Eric Hilton and Rob Garza have performed as Thievery Corporation since 1997.

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Since getting together in 1995, Washington, D.C.-based duo Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, better known as Thievery Corporation, have found success with original music and resolute career independence.

Their blend of electronica, dub, jazz, bossa nova and a host of other styles — from cheesy film scores to Afrobeat — has found a wide audience without mainstream radio airplay or major label promotion.

The duo is a draw at major music festivals like Coachella, while its five albums since 1997, all on Thievery Corp.’s Eighteenth Street Lounge label, have sold close to 1.5 million copies.

The guys are politically outspoken, whether decrying corporate wrongdoing or the evils of the political system in the home city they’ve dubbed Babylon in their music, or playing anti-war rallies and other political events. Their show at the Fillmore Miami Beach on Friday is part of the (RED)NIGHTS concert series to raise awareness and funds to fight AIDS in Africa, a program that also includes shows by U2, Lady Gaga and Fall Out Boy. We caught up with Garza in Dallas earlier this week.

Q: Why do you call yourselves Thievery Corporation?

A:. It sounded kind of sinister and intriguing, and it lends itself to a lot of different assumptions. People think it’s because you’re using sampling, electronica. But there’s a whole other meaning with politics as well.

Q: How did the band get started?

A: Eric had just opened his bar, the Eighteenth Street Lounge, and a mutual friend took me there and we just started talking. We were both into different forms of music, dub, bossa nova, things like that, and we thought maybe there’s a way to explore these different sounds electronically. We put our music equipment together in a friend’s apartment, came up with two songs in a few days, and then moved to a liquor room at the lounge. We worked out of there for a few years. It was just easy to work together.

Q: Why do you mix up so many different kinds of music?

A: It was just the music we were into, hanging out at a lot of different clubs. D.C. is really one of the most eclectic places in the States, musically. You can find something different any night of the week — West African, Cuban, Argentine, Brazilian, Jamaican.

Q: What else turns you guys on musically?

A: One of the things we were always into is discovering older records, hidden, forgotten treasures. I might see something by an easy listening band that recorded some trippy cosmic rock funk song, things that people have just totally overlooked. There’s so many great things to be discovered. For me that’s where the real magic is. Maybe there’s nothing interesting for me on the radio, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t good music out there.

Q: Why have you stayed independent?

A: Especially when it comes to the D.C. hard-core scene and bands like Fugazi, that do-it-yourself ethic really inspired us to not sign with a major label, not be part of the musical establishment. I think that’s the reason we’re still around while a lot of bands we started with that had major label deals aren’t doing music anymore. We can have a great career selling 200,000 copies of a CD and make a major living, but on a major label that’s not anything.

Q: You’re both very politically outspoken and critical of mainstream corporations and politics. What drives your politics?

A: Me and Eric both have a background of listening to hard-core music. When you look at bands like the Dead Kennedys or Public Enemy, that’s people speaking out. The foundation of being able to question things around you is a good place to start artistically on whatever journey you’re taking. We don’t want to go around and be like f – - – the government, but it’s about being socially conscious, as well as keeping an open mind musically or politically or socially.

Q: How have your shows changed over the years? What will we see in Miami?

A: When we started, it would be me and Eric and two rasta singers. At one point, me and Eric had a CD player and played cards and didn’t even pretend to do anything. But over the years we found people want to have a live experience, so we’ve really developed the show. You’re gonna see singers from all over the world; Ghana, Iran, Jamaica, Brazil, Argentina. There’s guitar, bass, a horn section. Me and Eric are in the back doing samples and beats, a lot of sound manipulation.

Q: Did you ever think you’d become so successful?

A: It’s definitely strange if you look back to where we started. We just looked at all of this as a hobby. We never expected be here 15 years later or selling so many CDs or having tons of people coming to our concerts. But we’re ecstatic. I quit my day job in 1995. I was 25, and I thought I’m way too old to get into music professionally. Eric was 30. We thought, no way we’ll take this seriously.

Q: What was your day job?

A: I worked for my father’s company and he did aviation security and counter-terrorism. I did everything from accounting to stakeouts. But I always had a love for music first.

– Jordan Levin