NEXT DANCE RADIO

Mike Marquez:

Alright, what it is on how you beat your boy DJ Mike Marquez here at the Eden Roc in lovely Miami Beach here for the Winter Music Conference Miami Music Week and I am joined here by, who’s taking a picture of me, no you’re not supposed take a picture of me, you’re the star, you’re the one that everyone wants to know about. My friend here, the man, the legend, the myth, all of it, Block and crown.

Block & Crown:

Thank you very much. Thank you very much my friend. Here we are.

Mike Marquez:

Here we are, we’re here doing a thing. One of the things that I tell people all the time is that they don’t understand that you put out tracks so much. Where are you? You’re shooting video with me. I love it right now.

Block & Crown:

We are taking some content for socials, my friend. Let’s spread on social media what you do also.

Mike Marquez:

Yeah, you should have told me I would have tried to look better. I don’t look as cool as you. Where am I going?

Block & Crown:

We are doing a… We are making music great again.

Mike Marquez:

We’re making music right now.

Block & Crown:

Because we are on the remembering path, you know? Those huge tracks from the 80s and 90s, bring with it the new bassline to the dance floor right now.

Mike Marquez:

Yes, and I love that you say that because you have taken such iconic hits and you have given such a breath of fresh air, you’ve given it such life that I literally was having this conversation today because someone was saying like I want to get into more of that disco-y kind of vibe, that disco house and the first thing that came up was Block and Crown because the stuff that you do with some of these old songs is just mind blowing. Like you do such cool work, and I’ll never forget because me and you have talked before, but you told me six, you told me, it six? Six, sorry, you were making six. There are seven days a week, sir. How are you doing?

Block & Crown:

tracks a week. Yes, of course. Rest one day and produce.

Mike Marquez:

I mean the level of commitment is crazy. Yeah, it’s crazy. But it has been rewarding because you just did EDC in Mexico.

Block & Crown:

We just did EDC, a fantastic gig in EDC. It was raining, but it was full. And a lot of people stay on the stage and on the dance floor. And it was really, crazy. We have a couple of after movies that we ⁓ upload on the socials. And it was great, great. And well, now we have this summer to go to Moreland this summer also.

Mike Marquez:

Tomorrowland. So, you’re doing Tomorrowland as well?

Block & Crown:

In Ushuaia Ibiza, which is a great venue in Ushuaia, and also Untold Festival in Romania. Untold is a great festival.

Mike Marquez:

You’re touring to all of these locations and on top of that, you’re still making these tracks, you’re still producing these tracks.

Block & Crown:

Yes, this morning I woke up at 5am to finish my radio show. Also, I spread my radio show every week, a new episode. And some guys in England said to me, hey Jerry, we like two hours radio show. Wow. You know, to do a one-hour radio show, it takes like one hour in front of the computer. So, imagine two hours.

Mike Marquez:

Yeah, no, I mean, I have my own show, and I know how it is to do a mix show and in two hours. That’s a level of commitment that’s unprecedented. I mean, ladies and gentlemen, if you have not heard Block and Crown, I mean, you could go to your beat ports, you could go to your track sources and just type in Block, B, L, O, K and Crown like the crown on your head, C, R, O, W, N and look at the content the 20,000 pages of tracks that are on there. And I mean, whether it’s, it’s, know, you are collaborating with other people as well, because you collaborate.

Block & Crown:

With a lot of Mike Ferullo, Ghost Busters, a lot of Gens Lee, Sad, a lot of DJs, important these who are involved also in ⁓ disco music scenes.

Mike Marquez:

Yeah, and I love that. And it’s inspiring to me because I’m like, I got to start putting on music too. Of course. So, I can go and try to get in here because your sound is infectious. It gives people that kind of energy. We support it here on Next Dance Radio. And, too, if you don’t know about Block and Crown by any chance, listen, you can check out Block and Crown. We’re doing selfies right now, too. Let’s do it.

Yes. Right there with the next dance radio. One more. Let’s get it. Let’s get it. People on the radio like, what is going on right now? Thank you. What’s going on right now? We just did a selfie right now in front of the banner that’s behind me, which is in front of this massive view. Look at this view.

Block & Crown:

Yeah, amazing, amazing. We love this view. And let me tell you, a lot of people came to Miami to this conference, a huge conference. I’m happy because music joined a lot of cultures, different people, music styles, artists, and crowds. Wow.

Mike Marquez:

It’s amazing. I was so excited to miss the power. Right? Who’s down, he lives down here in Miami, but he was saying because his thing ⁓ is Latin electronic music. So, he’s trying to go and just bring all types of different Latin elements into electronic music, like getting the drums from like Venezuela, getting the drums from like a Salvador and just trying to make it sound authentic and official. Because he said one of the things that he notices is that it brings people together and dance music is a global thing. It’s not just Miami or New York or LA. It is all over the world. And you will showcase that because you’ve been to Tomorrowland, you’re doing EDC, all these things. It’s packed even in the rain to just have a good time and just soak up some of that positive energy that you bring in your tracks. So, I got to ask this, what is the most fun track that you’ve worked on? Because positive energy comes from almost everything that you do, but what’s the fun track that you’ve done?

Block & Crown:

I think ⁓ the most fun track. We have many tracks, but for instance, Children from Robot Miles. This is huge. Bulewood from Ava. It’s huge. What can I say? Many, many. Jekke Jekke. We have a Latin flavored track called Jekke Jekke. It’s great track also. Many, many. We have many, many tracks. I also like Michael Jackson tracks that we have on our collection a lot. Also, the Pitch Mode, Enjoy the Silence. Yeah, I enjoy the silence. It’s good. Why not? I Want You Forever. It’s one of the best tracks that I love most. I love you with number forever.

Mike Marquez:

That is a good track I love you forever, forever. So where are you going to go now? Because you’ve done, your catalog is impressive. What else, what inspiration are you looking for now? Are you still looking in the 80s? Are you looking in the 90s, 70s? I mean, because you’ve done almost…

Block & Crown:

Yeah, well, if we do music from the 70s, obviously we’re going to reach less people because those people is not going out now to the nightclub. I think we’re looking for 80s, 90s and some collaborations with some artists who are from Mexico, Spain, Latin, Latin ones, right? Maybe something I might show in EDC Mexico. It was a good show, and I invite, I don’t know if you know this name here in USA, Belanova. Belanova, they have a track who is 500 million plays, which is a super track of Belanova and I play that track with him on ADC. Just to merge Belanova, is a Mexican pop group from the 90s, bring it to

Mike Marquez:

That I know.

Block & Crown:

how is music disco in that way, in the middle of the set to break the energy and present a sound pop Mexican group.

Mike Marquez:

I love that because I think that the Mexican market, all Latin America, they want, they love dance music, but I feel like they want a little bit of. Their identity. They want to feel a little bit of them in the music because sometimes dance music can be a little bit just neutral. It is what it is. It’s dance, it’s techno or house or whatever, but you’re giving it a more personal touch because you’re bringing stuff from them. They’re Michael Jackson’s, they’re the Peshmos. You’re giving it to them where they can feel special about this.

Block & Crown:

This track, Belanova Rosa Pastel is the name of the track. It’s huge everywhere. When I play that track on EDC, people start almost crying. Almost crying like, wow, this guy from House Music and New Disco and they bring down to pop Mexican artists. Wow.

Mike Marquez:

And it’s because when I heard because I heard the set from EDC and when I heard that like wow.

Block & Crown:

You must play sometimes what people don’t expect.

Mike Marquez:

Exactly. I agree with that and that’s what we do here at Next. We don’t just play this typical formula. We go outside of that. We want to show everyone what all the different flavors of dance music are. Whether it’s electro, electronic, whether it’s house, whether it’s a Juno beat. It doesn’t matter. We want to put everybody in and say, you’re not hearing this everywhere. This is different. Let me ask you this. If people want to get in touch with you or they want to find you, how can they do that?

Block & Crown:

Of course. That is good. Well, we have Block and Crown Instagram or also my name, Jory Davila. I play for many years as Jory Davila plays different genres, EDM, I play hardstyle sometimes. But I changed several years ago to Block and Crown, so I left open both my Instagram accounts, Jory Davila, DJ Jory Davila or Block and Crown.

Mike Marquez:

Ladies and gentlemen, I support it, we support it here at Next, and yeah, he’s the man. So please check him out here, and bro, if you could do me a favor, just tell them who you are and that they’re listening to Next Dance Radio.

Mike Marquez:

Perfect. Emano, my brother, thank you so much.