Both 28 years old, Hugo is from Recife and Rick is from Porto Alegre, in northern and southern Brazil. They moved to Ireland in 2013, and while they call Dublin home now, they also get to travel the world playing the best gay clubs as X-CUBS. In between gigs, they have a regular podcast featuring their favourite tunes. We decided to have a few words, and Hugo answered the call…

Hey Hugo! Tell us how you guys met and started working together?

We met at an after-party, after a really crazy night. Rick was really drunk and I took advantage on him for a moment or two. After that we started to go out together and discovered we had a lot of things that we like in common. After a while, people began to say that we look like brothers! Rick started to show an interest in learning to DJ too. It took a while to happen, but when it did, things started to flow really fast.

We had ideas together, from the name (X-CUBS means that we are cubs – bear babies) to the logo, to what we want to do and play, and the kind of message we want to give with our work and identity. We are constantly trying to improve.

What’s been each of your musical influences?

I like a lot of stuff that’s quite indie, non-commercial and kind of difficult for normal ears to hear. My favorite singer is Björk; she’s the basis of everything I do. But I’m also deep connected with pop music. I was a resident DJ in Pantibar for a year, so pop is always inside me.

Rick likes everything, from funk to deep house, so that’s always a good way to mix different things in our sets. Rick traveled a lot within Brazil to different, big parties, so his house music background is huge.

We love some DJ’s who have made history in house music, like Offer Nissin, Peter Hauhofer, Kingstone, Binomio, Felipe Lira, and Rodolpho Bravat, among other new talents that elevate the level of the e-music around the world.

What can people expect from a club XCUBS play at?

A lot of energy! We can’t stop dancing while we play and we are always looking for reactions. We’ve started to do some choreographed dancing, and the reaction we can get from the crowd is unbelievable. We also like to mix genres with different kind of beats. We love pop anthems and like to see people singing and dancing with us. All we seek is connection, to make the crowd have good moments, united for good music and fun.

Where’s the most exotic place you played?

Malta. That place is unbelievable. We played two nights there and if we could, we’d have played all week! The island is full of things we like, awesome beaches, handsome and hot guys, good clubs and cheap, cheap drinks!

Tell us about your photoshoot inspired by Madonna’s ‘Confessions’ Tour?

We were watching the DVD of the tour, and we started to talk about what music and playing it for people means to us.

What’s the experience that people have when they’re connected in a dance floor? What is the only thing that that connects people, so they can feel the same thing at the same time, even if they’re not close to each other? What makes their hearts beat faster and gives them the joy of feeling good, having a good night, seeking someone new or dancing with their best friends? Music is the answer.

No one is different on the dancefloor, so we decided that music is really our religion because what it’s given to us is really a blessing. We made this picture, based on what we saw in the ‘Forbidden Love’ section of Madonna’s show – two types of people that hate each other because of religion, when they should embrace their differences and live in peace, and fight for the good moments in life.

In ten words describe what people can expect from your Podcast?

Energetic beats made to unite all friends, anywhere, anytime, everyday.

What clubs in the world would X-CUBS most like to play?

The ones in Dublin! There are a lot of independent parties going on in the city, like Bananas, Profile, Euphoria… these parties always try to bring great DJ’s to town and we think they should be more supported by the people in Dublin.

Of course we love to travel and see the different reactions to our music in different parts of the world (Italy and Portugal are next), but to play to our friends and to see their reactions and opinions (even when we ask them to be serious), telling us we did the right thing or that a song we played was special for them for some reason, that get’s a smile from us we keep on our faces ’til we go to sleep.

Why are you guys glad to be gay?

To us it means that we are free to make our choices, to be who we are inside and outside without overthinking about what the society will say about us. Our sexuality is part of who we are, deep inside. I think we are insanely happy and proud of our personalities, of our way of seeing the world, of the way we care about our friends, lovers, and families.

That’s why we think that being gay DJ’s expresses exactly who we are within ourselves: happy, dynamic, free, excited, and full of ideas to make the world a better, funnier and a safer place.

Ireland is a great place to be yourself and this is something we are thankful for and proud of. We have no words to describe how happy and safe we feel living on the Green Island.

Listen to the latest X-CUBS podcast below.