“We were both listening to drum and bass in a poorly lit back room of an underground rave venue. Chris and I met in a similarly lit back room while we were also both DJs. We started to really become close and when we decided to take over and reopen a local drum and bass vinyl store in Boston – that’s when Terravita was formed.”
Production wise, the lads have approached their obligations using various methods. In more recent times though, they have standardised their procedure – and that has culminated in their more recent output, much of which has garnered the respect of their national and international compatriots.
“I write and engineer a track to a point that we can play it; then the three of us play it in our set and listen to it, only going back to figure out how we can make it more awesome!” Matt explains. “Jon will write lyrics and perform them for the final version. Chris works a lot on finding the tracks a label. Once we all approve the track, I’ll do a final mix-down and master it.”
Of course the finished product is almost always laced with a rough edge that maintains fluidity and groove that makes it perfect for the dance-floor. “The most exciting thing planned in the near future is our LP on Dim Mak Records that will be out in the next few months. Also we have a lot of collaborations that we’re working on with other artist friends of ours. We have a whole bunch of free music that we’re giving away on our website too – check them out at terravitabass.com.”
On stage, the lads are generally predisposed to playing their own music – as well as a lot of mash ups they’ve made. “The other music we play is from our friends in the industry as well as any tunes we are really feeling. To be honest, I think part of our whole act is that we’re a bit cheeky at times,” chimes Matt. “We really like to have fun with each other and the crowd when we play. We want to be like party demons that make you have so much fun that it hurts a little!”
And with their heads screwed on the right way, they take all their success in their stride. “It’s always a great feeling to have other artists and mentors respect what you’re doing,” professes Matt with pride. “What we’ve also found is that a lot of these other artists are as like-minded as us and we often end up becoming real life friends with one another. I think we still have a long road ahead of us with music. But we take it with a grain of salt. I don’t think we’re the best at being artists in a particular scene. Some artists embrace the whole genre thing and make it their own – some will even create a movement behind it. To me, that’s an invitation to be lazy with your creative process because you’ve basically wrapped yourself in a bubble of conceptualism with a bunch of other people that will tell you for better or worse that you’re keeping it real. The concept of a scene makes that happen. It takes the emphasis off of how interesting the music actually is and places it on how true you are staying to the scene, not to yourself.
“I’m not sure if it’s because we all have strong personalities or if it because we’re just weird and never fit in! Sure, we were all attracted to drum and bass because it was so different. It has a hip hop influence with MCs and its beat structuring is much more like rock music – that’s the music we grew up with. Our aesthetic is a high-energy concert atmosphere, which lends itself to certain types of drum and bass as well.”
Regardless, the crew is heading back to Australia for their second visit and are looking forward to bringing their high energy mix of drum bass, hip hop and rock music, to their fans – old and new. “Our music revolves around high energy bass music fundamentals. Expect to hear a lot of new tunes from our upcoming LP as well!”
BY RK
