You know the track 'We Run L.A...'

VSC: How did you guys meet and decide to collaborate?

Lex: Louie and I met freshman year of high school in detention. We started off as music producers. After producing for local talent we met the infamous mix engineer "Segal." We were kids then and Segal was our Mr. Miyagi. After writing probably a thousand songs for other people, we finally got fed up and said we're going to do it all. Produce, write, sing, rap, literally everything you can do for a song, which is why we have been so successful in licensing our songs; they are so easy to clear.
Louie: Yeah, we started working on a ton of projects involving different genres; everything from indie movie soundtracks, classic rock, electro and dance music. By the time we formed Dr. Hollywood, we were ready to combine all of our past efforts into one style. If you listen to our tracks you can hear remnants of all the contrasting genres we have worked in. Each track is like a soundtrack to a different movie.

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VSC: Your infectious track "We Run L.A." ft. Ya Boy was everywhere the last few months - remember where you were the first time you heard it out? Was it at the Louis store right on Rodeo?

Lex: It was a "That Thing You Do" moment when we heard DJ Felli Fel play, ‘We Run LA’ four times in a row on L.A.'s Power 106. After all the hard work for 10 straight years I can't even begin to describe the feeling.
Louie: Being able to sing along to myself in the car was definitely a life-changing experience.

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VSC: As an L.A. guy, I loved the track - great, unique, upbeat tune, but also kind of a love letter to Los Angeles...are you orig from L.A., or is it more of a tribute track for you?

Lex: Born and raised in L.A. baby. We really wanted to make an inspiring anthem for our city. I was watching the Lakers yesterday and as soon as they won, the DJ started to play "We Run LA" and everybody went crazy. We recently made custom versions of the song "Lakers Run LA" and "Dodgers Run LA" for our hometown teams.
Louie: We love our city. When we made it, we knew it had to be different from what was on the radio and started with an instrumental that could've been lifted from an '80s movie. After a night of performing we went back to our studio in Hollywood for an after party; inspiration hit, and we locked ourselves in one of our studios the whole night to write and record the hook. There was nothing out there like it; we had stretched the pop genre. We knew we had a hit and made it work independently.

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VSC: How would you say your new track "Breakfast at Tiffany's" ft. Shwayze compares to "We Run L.A." How did the track come about?

Lex: "Breakfast at Tiffany's" compares as another feel good summertime record. Shwayze and I have known each other for a while from going out in Hollywood and pool parties in Malibu. So, when we ran into each other at an event I told him we had a perfect song for him to get on. Shwayze being the cool guy that he is came to the studio after that and we cut the record.
Louie: It's another ‘We Run L.A.’ -- it's a pool party anthem guaranteed to have you singing along by the third hook. We made "We Run L.A." knowing it would be commercially successful as well as rewarding creatively; 'Breakfast At Tiffany's' is the same situation. We are passionate about this one, and it can easily be a radio hit.

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VSC: You've been giving away a bunch of your tracks for free (thanks!), but can we expect a full-length album from you in the near future?

Lex: We're locking ourselves in the studio now making new music. We like to run the gamut on visual topics and create songs with a range of themes that have so many different uses. We've really been able to flourish in licensing to television, movies, and commercials. We have commercials running now for HBO/Verizon and NIVEA and music supervisors are always hitting us up now for more. We have some gems in the works right now, which in the right hands will be gigantic campaigns.
Louie: Ya, we definitely work from a licensing perspective. We're working on two projects right now. The first is our full-length "Escape From Paradise" that will be coming out late this year. The second is a series of mix tapes aptly named 5150. The idea is that our approach to music is schizophrenic; one moment we're making a soul track about Chevy low riders, then we're making a dance-rock song about smashing bottles. It's as if we have multiple personality disorder. 5150 will follow suit as a series of mix tape releases in different genres (i.e. our first may be pure indie rock covers, our second may be dance remixes, our third might be hip-hop and so on).

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VSC: Lets talk "Escape from Paradise" - what's it all about?

Louie: It's about the trappings of success. Artists put in a lot of work to get to it, but can you survive it? Paradise is a metaphor for becoming successful, it looks and sounds alluring but once you're there you realize there are sharks and snakes everywhere. We've been able to license our songs a lot and this album will be no different since we make sure that our music has a visual feel to it.

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VSC: What was your experience like opening for Katy Perry and LMFAO?

Lex: Because of the first event we did, we've actually done a few big shows with LMFAO since then. Nothing beats 10,000 jumping and screaming kids singing along. We've been doing a lot of shows, we're now doing college tours and club gigs all around. We just got back from a performance in Vegas, still recovering.

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VSC: Who would you say are your greatest musical influences?

Lex: I used to take all of my dads CDs when I was a kid. Steely Dan, Pink Floyd, ELO, still in my CD changer today.
Louie: You can't forget Hall and Oates. We're also influenced by Fred Falke and Curtis Mayfield. Basically no one that is on the radio now.

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VSC: Top 3 most-played tracks in your iPod right now?

Lex: I'm actually more of a radio guy, I love to keep my ear to the streets and hear the new music coming out. DJ Felli Fel's and Yesi Ortiz's New @ 2 on Power 106 is great for that and DJ Skee's new music show on KIIS FM is amazing as well.
Louie: Same here. 

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VSC: If you could work with anyone right now, who would it be?

Louie: I would love to work with Steely Dan, or anyone from Pink Floyd. Curtis Mayfield and ELO would also be incredible.
Lex: Any great brand, we really have some great hooks to offer major advertisers to associate their brand.

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VSC: You guys are still pretty new to the Biz, yeah? How has it been treating you?

Lex: It's treating us great, we couldn't be more happy.
Louie: Yeah, we love making music, and making music work.

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VSC: Any advice for new acts trying to make a name for themselves?

Louie: Create a team. We are the team. Alex will be answering phone calls in one room while I'm graphically designing our website in the other. We take care of everything.

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VSC: Where will you be in five years?

Lex: Hopefully, doing our fifth-year anniversary Variety interview.

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VSC: What's next for Dr. Hollywood? Any shows planned in the near future or a tour?

Lex: A bunch of college shows next year are being set up, and this summer we'll be doing club dates all around. It's going be a lot of fun.
Louie: We perform at a lot of private events and charity events as well. I'm sure we'll have a lot of those coming.