How many DJs have to get Dad to drop them off at gigs? Not many. How many DJs get to play the Shelter while they’re still in high school? Even fewer. Chris and Steve Martinez are two of the youngest people in house music, but they’ve already scored one genuine club hit ('My Rendition'), wowed crowds at the Winter Music Conference and earned rave reviews for their energetic DJ sets as far afield as France. Some might call them a gimmick, the Hanson of house, but these cynics would be dead wrong: there is plenty of substance and talent to back up the novelty value of TMB.

On vinyl, their calling card has been 'My Rendition', released on Dennis Ferrer’s Objektivity label a year ago. A deft mix of tech- and deep house in the spirit of Ferrer’s own recent productions, the track was also a bit of a music lesson for TMB, who sat down with Ferrer to learn the intricacies of dance music production, both from a technical standpoint and an emotional one (“You’re only as good as your last release,” he once told them.)

But it’s not as if the duo didn’t already know a thing or two. The Martinez Brothers cut their teeth at private parties outside the over-21 club circuit, and they can handle a variety of instruments with ease (Their percussion prowess makes an appearance on Ferrer’s The World As I See It.) Growing up in a family that encouraged music, they were pretty much obliged to do so. Bronx-born, Chris and Steve grew up surrounded by the sounds of their neighborhood—salsa, hip-hop, reggaeton—but when they first heard disco, they immediately took to it (It didn’t hurt that Steve Martinez Sr., their father, had stories to tell from his time as a dancer at New York’s legendary Paradise Garage.) The rest, as they say, is history.

I caught up with the two in Manhattan to talk about growing up in the Bronx, their upcoming mix CD and, uh, electronica.

So both of you are still in school?

Steve: I go right around here to BMCC.

You come into the city every day?

Steve: Nah, it's just like two or three days a week.

And you're still in high school?

Chris: Yeah, I go to high school upstate.

How far upstate in New York are you guys now that you’ve moved away from the Bronx?

Steve: It's about an hour, hour and a half.

Your parents seem to place a high regard on education. Was there any thought to forgoing college, say, and just doing music full-time after you were done with high school?

Steve: Noooo, no choice there. [laughter]

Are you doing music at BMCC?

Steve: Nah, I'm a liberal arts major—a little bit of everything. It's the major for the confused. [laughter]

Are you guys involved with extra-curricular stuff or is it just "all music, all the time" after you finish each day?

Chris: I'm part of the Academic Bowl team.

Steve: ...

[laughter]

Chris: Nah, I'm just kidding.

Was there a reason behind the move upstate?

Chris: I think our dad just wanted to have us in better schools, a better environment. You know? Because in the Bronx...stuff happens. [laughter] Our father is actually trying to look after us, to make sure we're doing okay.

I read something about you listening to mambo when you were young.

Steve: Uhhh. [laughter] Nah, we grew up listening to everything, you know? We had a lot of influences from salsa, Latin jazz, African music. Our first gig music-wise was playing salsa and in Latin jazz bands. We're musicians first. Then DJing came later.

Were those records just around the house or did you go out and find them?

Steve: As far as the salsa stuff, we're Puerto Rican. It was just around in the Bronx where we lived. Jazz-wise, me and my brother were pretty much the only people in our family listening to that stuff so we had to go and find that. African music was the same way. We did a lot of homework. It was the same with house, as well.

What was the first introduction to electronic music for you guys?

Chris: Disco was the stuff that got us into house and electronica.

Steve: Electronica? [laughter] Yeah, I don't know if you've ever heard the record "Double Journey" by Powerline. It's an old disco record and that was one of the first ones we heard where we were really blown away. I also had a compilation called Jazz in the House and Kenny Dope's Disco Heat. Those were the things that really got me started.

Did your Dad get you those or...

Steve: Yeah, he bought us those from HMV. [laughter]

A cratedigger's paradise! The story seems to go that you guys were listening to rap and hip-hop and your Dad disapproved and turned you onto dance music...

Steve: That's a little bit played up, you know? But it's not that far off. We still listen to hip-hop and stuff like that. But we never were that into stuff like 50 Cent. We listened to guys like Mos Def and Talib Kweli. But we got really turned on to dance music.

Sons of Son of Raw: How Dennis Ferrer met The Martinez Bros.

Dennis Ferrer: Chris hit me up on MySpace as a fan and said, "I love the stuff that you do. I've been into you since I was young". So I said, "How old are you?" and he was like, "Fifteen". And I thought oh damn, that makes me feel very old. He said he was a DJ and I said, “You're fifteen and you spin? That's interesting." Then I had this really weird thought. I don't know why I felt this way. I just sat down and I thought “I'm going to get this kid to play at The Shelter.” But this was not with his brother. This was just Chris on his own.

The only reason I was thinking of letting him play was because it would have been a dream for me when I was fifteen years old to play in a nightclub. I thought wow, if I can make this kid's dream come true... So I said, "If you can play, maybe I can pull it off". So I told him to send me a CD. And when I heard it, I realized whoa, this kid can play!

So I emailed them back and said if I can work this out you'll play The Shelter with me. And he was like, "Really? Can my brother play with me?" I said, "What do you mean your brother?" At first I was hesitant because I just wanted Chris to play because he was the one who contacted me. I didn't know his brother could play too. And he said, "No, my brother plays with me". I was like, "Okay".

So I called the club and the club manager told me that due to the liquor laws they can't be there during open bar. But he said they could come in at three o'clock because the bar would be closed. So I told them be at the front door at 3 a.m. And there they were, waiting there at 3 a.m. with their dad. And I brought the kids in. I was supposed to play at three but I just said, "Go play. I'm not playing". Jerome was there, everybody was there. It was packed. And they got on and they just rocked. I just looked at Jerome and I was smiling. I mean this I didn't expect. It was a total shock to us. And from that point we just took them on.

Photo credit: Iain Catling

How did you come across Dennis Ferrer's music?

Chris: Well, we had always seen Dennis' music on a lot of compilations, so we were definitely aware of his stuff.

How did you end up meeting him?

Chris: I came across his page on MySpace and sent him a message saying that I liked his music and that I hoped he kept it up. He then messaged me back and we started to talk a bit, so then...

Steve: He called him "Young Pup." [laughter]

And you sent him some of your mixes?

Chris: Yeah. Eventually, he told me to send along some of my mixes and he happened to be having a gig downstairs at the Shelter, so he invited us down so he could see what we could do and since then we've been, you know, unstoppable. [laughter]

So, uh, before you were unstoppable...[laughter]

Chris: I meant to say unbreakable. You know, nothing can break the bond. Dennis and us. [laughter]

Steve: We're definitely like family now.

Chris: Yeah, Uncle Dennis.

What was the first night like at the Shelter?

Steve: We were nervous. But it was a lot of fun. That was the first time we'd played in a club, you know? And we were playing the Shelter? It was crazy. Who doesn't want to play the Shelter? After we played, too, we got to go upstairs and see Timmy [Regisford] play. He's my favorite DJ, so I was like whoa...

Chris: And then he ended up playing our record!

What record was that?

Steve: It was actually ‘My Rendition,’ but a really rough mix of it. Like before Dennis had even heard it.

How long has that song been around?

Steve: I've had that record for more than two years.

So if you've been sitting on that record for some time, why haven't you guys put more stuff out already? [laughter]

Steve: When we did ‘My Rendition,’ we did everything really live and nothing was quantized. So we eventually took it to Dennis' studio and we got it quantized and fixed up. We only got a computer just recently, actually—a few months ago. The upcoming Ane Brun remix is the first thing we were able to do on the new computer. So now it's going to come fast and furious release-wise. [laughter]

You talked about Dennis' place. Do you go there often?

Chris: Oh yeah. Sleepovers like you wouldn't believe. [laughter]

Steve: He travels a lot, but whenever he's around we're always over there at his crib either hanging out or working on music stuff.

What has he taught you?

Steve: The one thing that's really stuck with me is this thing he told us once: "You're only as good as your last record." There's a lot of producers out there that are just ridiculous and even if their last record sucked, they're still ridiculous, you know? But Dennis told me that "they might be good, but if they're last record sucked..."

People's memories are short.

Steve: Yeah, I mean, it's the same way for us, if our last record sucked... [laughter]

’My Rendition’ is kind of tech-y, but you guys seem to play to a crowd that's really soulful house oriented. Did you run into any resistance when you put it out?

Steve: ‘My Rendition’ was a product of its environment, you know? Around that time [Ame’s] ‘Rej’ was very popular and [Sydenham & Ferrer's] ‘Sandcastles’ had a tremendous influence. So, at the time and even now, the tech thing is very popular and it's a product of that.

With the next few releases will you be trying to show all sides of your influences?

Steve: Our sets are usually very all-over-the-place as far as that is concerned. We love techno, we love soulful, we love tech. We try to mix it up. We have an upcoming mix CD, which will definitely have some of all of that.

Chris: Something for everyone! [laughter]

Do you guys ever get tired of people talking about how young you are?

Steve: Nah, we don't get tired of it, because we honestly feel that a major part of our notoriety is because of that fact. If it wasn't for us being so young and doing what we do, we probably wouldn’t even be doin’ this interview right now!