Beauty is truth and truth beauty, at least that's what John Keats would have you believe.
When it comes to dubstep though, the only truth that matters is the New Zealand duo of the same name. Comprised of producers Andre Fernandez and Tristan Roake, Truth have framed themselves as one of New Zealand's finest creative exports and certainly one of the country's pre-eminent electronic acts.
Sonic architects of songs with an emotional heft as heavy as the subwoofer rupturing basslines that underpin their work, Truth are respected across the globe as both world-class producers and party-rocking DJs.
Set to get crowds pumping at Elements Festival in South-East Queensland this October, Truth take the time to answer our questions and tell us all about what they're bringing to the festival.
Best bits of the year so far for Truth?
This year so far has been crazy! Some highlights would include playing to a sold-out show of 10,000 bassheads last night in Nashville. Quite the experience. Watching our label Deep, Dark & Dangerous (DDD) grow and flourish has been amazing and has included a number of festival stage takeovers including one stage in Costa Rica. It's been great seeing all the hard work we have put into our label really pay off and the artists we have been working with going on to better and bigger things with us. Gigs in general have been getting better and better this year.
How did you two start making music together?
The two of us first started making music together when we ran a drum & bass event promotion company together. During that period, we were deeply into DnB and were involved in all the biggest tours at the time. We also made a lot of music; in fact, part of the idea behind promoting was that it would immerse us in music full-time, and when we weren't promoting, we would be producing. In reality of course, event promotion is a 60-70 hour week, so hats off to all those hardworking promoters out there, you are the real MVPs.
There certainly wasn't a hell of a lot of leftover time for music production during those years, but we got some good stuff done nonetheless. Our dubstep career started in 2007 with a random meeting and friendship with Mala of Digital Mystikz. It's a long story, but effectively he's one of the originators of the sound who liked what we were doing and gave us a lot of good advice and played all our music for our first few years making dubstep.
Is there something that defines or characterises the Truth sound?
That's a very subjective question and it really depends who you ask. To us, there's not one thing that defines us; though our fans will tell you otherwise. Our fans are awesome, so much love for them. One thing underpinning our music is big, heavy bass. To the point that if you don't have good sound, don't bother booking us haha!
What have Truth got in-store for the crowds at Elements Festival?
It's still a way off, so who knows exactly. Lots of dubs and wubs. Lots of unreleased music from our friends in the scene as well as a boat load of forthcoming music on DDD.
Apart from performing, how will you two partake in the revelry that is Elements Festival?
It's actually Tristan's birthday, so things might get wild. Watch this space. We were at the very first Elements Festival and absolutely loved it, so can't wait!
Tristan: your top tips for keeping a moustache in check while on the road?
Let it roam free during the day, then reign it in tight during the night.
Some of the bands/ artists/ producers that we'd find on your personal playlists?
Khiva
Sepia
Sevdaliza
Ian Ewing
Kaytranada
Shades
Alix Perez
King Tubby
Ternion Sound
Pushloop
BadBadNotGood
to name a tiny fraction...
What's coming next for Truth?
It's a huge, huge, huge Northern Hemisphere summer ahead. A lot of festivals in the USA and Canada. A bunch of Deep, Dark & Dangerous takeovers at festivals like Outlook Festival, Shambhala and Valhalla. A Europe tour. NZ/Australia tour. We're pushing ahead hard with our label and have a huge project on that, which is still unannounced (can't wait to share more!).
We've got a new Truth EP and singles planned while also working on a whole batch of new music for the NZ/Australia summer too. We're also looking at how we might make Truth a more live experience, something long term to work on for us. There's a whole lot of stuff we can't talk about yet of course, so keep your eyes peeled as we're always busy behind the scenes!
