The Canadian partnership of PINEO & LOEB began rather serendipitously.
Ottawan JR Loeb messaged his Halifax-based countryman Mitchell Pineo on SoundCloud, inviting him to collaborate. They pulled up to the same show not long after in 2013, where a potential scheduling conflict arose. Organizers told the duo there was just one hour left in the program and recommended they split it in half.
Pineo and Loeb took the stage together instead, and the rest was history. Each musician fed off of the other's divergent—but not clashing—tastes and personalities and decided to team up officially a few months later. Formerly independent electronic producers, all they needed was an "and" between their surnames.
Twelve years later, their professional partnership is in great shape, as is their friendship.
"[Loeb] is probably the nicest, friendliest person you'll ever meet," says Pineo. "I'm a little more of the withdrawn artist type, but that guy can make friends with any person which really helped us become friends initially. Anybody would want to hang out with him, whether it's a grandmother or a frat guy."
The two live together and hang out with their cats whenever they're not on the road—which is eight months of the year. Pineo and Loeb commit to more than 100 shows annually, flying overseas to different venues and festivals like Shambhala, Friendship, Envision, Burning Man, Future Forest and Escapade. Their approach to DJing and producing melds various genres like dance, hip-hop, rock and electronica, and they've also remixed the work of Sabrina Carpenter and other such big names.
"It's diverse and it's eclectic. It's kind of universal," Pineo elaborates. "We both have our own particular tastes, but in shows we meet in the middle. When we're making remixes, we just want to make something that's going to fit our sound … whether that's adding a bunch of bass, drums or synths to make it sound more modern, or just giving it more of a dance approach. We've remixed [everything possible], from all the old classics to the newest songs."
About their collaborations with the likes of Glass Tiger, Matt Mays and Ashley MacIsaac, Pineo added: "Remixing, we think of as collaborating with an artist from a distance, but actually sitting down with them is our favourite thing. We love Canadian icons and we really like to bring those artists to our shows."
'Play and playfulness'
Pineo and Loeb have been to Whistler on numerous occasions. They've enjoyed lighting up the Garibaldi Lift Co. and adding to the vibe at the bottom of the ski hill, but August will be their first opportunity to bring live instrumentalists along—and the duo is not holding back.
Jah'Mila is a Juno-nominated, Jamaican-born reggae artist known for marrying the classic aspects of her chosen genre with socially-conscious lyrics. Def3 (a.k.a. Danny Fernandez) is an award-winning Vancouver hip-hop performer and visual creator. Sam Matthews plays lead guitar for CHIMP IT, a hybrid live/electronic act from Nelson. Smoothie, according to Pineo, is "one of Western Canada's funkiest saxophone players" who has graced hundreds of stages across North America, Europe and Asia.
This August, all of the above will join Pineo and Loeb at Olympic Plaza.
"You've really just got to have fun with everybody, no matter their approach … bringing out the inner kid, going along with what you're excited about and having fun," remarks Pineo. "When you're in a group, it's the test: if this idea can pass the two people in the room, you know it can go on from there. You don't second-guess yourself … and whenever we write a good song, it comes out quickly and fun most of the time. Doesn't matter what style it is. It's really just about play and playfulness.
"I think what's so exciting about working with all these different artists is [finding] the common ground between artists that seem like polar opposites. Most music we listen to is music that makes you feel happy. We'll mix in a sad song here and there, but the common ground behind them all is really just fun."
On Aug. 21, DJ Foxy Moron gets things started at 6:30 p.m. in Olympic Plaza. PINEO & LOEB (and their entourage) will take over at 7:30 p.m. Visit whistler.com/events/concerts for more details.
