus: It's my favorite, I'm really good at this one. I'm still practicing the other ones.

-Photo Credit: Anthony Kane-

iEDM: So in the whole theme of Elements, if you could be any element (fire, water, earth and air) which one would you be and why?

Sirus: Water. I love the water and I love this water spray *points at the water refresher spray!* My dream is to live in front of the ocean.

iEDM: How do you see your music evolving in the next couple of years? Do you wanna try a new sound?

Sirus: I try not to market and plan the music because for me, it's just about having fun. It becomes your work, but it has to be fun and you have to enjoy it, and the people have to enjoy it. So when I go into the studio, I'm not thinking that I have to be like this or make this kind of track. I do what I feel at the moment and I keep pushing.

Thanks for sitting down to chat and even make some bird noises with us, Sirus! He has some big plans in the upcoming year, lots of new tracks and a North American tour with Sacha Robotti in the works.