LA-based DJ trio Cheat Codes with over 13 million monthly listeners on Spotify. After forming in 2016 the trio has primarily released many singles & eps with some big names attached to them. Finally, after six years they debuted their first album Hellraisers, releasing all 38 songs in three different parts. Each part is filled with something different than the rest.
As someone who has personally followed Cheat Codes through all these years, loving each song they have come out with thus far. To at last have them come out with their long-awaited debut album that had everything & more that I could have wanted on it, I could have not been happier with this piece of work from them. With that being said I was fortunate to get the opportunity to chat with them about the making of Hellraisers, and what they are working on for the future.
Cheat Codes Exclusive Interview
RMR: Where did the idea come from to do a three-part series album?
Cheat Codes: It was an idea we started that we had when back in the day when we first started making music together. And but this is actually, you know, not only a three-part album, it’s our very first album we’ve ever released ever since now, it’s kind of up until this point, we just kind of released singles and EPs and things like that. But with COVID, and all that we finally had the time to sit down and make a full body of work. And you know, we ended up making three, I guess, they’ll be the bodywork. Total for all three parts of the album.
And it was just one of those things where, when we first started making the album, we just kind of had so many ideas, and we were stoked about so many of them. We want people to hear what we’ve been working on. And we’ve always loved the idea of being able to show people how we can work with different types of music and, you know, be diverse and work with different genres and different artists. So it was a kind of felt natural, and that is how we did it.
RMR: Is there a story or concept between each three of them?
Cheat Codes: Yeah, so each part has a different genre, different vibes. So part one is kind of more pop. So we kind of like when different than the normal cheat codes down. Because, you know, we weren’t trying to do a drop every time like a build-up every time. Just like good songs and songs will be like good melodies and concepts and vocals. And then part two was more hip hop, pop-punk, which is kind of like a lot of this stuff that we grew up on.
We got to work with a lot of artists that we grew up with, like Tyson Ritter from All American Rejects, and All Time Low. And Oli Sykes from Bring Me the Horizon. So that was really cool. And then part three is kind of more of our typical Cheat Codes sound like dance, pop, you know, build up straps, we got to work with a lot of really cool EDM artists like Martin Jensen, and Felix Jaehn. So it’s been a really cool process to kind of like, bring everybody from different genres into this trilogy. As all kinds of themes are the same with Hellraisers.
RMR: Would you guys consider Hellraisers to be a lifestyle, or your group’s lifestyle? Is that what you guys would promote yourself as? HellRaisers?
Cheat Codes: It’s not necessarily our lifestyle, but I think that we don’t want to just do something because you’re supposed to do it. We don’t want to just, you know, go fit the mold because you’re supposed to do it. I mean, if you listen to Cheat Codes music, if you see it live, like we’re different than any other electronic act, or really any other act in general, you know, the number of genres that we do, the number of collaborations, the fact that all three of us have vocals on different songs. And the fact that we play clubs and festivals, we do our own live tours, like, we just did our first live tour of Hellraisers playing guitar and bass and had a drummer. So you know, the HellRaisers it’s not necessarily meant that we want to, you know, hurt people or, like, raise hell in that sense. It’s more just disruptive it’s like a disrupting thing. Like we want to disrupt and challenge the status quo and that’s definitely something we’ve always been about.
RMR: Which one out of the three parts of Hellraisers would you say was the more the most fun for you guys to make?
Cheat Codes: (Trevor:) I like all of them but for me, I love the maybe part one the most. it’s just the kind of music I enjoy producing the most and I just, you know, like Matt said has never been asked before to follow a specific structure it’s more just about making great songs.
RMR: You guys just finished a really big tour. Are you guys going to tour more this summer, for the rest of the year? Or do you guys have other plans?
Cheat Codes: Yeah, we have a couple of festivals we’re doing and I think another one Sunsation in Quebec and you know, we have different residencies like in Atlantic City and Vegas. So during our different club shows, so it’s gonna be a good summer. We’re definitely taking some time off to finish a bunch of music that we have on deck. But so yeah, but as far as the live tour that we did earlier in the year, that was a first for us. And we definitely plan on doing more of that, whether it’s like once a year, once every year and a half or so. And, and yeah, giving the fans a different experience than what they normally get, like seeing us in the club.
RMR: How was it making two different tracks with Marc E. Bassy?
Cheat Codes: It was good. It happened really quickly. We actually met Marc like a few years ago, I think we met him before the pandemic. But he’s such a good writer and got such a good voice. And “Change Your Mind” was kind of an idea that he had that’s on Hellraisers Part 3. And “Do It All Over” was kind of an idea that we had and we just saw his vocal with sound perfect on so it was cool to kind of like have this idea have that and go back and forth and brainstorm and see how we could kind of finish each other’s demos that we started. So I love working with people like that they’re just open-minded and easy to work with.
RMR: Is there a certain song off part three that is an underrated song that you aren’t expecting for it to get big but you hope that it does?
Cheat Codes: Yeah, I was gonna I was just saying Back Again. We’d love for it to be well.
RMR: Who do you guys hope to work with next?
Cheat Codes: I mean, I’ve been saying this for a little while. I would love to work with Norah Jones and she still loves her growing up. I just saw Paul McCartney a couple of weeks ago. Always love the Beatles. I would love to work with Garth Brooks, as well as George Strait.
RMR: You guys recently put out your first country song, would you say that was like a really different, like, direction to go towards?
Cheat Codes: Yeah, it was. It was different just because we never really worked with country artists before. But I think the way that they read their songs like the storytelling is cool. And if it’s the right kind of tempo, then it’s something we can definitely work with. But yeah, How Do You Love and Never Love You Again with a Little Big Town. Those are we did a couple of country collabs and really liked how it turned out.
RMR: My last question, was can we expect more music? Or are you guys gonna go on a break? Anything else we could expect from you? Is there anything you want to say to your fans that are up here in the Northwest?
Cheat Codes: (Trevor): Well shout out to the northwest because I’m from Portland, Oregon. BEAVERTON! lovely north of Seattle. My cousin lived there when he was there. I grew up knowing their best. But we’re working on country right now, actually a country project with a bunch of really, really cool artists. And Ross is working on a bunch of other music that we’re talking about to some more classic Chico-sounding stuff, right? Dance Pop, electronic stuff that we can’t wait for people to hear. And we’re taking it easy a little bit this summer as far as touring goes when we’re playing a few festivals. So we have to look out for that. And we have another long tour all around the country, I’m sure. Soon so hopefully we come back to Seattle or come up to Seattle soon. It’s been a long time. We’ve been up there.
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