Nightlife

Weekly’s wild ride on the High Roller with DJ duo Nervo

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Nervo launches their Haute Mess residency at SLS’ Foxtail Pool on August 8.
Chloe Paul

After years of songwriting for superstars and DJing at the hottest clubs around the globe, DJ duo Nervo dropped its debut album, Collateral, on July 24. In town for a July 18 record release party at Omnia, the Australian sisters celebrated the highly anticipated album with a pre-party in one of the High Roller observation wheel’s pods—and Weekly was along for the ride, cocktailing and conversing with Olivia and Miriam Nervo 550 feet in the air.

Are you afraid of heights? (Olivia) Yes. I actually am, but I feel okay up here, surprisingly.

(Miriam) I love it. I cannot believe we walked in and there’s an open bar for our album launch. I think that’s so cool!

Have you ever been on an observation wheel before? (Miriam) Never!

(Olivia) I have once.

(Miriam) Have you been on the London Eye?

(Olivia) I went on a date on the London Eye.

(Miriam) Are you absolutely joking?

(Olivia) I’m not going to tell you who it is, because you’ll cringe and she knows him. But you don’t know him. I’m glad that it was a date and that’s it.

(Miriam) And was there a proper dinner table?

(Olivia) No, it was like an empty little room. Actually, this is a much better Ferris wheel, because they have a bar in here!

How would you describe your album Collateral in three words? (Miriam): Finally!

(Olivia) I was going to say something really boring, like electronic. And hot!

(Miriam) Yeah, it has our life in it. Our life stories; our heart. It’s our blood, sweat and tears.

The album has a lot of collaborations with some of today’s top artists, some of which you’ve done some songwriting work with before. Who were you most excited to work with, either for the first time or again? (Miriam) We [were] excited about working with everyone. It’s really nice to bring Jake [Shears, of Scissor Sisters] and Kylie [Minogue] together, because they’re both friends.

(Olivia) And we’ve worked with Kylie a few times on her albums, and then we’re friends with Jake. … They’ve been talking about doing a track together for so long.

(Miriam) And they’re buddies, so it was a natural thing. And then Nile [Rodgers] jumped on it. It’s a disco number and it’s fun and we know it doesn’t work completely for our big-time sets, but we love it. It [was] a nice moment.

You’re both very accomplished songwriters, even earning a Grammy for your work on David Guetta’s “When Love Takes Over” featuring Kelly Rowland. What do you enjoy more, songwriting or DJing? (Olivia) Both.

(Miriam) You get a real high from DJing, because you meet people and you see what you’re doing to people. You’re building positivity and good vibes.

(Olivia) But then it’s such a high when you’re in the studio, when you’ve just finished a record.

(Miriam) It’s like therapy for us. Writing is therapy. Because it’s really releasing, and putting something together. We love it.

You’ve played Hakkasan and Omnia, and on August 8 you'll add Foxtail to the list. Do you like playing Vegas, and what do you think of the city as a dance music destination? (Miriam) It’s becoming more and more of a real hub for electronic music. I think about four years ago there was a lot of talk about Vegas being the dance mecca of the United States. But I think now, it’s really cemented itself. You cannot only be entertained by pop stars or acrobatics and all that kind of stuff, restaurants, you’re entertained by DJs now here, which is awesome for us.

(Olivia) I agree. I think Vegas is the place everybody in America—or actually, everybody in the world—needs to come, or wants to come, and party to dance music.

(Miriam) It’s a sure thing. It’s always incredible. The clubs are off the hook. It’s an honor to be part of it, really. Disneyland for adults!

Do you ever have downtime when you’re in Vegas? What do you like to do? (Olivia) For downtime we’re normally, to be fair, in our room, recovering from the night before.

(Miriam) Or writing emails. It’s a bit boring, but downtime for us is jumping on Skype and speaking to a loved one, a family member, somewhere around the world. Catching up on emails, doing my nails! You know? Like, just normal, boring stuff.

(Olivia) Normal, boring, girly things.

Aside from DJing and promoting the album, what else are you working on right now? (Olivia) Well, we live in Ibiza. We have a crazy summer touring schedule. We knew it was going to be this way, so that’s why we wanted to get all the album music videos out of the way, before the summer. So Europe, Europe, Europe, right now, and bouncing back and forth to Vegas and America whenever we can.

Haute Mess with Nervo at Foxtail Pool Club August 8, 10:30 a.m., $20+ women, $30+ men.

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