Trouze, an electronic dance music trio, crossed my desk a few weeks ago. I had never heard of them, but was really enjoying their sound. They had a Billboard Dance Top 20 hit in 2016 and have released a laundry list of singles since. Consisting of Declan Ee, Jovany Javier and Tat Tong, I reached out to the team at Bampire to schedule an interview. It is my pleasure to introduce you to Trouze. Oh, and if you haven’t heard their “Every Breath You Take,” stop what you’re doing and click here.
You’ve released music on Armada Music and Axtone Records. What is like working with different labels, and as a DJ, are you looking for a home, or do you like working with multiple labels?
It actually depends. On the one hand, while I guard my music style, I love mixing it up with all sorts of sounds and influences. It’s a thrill to produce something new but that still retains my essence. So for projects like that, working with multiple labels is perfect because of the exposure to different artists and styles which opens up creative avenues across the spectrum. I love the endless possibilities that emerge from creative collaborations. On the other hand, for specific projects like deep house, or trance, I definitely prefer to work with a dedicated label. It’s more conducive for focussing and keeping creative energies on point.
Tell me more about your take on “Every Breath You Take.” I love the remix, by the way!
Thanks! I’m glad you like it!
“Every Breath You Take” is one of those classic ballads where its backstory is darker than its romantic melody. I simply took it further by layering that with my notion of traditional Asian parental love. Now, before you think I have some sick twisted childhood, let me explain: to me the hallmark of the Asian parent is the intense dedication they devote to their children to the extent where they are unable to let go even when their children have kids of their own! On top of this, because Asian parents compromise themselves in order to give their children the best, their expressions of love remain simple – “are you hungry? did you drink enough water today? were you late for work? have you found a ‘good friend’? what time did you sleep last night?” When you’re 36 and have 2 screaming kids running around you, these questions of concern can become highly interrogative! But when you get to the core of it, like the seemingly psychopathic adoration Sting wrote about, at the crux of this all is just pure, raw love. In the Asian culture, love and its expressions are a curious dichotomy. Yes, our parents get on our nerves. But we love them for it.
You’ve worked with a lot of big names over the years. Names like ROZES, Elephante, T-PAIN are no joke. As a DJ, how do you decide who to collaborate with? Are you looking for them or do they come looking for you?
In addition to DJing, we are also producers and topline writers. Most artists look for good producers and topline writers and so we have been fortunate to have opportunities actually come to us. As for who we decide to work with, our style is very melodically-driven so we gravitate towards artists of the same, or whose sound blends well with ours.
What is the dance music scene like in Singapore?
There is a very vibrant underground dance music scene in Singapore that is very tight and small. In stark contrast to the European/American cities where underground scenes have been established decades ago with markets large enough for the artists to flourish, Singapore’s underground scene is still fairly young albeit slowly but surely blossoming.
I LOVE your logo. Who designed that and what is the meaning behind the simplistic design?
Appreciate it! We are very proud of it – this took us a whole year! We started off wanting to veer away from the typical EDM traits of heavy or overly symbolic icons. So we had 2 requirements in mind – minimalistic and representative (read an element repeated thrice). The line symbolises our individual journeys in life, music, work whatever. The ellipsis illustrates the anticipation of venturing into come-what-may. At the same time, the ellipsis also indicates an omission in order to present the true essence; in the creative process we may strip away a bit of ourselves to produce something larger than life. Altogether, the line and dots crystallizes our collective and our purpose: we are 3 individuals on a journey to establish our own sound, to create our trio’s sound, and to make new sounds with possibly new faces.
Tell me more about the single you produced with Sam Feldt.
Sam Feldt and I first met in 2017 at Miami Music Week. Like me, he’s also an entrepreneur and a DJ, so we hit it off right away. We kept in touch and would meet up spontaneously wherever in the world we happened to be – US, Singapore, Taiwan. The universe was clearly aligning itself for us. At Creamfields Taiwan, we had this crazy idea to do a pop-up meet-and-greet session for his fans in Singapore the following week. You know, “just for fun”. Surprisingly, despite the ridiculously last-minute notice and stupid amount of self-inflicted stress, think 3 days of sending the word out and event prep, we pulled it off and the night closed with nearly a 100 fans! That gave us confidence to do even crazier things – produce a Mandarin single together! Derrick Hoh is a long-time friend and musician whom I respected. Long story short, Sam, Derrick and I spent eighteen months on conception, production, recording and copyrighting across the continents to produce this baby.
Jovany was a finalist on American Idol. I bet that was a fun experience. Tell me more about that and how that helps you in your current gig with Trouze.
Intensely fun. We were exposed to every aspect of the music industry within a very short period of time. Out of nowhere we were thrown into this whirlwind crash course of performance standards, industry regulations and expectations, and navigation of various working styles. Trouze’s focus is on intercultural crossovers so this catalysed learning curve did wonders by opening many doors to opportunities.
I’ve not seen you guys live… Yet. What can fans expect from a live performance?
We present two aspects: a DJ set with live elements and a melodically-driven set. Trouze is actually a portmanteau of “trance” and “house” – our signature sound is a mashup of elements from both genres where we use live musical elements and smooth vocals to play up the melody.
Tell me more about your single “Age of Innocence.” You produced that track with Elephante and Damon Sharpe.
We wrote the topline and lyrics for this. It was amazing and humbling to work with a renown DJ and a GRAMMY producer. This was actually the song that kicked off Trouze and so it was a pleasant surprise when the number hit the Billboard Dance Top 20.”Age of Innocence” is a poignant nostalgia of the innocent times when we were in school learning about the world and finding our places in it. The track reminisces being an idealistic, fearless, young person just bursting with energy ready to take on the world.
Your single “Like You” has nearly 2 million streams on Spotify. Tell me more about that single and your thoughts on Spotify.
This is a good one. We actually first wrote this song in the summer of 2017 drawing inspiration from a backing track that Sam Feldt had sent over. The topline didn’t work out with Sam but we liked it a lot and decided to release it ourselves. Funny thing is the release was sandwiched between our other with T-Pain and Axtone! We actually put more efforts in the other 2 tracks but surprisingly, “Like You” did the best! This was the moment we personally experienced how platforms like Spotify truly democratize the distribution of content in a huge way. To know that you don’t need a big name to validate your music, and that your song can still reach listeners and fans, and to have them be the ultimate judges is incredibly reassuring.
What’s next for Trouze?
The last 2 years was Trouze making waves and riding them out. It felt like we got sucked into a whirlwind but precisely because of that, we were able to find our groove as a trio while solidifying our own styles quickly. At this point, Trouze has had a few successful breakthroughs with our East-meets-West collaborations. So expect more intercultural crossovers to come and seeing Asian culture taking up more space on the world stage!
Thank you for doing this. That was fun, guys! In all of the interview I do, I always give the artist the last word. Go.
More than ever, the world today needs more understanding and compassion. Now is the time for collaborations that not only highlight our differences, but celebrate them and create new categories. Trouze is set on turning the global lens to Asia and keeping Asian culture on the world stage by focussing on creating new sounds with international artists.
Connect with Trouze:
Website: http://www.trouze.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thetrouze
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thetrouze
