300 EntertainmentThe deejay collective Cheat Codes is riding high thanks to their hit collabo with Demi Lovato, “No Promises,” which has sold five million copies. They didn’t reach those numbers by cheating, but growing up, they did play their fair share of video games, which is what the phrase “cheat codes” refers to.
“Growing up I’ve always played a lot of Madden and NFL, NHL and NBA,” says Cheat Codes member Trevor Dahl. “Just like all sort of sports games, but y’know, Halo‘s always a classic and Call of Duty‘s always good.”
His band mate Matt Russell, on the other hand, played more PC games than console games.
“I remember like starting off on like Reader Rabbit and stuff,” he recalls. “I would play Sims and Roller Coaster Tycoon and Zoo Tycoon. I liked building stuff in these games for some reason.”
Trevor recalls he liked a similar game. “I had a thing called Restaurant Empire when I was in elementary school and I used to wanna like own a restaurant,” he laughs. “It was so dorky but it was pretty cool.”
Owning a restaurant is actually something that Matt has thought about — it would be based around the concept of a “cheat day,” to go along with their name.
“The concept of the cafe, it’s like healthy food that’s basically like cheat food,” he tells ABC Radio. “So it’s people that wanna go there for their cheat days. So it’s, like, nachos, but they’re, like, healthier nachos than what you’d normally get. But they still taste bomb!”
Considering that most musicians these days have some kind of side project going — like a clothing line, liquor line or restaurant — it’s not inconceivable that one day a Cheat Codes Cafe could open in a city near you. No promises, though.
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