Known as the illegitimate lovechild of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Daft Punk, the Canadian Electro-Pop and Indie-Rock duo Rogue Proxy releases their latest sweltering single, "Pump the Hype."
Fueling their sound with dynamic guitars, powerful bass grooves, and stimulating drum patters, Rogue Proxy is steamrolling the industry with their authentic and individualistic sound. When speaking upon what they strive to do with their careers, Rogue Proxy stated, "Rogue is our conduit to transmit sound, energy and visual wildness."
Through their recent single, "Pump the Hype," we can feel the duo's wild side come out through the song's energy and power. Rogue Proxy pushes the song with more of a call and response approach with their fiery and anthemic vocals while upbeat drums and tightly-wound rhythm guitar pushes through our speakers with force.
Taking "Pump the Hype" for a spin, the track begins with short electric guitar bursts and a downright intoxicating bassline that throws us back a couple of decades to the prime of Alt-Rock. Once the lead vocalist starts singing his powerful message of living life to the fullest, he brings a blistering flair of energy that keeps us moving.
Going deeper into the song, we're blown away by the scorching guitar solo that takes up the second half of the track, all while the surrounding instrumentals bring a hefty low-end that gets our feet stomping. Ending the track on a high note through each raw and flavourful element, we're punching our fists with help from Rogue Proxy's infectious tones.
Make sure to keep track of the Canadian duo Rogue Proxy as we dive into 2021, and experience their latest anthemic single, "Pump the Hype," for yourself.
Hello Rogue Proxy and welcome to BuzzMusic. What inspired your duo to write and create such an anthemic and energetic song like "Pump the Hype?"
Everything is about hype these days, social media, the news, the economy, politics. So much of what happened in 2020 seemed to be about pumping the hype to create divisiveness at an extreme level. “Don’t think, just spread the word, let’s get converts to see the light.”
From the pandemic to the elections in the U.S. and everything in between, it seems that “facts” have become relative to whether or not they agree with an already preconceived notion. “Everybody needs to see the world like we do, see it right.” The song is an expression of how some seem to be hellbent on getting others to “join the fight” to “Pump The Hype!”
Was there a particular message that you wanted listeners to take away from your upbeat lyricism on "Pump the Hype?"
The bridge of the song sums it up well: “Tinfoil hatters versus lame-stream news playing ping-pong in the echo chamber. No fact strong enough to change your mind when the hype, when the hype is pumping.” Although it does seem at times that we are being bombarded by messages that appear to be designed to divide us, the song is essentially one of positivity. Hoping we come to the realization that human beings have so much more in common than any differences that can be used to drive us apart.
How does your duo split the creative/recording process, and what did this look like when creating your single "Pump the Hype"? What sort of atmosphere did you want to portray?
Rogue Proxy is routed in Canada but is now ‘all over the world’ which means we work separately focusing on different things with Rogue’s all-seeing eye. Our communication is non-stop, and sometimes the “misinterpretation” of a text message or e-mail by one leads to a better result than the original idea! It is always about trying to do what is best for the song and getting the right energy and feel to come through. Musically, Pump The Hype originated with some rough guitar riffs and a unique beat that could even have been a soundtrack of some kind. As is always the case, the ideas get passed back and forth and Rogue takes control of the track. The original arrangement included synths and was not as upbeat the whole way through. But Rogue took the intro and chorus riff which were just secondary parts and transformed it into the non-stop powerhouse it is now with an aggressive, edgy sound not common for rock music today. The verse does have a subtle but interesting chord progression as it is the same 3 chords but in an ever-changing pattern. For all our music, the process involves trial and error both with performances and studio production with many iterations to get to a final exciting sound. This is both frustrating and creatively rewarding at the same time. But Rogue’s algorithm is constantly evolving and will produce more variation in styles and creativity for our next tracks which is something to look forward to.
Could you tell us more about Rogue Proxy and what listeners should associate your overall brand and style with?
Rogue is not only in the music but also a social media giant who can say and do things we would never think or dare to. From a musical perspective, the styles may go from funk to rock by way of pop and EDM. But one thing that is guaranteed is that they will always be original and with a major focus on guitars with tube amp is driven tones and grooving bass lines to keep you on your toes. On the media and branding side, well we never really know what Rogue will say or do or be into at any given time. Rogue’s chameleon nature allows a great deal of freedom in creating interesting, captivating music videos and funny but risque social media posts. Rogue as an icon will only continue to grow in 2021, so you better watch out for it!
What has been keeping you inspired throughout the last year, to keep creating music?
One thing is to really make rock and music interesting again for the disaffected. As a general controversial statement, there is a lot of good music out there but it all seems to follow the same pattern and has the same sound, almost like it is all the same band. One thing that made the music of the past great was the individuality and personality in the performance and songs. In Rogue Proxy’s way, we are blending the raw imperfections of the past with more modern production to stand out as different and in our own way adding character and personality to our sound and playing. We do not follow much current popular music, so our songwriting inspiration is really an output of playing around with rough riffs and ideas until the potential of a song is formed. Sometimes a scene from a movie or current events does trigger an idea that Rogue then processes and out pops something that we call a song.