Julian Dzeko and Luis Torres, better known as Dzeko and Torres, are making the most of their ever-rising stock in 2015 by releasing an original track or remix each month thus far. The Toronto natives are back in the city momentarily to play a 'Homecoming' show at UNIUN Nightclub. They haven't played in the city since last September, which to them, seems like a lifetime.
Their Toronto reign began long ago, at all-ages parties when Dzeko was 14-years-old and Torres was 18-years-old. The two gravitated toward one another through the craze of music and party life, and since Dzeko "wanted to be like Tiësto," he convinced his parents to get him equipment so the two could start practicing in his basement. One of the pieces of equipment they started on was the CDJ-400. Since YouTube tutorials didn't really exist back then, the two admit they were "bad for a really long time."
"At the start of it all we weren't really into it that much," notes Torres. "It's really embarrassing, but we were into glow-sticking. One of us would be DJing and the other would be practicing glow stick moves, it was a funny time."
Their first real show was at Mink nightclub in 2008 for a Halloween party. The two were in awe of the opening DJ because he was "so in command of his set," and both pledged to one day reach that level. "We played for like a half and hour and we felt like celebrities up there, even though the club was empty," laughs Torres.
One of the spots that played a crucial role in their growth as DJs is Canada's MOOG Audio store. The two swear by MOOG's service because "it's quick, convenient, and they know their shit." They also enjoy fiddling with all the keyboards, especially Torres, who is a former pianist. But before playing festival slots at Tomorrowland—which they deem their favourite festival to date—the two became friends with AutoErotique. As a fellow Torontonian, AutoErotique helped bridge the gap between Dzeko and Torres and Dim Mak Records, spurring their releases on the Aoki-made outlet. Now, most of their work is released through the Musical Freedom imprint.
In addition to their bond with AutoErotique, the duo have an attachment to Arrow Hall, where they both had their first electronic music show experience. Torres saw Daft Punk in action at Arrow Hall and Dzeko saw his idol, Tiësto.
"Tiësto was the first real show that I saw. I always wanted to be a DJ and after seeing that show I knew it was what I had to do, he is a big inspiration," explains Dzeko. While Tiësto is one point of inspiration, Dzeko and Torres are also influenced by Eurodance, simple electro-pop melodies, and songs like DJ Sammy's "Heaven" and Alice Deejay's "Better Off Alone". In 2012, the duo released their first real music package, the Hey EP, which included the popularily titled track "Hey" as well as "Buppy" and "Check This Out".
"When it came to the Hey EP, that was the first time we made stuff that we knew was good to play. That was the first bunch of tracks that would actually work in the club and it was the first EP that people started to support. The thing is, we didn't know if we wanted to keep that electro tone," states Torres.
Fast forward to 2015 and their production work still has some similarities to their debut EP. Except now, their sound is rinsed with more melodic, progressive renderings. They're also no longer remixing indie songs. "I don't like any of the indie band stuff anymore. Years back the stuff was perfect to work with because it was so vocal based and there weren't too many instrumentals. Now, all the indie songs have trumpets, banjos, and other crap, so you can't even do it anymore. Before it was so spaced out and that's why it worked well with dance music," says Torres.
Among the duo's 2015 offerings include the remix of Odesza's "All We Need", originals like "Ganja", and their collaborative track "For You". You can also expect their new track "Air" to be released next week. "The 'For You' track started when our buddy Maestro sent us a melody track. I listened to it like 100 times, just to hear the melody and all. Then we changed it up, sent it to Deloria's manager, they added lyrics, then we ended up having to record the vocals again in the studio prior to the full release. It took over a year," explains Dzeko.
Photo by Kathryn Kyte. Stopping for a brewski at Bar Wellington.
"No one wanted to sign the track and it wasn't until Tiësto started playing it and said it was really good, then it started to get support and did really good on Beatport," furthers Torres.
"For You" still rests within the Top 30 of Beatport's Progressive House chart, which means it's still selling and being purchased, a month after its release. Regardless of if tracks are "selling" on Beatport, artists don't necessarily receive the compensation right away. "Beatport pays every half year. Say your track came out in the wrong half of the year, you don't get the money until the following year, or something like that. It's really weird rules when it comes to Beatport so we don't really expect much, we just want to keep putting out original, good songs," says Torres.
It's a common snuff in electronic music to make jabs at "push play" artists and those who perform pre-recorded sets, but according to Dzeko and Torres, these are just simple-minded people bashing without merit. "We've never pre-done a set, we don't even pick songs before we go. We know we are going to play our songs and couple of go-to tracks, but there's no specific order. Ever. We got that from Tiësto. Tiësto never has an order on his shit. Honestly I don't even know any DJs that 'push play' or use pre-recorded sets," says Torres.
Another controversial contention is the drug culture that's highly associated with electronic music. We've all heard the rants, but instead of enforcing more laws and bans, Dzeko has another solution: "You're never going to stop people from doing drugs, it's been like that for decades. What I think is that they should be selling drugs legally at the festivals because if people are going to get it then it might as well be clean. The reason people are dying is because of the drugs they are taking, they're not smart."
"People have always died from drug use at festivals, but you never hear all of it because the media is really out to make EDM events look bad, so they always report deaths at those," chimes in Torres.
Dzeko and Torres have a slew of gigs coming up but one in particular will rally the Canadian troops: VELD. "We played Bud Light Digital Dreams the last two years and we loved that, but VELD I think will be different. I think it is more our crowd," notes Dzeko. "We'll have brand new visuals to use just in time for the show and we just got a peek at them and they look amazing. Since it's a hometown crowd we're all about having a little more fun with them and playing a bunch of unreleased stuff."
"It'll be really fun to experiment with a lot of new music and interact with the crowd as we both grew up like five minutes from the park," adds Torres.
Expect to see the two dominating the VELD main stage this August alongside acts like deadmau5, Nicky Romero, Steve Aoki, The Chainsmokers, and many more.
Dzeko and Torres are on Facebook // Twitter // SoundCloud
Julian Dzeko and Luis Torres, better known as Dzeko and Torres, are making the most of their ever-rising stock in 2015 by releasing an original track or remix each month thus far. The Toronto natives are back in the city momentarily to play a 'Homecoming' show at UNIUN Nightclub. They haven't played in the city since last September, which to them, seems like a lifetime.
Their Toronto reign began long ago, at all-ages parties when Dzeko was 14-years-old and Torres was 18-years-old. The two gravitated toward one another through the craze of music and party life, and since Dzeko "wanted to be like Tiësto," he convinced his parents to get him equipment so the two could start practicing in his basement. One of the pieces of equipment they started on was the CDJ-400. Since YouTube tutorials didn't really exist back then, the two admit they were "bad for a really long time."
"At the start of it all we weren't really into it that much," notes Torres. "It's really embarrassing, but we were into glow-sticking. One of us would be DJing and the other would be practicing glow stick moves, it was a funny time."
Their first real show was at Mink nightclub in 2008 for a Halloween party. The two were in awe of the opening DJ because he was "so in command of his set," and both pledged to one day reach that level. "We played for like a half and hour and we felt like celebrities up there, even though the club was empty," laughs Torres.
One of the spots that played a crucial role in their growth as DJs is Canada's MOOG Audio store. The two swear by MOOG's service because "it's quick, convenient, and they know their shit." They also enjoy fiddling with all the keyboards, especially Torres, who is a former pianist. But before playing festival slots at Tomorrowland—which they deem their favourite festival to date—the two became friends with AutoErotique. As a fellow Torontonian, AutoErotique helped bridge the gap between Dzeko and Torres and Dim Mak Records, spurring their releases on the Aoki-made outlet. Now, most of their work is released through the Musical Freedom imprint.
In addition to their bond with AutoErotique, the duo have an attachment to Arrow Hall, where they both had their first electronic music show experience. Torres saw Daft Punk in action at Arrow Hall and Dzeko saw his idol, Tiësto.
"Tiësto was the first real show that I saw. I always wanted to be a DJ and after seeing that show I knew it was what I had to do, he is a big inspiration," explains Dzeko. While Tiësto is one point of inspiration, Dzeko and Torres are also influenced by Eurodance, simple electro-pop melodies, and songs like DJ Sammy's "Heaven" and Alice Deejay's "Better Off Alone". In 2012, the duo released their first real music package, the Hey EP, which included the popularily titled track "Hey" as well as "Buppy" and "Check This Out".
"When it came to the Hey EP, that was the first time we made stuff that we knew was good to play. That was the first bunch of tracks that would actually work in the club and it was the first EP that people started to support. The thing is, we didn't know if we wanted to keep that electro tone," states Torres.
Fast forward to 2015 and their production work still has some similarities to their debut EP. Except now, their sound is rinsed with more melodic, progressive renderings. They're also no longer remixing indie songs. "I don't like any of the indie band stuff anymore. Years back the stuff was perfect to work with because it was so vocal based and there weren't too many instrumentals. Now, all the indie songs have trumpets, banjos, and other crap, so you can't even do it anymore. Before it was so spaced out and that's why it worked well with dance music," says Torres.
Among the duo's 2015 offerings include the remix of Odesza's "All We Need", originals like "Ganja", and their collaborative track "For You". You can also expect their new track "Air" to be released next week. "The 'For You' track started when our buddy Maestro sent us a melody track. I listened to it like 100 times, just to hear the melody and all. Then we changed it up, sent it to Deloria's manager, they added lyrics, then we ended up having to record the vocals again in the studio prior to the full release. It took over a year," explains Dzeko.
Photo by Kathryn Kyte. Stopping for a brewski at Bar Wellington.
"No one wanted to sign the track and it wasn't until Tiësto started playing it and said it was really good, then it started to get support and did really good on Beatport," furthers Torres.
"For You" still rests within the Top 30 of Beatport's Progressive House chart, which means it's still selling and being purchased, a month after its release. Regardless of if tracks are "selling" on Beatport, artists don't necessarily receive the compensation right away. "Beatport pays every half year. Say your track came out in the wrong half of the year, you don't get the money until the following year, or something like that. It's really weird rules when it comes to Beatport so we don't really expect much, we just want to keep putting out original, good songs," says Torres.
It's a common snuff in electronic music to make jabs at "push play" artists and those who perform pre-recorded sets, but according to Dzeko and Torres, these are just simple-minded people bashing without merit. "We've never pre-done a set, we don't even pick songs before we go. We know we are going to play our songs and couple of go-to tracks, but there's no specific order. Ever. We got that from Tiësto. Tiësto never has an order on his shit. Honestly I don't even know any DJs that 'push play' or use pre-recorded sets," says Torres.
Another controversial contention is the drug culture that's highly associated with electronic music. We've all heard the rants, but instead of enforcing more laws and bans, Dzeko has another solution: "You're never going to stop people from doing drugs, it's been like that for decades. What I think is that they should be selling drugs legally at the festivals because if people are going to get it then it might as well be clean. The reason people are dying is because of the drugs they are taking, they're not smart."
"People have always died from drug use at festivals, but you never hear all of it because the media is really out to make EDM events look bad, so they always report deaths at those," chimes in Torres.
Dzeko and Torres have a slew of gigs coming up but one in particular will rally the Canadian troops: VELD. "We played Bud Light Digital Dreams the last two years and we loved that, but VELD I think will be different. I think it is more our crowd," notes Dzeko. "We'll have brand new visuals to use just in time for the show and we just got a peek at them and they look amazing. Since it's a hometown crowd we're all about having a little more fun with them and playing a bunch of unreleased stuff."
"It'll be really fun to experiment with a lot of new music and interact with the crowd as we both grew up like five minutes from the park," adds Torres.
Expect to see the two dominating the VELD main stage this August alongside acts like deadmau5, Nicky Romero, Steve Aoki, The Chainsmokers, and many more.
Dzeko and Torres are on Facebook // Twitter // SoundCloud
Photo by Kathryn Kyte. Stopping for a brewski at Bar Wellington.
