I was granted the opportunity to talk to Grace Chatto of the multiple award-winning band Clean Bandit, consisting of cellist and vocalist Grace, multi-instrumentalist Jack Patterson, percussionist Luke Patterson, and violinist/pianist Neil Amin-Smith. Their quick rise to international fame revolved around their hit single "Rather Be," which most notably won the award for "Best Dance Recording" this past year and was carried by the release of their debut album "New Eyes."

Clean Bandit does an excellent job of mixing garage electronic music, namely house, and classical music to create their own unique style. Starting out as a string quartet having met at the University of Cambridge, they often play shows with actual string instruments, which many audiences find pleasantly surprising. Performing in collaboration with famous vocalists/acts such as Jess Glynne and Marina & the Diamonds, Clean Bandit has set themselves aside from other pop music artists.

Hello, Grace! I read that you're all classically trained musicians, what inspired you to start writing progressive pop music?

Well, it was through friendship with each other, because Jack isn't classically trained, he has his training in jazz music. Neil and I are classically trained. We started a string quartet playing classical music while we were at Cambridge. That's where we met Jack; he was listening to our concert. We were dating at the time and we wanted to make music together, so he offered to record our quartet and manipulate the sound of the classical music on his computer based on the beat. We really liked it, and we organized a student club night and performed it there. We really enjoyed performing together and decided that's what we wanted to do.

So, while you were students at Cambridge, what was it like balancing music with schoolwork? What advice do you have to offer musicians currently in school?

It was really amazing being at Cambridge, even though we were studying different subjects—Jack studied architecture, and I studied modern and medieval languages—there's so much music going on, so many opportunities, so many events and spaces to use. My advice would be while at University to make use of all of that, because when you leave you don't have that network, that place to start from. We got to perform in front of large student crowds, something we wouldn't be able to do out in the real world. Also, you make so many connections with people from all different disciplines. That's how we made our first music videos with no money—we had a lot of help from other students.

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"It's always a surprise when we perform 'Rather Be' because a different energy suddenly comes in the room."

What are some surprising positives or negatives you've experienced as a group since winning a Grammy?

It's always a surprise when we perform "Rather Be" because a different energy suddenly comes in the room. It's also a surprise to hear people say they fell in love to that song. When we wrote it, we only ever thought of it as an instrumental track, we never knew it was going to be a love song. We got together with a friend to look at vocal lines, and he was getting married at the time, and he had this idea of turning it into a love song. It's lovely to hear that people walk out while getting married to "Rather Be." A negative would be that we suddenly became very busy. Lots of interviews, it was very surreal. We weren't even touring at the time, it felt quite weird and disconnecting because we weren't actually playing the music at the time.

What is your favorite type of audience to perform for?

My favorite type of audience is one who is very lively. I like being able to see physically how the audience reacts to the music. I love it because it creates a connection that's very unique. A lot of people are surprised to see we have so many live instruments mixed with the electronic aspect of our music.

Who would you like to collaborate with in the future?

I'd love to collaborate with Lana Del Rey, because we saw her play live and it was so amazing, so courageous, and crazy. There's a real deepness to her song-writing that could go well mixed with the playful style we sometimes enjoy. I'm just a big fan of her. Also, Janelle Monáe. We'd love to work with her. I've actually met her, and maybe that will happen.

"I like being able to see physically how the audience reacts to the music. I love it because it creates a connection that's very unique."

There are a ton of remixes of "Rather Be." Do you have a favorite remix, official or bootleg?

I think my favorite is a bootleg actually by DJ Mustard. I'm a huge fan of him as a producer, in general, it was an amazing surprise to see a remix from him out of the blue. I also really like The Magician's remix, an official one, because it just has this energy and nature that I like.

What direction do you think house music, or electronic music, in general, is headed? Is it centering toward a specific genre?

That's an interesting question. Over here, so many people are talking about electronic music. I think there's now becoming a tendency to mix really emotional vocal lines with bouncy electronic beats. There's a lot of dance music that is becoming more pop music. There's also the inclusion of acoustic instruments with electronic jams, which is something that's really interesting, but I don't really know if that's going to become a common thing.

It was one of the coolest opportunities I've had, being able to talk to and ask Chatto questions about her experiences being in one of the most well-known bands in the world. I wish her and the rest of Clean Bandit luck with the rest of their careers, and no doubt will I be looking forward to future single releases and a sophomore album.