"It's an excuse," says the duo's older member Redfoo. "Like, if we're hungover, or being loud in the hotel, and someone's banging on our door and telling us to turn it down, we're like ‘Sorry for party rocking.' It's a fun thing to say—it lets you get away with anything."
Well...pretty much anything. While the duo—featuring Foo and his nephew, Sky Blu (the son and grandson, respectively, of Motown founder Berry Gordy)—have found an increasing level of commercial success, including a No. 1 worldwide single ("Party Rock Anthem"), a main stage slot on the punk-flavored Bamboozle Festival (this weekend!) and an upcoming opening slot on Ke$ha's tour, they've also made some powerful enemies. Let's just say potential Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is not a fan.

How did you get the name Redfoo?
It comes from having red hair, and people were always saying things like "You're a fool, Red!" So I changed it around, and took off the "L." I didn't want to be a fool. I wanted something more majestic, like a foo. It's magical.

Is it weird working with family?
It's not weird. It's like we're homies, or friends hanging out. It's fun—we've known each other for so long. It might be weird for other family members, if I'm like "Sky, he's my favorite nephew!" But it can also be intense, like Cain and Abel intense. Especially now with our success—we basically each have our own management and our own people. That's something new. But otherwise, we're like Siamese twins.

How much time do you guys put into your hair?
It's no effort for me. Sky's got curly locks, so he might do something. But I just wake up and go.

You've played the Bamboozle Festival a couple of times and even went on the Bamboozle Road Show. That's more of a punk/emo crowd. What appeals to you about that?
I like the Bamboozle—it's a good mix of music, I like the vibe of the fans. They're very expressive. They come to party and have a good time. They're passionate. I think because we have this punk energy and vibe, in electronic form, they like us. And live, we have a drummer and guitar player, so it's even more punk rock.
How did you create this "Shufflin" dance you use in your new video for "Party Rock Anthem"?
It's been around for a while in the rave scene. It's sort of a combo of the Charleston, some running man...it's all over the world. Malaysia has a style, Melbourne has its own style. When I was listening to our song, I kept wanting to do the running man, and I found these people on YouTube, and I became obsessed. This is all I want to do! For the video... we wanted to make it big, give it more of a "Thriller" vibe. We got some dancers from The Quest Crew, who won "America's Best Dance Crew" a while back. And then we found the rest on YouTube, and some through a contest.

Speaking of "Thriller"... did you ever meet Michael Jackson?
Several times. The first time was after the Motown 25^th Anniversary show. My brothers and sisters kind of grew up with him when he lived in dad's house. He's sort of a magical person. I was a big fan, so I always looked at him from that perspective. He reminded me of a kid—his interests were those of a child. He'd be like "Oh, you have a walkie talkie!" and even I was like "Calm down, man, it's just a walkie talkie."

Your first album was "Party Rock," your new album is "Sorry for Party Rocking" and your new single is "Party Rock Anthem"...I sense a theme.
I love the theme. It's a universal theme. We're just really making a sequel to our first record...it's more of the same. It's like Star Wars 2 or Harry Potter 2. Same cast, same characters, different situations. Like, last album we did a song about "Shots," this time there's a song about champagne. We like staying in our own world, using our own terms.

You're going out on the road with Ke$ha soon. Have you worked with her before?
Not really. But it should be fun—it seems like she's a real party animal...like us.

Your cohort, Sky, had a run-in with Mitt Romney last year. Can you explain how that's even possible?
We were on the same plane. Sky was reclining in his seat, and you have to put your seat up before you take off. But he was asleep or had on his headphones or something. So this guy behind him was like "Can you please put up your seat?" His tone was real hostile, especially for the first time you ask that question. Sky wasn't gonna put up with it. So this guy, who we didn't know was Mitt Romney until like five days later, he asked again and put his hand on Sky. Sky flung around, swiped his hand off of him, and said "Get off of me!" Then someone screamed—I think it was Mitt's wife—and Sky was screaming that someone was assaulting him. The stewardess said if he didn't calm down she'd turn the plane around. Anyway, the plane goes back to the gate, TSA was there, they escorted Sky off. But it wasn't a big deal. Mitt Romney wanted to just squash it before it went further, and the flight attendants didn't even try to separate the two of them on the flight. But they let Mitt continue on and not Sky.

The newspapers kind of made it seem like a brawl.
When someone puts their hands on your first, it's self-defense. I think Mitt knew that. But in the papers, they reversed the psychology. They were like "Mitt Romney attacked by minority passenger!" and they'd show some weird sketch of Sky. We actually put out our own video version so the real story could be out.