Photographed by Guerin Blask
If you’re a fan of EDM music, you're a fan of [Cash Cash](https://www.instagram.com/cashcash/?hl=en). Hailing from Roseland, New Jersey, the DJ trio consists of brothers Jean Paul Makhlouf and Alex Makhlouf, alongside Sam Frisch who they’ve been lifelong friends with since the third grade. Originally entering the scene in 2002 under the name The Consequence, JP jokes, “It’s been a fun ride.”
Collectively, they produce, record, mix, and master all their music, creating timeless hits while cementing themselves as a household name. Whether you discovered Cash Cash through their singles “Finest Hour” with Abir (certified Gold), “Can We Pretend” with P!NK, “Call You” featuring Nasri of MAGIC! (hitting #1 on US Dance Radio), “Take Me Home” with Bebe Rexha (certified Platinum), “All My Love” with Conor Maynard, or “Matches” with ROZES, the guys never fall short of delivering the highest quality music.
Fast forward to 2021, they return with their newest collaboration, this time tapping Wiz Khalifa and Lukas Graham on “Too Late.” Flaunt caught up with Cash Cash via Zoom to discuss their roots in Jersey, biggest influences, the turning point in their career, the meaning behind “Too Late,” collaborating with Wiz and Lukas, missing shows, favorite song to drop in a set, dream collabs, and more!
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**You’re from New Jersey, how does that play into your life and career?**
**JP:** Jersey’s cool because where we live is super close to New York City, there’s always been a great music scene in New York and in New Jersey. Being in New Jersey made it easier for us to get off our feet, since it’s such a major city.
**Sam:** Totally. Especially growing up there’s an upcoming scene of local bands and a lot of DIY shows.a A lot of touring acts coming in so we’d connect with artists, bands, all these different people and mix it up. Especially when we’re starting out, it helped us really get a foothold.
**Biggest influences?**
**JP:** There’s so many, it’s hard to keep track. Almost have to be like what genre?
**Sam:** It’s more genre-based for us. A lot of 90’s rock, a lot of alternative music.
**Sam**: A lot of that wave that came through in 2008 with Justice, Daft Punk, all that. A lot of the grunge rock and punk gave us a cool DIY aspect that we’ve always stuck to. We do a lot of everything especially on the music side, try to handle as much as we can ourselves. From growing up and being involved in the pop punk and rock scenes really gave us that perspective.
**JP:** 90’s pop house too was big in NYC. There’s this station KTU that was huge on bringing dance sound to the mainstream, that was definitely influential for a lot of the sounds we pull from for sure.
**At what point did you realize this music thing was forreal?**
**JP:** That’s an interesting question. Honestly we always thought we couldn’t do this for a living, \[laughs\] it was one of those things we’re doing because we love. All of a sudden one day, it was a wake up call like “dude, we’re making a living out of this. We’re doing well, we don't have to do other side jobs.” It was a slow thing that progressed because when you get signed by a record label, you think “oh yeah, my life’s going to change. Everything’s different,” but that's only one piece of the puzzle. That's almost the easiest part. As crazy as it sounds, a lot of people say “what’re you talking about?” When you’re in it, you’ll get it.
I remember getting signed numerous times. The second time, I’m like “whatever, this gives us another chance.” It wasn't the same, there’s different levels every time. You get your song out there, you have a song that works in the clubs or on the radio. Soon enough you realize you’ve built an empire. When we look back and reflect on it, “oh my god, we’re on a roll with this music.: It’s had all these different impacts on different countries around the world. Certain songs did certain things on mainstream, certain songs did good things underground. Even remixes we’ve done that translated to different scenes all over the world. It’s not one turning point where we made it, it’s this long journey of different steps along the way.
**Did you anticipate “How To Love” with Sofia Reyes would blow up in 2016?**
**JP:** That’s one of those songs that did what it did without any stream push. It did its thing on dance radio and dance circuits all over the world.
**Sam:** It really reacted online too, we saw a lot of fan reactions on Youtube and all the different livestreaming.
**JP:** We knew we had something with that one because the emotion in the hook was so big and Sophia brought it to life so well. When she came and cut it, she nailed the emotion. That was a special song for us for sure.
**How have you guys evolved since?**
**JP:** It’s safe to say we’ve evolved a lot over the years. We refined our sound over the last decade, but there’s always core things we do that are very Cash Cash, whether it’s with the writing or the melodies we choose. Even musically: musical melodies, musical instrumentation. We evolve without even knowing we’re evolving. We’d be doing things that incorporate different styles and instruments of our own, that's why we love working with all different kinds of artists. From hip-hop artists to pop artists to rock artists, singer-songwriters, country artists, we work with everyone. That’s helped evolve us over the years the most, collabing with different artists and pushing the envelope that way.
**Sam:** Our new song “Too Late” that features Wiz Khalifa and Lukas Graham brings two of our best elements and favorite things of collaborating with people outside our worlds. Wiz is an amazing rapper, Lucas has beautiful, grand pop hooks. For us, it’s a perfect storm that pushes us outside our comfort zone, but those things definitely make the magic happen.
**JP**: “Too Late” wasn’t one that came that easy out the gate. We had to go out of our comfort zone, try to really think outside the box and make something special. Doing that keeps us on our toes.
**How did the collab with Wiz and Lukas come together?**
**JP:** It was a work in progress. A lot of our songs when you see multiple collabs on them, they take a year or two to even make. We have this song “Devil” with Busta Rhymes, B.o.B, and Neon Hitch. 3 different features on that song, it took two years to make. First we did the hook with Neon Hitch, then we got B.o.B. It sat for a little bit, then we got Busta Rhymes. Similar thing happened with “Too Late.” We started with Lucas, Lucas made the hook, sent us the hook and we built the track around the hook. Made the drop, structured it out to what we thought would work. We sat on it for a little bit and sent it around to all these different people.
When Wiz said he’s down to do it, he did his part. We got his verse on there, put it together and that's when you realize you have something. It’s definitely cool building these songs together. It’s not your typical song where you go in the studio and build the song with someone in the room: finish it, write it, record it with the artist and be done with it. They’re like these soups that have all these different ingredients in them. Like cooking, there’s all these different stages. Some stuff happens early in the cook, some of the stuff happens later in the cook.
**Sam:** Each ingredient brings out the intensity and the flavor of the emotion on the track. Every element we got meant adding and changing the song, really amped it up bringing out the emotions of the record.
**JP**: To get real specific on it, “Too Late” was really awesome. The bridge of “Too Late,” Wiz did the pre-chorus. After Wiz gave us his part, we heard that pre-course when he sang it in the first verse. “But all you gotta do is hold on, keep on doin' right, don't go wrong…” \[sings\] He said that in the verse and we stepped away. Wait a second, what if we took that and made that a bridge? Let’s loop it and do it twice, oh my god it gave me chills. Once we looped it and made a part out of it, it made the whole bridge section of the song. We went back to the Lukas and said “sing on top of what he did,” then yup the song’s done. It was a no-brainer, it came together. It's cool to see them grow and turn into these concoctions is what I like to call them, these crazy concoctions.
**What can we expect from the music video?**
**JP:** The video’s awesome. I think it's the best video we’ve ever made.
**Sam:** It came out awesome, amazing.
**JP:** We don't say that very often because we’re usually not that thrilled with a lot of the videos.
**Sam:** We get real involved in it, then there's always a lot of edits and notes. We get burnt out by the end result.
**JP:** We’ve definitely made some special videos. “[Belong](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-dR1NtNSLU)” is an awesome video, “Surrender” was pretty amazing too. “Finest Hour” was pretty good, it was fun. I just rewatched it. I rewatch our old videos to compare how it sits with this one, that's when it hit me: this one’s next level. Not because it’s crazy filled with effects and all crazy shit, there’s nobody twerking in it, there’s no half-naked girls. It's a classy video that hits you where the song hits you. It takes you and the song to another level, emotion-wise. It’s the emotion we feel when we hear the song, that's why we’re happy. Now when people watch the video, they’re going to feel the emotion we feel when we hear the song, when we play it out and when we’re listening to it. That's lightning in a bottle right there.
**JP:** Seeing the actors do their thing on the big screen. I remember we’re looking at it on the side screen, watching the tapes be recorded. It was humbling because we felt that connection to the actors in the video. There’s a connection between the actors and the video, it’s very relatable. We could all relate to it. It’ll make you reflect on your own life, on who you’re going to be, how you’re going to live the rest of your life. It really nailed it.
**The cover art is reminiscent of a venue, how much do you guys miss shows?**
**Sam:** That’s our whole lives for the last 10 years, we’ve been nonstop. This year definitely made us really sit back and reflect, appreciate all the amazing times we’ve had touring. We definitely miss it a lot.
**JP:** You don't know you have a good thing until it’s gone. Not to say we weren’t grateful for anything, we’re the most humble dudes. Anyone that knows us. We play shows and afterwards people would be singing out songs back. We play festivals, we still get goosebumps. We still look at each other on the way back home to the hotel, looking at videos on our phones saying “how did we do this?” So grateful but when something is truly taken away from you, that's when you know truly how much it means to you.
Not being able to have that connection with the audience and the fans, play our music out, it was really sad. It was definitely hard to accept too, given how long it's been and how long it’d be when we realized what's happening. Like anything, you can't have the good without the bad. Everything’s a seesaw, everything’s a pendulum. Now when shows start to happen again and things slowly start up, we’re going to have a whole different look. It's going to be brand new again.
**Favorite song to drop in a set?**
**JP:** That changes per weekend, it really depends. Obviously the bigger ones that had more mainstream success stand out. Even “Take Me Home,” “Surrender,” “How To Love,” “Millionaire”...
**Sam:** Those are great. When we do a new song or song we don't expect to have such a good reaction, then the whole crowd will be singing the song we didn't even realize people knew there. It catches us off guard.
**JP:** Like track 12 on our album, the deep cut. It’s great to see people singing that: “Aftershock” or “Belong” even, some of the random stuff.
**Favorite collab you’ve done?**
**JP:** As of now, “Too Late.” “Lightning” was a special song for us ‘cause we grew up big Goo Goo Dolls. Working with John Rzeznik was one of those experiences you can't really put a price on, totally priceless. “Too late” man, I haven't felt this way in a while. I really think we did something special.
**Who would you like to collab with now?**
**JP**: Totally
**Sam**: We were just talking about that.
**JP**: Short list, Adam Levine 100%. We did a remix for Katy Perry, but it’d be cool to do a collab. We’ve been so lucky to work with so many artists we grew up listening to and respect. We did a collab with P!NK, that was awesome. Working with Nelly was awesome. We’ve definitely done a lot of our bucket list people: Dashboard Confessional, other new artists. Taylor Swift would be awesome. She’d be a great person to collab with, her voice works over everything. She can do whatever: rock, country, pop, a little hip-hop swag. Justin Bieber too, it’d be dope to work with the Biebs.
**3 things you need in the studio?**
**Sam**: Keyboard, acoustic guitar, and...
**JP**: Xanax.
**Sam**: I’ll take coffee for me.
**JP**: I definitely drug out in the studio, 100%. I won't reveal what drugs, but I also drugged Alex in the studio before with a heavy narcotic. \[laughs\]
**Sam**: Sometimes you have to get him, you know...
**JP**: Alex gets very intense and stressed out in the studio. This day, we knew he’s going to be on edge because the week before we had a blowout. I was talking to Sam about it like “oh man, this is gonna be a rough studio session.” So I slipped a little happy pill in his drink. He’s my brother, so I can do that. End result—we had the best productive session to date.
**What are you excited for in the new year?**
**Sam:** To release new music, we got a lot of new music stuff coming. Really excited for “Too Late.” Hopefully shows and festivals will kick back up, that's what we’re looking forward to the most. Getting back out there, connecting with our fans, traveling.
**JP:** Amen.
**One thing you want fans to take away from “Too Late”?**
**JP:** Everyday when you wake up, are you doing everything you could be doing with your life? Because sooner or later, you might miss that opportunity.
**Sam:** It’s not about working or trying to make money, but really appreciating your life. Appreciating everyone around you, really the most important aspects of your life and friendships.
**JP:** Spending time with your friends and your family, doing what makes you happy before it's “Too Late.”
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