Thaylo: Crafting a Path from Party DJ to Rising Producer on the Virtual Sessions presented by The DJ Sessions 8/26/25
In this inspiring Virtual Session, Darran Bruce connects with Lyon-based DJ and producer Thaylo to explore his evolution from casual party DJ to rising electronic artist with a distinctive voice. Starting with simple birthday gigs spinning Avicii and David Guetta, Thaylo quickly discovered that playing other people’s tracks wasn’t enough. Downloading Fruity Loops and teaching himself through YouTube tutorials, he developed his craft from scratch without formal training—embracing the long journey of trial, error, and discovery.
The conversation dives into his creative process, which varies from piano sessions and spontaneous vocal ideas to sample-based experimentation. Thaylo explains how inspiration can strike from anywhere—even a movie quote from Lucy inspired one track—and why he prefers to let each song find its own path rather than relying on templates. He also discusses balancing authenticity with the realities of building a career, including working side jobs, securing label support, and learning to manage touring schedules.
A major milestone is his forthcoming EP Drawn In Your Eyes, which marks his transition into incorporating his own vocals on four tracks. He reflects on the challenges of live performance, his biggest gigs supporting acts like Revo and Korolova, and the importance of staying true to himself both on and off stage.
From frustrations with phone-dominated crowds to dreams of hosting his own event with fireworks and unique stage concepts, Thaylo offers both honesty and optimism. This episode highlights a young artist determined to carve his place in the global scene through hard work, creativity, and passion.
Show Notes
Host: Darran Bruce Guest: Thaylo Location: Virtual Studios, Seattle WA & Lyon, France
Overview: Darran Bruce speaks with French DJ and producer Thaylo about his self-taught journey in music, creative inspirations, upcoming EP Drawn In Your Eyes, and the challenges and triumphs of building a career in the electronic music industry.
Topics Covered:
- Early beginnings as a DJ at small parties and transition to production with Fruity Loops
- Self-taught approach without formal music theory training
- Inspirations from films, piano sessions, and spontaneous vocal experiments
- Creative process: letting each track develop organically without strict templates
- Balancing authenticity with industry realities, side jobs, and label collaborations
- Producing for other artists in rap and pop alongside his own projects
- Upcoming EP Drawn In Your Eyes featuring his vocals on four tracks
- Performance highlights: opening for Revo and upcoming gig supporting Korolova at Index, Dublin
- Reflections on touring, long nights, and the challenges of early-career routing
- Opinions on no-phone policies in clubs and the impact of phones on dance floor energy
- Aspirations for unique events with fireworks, mobile DJ booths, and immersive environments
- Staying authentic while developing stage presence and performance energy
- Mentorship moments, including backstage inspiration from French artist Helmut Fritz
- Building resilience, finding management support, and looking ahead to future gigs
Call to Action: Follow Thaylo on Instagram @thaylomusic and stream his tracks, including the new EP Drawn In Your Eyes, on all major platforms. Discover more exclusive interviews and live sessions at thedjsessions.com.
About Thaylo -
Thaylo: the French melodic house artist who connects emotions through music!
Renowned for his captivating melodies, infectious rhythms, and diverse sonic palette, Thaylo masterfully bridges deep and contrasting emotions. His unique piano-driven productions quickly garnered the attention of acclaimed industry artists like Martin Garrix, Nora En Pure, and Solomun, who have featured his tracks in their sets.
+4 Million streams -With a robust presence on streaming platforms and affiliations with top labels like Purified, Colorize, & Kontor, Thaylo’s soundwaves resonate across the world.
DJ performances across Europe -
Beyond the studio, Thaylo takes his passion to the stage, captivating audiences in prestigious European venues and events such a
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the DJ Sessions Presents the Virtual Sessions.
I'm your host Darran and right now I'm sitting in the virtual studios in Seattle, Washington and coming in from all the way halfway around the world from Lyon, France.
We have none other than Thaylo with us today.
Thaylo, how's it going today?
Yeah, I'm good.
How are you?
(00:26):
I'm doing great.
Looking good.
Looks like you're in your studio right now.
Are those collector's items?
What's behind you right there?
Yeah, I'm in my home studio.
Yeah, I mean it's my place where I live.
So yeah, I try to make a space where I can stay in peace to make music, you know, but it's my apartment.
(00:46):
It's not a whole studio, but I think it's cool to work.
I have my piano there, some decorations, like some few guitars over there.
I don't know if we can see them.
So yeah, that's my place.
That's where I work kind of every day.
So yeah.
So are you a classically trained musician that got into making electronic music?
(01:08):
Because I see, you know, you got a piano there.
It's not a key.
It doesn't look like it's a keyboard.
It looks like it's a real piano.
You have guitars.
You got string instruments in your studio.
Tell us a little bit about your music creation process and how did you get into all this stuff?
At the beginning, I started music 10 years ago.
I was only a DJ.
(01:29):
My goal was to party with friends, just make some birthdays, you know, like really chill playing Avicii and David Guetta and was enough for me.
But at a moment I was like, in my opinion, it's not so funny to play the tracks from the others.
So I just downloaded Fruity Loops, you know, and watched some tutorial on YouTube, like, I guess, almost everyone.
(01:56):
And just like trying to make music many, many times.
So because I start from nothing because I didn't learn music in any way.
So, yeah, I had to start from scratch, you know.
You know, starting with Fruity Loops, I remember having Fruity Loops 3 back on a laptop that I got back in 2000.
(02:23):
And I was impressed with it.
I love the idea of a sequencer.
I love being able to change things on the fly.
I was just in the sequencer part of it.
I wasn't even like making beats or making music.
And I came from somewhat of a musical background, musical family in the sense that my brothers were musicians.
And so I knew about playing with keyboards and rack mounts and eight tracks and four tracks and all that stuff.
(02:47):
When I was a kid growing up, I'm not eight years old playing with this stuff.
But Fruity Loops always blew my mind.
That was cool.
And in 2001, 2002, when I went to college, I actually ended up buying a Roland MC-505 and a Roland SP-808, connecting them together with MIDI.
And I'd be over at my friend's house just for fun.
And we'd just sit up all night and be like, let's make a track.
(03:09):
And we'd just make some stuff on the sequencer and just add new stuff and that.
And turn the knobs and do it all in real time.
Because even those pieces were pretty expensive pieces for a musician back then.
And doing a computer set up in 2021, you're looking at a gaming machine basically.
(03:32):
$3,000, $5,000 to get a computer.
I think even more if you started music with the right way.
If you learn music with a piano, for example, if you use something like Fruity Loops, I think it's a revolution.
I can make whatever I want, which you couldn't before.
(03:54):
Yeah, exactly.
I think it's a great starting point.
The barrier to entry, I talk about this a lot now, especially to a lot of up-and-coming DJs, up-and-coming producers, the barrier to entry now is zero.
To just start up.
And like you said, you started practicing on YouTube, watching videos there.
(04:15):
So many resources, so many tools.
And it's happened to me in the video production business when we were talking pre-show.
I started out in public access television with a VHS camera with my buddy who had a show.
And then I went to broadcast television.
And it was only because of technology made cameras broadcast television worthy.
(04:35):
Other than that, there was no YouTube.
We were stuck to the public broadcasting channels.
And we could only put that out to a certain region in our area.
But at least once you got the $1,000 GL1 camera from Canon, now I can put a show on broadcast television and be region-wide, halfway through our state.
And then obviously 2005, YouTube comes out.
(04:55):
We got into podcasting, but YouTube came out.
And then live streaming after that got picked up and got popular around pandy time.
But been doing this for a while.
So the evolution though is there.
And I can't wait to see what comes out tomorrow.
We're looking forward to virtual reality and augmented reality already.
I always try to be 10 years ahead of the game on stuff.
I started with virtual DJ.
(05:17):
Do you know?
Yeah.
Virtual DJ.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's like, well, it's just for fun.
Yeah.
But FL Studio is like something really different because it's not that easy.
So it took for me a lot of time to feel how it works because I didn't have any base also with music.
(05:39):
So it's cool to have a logistical tool to make it.
But if you don't know what's like, I mean, like just a chord or anything in music, I mean, you have to learn both things at the point.
And that's why it took me a lot of time.
And I didn't say at the beginning, yes, directly.
I want to make it my whole life.
(06:01):
You know, I just like started and took some time.
And then I say, oh, there's something amazing.
I can make soon design.
I can make like enjoying with mixing, mastering some a lot of things.
Yeah.
That's well, you know, I used to work for Apple.
I was a certified trainer to train people for Apple.
And I could teach you all.
(06:23):
I could teach you how to use logic.
I wasn't teaching you how to make music.
You know, I mean, it's like you got to go music, go to go learn music theory, go to school for that.
Go go read some books, you know, but I can teach you how to use the software.
You know, but people can sometimes come and ask me, oh, how do I get this sound?
How do I make it?
I'm like, I'm not a musician.
I'm just teaching.
(06:43):
But it depends.
It's a matter of opinions.
At the moment, I wanted to go a bit further, you know, with music.
I was in the point.
Do I have to learn music or do I have to stay alone and learn with my only my my vision, you know, but I choose to just learn with myself because I started like that and I was like, maybe I will have a different vision because of that.
(07:14):
It's just a matter of.
Vision depends opinions, I don't I don't know, I don't know if it's the right way to learn music depends what you want to do, where you want to go.
Yeah, I think it's like something personal.
Yeah.
And as far as your music creation process goes, what is there a template that you use?
I mean, when I went to college, I figured out very quickly a template style that I like to use the right papers and I could sit down and have a rough draft of a, you know, 10, 15 page thesis in probably about an hour, hour and a half, knowing how to now and know that I got this process, I can go and outline it, put it out and usually get a good grade.
(07:52):
We usually would get a good grade on it, you know, depending on how much time I spent.
But do you have a methodical process that you start with or is something pop in your eye?
You write down a note, something comes out here and then you go, I'll take all my notes.
Or how does that work?
Yeah, I would say it's different every time because first now we speak about my project, like Tylo, but I didn't make only this, you know, in music.
(08:19):
I also work on rap music, pop music for I also produce for some other artists.
So it depends of like the way I want it.
But when I create for myself, for my projects or for my love, you know, what I really love, there's not a process.
(08:40):
I think sometimes I have inspiration and one thing could be like the last week I was listening things on YouTube, you know, with my AirPods and I just felt that I remember, you know, the movie Lucy, you know?
Yeah, I love the movie Lucy.
Yeah.
(09:01):
And I remember that I loved this movie and I loved the meaning of this movie as well.
So I was like, maybe I could do something that and I watched some I remembered also a sentence that they say in this movie, which is like, time is unity, like, you know, which is something so strong for me.
And I said, OK, maybe I will do that with with this something like try something.
(09:24):
But sometimes I try in this way and nothing happens, you know, sometimes I try and directly in like 15 minutes, I have something and I say, OK, I have something so I will work on it.
But it really depends because sometimes I also take my piano, you know, I just play for fun, some things I try to get some harmonies.
(09:45):
I also try to sing.
I'm not a singer, but just to feel like there's something happening, you know, could be a lot of things.
But no, I don't have like a template.
It's always different.
The only thing I have that I use often is I have a sample pack.
I mean, like it's some things that I use always, not always, but often like my kicks, my drums, like some instruments that I use.
(10:14):
I have something that I put on my microphone to get my voice better.
That's the only thing I can have with templates, I would say.
You know, we were talking about how you stay fit with making all this music because you're sitting in front of the computer all the time and it's like, what do you do?
You an active person, you get up and about and do some things.
(10:34):
How do you stay healthy with how do you maintain a work life healthy balance in music production?
Yeah, so at the beginning, I asked myself how I will make music without money because the point is to get money, but you have to invest energy and time before without money.
(10:55):
So, yeah, it's something really complicated.
So in France, we have something that's like a statue where I can like work.
I work in spectacle, like sometimes also beside my gigs, you know, just to complete an amount of hours that I have to do every year.
(11:16):
If I make these hours, I have like kind of something where I have time also to make music.
You know, it's something in France that we have.
I don't think we have there.
I don't think it exists somewhere else.
So, yeah, it's something to help artists to start, which is amazing.
So, yeah, I have this thing that helped me since like almost eight years.
(11:43):
So, yeah, I started like that.
So I have my time before besides already the job that I make some sometimes, but sometimes the job could be like working in spectacle.
Sometimes it could be my gigs, you know, because I also make some gigs now with like I have money with them.
(12:04):
Fortunately, it starts to going well.
So, yeah, I also make productions for other artists, like I said.
So it's something that also bring money.
Yeah, that's how we can say in English, like when you try to find a way while you wait, the moment you will not have to find a way, you know?
(12:28):
Yeah, yeah.
It's you know, it's a lot of patience.
A lot of things happen behind the scenes in the artist production world that paintings just don't paint themselves.
Music doesn't just get produced by itself unless you're using AI.
But, you know, I mean, a lot of the work, a lot of the contracts, the negotiations, all that fun stuff, all the back ends that people never see that side of the industry.
(12:56):
You know, we're looking to talk with a lot more industry professionals on our series to kind of give more insight to that.
You can watch YouTube videos.
You can read books all day long.
The information is out there.
But to really hear it from somebody about what their practices are, what they do, I think is real world experience.
You just sometimes those stories aren't heard too often, you know?
(13:19):
Yeah, and it's really, really long, even more at the beginning, because you have to think about where I'm going with my project, like the musical style, you know, the artistic direction, the visual things when you're alone, because that's always at the beginning that you're alone.
But at this moment, you need also help, you know?
(13:41):
But no one wants to help because it's beginning and there is no engagement, everything, you know?
I think something a bit hard and tough at the beginning, but the point is to work really hard and to try to bring something personal and authentic.
And yeah, now I work with someone, I have a manager and someone that works with me on the releases, on the visuals and the gigs, on the preparations of the things that when I want to make something, I have an idea, I can count on him, you know, with help on everything.
(14:19):
So it's a really, really good help.
And it's really important for me to get him with me.
But yeah, it was not the case every time.
So yeah, I had to find a way to convince people that there's something, join me, you know?
(14:40):
You know, and you have five tracks coming up here in the near future.
Are all five, the EP is going to come out September 5th, is that correct?
Yeah.
So what was, is there, can you release any of what the EP is called?
What the track names are?
Can we get any tidbits of that now?
Or do we have to wait until September?
(15:02):
Yeah, because I already released two tracks on this EP, which is Let Me Be and Save Your Tears, was like kind of a teasing strategy that we started to think about with the label to like tease the EP.
We shared two tracks.
(15:22):
And so the EP is now available on Spotify to pre-save.
So yeah, you can already see the name of the EP, which is Drawn In Your Eyes.
Because for me, this EP, it's like, has a lot of meaning because the name of this EP is the name of a track that I made one year ago.
(15:48):
It's a real like changement in my musical direction because I started to sing on my tracks because at the beginning I'm not a singer, but I wanted to go further, like I said before, like to try something different from the others, even more in electronic music.
I didn't want to go like in the Beatport Top 100 DJs and everything.
(16:10):
I mean, I wanted, but I didn't want to get this thing that we always hear, you know?
So I tried to create my voice with a piano.
I'm not a piano player.
I'm not a singer, but I tried it.
Just tried to bring like some ambiences with my voice, like just what can I do with it?
I will take it and make something with it, you know?
(16:33):
So this track is kind of the beginning of that.
And this whole EP as well, because there is four tracks with my voice on it.
So it's a real start for me.
And you said you started producing one of the first tracks about over a year ago.
How long or what's the longest time you've ever spent consecutively working on one track?
(16:59):
Was that like the longest you ever spent is one year putting the track together?
It depends.
No.
I mean, I made one year ago this track.
I worked like, I don't know, a few days on it.
Sorry.
Yeah, I worked a few days on it.
But the point is my vision is to take some time, some rest with my ears on this track and come back later to just have like a fresh ear, you know?
(17:31):
And then this track, I worked and I let's, if I remember, like two, three weeks and then I came back with to work on it and to put some details that I didn't, this kind of stuff.
But after the thing is the label said, OK, we're going to release the tracks.
(17:51):
We think it's better to make an EP.
So I produced some other tracks.
Then I came back on this track as well, because the EP has to get like no direction like they have to fit together.
They have to get a story.
So, yeah, it's I made it one year ago, but I didn't work one year on this track.
(18:13):
Right.
And, you know, do you ever make you mentioned you make a number of different genres, you dabble into different genres of music, hip hop being one of those.
Did you start with hip hop?
Did you start with that?
Or is that something that progressed later on as a DJ?
Yeah.
Well, I mean, you make music, but do you ever make music out of your genre that never gets released?
(18:42):
Yeah, of course.
Yeah, a lot.
Because there was a period like five, six years ago where I wanted to kind of, you know, become someone in the music industry and this kind of stuff.
So I worked with some kind of being big artists, but in like a ghost, you know.
(19:04):
So, yeah, I made pop music because I wanted to really to go in the front of the radio in this kind of stuff.
So, yeah, I tried, but I was no one.
So the point is, I'm not a singer.
And in pop music, we need singers, good singers like, you know, like Bebe Rexha, this kind of people that are amazing and good and making hits, you know.
(19:30):
But I didn't I didn't have anyone.
So, yeah, I tried to make it, but I couldn't.
So I have like, I don't know how many tracks like that without singer just waiting.
Yeah.
And it's like it's special because it was a period.
And I think that's why you always ask yourself when you make music, because at this moment, I was like, OK, I make music.
(19:57):
But one year after was like, maybe I didn't make music for the good reasons.
You know, that's why I started Taito.
You know, and you have some upcoming shows as well, being a DJ slash producer, one of them coming up August 30th, the sporting act for Coro Love Lova.
(20:19):
Yeah.
Coro Lova at Index.
I've never heard of Index.
I probably should have heard of Index in Dublin, Ireland.
Are you excited for that show?
Yeah, it's going to be a big one.
I think the biggest of the this year.
Yeah.
Yeah, Coro Lova is an artist from Ukraine, I guess.
(20:41):
So, yeah, she's like one of the biggest artists in melodic techno now.
Yeah, she's really good and I really love her work.
That's why also it's really exciting and a bit stressful for me because I listen to her like since a few years, you know, someone that when I worked on things in my laptop, I listened to her music on YouTube, her set.
(21:08):
And so, yeah, I'm not a fan, but almost, you know.
So, yeah, it's really exciting.
It's really exciting.
And it's a big step for me also because of the mindset, you know, sometimes you don't have anything that's happening in your project and you're like, maybe I didn't make the good choices, maybe I'm not in the right direction, this kind of stuff.
(21:28):
So when you have this kind of opportunity, yeah, it's cool.
It's good for the mindset.
It's good for the project because after we're going to get called for some other gigs, we are now signing some few gigs that I can't really speak now because it's not already signed.
But yeah, we have some deals in process, you know, because of the whole work we made, but also because of this kind of stuff that are really that they have a good visibility and this kind of stuff.
(22:00):
Yeah.
You know, that's a great lead in the next question I was just going to ask you is what do you consider being the biggest break that launched your DJ career?
I would say in my music, it's the first step when you start.
(22:24):
My vision was to stay to sign, sorry, with labels because I knew that alone I didn't have any contacts and everything.
So my first big, big step was like to sign my first label because I was like, OK, there is professionals in music industry that can be interested in my music.
(22:45):
So there is an interest, you know, so that was a big step.
But after there is the part where you have to play, you have to go meet people that listens to you.
And for me, that's the hardest part, because making music starts to get easy when you're used to that, you know.
But.
(23:06):
Making life is different because you have to prove that you're good not only in your studio at home, you know, in your room.
So, yeah, that first big step in life was in this year I played before Revo, which is a big name now since not a long time, but now he's a big one.
(23:30):
And yeah, well, I made like the first act for him.
And yeah, it was a big, big gig.
And.
And that's where also I saw that people love also what I can do in life, it's really restoring, you know, what's one track that you currently play or would love to play at your upcoming show that you can describe in detail why it's such a great track, why you would use it, something that just really other than your own music, something that I know.
(24:02):
Yeah, not a track for me, right?
Yeah, not a track from you, something else that you play that says, I want to incorporate this in.
I love the sound.
I love what they're doing.
I would love to include this into my mix.
Here's a track that I really love by this artist.
Yeah.
Who would that be?
And what track would that be?
I have like a few tracks in mind, but I think one is, you know, Pretty Pink.
(24:27):
Pretty Pink.
It's an artist like progressive.
She's really nice.
And it happened that I played her track called Miss You a few times.
And it's something like crazy when when this track is happening, if you bring it at the right moment, people become crazy.
(24:48):
So I think I will play it like not at the end of the set, but almost because, yeah, I have to bring people in my mind before.
And then, yeah, I'm looking forward to play this track.
So Miss You from Pretty Pink, yeah.
And speaking of crowds and gaining the crowd attention, was the biggest crowd you've ever played for also your best crowd?
(25:13):
I think it was for Revo, the last gig I spoke, because there was, I don't know how much people, but more than one thousand in a kind of a small place, you know, not that small because you have to make people inside.
But the crowd was like crazy because I was the first act, you know, people come for you, but also for the main artist, which was Revo.
(25:41):
And I was like to make the first act.
And yeah, something happened really crazy that, yeah, there was like an ambience like really special to me, really.
People get like really cool with me.
They were here at the very beginning of the party.
(26:04):
They didn't come just at the moment of the main artist, you know.
And yeah, I record that this set is like it's available on YouTube.
Yeah.
This one was amazing.
Yeah.
The full set is available.
No, we decided to record this one.
And for me, it was one of my best shows.
(26:27):
So, yeah, that's great.
Nice.
And do you become a different person when you get on stage?
Are you a different person off stage?
Because, you know, just Thilo is Thilo.
I'm Thilo on stage and Thilo chilling in the studio.
That's a really, really good question, because at the beginning of when I started to launch Thilo, my point and my words were I want to stay me and stay authentic to be like just me, not someone else.
(27:02):
That was a real, really important point for me.
And after I stayed like that, but I made a few gigs and I was sometimes not really comfortable, you know, not in the right vibe.
Depends sometimes what's great, sometimes not.
But I spoke with my manager and my friends and family and things.
(27:26):
And, you know, I decided to stay me, the same person, but just to stay the same person a bit more, you know, in the mood, in the vibe.
So a bit more exciting, more with the energy.
(27:47):
So I'm the same person, but less chill that I am, because normally I'm someone like chilling, speaking like that, like we speak now, you know, I'm not like that.
And that's really different.
But I'm still the same person.
I still want to share the same energies, the same waves, the same everything.
(28:12):
I'm the same person, but more crazy.
And, you know, who is the most, I guess, who is the most inspiring person you've ever met backstage?
And why was that person such an inspiration to you?
I think, sorry, I accidentally hit a button and put a graphic overlay over the top.
(28:35):
My bad.
Yeah, no problem.
One day I, it's, he's French, but I, yeah, there's a movie, right?
I'm trying to do some technical stuff.
I'll do it.
Live show stuff.
Live show.
My bad.
Bad producer over there in the corner, get in the corner, get in the corner.
(28:59):
The cat jumped on the keyboard.
Sorry about that.
But the most inspiring person you ever met backstage and why, why was that person such an inspiration to you?
Yeah.
Like I said, he's, he's a French man.
So I don't know if you will know that, but his project name is called Helmut Fritz.
(29:24):
And he, he made a big hit in France, you know.
But it was like a funny hit, you know, this kind of hit that you hear in the radio every time.
And that is funny.
And I spoke with this man and he explained to me that he made music since 25 years, a lot.
He only made that, like not a job beside.
(29:47):
So yeah, his whole life was music.
So and me, I said, okay, your, your music is great, but it's funny.
And he said to me, yeah, but you know, I didn't have the choice to make that.
So I made that to make money, but my real music is not like that.
I make rock music, you know, but no one knows that.
(30:11):
So it was really inspiring to me because it started for me to, it helped me to understand that when you want to become a musician, you have to find a way to become a musician.
Even if it's a way with a job, a way with making music funny, a hit with the radios, working with some artists, like you, you have to find a way.
(30:37):
And yeah, was really inspiring.
Yeah, I know.
I mean, a lot of artists, a lot of people don't understand this.
I don't want to say it's easy to become a DJ.
It's easy to become a producer, getting the equipment, watching the videos, learning how to do it.
That's great.
But to make a living at it is a completely different story, you know?
(31:01):
And if six-year-olds can DJ now and you have access to a million, billion songs or what is it?
Not a hundred thousand songs a day.
It's some outrageous amount of songs that are uploaded to Beatport every day with a million videos being uploaded to YouTube every minute around the world.
You know, the amount of content that's out there, how do you get through the content?
(31:24):
And then you look at producing and, you know, you got to start somewhere, but so is everyone else.
So, you know, I talk about this a lot with artists that, you know, if a million people all started the same pathway with the same gear, what's going to set those apart?
You could have brilliant people, a million brilliant people, but somebody who spends $5,000, it's going to be in a different category or somebody who spends $10,000.
(31:51):
If they all have the base, same equipment, whether they're going to school for music production, whether they're hiring a PR, whether they're ghost producing tracks and we're collaborating with artists that they're paying for that opportunity to get those, you know, it's all going to be different, but it's going to set them apart.
And what I found out over time, and I mean, being in this business for over 35 years, you know, that money reminds me.
(32:14):
Sorry.
Oh, I was going to say money is kind of a huge influential factor, but where do you get that money from?
You're either working a day job because you can't just usually come right out the box and say, I'm a global producer making tracks.
And I just made, you could do 10 million downloads on Spotify, but that's only partial of a cent per download.
That's not going to pay the bills.
(32:34):
It reminds me something that David Guetta said about Daft Punk.
He said that he was making a track with them like 20, 25 years ago.
And he was like, but they are huge.
They are amazing music.
They're really the best, you know, and they worked on the track.
(32:56):
And Daft Punk said, come to our studio to work.
And he said, yeah, but I can't be the same level than them because they have the big studio.
They have the material, the equipment, everything.
But he arrived at the studio and there was nothing, was a room, you know, was a room with two speakers and that's it.
(33:20):
And they made like hits with that.
So no, I think equipment is like, okay, it can help if you have it at the beginning, but you can also start with like headphones and that's it.
If you have ideas, I think you have the most important thing.
Yeah.
It's just, it's just starting.
(33:41):
I think it's half the battle.
Same with like, I can relate with my show is that I was never supposed to be a host of an online streaming show that has 2,700 past episodes and be doing this for 16 years.
But my show had to go on and I wasn't just going to wait for somebody to come along and be a host of the show.
I can create content.
I can do all the executive producer stuff and get interviews and guests all day long.
(34:04):
But if I don't have anyone to do the interviews, I don't have a show.
So yeah, I'm now a host of my own show and looking to syndicate and branch out internationally and go out there and do new, bigger stuff.
And it's still part of my dream job.
I love doing this.
I love meeting people like you, you know, that are, they're coming up in the industry.
I love talking to people that have been in the industry for 30 years.
(34:25):
You know, we try to talk with everyone.
I'm not just trying to go after the big names anyway.
Everyone's after the big names.
I want to get artists that are just coming out that are brand new.
And we've had some pretty, pretty early on some names that have become household names in the industry, which is really awesome.
Going back though to you and being on tour and doing these shows, what's one of the most difficult things that you have to deal with when you go on tour, when you go play shows?
(34:51):
Are you like a fish to water and you jump right in and I'm ready, I'm on the road, let's go?
Or is it a big ordeal or what's the most difficult thing to deal with?
Yeah, at the moment we are, we are not like the star DJ of this year, but yeah, we start to get well.
(35:12):
The point is when you're not a star, sometimes the routing is complicated.
Like, I mean, you have to take a flight three hours, four hours after your show, when you finish like playing, for example, at 3am, you have to take a flight at six, because you don't have the position to negotiate the hotel and everything.
(35:35):
It depends.
But sometimes it's better.
Sometimes we have the hotel, sometimes we have the food and everything and we are really good, but sometimes not.
Even more before, now it's becoming a bit better.
But yeah, the routing at the beginning is not easy sometimes.
And that's the thing, yeah, you have to deal with it, you know, you have to say, okay, but that's the beginning and then I'm going to get better and better.
(36:04):
And it's always this vision that we have to keep, which is not always easy.
But for the tour, it works the same, unfortunately.
Yeah, I'm getting ready.
I'm planning a 2026, as we talked pre show about going around now, I have a little I don't have to be on site and on stage at a specific time.
(36:28):
But I do have to be on the ground and meet up with artists.
And there are sometimes when it's crazy, like ADE in 2022.
I look back on it.
And there's an interview with a very well respected, well named artist, we took like artist of the year, that year at ADE, I won't name who, because I'm still embarrassed that I missed that interview by accident.
(36:49):
But you know, just traveling from the States to Amsterdam, getting your bearings.
I'd never been to Europe before, never been to Amsterdam before.
And so you know, just touring and going around and setting up and doing interview after interview, after interview, after interview.
The next day, I just was like, oh, I'm not going to be able to make the interview today.
(37:09):
And I didn't do my pre research on the artists to realize who they were.
Oh, I'll just say it.
I had an interview set up with Mao P.
And this is when Drugs from Amsterdam came out that year in 2022 was like the biggest hit of ADE that year.
And I kind of just missed the interview just because being tired, being a little burnt out, and I wanted to be fresh for it.
(37:32):
I like to be on point for all my interviews and, you know, get some sleep at least.
And you're in Amsterdam for ADE.
And I was out there, I think that was out the night before at Milkwig with the Silk Road, the not Silk Road, Monstercat team.
I was over there and doing interviews with them backstage.
(37:53):
Probably didn't get back in till like six, seven in the morning, just doing interviews.
We weren't partying.
We were backstage in the green room.
It was fun.
But you know, just on the road and you're just like, oh, the next morning I had an interview at like 10 a.m. I'm like, I'm not gonna be able to make it.
You know, I was asleep.
And that can happen.
You're missing a flight.
You don't want to miss a flight if you especially have back-to-back gigs.
(38:14):
So, you know, it could be different getting used to that schedule that a lot of people aren't prepared for.
And you don't have, when you say you don't have any control because you're new and up and coming, you know, or if you had a bunch of money in the background, you're like, I'll schedule my own fight.
You just reimburse me for it.
You know, I'll come in two days earlier, you know, whatever, you know, so.
And I think we always have to think also that it's just a step because if it was so easy, everyone would make that, you know?
(38:43):
So that's reassuring for me to just think about it and just never forget it.
If you could host your own event without any limitations, Black American Express card, nothing stands in the way.
What five things would you want at that event?
In my own event?
At your own event.
(39:03):
Wow.
I think a lot of things, but maybe too much.
So I have to think.
That's why you get five.
Most important, yeah.
Yeah.
I think I will want like firewall works, you know, because I think it's a sensation that you as a DJ, when you play your music and there is like fireworks and everything.
(39:30):
Yeah.
I think it's amazing.
This sensation.
I still don't know that.
But yeah, fireworks.
I will say like maybe a bus, you know, where we have a DJ inside the bus, like playing around the people.
I don't know, something like that.
Maybe like some snow in the floor, you know, that people are in the snow.
(39:56):
Maybe.
I don't know too much things like.
I don't know.
Wow.
Because I have some ideas, but they don't work together.
You know, we had a Sebastian Bronk back 2020, maybe 2021.
(40:18):
He mentioned snow and it brought it up to me.
They actually took an entire DJ booth up to the top to the ski resort, took it all the way to the top of the mountain, set up multicams and made an exclusive mix for us at the DJ sessions.
And I mean, it was crystal clear.
It was awesome footage.
I mean, we got some really cool, exclusive mix sets.
(40:39):
But when you said snow that popped in my head, you know, I know you've said you've had some accolades, some praise from like Norn and Purr.
And, you know, I remember watching one of her sets.
She was up.
I don't know if you saw it with the drone footage.
She was up in the mountains.
It might have been a circle set.
I don't think.
(40:59):
I don't know if it was a circle set or not, but it was really going after those locations and filming.
But there wasn't a crowd.
It was just like her with the film crew.
But you could almost see like, what if there were like 10,000 people in this whole valley, mountain valley, like with lights in the mountains and everything.
It was just really amazing, really awesome.
So, yeah, she's from Switzerland.
(41:20):
And yeah, there is like, there were sorry, a lot of amazing landscapes there, mountains and everything.
Yeah, they were talking, we were going to do during Pandy, we were going to, we were toying with the idea of doing shows from a hot air balloon.
But then somebody showed me two weeks later, they showed me somebody's doing me doing it from a hot air balloon.
(41:42):
I'm like, there goes our idea.
Plus, it was just a little cost prohibitive, didn't spend like $3,000 to rent a gondola booth to go up and get a one hour DJ set.
I was like, nah, no, not in the budget.
But, you know, doing crazy stuff like that, I think it's really awesome that that online live DJ, live DJ sets, and even DJ sets in general, of becoming more cinematic and more accepted as a medium to watch.
(42:15):
Because before Pandy, I'd say, oh, we have a live streaming DJ show.
And people go, why would anyone want to watch a DJ live on live?
And I'm like, do you ever listen to the radio?
Maybe they could just listen to it.
But if they want to watch, and it's kind of cool, because we do interviews.
(42:35):
And then I'd say, oh, well, yeah, we're a Twitch featured partner.
And they'd say, what's Twitch?
And I'd be like, okay.
Okay, now everyone knows it's a household name in the music world for distributing music.
And live streaming artists, it's a thing people are making.
Like we jumped back earlier to making money.
(42:57):
People are making money doing this, you know, it helps support some of the backing costs of doing a lot of getting out there as an artist.
You know, if you could change one thing that bothers you, and this may not, this is not me for directly your market or the European market.
But one thing that bothers you in the electronic music scene, what would that be?
(43:20):
And how do you think we should go about changing that?
I think you touched a point that is important for me.
Yeah.
The point is, we are DJ, we are there to make people happy, feel just spend a good night, you know, enjoying music and just the vibes and everything.
(43:44):
So I think the phones and everything doesn't help that because you're not into it.
So the point is, the parties doesn't get the right way sometimes.
That's why some company like Circle, this kind of stuff, they put a no phone policy, you know, because we are there to be there.
(44:11):
If we are there to just watch from our phone, it doesn't make any sense.
Unfortunately, as a DJ, I would say if people record me like a video and post on Instagram, it's good for me because it's like visibility.
But at the same time, it's not what I want to share as a DJ and as a music producer because I want to share my productions, my work.
(44:34):
I don't want only to play the music from others.
I want to share something with people.
But with a lot of screen and everything, it's different.
It's a show, it's not a DJ set, you know.
That's why, like you said before, a DJ set is here to be listened, not to be watched at the beginning.
(44:59):
Yeah, the things change because of the new generations and we have to, our brain also change.
So for me, the best thing is playing music as a live show with, you know, with piano singing or a live show or as a DJ just playing music, you know.
(45:24):
You know, I'm a big proponent of no phones in clubs.
We had a little party here once in Seattle a few years back.
I heard it went really well.
It was an experiment.
It never went forward from there, unfortunately.
But when I was in Berlin last year, I went to a club and yep, they put a sticker over the phone, boom, boom, on each side.
(45:45):
You got caught, you're asked once, don't do it.
Twice, you're exited from the club.
I think that's, I think it's going to be something that we're going to start seeing on DJ writers and event writers to say, look, you have to initiate a no phone policy.
And almost to the fact that the DJs have to stand, either the clubs band together and do it as a whole or the DJs come in and say, hey, I have a no filming policy and that's going to be standard.
(46:13):
And it could be a clause in their writer that says, if I catch this happening, I'm going to stop the show.
You still owe me my money and I'm stopping the show production, you know, and I'm walking out, you know, maybe they don't get signed because of that.
Maybe clubs will say, hey, because we're getting so many demands on this, we're just going to internally make it for our club, our security knows, and bam, that way doesn't have to be forced by the artist in their writer to have that happen.
(46:38):
Because I was talking with my friend about this the other night, the industry's changed because of the dopamine kick people are looking for to be that Instagram model, that Instagram person.
And here they are on the dance floor trying to line up the perfect selfie shot.
We didn't have cell phones when I was a kid in the club.
You know, I'm not bitching.
I use my cell phone.
(46:59):
I don't, I watch the show.
I'm old school like that.
That's how I was raised in nightclubs.
And I'm also in video production too.
So I know the video is going to look like crap.
The audio is going to sound like crap.
And I don't want that going out.
If I'm a bona fide, legitimate video producer, they're going to be like, Darran, why does your video look like crap?
You know, I don't want to put something out like that, you know, so I wouldn't do that as a video producer, you know.
(47:24):
But yeah, I have a friend that came into an orphan policy party recently, like a few months ago.
And he told me like, imagine just one thing that we forgot is like, if you were friends, you have to say to them, I'm going to the toilet, we join there.
(47:46):
You know, like your brain starting to work.
You know that if you don't find them, because there is like 5,000 people, you can't call them.
So you have to organize, which is something that we forget.
And imagine the people that are now 15 years old, they never knew how it worked before.
(48:06):
Yeah.
I'm young, but I knew that, you know.
And I think getting back to that, there was a story I read a few months back about this group, they said, our number one song that we always play at our concerts, it's a big one.
And we get such an energy rush from the crowd.
But now they're seeing people just doing this.
(48:28):
Yeah.
And they're getting no feedback.
I mean, people are like, yay.
Yeah, they do that.
And then when the video is finished, they do that.
Yeah.
And then they do this.
And where does that go?
Are they tagging it?
Are they hashtagging it?
What's the moment is just captured for the, you know, but unfortunately, Kodak, the film company is going out of business, filing bankruptcy again.
(48:54):
They need to bring back disposable cameras.
And they need to bring back like disposable cameras, but they're disposable digital cameras.
And then those digital cameras have an amount that you can record video, and you can take a certain amount of pictures.
And that's what's allowed to be used at the event.
So once you fill that up, you got to go buy another one, you got to buy another one, you can buy another one.
(49:16):
And then you can download those all when you get home.
But at least you're not just sitting there, maybe has a burst where it'll only record the video for a minute.
So you're only like this for a minute.
And then a minute.
And it's just used for those instant minutes.
Somebody's gonna come out with this idea.
And I just gave somebody a multi-million dollar idea.
(49:37):
Don't take my multi-million dollar idea.
Yeah, you're gonna put this part of the live up.
Yeah.
So, you know, I mean, it's just, you know, it's interesting.
There's more clubs, bigger stories coming out.
I'm seeing in some of the bigger publications that some of the bigger clubs are now instituting, like there was a new club that opened up in Ibiza that just instituted a no cell phone on the dance floor policy.
(50:04):
But a lot of these clubs, the dance floor is the bar, is the club.
So, you know, I think they should do it.
I think it's, I'm not a hater of it.
It's just like you said, 15 years old, they don't know.
This is just, I have a phone.
It's natural.
Let's go.
You know?
Yeah, that's a bit sad.
(50:25):
Yeah.
I mean, it's just, it's technology and how it goes.
You know, though, when you're not entertaining others, what do you do to entertain yourself?
What do you do?
What does Stela do in his spare time, free time, other than to make music and get up on stage?
Sorry, I didn't hear the last sentence.
(50:45):
Sorry.
Oh, what do you do when you're not entertaining others?
Like, what do you like to do in your spare time, your free time?
I love to play tennis.
When I was young, I played a lot.
Like I made a competition, you know, like every day I played for like 10 years.
So now I don't have the time, but sometimes I try to play also a bit.
(51:06):
I'm going to run, running.
I'm trying to play video games sometimes when I have the time, but it's like not so important.
And it's only when I really have time watching series, you know, trying also to travel because I have a lot of friends that's living all around Europe.
So trying to move also not only for music, you know.
(51:31):
Yeah, I think it's enough because I don't have enough time to make like more things for now.
I'm working hard to get a bit more free before, after, sorry, to get to be more chill in the future.
Nice.
Yeah, you know, you got to take that downtime.
(51:52):
You know, I was just, I just took eight and a half months off.
Just kind of after I came back from my 50th birthday last year from Berlin, I was like, I was in this rut where I was like, what do I do next?
And what's the next thing I can do?
And where was I going with the progression of everything and just taking that time off and coming back and resetting?
(52:13):
I feel that my goals I've been able to now expand upon and take some breathing room.
You know, you need that.
Figure out what you want to do personally and professionally.
And now leaps and bounds are happening because of that break that I took.
A little bit of a long break in the industry though, but you know, we're back.
How many times?
What?
(52:33):
How many times?
How many times?
Yeah.
That I've taken a break?
No.
How many times?
You said that you took a break, right?
Oh, eight and a half months.
Okay.
Like I just went, boop, off the radar.
Like it was, yeah, it was supposed to be about three weeks for my birthday month, turned into two months, turned into holidays, turned into, I'll get to it after the first of the year, turned into, I'll go into quarter two and start that up, turned into May.
(53:10):
But, you know, we have a well-oiled machine over here.
So I know how to pick it back up and get things going again.
And a lot of people understand, you know, the industry, you sometimes just need to take a break and when you're the boss, you can do that.
I didn't have any necessary, any doors, commitments, major commitments that I had at that time.
But now I'm coming back with pushing out, rebranding, coming back out in 2025 to really do more in 2026.
(53:37):
Like we were talking about going internationally, definitely would love to come visit you over there in Lyon and hang out.
I want to get to IMF over in Barcelona next year as well.
ADE again, Rave of the Planet, all those fun stuff that happens.
Tons of fun stuff that happens over in Europe.
You know, tons of fun stuff happens all over the world for electronic music.
(53:57):
But, you know, we're going to wrap up here.
Is there anything else you want to let our DJ Sessions fans know about before we let you get going?
Yeah, I want to say, like, my music is available everywhere.
I post things on Instagram because it's the best way to do that now.
(54:18):
So if you want to follow me, the best way is on Instagram.
And if you want to really follow me, come to my next event.
There you go.
And it's Thaylo Music.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, no worries.
Thank you for coming on the show.
As always, we're going to stay in touch with you because you're one of the rising stars in the industry.
(54:38):
And we always like to follow up with people and find out what they're doing, usually about every six months.
Maybe if something else comes up, we'll get you on the show again here in the future.
It was a pleasure having you today.
Yeah, thank you so much again.
And it was a pleasure to talk.
And yeah, hope to see you soon.
Definitely, definitely.
Thank you.
Thank you for coming on the show today.
(54:59):
Yeah, thanks so much.
See you.
Bye bye.
Bye.
On that note, don't forget to go to our website, thedjsessions.com.
Find us there and you'll find out everything we're up to.
We have so much stuff happening on the site and more coming.
It's all at thedjsessions.com.
Our socials, 700 news stories, 2,700 past episodes, our new music section, our store is going to be revamped here soon, radio player, site-wide player, mobile app, virtual reality nightclub, and more.
(55:28):
That's all at thedjsessions.com.
I'm your host, Darran, and that's Thaylo coming in from Lyon, France, and I'm coming in from Seattle, Washington, for The DJ Sessions.
And remember, on The DJ Sessions, the music never stops.
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the DJ Sessions Presents the Virtual Sessions.
I'm your host Darran and right now I'm sitting in the virtual studios in Seattle, Washington and coming in from all the way halfway around the world from Lyon, France.
We have none other than Thaylo with us today.
Thaylo, how's it going today?
Yeah, I'm good.
How are you?
(00:26):
I'm doing great.
Looking good.
Looks like you're in your studio right now.
Are those collector's items?
What's behind you right there?
Yeah, I'm in my home studio.
Yeah, I mean it's my place where I live.
So yeah, I try to make a space where I can stay in peace to make music, you know, but it's my apartment.
(00:46):
It's not a whole studio, but I think it's cool to work.
I have my piano there, some decorations, like some few guitars over there.
I don't know if we can see them.
So yeah, that's my place.
That's where I work kind of every day.
So yeah.
So are you a classically trained musician that got into making electronic music?
(01:08):
Because I see, you know, you got a piano there.
It's not a key.
It doesn't look like it's a keyboard.
It looks like it's a real piano.
You have guitars.
You got string instruments in your studio.
Tell us a little bit about your music creation process and how did you get into all this stuff?
At the beginning, I started music 10 years ago.
I was only a DJ.
(01:29):
My goal was to party with friends, just make some birthdays, you know, like really chill playing Avicii and David Guetta and was enough for me.
But at a moment I was like, in my opinion, it's not so funny to play the tracks from the others.
So I just downloaded Fruity Loops, you know, and watched some tutorial on YouTube, like, I guess, almost everyone.
(01:56):
And just like trying to make music many, many times.
So because I start from nothing because I didn't learn music in any way.
So, yeah, I had to start from scratch, you know.
You know, starting with Fruity Loops, I remember having Fruity Loops 3 back on a laptop that I got back in 2000.
(02:23):
And I was impressed with it.
I love the idea of a sequencer.
I love being able to change things on the fly.
I was just in the sequencer part of it.
I wasn't even like making beats or making music.
And I came from somewhat of a musical background, musical family in the sense that my brothers were musicians.
And so I knew about playing with keyboards and rack mounts and eight tracks and four tracks and all that stuff.
(02:47):
When I was a kid growing up, I'm not eight years old playing with this stuff.
But Fruity Loops always blew my mind.
That was cool.
And in 2001, 2002, when I went to college, I actually ended up buying a Roland MC-505 and a Roland SP-808, connecting them together with MIDI.
And I'd be over at my friend's house just for fun.
And we'd just sit up all night and be like, let's make a track.
(03:09):
And we'd just make some stuff on the sequencer and just add new stuff and that.
And turn the knobs and do it all in real time.
Because even those pieces were pretty expensive pieces for a musician back then.
And doing a computer set up in 2021, you're looking at a gaming machine basically.
(03:32):
$3,000, $5,000 to get a computer.
I think even more if you started music with the right way.
If you learn music with a piano, for example, if you use something like Fruity Loops, I think it's a revolution.
I can make whatever I want, which you couldn't before.
(03:54):
Yeah, exactly.
I think it's a great starting point.
The barrier to entry, I talk about this a lot now, especially to a lot of up-and-coming DJs, up-and-coming producers, the barrier to entry now is zero.
To just start up.
And like you said, you started practicing on YouTube, watching videos there.
(04:15):
So many resources, so many tools.
And it's happened to me in the video production business when we were talking pre-show.
I started out in public access television with a VHS camera with my buddy who had a show.
And then I went to broadcast television.
And it was only because of technology made cameras broadcast television worthy.
(04:35):
Other than that, there was no YouTube.
We were stuck to the public broadcasting channels.
And we could only put that out to a certain region in our area.
But at least once you got the $1,000 GL1 camera from Canon, now I can put a show on broadcast television and be region-wide, halfway through our state.
And then obviously 2005, YouTube comes out.
(04:55):
We got into podcasting, but YouTube came out.
And then live streaming after that got picked up and got popular around pandy time.
But been doing this for a while.
So the evolution though is there.
And I can't wait to see what comes out tomorrow.
We're looking forward to virtual reality and augmented reality already.
I always try to be 10 years ahead of the game on stuff.
I started with virtual DJ.
(05:17):
Do you know?
Yeah.
Virtual DJ.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's like, well, it's just for fun.
Yeah.
But FL Studio is like something really different because it's not that easy.
So it took for me a lot of time to feel how it works because I didn't have any base also with music.
(05:39):
So it's cool to have a logistical tool to make it.
But if you don't know what's like, I mean, like just a chord or anything in music, I mean, you have to learn both things at the point.
And that's why it took me a lot of time.
And I didn't say at the beginning, yes, directly.
I want to make it my whole life.
(06:01):
You know, I just like started and took some time.
And then I say, oh, there's something amazing.
I can make soon design.
I can make like enjoying with mixing, mastering some a lot of things.
Yeah.
That's well, you know, I used to work for Apple.
I was a certified trainer to train people for Apple.
And I could teach you all.
(06:23):
I could teach you how to use logic.
I wasn't teaching you how to make music.
You know, I mean, it's like you got to go music, go to go learn music theory, go to school for that.
Go go read some books, you know, but I can teach you how to use the software.
You know, but people can sometimes come and ask me, oh, how do I get this sound?
How do I make it?
I'm like, I'm not a musician.
I'm just teaching.
(06:43):
But it depends.
It's a matter of opinions.
At the moment, I wanted to go a bit further, you know, with music.
I was in the point.
Do I have to learn music or do I have to stay alone and learn with my only my my vision, you know, but I choose to just learn with myself because I started like that and I was like, maybe I will have a different vision because of that.
(07:14):
It's just a matter of.
Vision depends opinions, I don't I don't know, I don't know if it's the right way to learn music depends what you want to do, where you want to go.
Yeah, I think it's like something personal.
Yeah.
And as far as your music creation process goes, what is there a template that you use?
I mean, when I went to college, I figured out very quickly a template style that I like to use the right papers and I could sit down and have a rough draft of a, you know, 10, 15 page thesis in probably about an hour, hour and a half, knowing how to now and know that I got this process, I can go and outline it, put it out and usually get a good grade.
(07:52):
We usually would get a good grade on it, you know, depending on how much time I spent.
But do you have a methodical process that you start with or is something pop in your eye?
You write down a note, something comes out here and then you go, I'll take all my notes.
Or how does that work?
Yeah, I would say it's different every time because first now we speak about my project, like Tylo, but I didn't make only this, you know, in music.
(08:19):
I also work on rap music, pop music for I also produce for some other artists.
So it depends of like the way I want it.
But when I create for myself, for my projects or for my love, you know, what I really love, there's not a process.
(08:40):
I think sometimes I have inspiration and one thing could be like the last week I was listening things on YouTube, you know, with my AirPods and I just felt that I remember, you know, the movie Lucy, you know?
Yeah, I love the movie Lucy.
Yeah.
(09:01):
And I remember that I loved this movie and I loved the meaning of this movie as well.
So I was like, maybe I could do something that and I watched some I remembered also a sentence that they say in this movie, which is like, time is unity, like, you know, which is something so strong for me.
And I said, OK, maybe I will do that with with this something like try something.
(09:24):
But sometimes I try in this way and nothing happens, you know, sometimes I try and directly in like 15 minutes, I have something and I say, OK, I have something so I will work on it.
But it really depends because sometimes I also take my piano, you know, I just play for fun, some things I try to get some harmonies.
(09:45):
I also try to sing.
I'm not a singer, but just to feel like there's something happening, you know, could be a lot of things.
But no, I don't have like a template.
It's always different.
The only thing I have that I use often is I have a sample pack.
I mean, like it's some things that I use always, not always, but often like my kicks, my drums, like some instruments that I use.
(10:14):
I have something that I put on my microphone to get my voice better.
That's the only thing I can have with templates, I would say.
You know, we were talking about how you stay fit with making all this music because you're sitting in front of the computer all the time and it's like, what do you do?
You an active person, you get up and about and do some things.
(10:34):
How do you stay healthy with how do you maintain a work life healthy balance in music production?
Yeah, so at the beginning, I asked myself how I will make music without money because the point is to get money, but you have to invest energy and time before without money.
(10:55):
So, yeah, it's something really complicated.
So in France, we have something that's like a statue where I can like work.
I work in spectacle, like sometimes also beside my gigs, you know, just to complete an amount of hours that I have to do every year.
(11:16):
If I make these hours, I have like kind of something where I have time also to make music.
You know, it's something in France that we have.
I don't think we have there.
I don't think it exists somewhere else.
So, yeah, it's something to help artists to start, which is amazing.
So, yeah, I have this thing that helped me since like almost eight years.
(11:43):
So, yeah, I started like that.
So I have my time before besides already the job that I make some sometimes, but sometimes the job could be like working in spectacle.
Sometimes it could be my gigs, you know, because I also make some gigs now with like I have money with them.
(12:04):
Fortunately, it starts to going well.
So, yeah, I also make productions for other artists, like I said.
So it's something that also bring money.
Yeah, that's how we can say in English, like when you try to find a way while you wait, the moment you will not have to find a way, you know?
(12:28):
Yeah, yeah.
It's you know, it's a lot of patience.
A lot of things happen behind the scenes in the artist production world that paintings just don't paint themselves.
Music doesn't just get produced by itself unless you're using AI.
But, you know, I mean, a lot of the work, a lot of the contracts, the negotiations, all that fun stuff, all the back ends that people never see that side of the industry.
(12:56):
You know, we're looking to talk with a lot more industry professionals on our series to kind of give more insight to that.
You can watch YouTube videos.
You can read books all day long.
The information is out there.
But to really hear it from somebody about what their practices are, what they do, I think is real world experience.
You just sometimes those stories aren't heard too often, you know?
(13:19):
Yeah, and it's really, really long, even more at the beginning, because you have to think about where I'm going with my project, like the musical style, you know, the artistic direction, the visual things when you're alone, because that's always at the beginning that you're alone.
But at this moment, you need also help, you know?
(13:41):
But no one wants to help because it's beginning and there is no engagement, everything, you know?
I think something a bit hard and tough at the beginning, but the point is to work really hard and to try to bring something personal and authentic.
And yeah, now I work with someone, I have a manager and someone that works with me on the releases, on the visuals and the gigs, on the preparations of the things that when I want to make something, I have an idea, I can count on him, you know, with help on everything.
(14:19):
So it's a really, really good help.
And it's really important for me to get him with me.
But yeah, it was not the case every time.
So yeah, I had to find a way to convince people that there's something, join me, you know?
(14:40):
You know, and you have five tracks coming up here in the near future.
Are all five, the EP is going to come out September 5th, is that correct?
Yeah.
So what was, is there, can you release any of what the EP is called?
What the track names are?
Can we get any tidbits of that now?
Or do we have to wait until September?
(15:02):
Yeah, because I already released two tracks on this EP, which is Let Me Be and Save Your Tears, was like kind of a teasing strategy that we started to think about with the label to like tease the EP.
We shared two tracks.
(15:22):
And so the EP is now available on Spotify to pre-save.
So yeah, you can already see the name of the EP, which is Drawn In Your Eyes.
Because for me, this EP, it's like, has a lot of meaning because the name of this EP is the name of a track that I made one year ago.
(15:48):
It's a real like changement in my musical direction because I started to sing on my tracks because at the beginning I'm not a singer, but I wanted to go further, like I said before, like to try something different from the others, even more in electronic music.
I didn't want to go like in the Beatport Top 100 DJs and everything.
(16:10):
I mean, I wanted, but I didn't want to get this thing that we always hear, you know?
So I tried to create my voice with a piano.
I'm not a piano player.
I'm not a singer, but I tried it.
Just tried to bring like some ambiences with my voice, like just what can I do with it?
I will take it and make something with it, you know?
(16:33):
So this track is kind of the beginning of that.
And this whole EP as well, because there is four tracks with my voice on it.
So it's a real start for me.
And you said you started producing one of the first tracks about over a year ago.
How long or what's the longest time you've ever spent consecutively working on one track?
(16:59):
Was that like the longest you ever spent is one year putting the track together?
It depends.
No.
I mean, I made one year ago this track.
I worked like, I don't know, a few days on it.
Sorry.
Yeah, I worked a few days on it.
But the point is my vision is to take some time, some rest with my ears on this track and come back later to just have like a fresh ear, you know?
(17:31):
And then this track, I worked and I let's, if I remember, like two, three weeks and then I came back with to work on it and to put some details that I didn't, this kind of stuff.
But after the thing is the label said, OK, we're going to release the tracks.
(17:51):
We think it's better to make an EP.
So I produced some other tracks.
Then I came back on this track as well, because the EP has to get like no direction like they have to fit together.
They have to get a story.
So, yeah, it's I made it one year ago, but I didn't work one year on this track.
(18:13):
Right.
And, you know, do you ever make you mentioned you make a number of different genres, you dabble into different genres of music, hip hop being one of those.
Did you start with hip hop?
Did you start with that?
Or is that something that progressed later on as a DJ?
Yeah.
Well, I mean, you make music, but do you ever make music out of your genre that never gets released?
(18:42):
Yeah, of course.
Yeah, a lot.
Because there was a period like five, six years ago where I wanted to kind of, you know, become someone in the music industry and this kind of stuff.
So I worked with some kind of being big artists, but in like a ghost, you know.
(19:04):
So, yeah, I made pop music because I wanted to really to go in the front of the radio in this kind of stuff.
So, yeah, I tried, but I was no one.
So the point is, I'm not a singer.
And in pop music, we need singers, good singers like, you know, like Bebe Rexha, this kind of people that are amazing and good and making hits, you know.
(19:30):
But I didn't I didn't have anyone.
So, yeah, I tried to make it, but I couldn't.
So I have like, I don't know how many tracks like that without singer just waiting.
Yeah.
And it's like it's special because it was a period.
And I think that's why you always ask yourself when you make music, because at this moment, I was like, OK, I make music.
(19:57):
But one year after was like, maybe I didn't make music for the good reasons.
You know, that's why I started Taito.
You know, and you have some upcoming shows as well, being a DJ slash producer, one of them coming up August 30th, the sporting act for Coro Love Lova.
(20:19):
Yeah.
Coro Lova at Index.
I've never heard of Index.
I probably should have heard of Index in Dublin, Ireland.
Are you excited for that show?
Yeah, it's going to be a big one.
I think the biggest of the this year.
Yeah.
Yeah, Coro Lova is an artist from Ukraine, I guess.
(20:41):
So, yeah, she's like one of the biggest artists in melodic techno now.
Yeah, she's really good and I really love her work.
That's why also it's really exciting and a bit stressful for me because I listen to her like since a few years, you know, someone that when I worked on things in my laptop, I listened to her music on YouTube, her set.
(21:08):
And so, yeah, I'm not a fan, but almost, you know.
So, yeah, it's really exciting.
It's really exciting.
And it's a big step for me also because of the mindset, you know, sometimes you don't have anything that's happening in your project and you're like, maybe I didn't make the good choices, maybe I'm not in the right direction, this kind of stuff.
(21:28):
So when you have this kind of opportunity, yeah, it's cool.
It's good for the mindset.
It's good for the project because after we're going to get called for some other gigs, we are now signing some few gigs that I can't really speak now because it's not already signed.
But yeah, we have some deals in process, you know, because of the whole work we made, but also because of this kind of stuff that are really that they have a good visibility and this kind of stuff.
(22:00):
Yeah.
You know, that's a great lead in the next question I was just going to ask you is what do you consider being the biggest break that launched your DJ career?
I would say in my music, it's the first step when you start.
(22:24):
My vision was to stay to sign, sorry, with labels because I knew that alone I didn't have any contacts and everything.
So my first big, big step was like to sign my first label because I was like, OK, there is professionals in music industry that can be interested in my music.
(22:45):
So there is an interest, you know, so that was a big step.
But after there is the part where you have to play, you have to go meet people that listens to you.
And for me, that's the hardest part, because making music starts to get easy when you're used to that, you know.
But.
(23:06):
Making life is different because you have to prove that you're good not only in your studio at home, you know, in your room.
So, yeah, that first big step in life was in this year I played before Revo, which is a big name now since not a long time, but now he's a big one.
(23:30):
And yeah, well, I made like the first act for him.
And yeah, it was a big, big gig.
And.
And that's where also I saw that people love also what I can do in life, it's really restoring, you know, what's one track that you currently play or would love to play at your upcoming show that you can describe in detail why it's such a great track, why you would use it, something that just really other than your own music, something that I know.
(24:02):
Yeah, not a track for me, right?
Yeah, not a track from you, something else that you play that says, I want to incorporate this in.
I love the sound.
I love what they're doing.
I would love to include this into my mix.
Here's a track that I really love by this artist.
Yeah.
Who would that be?
And what track would that be?
I have like a few tracks in mind, but I think one is, you know, Pretty Pink.
(24:27):
Pretty Pink.
It's an artist like progressive.
She's really nice.
And it happened that I played her track called Miss You a few times.
And it's something like crazy when when this track is happening, if you bring it at the right moment, people become crazy.
(24:48):
So I think I will play it like not at the end of the set, but almost because, yeah, I have to bring people in my mind before.
And then, yeah, I'm looking forward to play this track.
So Miss You from Pretty Pink, yeah.
And speaking of crowds and gaining the crowd attention, was the biggest crowd you've ever played for also your best crowd?
(25:13):
I think it was for Revo, the last gig I spoke, because there was, I don't know how much people, but more than one thousand in a kind of a small place, you know, not that small because you have to make people inside.
But the crowd was like crazy because I was the first act, you know, people come for you, but also for the main artist, which was Revo.
(25:41):
And I was like to make the first act.
And yeah, something happened really crazy that, yeah, there was like an ambience like really special to me, really.
People get like really cool with me.
They were here at the very beginning of the party.
(26:04):
They didn't come just at the moment of the main artist, you know.
And yeah, I record that this set is like it's available on YouTube.
Yeah.
This one was amazing.
Yeah.
The full set is available.
No, we decided to record this one.
And for me, it was one of my best shows.
(26:27):
So, yeah, that's great.
Nice.
And do you become a different person when you get on stage?
Are you a different person off stage?
Because, you know, just Thilo is Thilo.
I'm Thilo on stage and Thilo chilling in the studio.
That's a really, really good question, because at the beginning of when I started to launch Thilo, my point and my words were I want to stay me and stay authentic to be like just me, not someone else.
(27:02):
That was a real, really important point for me.
And after I stayed like that, but I made a few gigs and I was sometimes not really comfortable, you know, not in the right vibe.
Depends sometimes what's great, sometimes not.
But I spoke with my manager and my friends and family and things.
(27:26):
And, you know, I decided to stay me, the same person, but just to stay the same person a bit more, you know, in the mood, in the vibe.
So a bit more exciting, more with the energy.
(27:47):
So I'm the same person, but less chill that I am, because normally I'm someone like chilling, speaking like that, like we speak now, you know, I'm not like that.
And that's really different.
But I'm still the same person.
I still want to share the same energies, the same waves, the same everything.
(28:12):
I'm the same person, but more crazy.
And, you know, who is the most, I guess, who is the most inspiring person you've ever met backstage?
And why was that person such an inspiration to you?
I think, sorry, I accidentally hit a button and put a graphic overlay over the top.
(28:35):
My bad.
Yeah, no problem.
One day I, it's, he's French, but I, yeah, there's a movie, right?
I'm trying to do some technical stuff.
I'll do it.
Live show stuff.
Live show.
My bad.
Bad producer over there in the corner, get in the corner, get in the corner.
(28:59):
The cat jumped on the keyboard.
Sorry about that.
But the most inspiring person you ever met backstage and why, why was that person such an inspiration to you?
Yeah.
Like I said, he's, he's a French man.
So I don't know if you will know that, but his project name is called Helmut Fritz.
(29:24):
And he, he made a big hit in France, you know.
But it was like a funny hit, you know, this kind of hit that you hear in the radio every time.
And that is funny.
And I spoke with this man and he explained to me that he made music since 25 years, a lot.
He only made that, like not a job beside.
(29:47):
So yeah, his whole life was music.
So and me, I said, okay, your, your music is great, but it's funny.
And he said to me, yeah, but you know, I didn't have the choice to make that.
So I made that to make money, but my real music is not like that.
I make rock music, you know, but no one knows that.
(30:11):
So it was really inspiring to me because it started for me to, it helped me to understand that when you want to become a musician, you have to find a way to become a musician.
Even if it's a way with a job, a way with making music funny, a hit with the radios, working with some artists, like you, you have to find a way.
(30:37):
And yeah, was really inspiring.
Yeah, I know.
I mean, a lot of artists, a lot of people don't understand this.
I don't want to say it's easy to become a DJ.
It's easy to become a producer, getting the equipment, watching the videos, learning how to do it.
That's great.
But to make a living at it is a completely different story, you know?
(31:01):
And if six-year-olds can DJ now and you have access to a million, billion songs or what is it?
Not a hundred thousand songs a day.
It's some outrageous amount of songs that are uploaded to Beatport every day with a million videos being uploaded to YouTube every minute around the world.
You know, the amount of content that's out there, how do you get through the content?
(31:24):
And then you look at producing and, you know, you got to start somewhere, but so is everyone else.
So, you know, I talk about this a lot with artists that, you know, if a million people all started the same pathway with the same gear, what's going to set those apart?
You could have brilliant people, a million brilliant people, but somebody who spends $5,000, it's going to be in a different category or somebody who spends $10,000.
(31:51):
If they all have the base, same equipment, whether they're going to school for music production, whether they're hiring a PR, whether they're ghost producing tracks and we're collaborating with artists that they're paying for that opportunity to get those, you know, it's all going to be different, but it's going to set them apart.
And what I found out over time, and I mean, being in this business for over 35 years, you know, that money reminds me.
(32:14):
Sorry.
Oh, I was going to say money is kind of a huge influential factor, but where do you get that money from?
You're either working a day job because you can't just usually come right out the box and say, I'm a global producer making tracks.
And I just made, you could do 10 million downloads on Spotify, but that's only partial of a cent per download.
That's not going to pay the bills.
(32:34):
It reminds me something that David Guetta said about Daft Punk.
He said that he was making a track with them like 20, 25 years ago.
And he was like, but they are huge.
They are amazing music.
They're really the best, you know, and they worked on the track.
(32:56):
And Daft Punk said, come to our studio to work.
And he said, yeah, but I can't be the same level than them because they have the big studio.
They have the material, the equipment, everything.
But he arrived at the studio and there was nothing, was a room, you know, was a room with two speakers and that's it.
(33:20):
And they made like hits with that.
So no, I think equipment is like, okay, it can help if you have it at the beginning, but you can also start with like headphones and that's it.
If you have ideas, I think you have the most important thing.
Yeah.
It's just, it's just starting.
(33:41):
I think it's half the battle.
Same with like, I can relate with my show is that I was never supposed to be a host of an online streaming show that has 2,700 past episodes and be doing this for 16 years.
But my show had to go on and I wasn't just going to wait for somebody to come along and be a host of the show.
I can create content.
I can do all the executive producer stuff and get interviews and guests all day long.
(34:04):
But if I don't have anyone to do the interviews, I don't have a show.
So yeah, I'm now a host of my own show and looking to syndicate and branch out internationally and go out there and do new, bigger stuff.
And it's still part of my dream job.
I love doing this.
I love meeting people like you, you know, that are, they're coming up in the industry.
I love talking to people that have been in the industry for 30 years.
(34:25):
You know, we try to talk with everyone.
I'm not just trying to go after the big names anyway.
Everyone's after the big names.
I want to get artists that are just coming out that are brand new.
And we've had some pretty, pretty early on some names that have become household names in the industry, which is really awesome.
Going back though to you and being on tour and doing these shows, what's one of the most difficult things that you have to deal with when you go on tour, when you go play shows?
(34:51):
Are you like a fish to water and you jump right in and I'm ready, I'm on the road, let's go?
Or is it a big ordeal or what's the most difficult thing to deal with?
Yeah, at the moment we are, we are not like the star DJ of this year, but yeah, we start to get well.
(35:12):
The point is when you're not a star, sometimes the routing is complicated.
Like, I mean, you have to take a flight three hours, four hours after your show, when you finish like playing, for example, at 3am, you have to take a flight at six, because you don't have the position to negotiate the hotel and everything.
(35:35):
It depends.
But sometimes it's better.
Sometimes we have the hotel, sometimes we have the food and everything and we are really good, but sometimes not.
Even more before, now it's becoming a bit better.
But yeah, the routing at the beginning is not easy sometimes.
And that's the thing, yeah, you have to deal with it, you know, you have to say, okay, but that's the beginning and then I'm going to get better and better.
(36:04):
And it's always this vision that we have to keep, which is not always easy.
But for the tour, it works the same, unfortunately.
Yeah, I'm getting ready.
I'm planning a 2026, as we talked pre show about going around now, I have a little I don't have to be on site and on stage at a specific time.
(36:28):
But I do have to be on the ground and meet up with artists.
And there are sometimes when it's crazy, like ADE in 2022.
I look back on it.
And there's an interview with a very well respected, well named artist, we took like artist of the year, that year at ADE, I won't name who, because I'm still embarrassed that I missed that interview by accident.
(36:49):
But you know, just traveling from the States to Amsterdam, getting your bearings.
I'd never been to Europe before, never been to Amsterdam before.
And so you know, just touring and going around and setting up and doing interview after interview, after interview, after interview.
The next day, I just was like, oh, I'm not going to be able to make the interview today.
(37:09):
And I didn't do my pre research on the artists to realize who they were.
Oh, I'll just say it.
I had an interview set up with Mao P.
And this is when Drugs from Amsterdam came out that year in 2022 was like the biggest hit of ADE that year.
And I kind of just missed the interview just because being tired, being a little burnt out, and I wanted to be fresh for it.
(37:32):
I like to be on point for all my interviews and, you know, get some sleep at least.
And you're in Amsterdam for ADE.
And I was out there, I think that was out the night before at Milkwig with the Silk Road, the not Silk Road, Monstercat team.
I was over there and doing interviews with them backstage.
(37:53):
Probably didn't get back in till like six, seven in the morning, just doing interviews.
We weren't partying.
We were backstage in the green room.
It was fun.
But you know, just on the road and you're just like, oh, the next morning I had an interview at like 10 a.m. I'm like, I'm not gonna be able to make it.
You know, I was asleep.
And that can happen.
You're missing a flight.
You don't want to miss a flight if you especially have back-to-back gigs.
(38:14):
So, you know, it could be different getting used to that schedule that a lot of people aren't prepared for.
And you don't have, when you say you don't have any control because you're new and up and coming, you know, or if you had a bunch of money in the background, you're like, I'll schedule my own fight.
You just reimburse me for it.
You know, I'll come in two days earlier, you know, whatever, you know, so.
And I think we always have to think also that it's just a step because if it was so easy, everyone would make that, you know?
(38:43):
So that's reassuring for me to just think about it and just never forget it.
If you could host your own event without any limitations, Black American Express card, nothing stands in the way.
What five things would you want at that event?
In my own event?
At your own event.
(39:03):
Wow.
I think a lot of things, but maybe too much.
So I have to think.
That's why you get five.
Most important, yeah.
Yeah.
I think I will want like firewall works, you know, because I think it's a sensation that you as a DJ, when you play your music and there is like fireworks and everything.
(39:30):
Yeah.
I think it's amazing.
This sensation.
I still don't know that.
But yeah, fireworks.
I will say like maybe a bus, you know, where we have a DJ inside the bus, like playing around the people.
I don't know, something like that.
Maybe like some snow in the floor, you know, that people are in the snow.
(39:56):
Maybe.
I don't know too much things like.
I don't know.
Wow.
Because I have some ideas, but they don't work together.
You know, we had a Sebastian Bronk back 2020, maybe 2021.
(40:18):
He mentioned snow and it brought it up to me.
They actually took an entire DJ booth up to the top to the ski resort, took it all the way to the top of the mountain, set up multicams and made an exclusive mix for us at the DJ sessions.
And I mean, it was crystal clear.
It was awesome footage.
I mean, we got some really cool, exclusive mix sets.
(40:39):
But when you said snow that popped in my head, you know, I know you've said you've had some accolades, some praise from like Norn and Purr.
And, you know, I remember watching one of her sets.
She was up.
I don't know if you saw it with the drone footage.
She was up in the mountains.
It might have been a circle set.
I don't think.
(40:59):
I don't know if it was a circle set or not, but it was really going after those locations and filming.
But there wasn't a crowd.
It was just like her with the film crew.
But you could almost see like, what if there were like 10,000 people in this whole valley, mountain valley, like with lights in the mountains and everything.
It was just really amazing, really awesome.
So, yeah, she's from Switzerland.
(41:20):
And yeah, there is like, there were sorry, a lot of amazing landscapes there, mountains and everything.
Yeah, they were talking, we were going to do during Pandy, we were going to, we were toying with the idea of doing shows from a hot air balloon.
But then somebody showed me two weeks later, they showed me somebody's doing me doing it from a hot air balloon.
(41:42):
I'm like, there goes our idea.
Plus, it was just a little cost prohibitive, didn't spend like $3,000 to rent a gondola booth to go up and get a one hour DJ set.
I was like, nah, no, not in the budget.
But, you know, doing crazy stuff like that, I think it's really awesome that that online live DJ, live DJ sets, and even DJ sets in general, of becoming more cinematic and more accepted as a medium to watch.
(42:15):
Because before Pandy, I'd say, oh, we have a live streaming DJ show.
And people go, why would anyone want to watch a DJ live on live?
And I'm like, do you ever listen to the radio?
Maybe they could just listen to it.
But if they want to watch, and it's kind of cool, because we do interviews.
(42:35):
And then I'd say, oh, well, yeah, we're a Twitch featured partner.
And they'd say, what's Twitch?
And I'd be like, okay.
Okay, now everyone knows it's a household name in the music world for distributing music.
And live streaming artists, it's a thing people are making.
Like we jumped back earlier to making money.
(42:57):
People are making money doing this, you know, it helps support some of the backing costs of doing a lot of getting out there as an artist.
You know, if you could change one thing that bothers you, and this may not, this is not me for directly your market or the European market.
But one thing that bothers you in the electronic music scene, what would that be?
(43:20):
And how do you think we should go about changing that?
I think you touched a point that is important for me.
Yeah.
The point is, we are DJ, we are there to make people happy, feel just spend a good night, you know, enjoying music and just the vibes and everything.
(43:44):
So I think the phones and everything doesn't help that because you're not into it.
So the point is, the parties doesn't get the right way sometimes.
That's why some company like Circle, this kind of stuff, they put a no phone policy, you know, because we are there to be there.
(44:11):
If we are there to just watch from our phone, it doesn't make any sense.
Unfortunately, as a DJ, I would say if people record me like a video and post on Instagram, it's good for me because it's like visibility.
But at the same time, it's not what I want to share as a DJ and as a music producer because I want to share my productions, my work.
(44:34):
I don't want only to play the music from others.
I want to share something with people.
But with a lot of screen and everything, it's different.
It's a show, it's not a DJ set, you know.
That's why, like you said before, a DJ set is here to be listened, not to be watched at the beginning.
(44:59):
Yeah, the things change because of the new generations and we have to, our brain also change.
So for me, the best thing is playing music as a live show with, you know, with piano singing or a live show or as a DJ just playing music, you know.
(45:24):
You know, I'm a big proponent of no phones in clubs.
We had a little party here once in Seattle a few years back.
I heard it went really well.
It was an experiment.
It never went forward from there, unfortunately.
But when I was in Berlin last year, I went to a club and yep, they put a sticker over the phone, boom, boom, on each side.
(45:45):
You got caught, you're asked once, don't do it.
Twice, you're exited from the club.
I think that's, I think it's going to be something that we're going to start seeing on DJ writers and event writers to say, look, you have to initiate a no phone policy.
And almost to the fact that the DJs have to stand, either the clubs band together and do it as a whole or the DJs come in and say, hey, I have a no filming policy and that's going to be standard.
(46:13):
And it could be a clause in their writer that says, if I catch this happening, I'm going to stop the show.
You still owe me my money and I'm stopping the show production, you know, and I'm walking out, you know, maybe they don't get signed because of that.
Maybe clubs will say, hey, because we're getting so many demands on this, we're just going to internally make it for our club, our security knows, and bam, that way doesn't have to be forced by the artist in their writer to have that happen.
(46:38):
Because I was talking with my friend about this the other night, the industry's changed because of the dopamine kick people are looking for to be that Instagram model, that Instagram person.
And here they are on the dance floor trying to line up the perfect selfie shot.
We didn't have cell phones when I was a kid in the club.
You know, I'm not bitching.
I use my cell phone.
(46:59):
I don't, I watch the show.
I'm old school like that.
That's how I was raised in nightclubs.
And I'm also in video production too.
So I know the video is going to look like crap.
The audio is going to sound like crap.
And I don't want that going out.
If I'm a bona fide, legitimate video producer, they're going to be like, Darran, why does your video look like crap?
You know, I don't want to put something out like that, you know, so I wouldn't do that as a video producer, you know.
(47:24):
But yeah, I have a friend that came into an orphan policy party recently, like a few months ago.
And he told me like, imagine just one thing that we forgot is like, if you were friends, you have to say to them, I'm going to the toilet, we join there.
(47:46):
You know, like your brain starting to work.
You know that if you don't find them, because there is like 5,000 people, you can't call them.
So you have to organize, which is something that we forget.
And imagine the people that are now 15 years old, they never knew how it worked before.
(48:06):
Yeah.
I'm young, but I knew that, you know.
And I think getting back to that, there was a story I read a few months back about this group, they said, our number one song that we always play at our concerts, it's a big one.
And we get such an energy rush from the crowd.
But now they're seeing people just doing this.
(48:28):
Yeah.
And they're getting no feedback.
I mean, people are like, yay.
Yeah, they do that.
And then when the video is finished, they do that.
Yeah.
And then they do this.
And where does that go?
Are they tagging it?
Are they hashtagging it?
What's the moment is just captured for the, you know, but unfortunately, Kodak, the film company is going out of business, filing bankruptcy again.
(48:54):
They need to bring back disposable cameras.
And they need to bring back like disposable cameras, but they're disposable digital cameras.
And then those digital cameras have an amount that you can record video, and you can take a certain amount of pictures.
And that's what's allowed to be used at the event.
So once you fill that up, you got to go buy another one, you got to buy another one, you can buy another one.
(49:16):
And then you can download those all when you get home.
But at least you're not just sitting there, maybe has a burst where it'll only record the video for a minute.
So you're only like this for a minute.
And then a minute.
And it's just used for those instant minutes.
Somebody's gonna come out with this idea.
And I just gave somebody a multi-million dollar idea.
(49:37):
Don't take my multi-million dollar idea.
Yeah, you're gonna put this part of the live up.
Yeah.
So, you know, I mean, it's just, you know, it's interesting.
There's more clubs, bigger stories coming out.
I'm seeing in some of the bigger publications that some of the bigger clubs are now instituting, like there was a new club that opened up in Ibiza that just instituted a no cell phone on the dance floor policy.
(50:04):
But a lot of these clubs, the dance floor is the bar, is the club.
So, you know, I think they should do it.
I think it's, I'm not a hater of it.
It's just like you said, 15 years old, they don't know.
This is just, I have a phone.
It's natural.
Let's go.
You know?
Yeah, that's a bit sad.
(50:25):
Yeah.
I mean, it's just, it's technology and how it goes.
You know, though, when you're not entertaining others, what do you do to entertain yourself?
What do you do?
What does Stela do in his spare time, free time, other than to make music and get up on stage?
Sorry, I didn't hear the last sentence.
(50:45):
Sorry.
Oh, what do you do when you're not entertaining others?
Like, what do you like to do in your spare time, your free time?
I love to play tennis.
When I was young, I played a lot.
Like I made a competition, you know, like every day I played for like 10 years.
So now I don't have the time, but sometimes I try to play also a bit.
(51:06):
I'm going to run, running.
I'm trying to play video games sometimes when I have the time, but it's like not so important.
And it's only when I really have time watching series, you know, trying also to travel because I have a lot of friends that's living all around Europe.
So trying to move also not only for music, you know.
(51:31):
Yeah, I think it's enough because I don't have enough time to make like more things for now.
I'm working hard to get a bit more free before, after, sorry, to get to be more chill in the future.
Nice.
Yeah, you know, you got to take that downtime.
(51:52):
You know, I was just, I just took eight and a half months off.
Just kind of after I came back from my 50th birthday last year from Berlin, I was like, I was in this rut where I was like, what do I do next?
And what's the next thing I can do?
And where was I going with the progression of everything and just taking that time off and coming back and resetting?
(52:13):
I feel that my goals I've been able to now expand upon and take some breathing room.
You know, you need that.
Figure out what you want to do personally and professionally.
And now leaps and bounds are happening because of that break that I took.
A little bit of a long break in the industry though, but you know, we're back.
How many times?
What?
(52:33):
How many times?
How many times?
Yeah.
That I've taken a break?
No.
How many times?
You said that you took a break, right?
Oh, eight and a half months.
Okay.
Like I just went, boop, off the radar.
Like it was, yeah, it was supposed to be about three weeks for my birthday month, turned into two months, turned into holidays, turned into, I'll get to it after the first of the year, turned into, I'll go into quarter two and start that up, turned into May.
(53:10):
But, you know, we have a well-oiled machine over here.
So I know how to pick it back up and get things going again.
And a lot of people understand, you know, the industry, you sometimes just need to take a break and when you're the boss, you can do that.
I didn't have any necessary, any doors, commitments, major commitments that I had at that time.
But now I'm coming back with pushing out, rebranding, coming back out in 2025 to really do more in 2026.
(53:37):
Like we were talking about going internationally, definitely would love to come visit you over there in Lyon and hang out.
I want to get to IMF over in Barcelona next year as well.
ADE again, Rave of the Planet, all those fun stuff that happens.
Tons of fun stuff that happens over in Europe.
You know, tons of fun stuff happens all over the world for electronic music.
(53:57):
But, you know, we're going to wrap up here.
Is there anything else you want to let our DJ Sessions fans know about before we let you get going?
Yeah, I want to say, like, my music is available everywhere.
I post things on Instagram because it's the best way to do that now.
(54:18):
So if you want to follow me, the best way is on Instagram.
And if you want to really follow me, come to my next event.
There you go.
And it's Thaylo Music.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, no worries.
Thank you for coming on the show.
As always, we're going to stay in touch with you because you're one of the rising stars in the industry.
(54:38):
And we always like to follow up with people and find out what they're doing, usually about every six months.
Maybe if something else comes up, we'll get you on the show again here in the future.
It was a pleasure having you today.
Yeah, thank you so much again.
And it was a pleasure to talk.
And yeah, hope to see you soon.
Definitely, definitely.
Thank you.
Thank you for coming on the show today.
(54:59):
Yeah, thanks so much.
See you.
Bye bye.
Bye.
On that note, don't forget to go to our website, thedjsessions.com.
Find us there and you'll find out everything we're up to.
We have so much stuff happening on the site and more coming.
It's all at thedjsessions.com.
Our socials, 700 news stories, 2,700 past episodes, our new music section, our store is going to be revamped here soon, radio player, site-wide player, mobile app, virtual reality nightclub, and more.
(55:28):
That's all at thedjsessions.com.
I'm your host, Darran, and that's Thaylo coming in from Lyon, France, and I'm coming in from Seattle, Washington, for The DJ Sessions.
And remember, on The DJ Sessions, the music never stops.
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