My man Sean Deez of Kevin Nottingham recently had the opportunity to sit down with Phonte and Nicolay of The Foreign Exchange a couple of hours prior to their sold-out show in Toronto. Since he didn't have any way of recording the interview, I thought I'd lend a hand to ensure that the opportunity wasn't wasted.

In part 1, Sean talks to the fellas about their roots, how they "connected" and working online vs. in the studio, channeling their musical influences into their music, and what blogs they stay up on.