Keeping up with Cash Cash

Over the past few years, New Jersey-based trio group Cash Cash has built up a phenomenal presence in the world of EDM. Currently consisting of Jean Paul Makhlouf, Alex Makhlouf and Samuel Frisch, the group has produced official remixes for Krewella, Bruno Mars, Icona Pop and more. Their most popular song, “Take Me Home,” features vocals by Bebe Rexha and is categorized under the genre of progressive house. Since then, they have released “Lightning” and “Surrender,” which were hits as well. The DT sat down with JP (Jean Paul) to get a glimpse inside the lives of this successful trio, and — more importantly — figure out why JP likes turtles so much.

DT: Your name came from people coming after all your cash, and you actually not having any. How relevant does that statement feel today now that you’ve made it so far in the EDM world?

JP: For me personally, I think it’s a constant reminder of when we had nothing, or it was only 10 people watching us perform, or when there was just no one that really cared. This just puts it in perspective every time we hear our song on the radio or we hear people sing along at a festival. It makes us really appreciate everything that’s happened in the last few years.

DT: Sometimes, it’s the little things in life that count. What’s the best “little thing” about being Cash Cash?

JP: Honestly, we all just like to watch TV shows. We’re big fans of Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, stuff like that. Better Call Saul — I’m into that right now. Sometimes, our whole life is so wrapped up in partying, being at the club. When we have a few hours to ourselves, we like to just get in bed and catch up on our shows.

DT: Who’s your favorite character on Breaking Bad?

JP: That’s a tough one, that’s a tough one. Obviously Walt of course, but I think Pinkman. Probably Pinkman.

DT: Tell us your favorite story about being on tour with Alex and Sam.

JP: The cool thing is that Sam and I do most of the touring ourselves, and Alex usually stays back in the studio working on something because there’s always so much to do in dance music. When we were all touring, we felt like we didn’t get enough done and it got too focused on us being away from the studio. So we decided to just tour with the two of us. Sometimes we change it up too, and Sam and Alex will go out and I will stay back. Or I will go out and Sam will stay back. So we rotate a little bit, but 80 percent of the time it’s usually just Sam and me.

DT: Is it difficult to tour without each other?

JP: It’s pretty easy. That’s the thing about DJing: you don’t really need three people to do it. There are things that are cool to do when we have the three of us up there. We can trigger more acappellas, or do more things on the fly as far as making our own mash-ups, tricking things out. At the end of the day, two is plenty.

DT: You were talking with Jojo on the radio about people having Cash Cash tattoos. Do you have any tattoos?

JP: I have a few, no Cash Cash tattoos, but yeah, I love tattoos. I think they’re just another way to express yourself and mark different periods of your life.

DT: What is your favorite tattoo?

JP: I have this one that says, “For me this is heaven.” It’s a Jimmy Eat World song, and for me it means this is heaven right now. Living life for now and just enjoying it all.

DT: Is there a story behind your love for turtles?

JP: You know, I think it probably started with Ninja Turtles back when I was really young. I always thought they were just such cool, fascinating creatures. Reptiles in general, I think — snakes, lizards. Then I just started catching them, but we always let them go.

DT: I know you guys like to eat sushi a lot. What’s your favorite restaurant?

JP: That’s another tough question. We recently hit up Sugarfish in L.A. and I was actually blown away because I’m always feel like L.A. sushi is not as good as N.Y. sushi, but this place had me blown away. I like classic style sushi, like sushi Nozawa, because we spent a lot of time in Japan.