Being a celebrated DJ/producer is more fun when you’re conquering the world’s dancefloors with your best bud. And that’s exactly what Ned Shepard and Ossama Al Saffar (aka Sultan) have been up to since joining forces on the Canadian dance since back in 2002. Since transitioning from friendship to partnership, they had a string of successful records (including a little super banger “Bad” alongside David Guetta and Showtek), launched their own label Harem Records and were invited to hold residency at some of the hottest nightspots in the world. We called the ever-busy duo to talk about their new single “Bring Me Back,” dealing with an army of female fans and whether tequila gummy bears are worthy of mentioning in your rider.

How are you, where are you and what are you up right now?

Sultan: We’re in LA. It’s morning, so we’re just getting our day together. We’re in the studio today.

Working on a new single or an album? Can you share anything with us?

Ned: Yeah, right now we’re working on a track with Showtek. It’s a very cool collaboration. And we’re also working on several other things just for us—we’ve been working on them for the last couple of months. Things that will start coming out in the next few months. We’re very excited to share all of this new stuff.

Awesome. And when you say that you’re “working with Showtek,” what exactly do you mean? How do two production teams actually work together? Somebody brings the drops, the other ones scouts for a vocalist?

Sultan: They had a vocal idea. And they came by the studio and we've spent good three or four days together trying to come up with some great stuff. We both had our laptops and computers on and just threw ideas back and forth and then it all came together.

How did you two meet?

Ned: I moved to Montreal. Sultan was already DJing and producing there. Music he was playing was more live-oriented and I was producing stuff and went up to him at one of the shows and gave me a CD. He called me the next day, said that he really liked it and we became friends. We’d just play each other music we were working on and one day we got into the studio and decided to make a track together. We had very nice chemistry and started making tracks on the side. Did that for a few years and finally realized it was good and fun working together. And started doing it all the time.

So no more side projects anymore? It’s a monogamous relationship now, huh?

Together: Yes.

How did you pick this name? What’s the story behind your monikers? And do we use + or &?

Sultan: It’s Sultan plus Shepard. So it’s a plus, not an “and.” Shepard’s actually Ned’s last name and Sultan is the nickname my mom gave me long time ago.

You obviously have very interesting heritage. Does it influence your sound in any way?

Sultan: I believe so. I grew up in the Middle East, so I have a bit of that in me. And then Ned grew up in the States, so I think it’s a nice combination of both worlds.

Did you ever try to make an ethnic dance record?

Sultan: I think six or seven years ago I messed around with it.

Ned: Actually the first track we did together was very Middle Eastern sounding.

Considering you were nominated for Grammy in the past, did you follow this year’s awards?

Ned: Our good friend actually won the Grammy for the best remix this year: Dave Aude. He’s a great guy and helped us a lot when we moved to LA, so congratulations to him! We were watching the Grammys, yeah, there were some great performances.

Sultan: We liked Diplo’s performance, as well as Kendrick Lamar’s and The Weeknd’s.

How different is the Canadian electronic scene from, let’s say, Dutch one or American one? Or is it all just one huge dance scene?

Ned: I think that American and Canadian dance scenes are very similar. Canadians were embracing dance music even before Americans. The Dutch scene is very, very different—they had dance music on the radio a long, long time before North America, so they have different exposure to it. In North America it only got big in the last four or five years and still new to a lot of people. And that creates a lot of enthusiasm.

Talking about radio, you have your own show. So tell me about “On The Road Radio” podcast.

Ned: The idea of the show is that we do a mix of the music that we’re liking that month. We also wanted to cover the lifestyle of the people who are constantly on the road, so we had that concept that we would interview our friends: DJs, singers, other artists. We’re asking them about how their lives are when they’re on the road, weird things that happened, places they’ve seen, the different types of experiences that they had playing shows… The responses we get is actually very fun.

Talking about your own crazy on-the-road stories, do you have any good ones?

Ned: Actually when we played a show in Murmansk, Russia, all of  dancers has got completely naked.

Did you get naked as well?

Ned: No, we didn’t get naked.

Next time?

Ned: Yeah.

I was just about to ask you how bad you get when you party (as you’ve co-written and co-produced a single with David Guetta called “Bad”). But I guess you stay decent, as you didn’t get naked in Russia, right?

Ned: No, we’re not that bad! [both laugh]

Let’s talk about your new single “Bring Me Back”. How did this one come about?

Sultan: Kreesha Turner, the singer on this one, is a good friend of ours. We remixed her record several years ago, became friends and then got back to studio again and recorded the vocals. She moved to LA the same time as us, we continued the project here.

Did any of your fans already tell you how they played the song to their ex and it brought him or her back?

Ned: [Laughs] I haven’t heard about that. I feel like the song is more about the nostalgia for a moment. A lot of people have responded saying the track reminds them of last summer or something like that, which I think was kind of the point. But you never know! There’s always some crazy fans who tell crazy stories about our songs.

What’s your policy towards female fans? I’m sure there are a lot of hot fans who attack your DJ booth on a nightly basis…

Ned: Be friendly, be careful.

What’s on your rider?

Sultan: Ned likes tequila, I like the champagne. And then we get gummy bears, Doritos, olives, all kinds of snacks.

You certainly need those when you drink tequila.

Sultan: Sure. Have you ever tried gummy bears with tequila?

Oh, I never had those.

Ned: Oh they’re bad!

What’s the trickiest thing about holding a residency at the club?

Ned: Eh… Nothing! Just years of experience that help you understand how the club and the crowd work. Just keep in fun for everybody.

Any advices for the people who want to follow your footsteps and start making electronic music?

Sultan: Just do it for the right reasons. Don’t do it ‘cause you wanna be famous or if you wanna sound like someone else. You should try to find your own sound. Follow your own instincts and don’t look around to see what other people are doing. Right now we need people who are coming in with something fresh and unique.

Any particular electronic genre at the moment that you like or that inspires you? Tropical house maybe?

Ned: We’re gonna see Cashmere Cat soon. He’s pretty great. Ryn Weaver, Jessie Ware… It’s not electronics, I don’t even know how you specify them. More music-based. There are good sounds in every genre: in trap, in tropical stuff. We’re inspired by little bits of different things.

What do you have planned for 2016?

Ned: We’re mostly excited about making all of this new music. The scene kinda got saturated, so now it’s an interesting time to be experimenting with different stuff and letting go of any boundaries. Just doing whatever is fresh to us.