Despite the success of the song “Shots,” LMFAO’s Redfoo has been drinking something different lately. He calls it the Club Bull: Red Bull, club soda, Grey Goose and a splash of pineapple.
“It has the bubbles, which I’m into right now,” Redfoo said.
But, he said, LMFAO weren’t just being facetious when they wrote a song about taking shots.
“We always get it started with a shot,” he said. Preferably, he added, a shot of Patron. And Red Bull and vodka is always a solid choice, too.
Redfoo is one half of the group LMFAO, whose success has skyrocketed since the release of its 2009 debut album, Party Rock. This Friday, LMFAO will take a break from their stadium tour in support of the Black Eyed Peas to party in a more intimate location: Madison’s Orpheum Theatre.
“We’re looking to get crazy,” Redfoo said. “There should be no holds barred.”
Longtime friend DJ Melo will open the show for the duo.
“He’s a master DJ,” Redfoo said. “He’s going to get the party started.”
Spinning their own brand of electronic dance hip-hop — “If I was talking to a girl, I would say it’s very, very orgasmic,” Redfoo said to describe his music — LMFAO exudes positive energy and creativity. The duo is rooted in the party scene, but its inspiration is unexpected.
“What inspired us is probably the seahorse,” Redfoo said. “It’s almost a mythical figure, but it is real, but you question it all the time. That’s what our music is to us.”
He also cites Michael Jackson, DJ AM, Prince, Rick James and Madonna as influences.
And, Redfoo said, the switch from baggy pants to tight ones has transformed the way LMFAO feels and acts onstage.
“You feel like dancing when you put on your pants,” he said.
According to Redfoo, ridiculous encounters with fans are just another element of success. One recent encounter occurred during a sound check on LMFAO’s current tour.
“Two fans came into the stadium before a Black Eyed Peas show,” he said. “It was a daughter and a mother, and they were screaming, and the mother flashed her boobs. The daughter said, ‘Oh my God, mom, are you crazy?’ And [the mother] said, ‘I love LMFAO!'”
“And she was hot,” he added, laughing. “She was definitely MILF-y.”
Songs like “Shots” and “I’m in Miami Bitch” give the impression that LMFAO is all about partying, drinking and picking up girls — or girls’ mothers, apparently. But according to Redfoo, that logic is only partly true. Some songs, like the group’s most recent single, “Yes,” are about harnessing the power of positive thinking to make your dreams come true.
“We just happen to love partying and party all the time, but our songs are talking about situations in and around the party life,” Redfoo said.
For example, he explained, “‘I Am Not a Whore’ is based on what’s happening to us.
“We used to have to figure out how to talk to girls and come up with lines at the grocery store or whatever, as 99 percent of all men have to do, but now it’s the opposite for us … girls grab us when we walk by now, and I have to slap their hands away and say, ‘Stop that!'”
So if he’s batting girls away, does that mean that Redfoo is spoken for?
“I am wildly single,” Redfoo said. “It would be silly for me to try to have a relationship, especially a long distance one. ”
“I like being able to choose — no, I’m not going to answer my phone,” he continued. “When you’re in a relationship, you have to answer. And then I feel like that towards the girl, and that just really messes you up, when I’m like, ‘You didn’t answer your phone; who are you studying with? You’re studying with him? What!?'”
Redfoo might be playful with relationships, but when it comes to shows, LMFAO is all business. He wants UW-Madison students to get ready to “let it all out” at Friday’s show.
“We didn’t come here to play around,” he said. “We came here to party it up, and we are serious about it. This is not a game!”
LMFAO performs at the Orpheum Theatre on Friday, March 12 at 10 p.m. Tickets are $25.
