After a long, grueling Winter for us New Yorkers, Summer had finally hit, and the iconic day of BBQ's and fireworks was upon us. It would be my first time at Governors Beach Club and after the recent storm had cleared, it couldn't be a more perfect day for this Independence Day Party. The grounds quickly filled as the ferry's dumped boat loads of people from the massive island across the way into the presence of Riggi & Piros and Botnek's vibes. The first ever Buygore Pageant took place this day. 20 contestants lined the stage, showing off their twerk skills and ratchet thrills. A panel of judges including EDM Snob, Waka Flocka, and of course the Buygore man himself, Borgore, chose the first round of girls that would stay to answer some very random questions. These included, "What would you do to solve the Middle East Crisis?" "Who will win the world cup?" and "If you were a Borgore song, which one would it be?" All of which were answered in the ditsiest of ways. Asses shook, pasties were exposed, and the overall winner went to contestant number 1. $1000 prize? Not bad. Now go buy yourself some class.

Earlier in the night, I had the chance to sit down with Michael Woods, progressive house, club sound enthusiast. By the time he took the decks, everyone was hyped up from the pageant, the tent was filled, and the sun had began to set. His vibe was soothing yet electric, especially when dropping his new track set to release on July 14th, In Your Arms. The bounce of the crowd made me feel like I was on one of the passer by boat and yet I couldn't stop.

Waka Flocka was next and drove some hip hop and rap tunes into our skulls. Again, why is this guy on the line up? Good hype man? Got it.

Borgore brought us right back to ratchet town, dropping some new tunes off of his album, New Gore Order, which was released yesterday along with some of his older tracks, which left sand dust flying throughout the island.

Leaving in a daze, we all headed back to the OTHER island that we call home.

Check out what Michael Woods had to say about how his sister aided his journey into the spotlight, what he ate today, and the one person he'd love to perform along side:

DB: Happy 4th of July! How was your night last night?

MW: Very Hectic. And I can’t remember much of it. I did Miami. It was a pool party and before that I came from Vegas so it was quite non-stop. I didn’t eat a single thing. Too much Patron and I’m suffering today, big time.

DB: You need to eat something then!

MW: (Laughs) I just had an apple. That’s all I’ve eaten in 24 hours!

DB: So tell us a little about your journey into the spotlight. How did it all start and how did you get where you are today?

MW: Well, Okay. It kind of started when my dad started teaching me the piano at an early age. I don’t remember not being able to play the piano. So I started when I was 4. And, ya know, he would have us down there playing the piano every morning and we had to do it. He was quite a strict dad and he made me do the work, but it kind of paid off.

DB: It definitely paid off!

MW: But then I went to school, college, and all that kind of stuff. I went to get a job, just a normal office job because I never thought it would be realistic that I’d do anything in music because there were too many people trying to do it. I guess I just got lucky. My sister [Marcella Woods] was dating a DJ/producer named Matt Darey So I was hanging out at his house just hanging back. They were in the kitchen cooking some stuff and I was in the studio tinkering away on his keyboard just playing some chords and he ran in like, “What the hell is that? Play it again!” So, I played it again, he hit record and within a month we signed it to a record label called Inferno. So that was my first signing and I thought, “That was kind of easy.” Ya know what I mean? And it went top 4 in the UK charts. So I used the money from that signing to make my own studio and it went from there. That was a long time ago.

DB: How did Diffused Music come about?

MW: That came about because I just wanted to be able to release my own records and not sign to other labels and be constrained by what they wanted to do. I’ve got my own ideas and I wanted to start my own label. That was it, really. Pretty straight forward.

DB: The fact that you have to power to do that is awesome.

MW: Ya, exactly. If you’ve got a following, it’s not too difficult.

DB: What’s the process of signing artists to that label? How do you choose who you want?

MW: People who make good music. I get a lot of demos, actually, and it’s just a case of going through those demos and picking something that grabs my attention. There’s just so much music. That’s the only problem, There’s just too much. But ya, if I see something I like something or maybe I know someone, like I signed MAKJ. He’s got a new record on Diffused. He sent it to me like, “What do you think?” I said, “It sounds great,” and that was it.

DB: Is there any other genre of music that you’d like to dabble in or bring into the label?

MW: Ummmm, I listen to so many different kinds of music. I like Jazz. I like classical. I guess I try and bring out some of my classical training in my productions. Ya know, try and make it musical in some parts, not all just banging beats or whatever. I like piano too.

DB: Well for example, you’re performing with Borgore today and we all know he’s into the heavy Dubstep. Would you ever experiment with that or kind of just stick with the club music?

MW: Ya, I’ll stick to what I know. I’m not going to try and kid myself and try and do something that I know I’m not any good at. I don’t really live and breathe that scene, ya know? Like if he did it, he wouldn’t be real. So I like to stick to what I know and do it to the best of my ability. If people like it, they like it. If they don’t, they don’t.

DB: I think they like it!
What do you do outside of the music scene when you’re not producing or touring?

MW: Well, that takes up 99% of my time. But outside of that I like to try and keep fit, go to the gym, run every now and again, if I can. I was just in Vegas and I tried to go for an early morning run, like 7 am, it was like 114 degrees. Been trying to do that.

DB: If you could perform with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

MW: Michael Jackson. Ya, I grew up listening to him and he’s a big inspiration musically. His was the first live concert that I ever went to, I think I was 10, in a stadium of about 50 or 60 thousand people. I sat by myself. So my parents were kind of worried about that. So, Michael Jackson would definitely be it, if he were alive.

DB: This is a fun one I like to ask people: If you could pick any two, I’m going to say artists this time, instead of DJ’s, to be your parents, who would they be?

MW: As parents?! (Laughs) Oh boy. Ya know, I don’t know. Maybe Mariah Carey for a mom. Ya because I’ve seen her on Pop Idol or some sort of talent search thing and she was so motherly to the people and very helpful, like a mentor. She had a lot of advice to give out. I though, “Wow, that was pretty cool.” So, maybe her as a mother. As a dad, I don’t know. I have no idea. Deadmau5, maybe?

DB: Your track, In Your Arms, comes out July 14th. What’s next after that?

MW: I’ve got a single waiting in the wings. I actually played it yesterday and I got some tweets about it. So, I’ll be playing it today. It’s called Sleep When I’m Dead. The vocals are so distinctive. It sounds like Michael Jackson, in fact. People say that loop is like a Michael Jackson vocal. It’s actually a female vocal. I cant actually say who it is for now but it’s a really cool track.

DB: Well we can’t wait to hear it and see you up there tonight! Thanks for joining us!

MW: I can’t wait either! My pleasure!

Photo credit: Razberry Photography