We’ve got a new name you need to have on your radar. Vancouver electronic trio DiRTY RADiO who have been making soulful hooks and thudding dance beats since 2010. Drawing influence from the likes of Tom Misch, The Internet, Favulous, Sleepy Tom and Young Franco their music explore progressive soul, electronic dance music and pop while retaining a style that is entirely unique.
DiRTY RADiO began as a glorified solo vehicle for singer/keyboardist/percussionist Shadi, who released the album Debut in 2010. As the project evolved, it quickly took the shape of a three-piece live band, including Waspy (drums/keyboards/production) and Tonez (keyboards/mixing).
Having shared stages with the likes of Dragonette, Miami Horror, k-os, Lights and more and reworked beats from Kaytranada, Calvin Harris, Sam Gellaitry to name but a few, DiRTY RADiO have continued to build momentum by releasing a series of stand-alone digital singles. DiRTY RADiO’s collaborations with Young Franco and Sleepy Tom for Diplo’s Mad Decent label have earned the trio just under 5 million plays on Spotify to date.
We caught up with the trio hot off the back of the release of their new single “True Love” via 604 Records.
Tell us about you, how long have you been producing music? What did inspire you to start?
As DiRTY RADiO, we’ve been writing and producing music together since 2010, although we’ve all been involved in music since we were little. You can’t choose music, it chooses you.
The music industry is super competitive these days, was there a moment in your life that you wanted to give up on music? How did you manage to stay focused and achieve what you want?
Anyone that makes music knows how tough it is to make it a career. We’ve experienced ups and downs but at the end of the day, it’s our passion and we couldn’t imagine doing anything else. :)
How would you describe your creative processes? Where the inspiration does come from?
It depends on what we’re making and the results we want to get. Waspy is always producing all kinds of beats so there’s a good chance one of them may inspire Shadi to start free styling vocal melodies. Tonez will usually add some chords and we’ll throw around ideas for a concept. In other cases Shadi will have melodies on his phone and we’ll build a beat specifically around that, or we may just all jam out and see what happens.
Inspiration is overrated. Think about making music like going to the gym. If you do it every day, you build your skill, reflexes and begin to push your creative boundaries.
What’s your favourite track from the upcoming album and what other bands/artists are you listening to right now?
We’re still trying to decide what’s going on the record. We have so much unreleased music and choosing favourite tracks is really difficult!
Currently listening to music from Tom Misch, The Internet, Anderson Paak, Neon Indian, Niko the Kid, Yellowlunarhuman, Favulous, Sleepy Tom and Young Franco.
What’s next for you?
More new originals, dope collabs, and shows! Come see us live :)
Buy DiRTY RADiO’s new single “True Love” here.
