With the Vancouver scene gradually becoming a tighter knit hub for electronic music enthusiasts (the city is home to Monstercat, Seeking Blue, The District family and much more), new talents seem to be emerging left and right. Part of this hype and representing VanCity, are electronic music duo WE ARE FURY, made up of the young talents Joachim and Stuart. In the last year or so, the duo have graced the electronic scene with their massive sound, in releases from their remix of Illenium's "I'll Be Your Reason" to their Trap Nation exclusive "Fade Away". In that time, WE ARE FURY have shown immense growth in all elements of their art, maturing in sound, evolving their brand and truly moving their efforts in connecting with an audience in all aspects. With the unveiling of their anticipated debut EP Signal Fires, EARMILK found the time to sit and chat with the boys to discuss their progression as artists in the past few months.
The duo have always been avid listeners of electronic music and it dates back to their high school days. In our chat, Joachim and Stuart were quick to jump into their influences who've inspired them to take up production. Joachim states, ""I remember one of the first albums I got was Tiesto's "Just Be. At the time I was just enjoying it and I never imagined electronic music was something I could be doing.". Stuart reflects on the gamer classic "Dota" by Basshunter, stating "I was really into gaming, Basshunter's music paired perfectly with that and I really appreciated the energy. Really it was just fun, catchy music".
Originally meeting at the University of British Columbia, Joachim and Stuart were both in school with no solid intentions of pursuing music as a career. With Joachim having studied nutritional science and his prior focus on rugby and Stuart's studies in microbiology, music was a constant in their lives but never the main priority. Eventually, common interests and DJing in the same communities would lead in the formation of WE ARE FURY. In regards to the duo's synergy, the two discussed that they both hold different strengths and weaknesses and bounce off of each other to fill in the gaps. Reflecting on this, Joachim mentions, "As we worked closer together we wanted to maximize our efficiency. I was always really good at the marketing and logistic side of things, Stuart was good at the technical side of production. The workload is still 50/50, a balance is always maintained in both efforts, we just try and play to our strengths as much as possible.".
"The name WE ARE FURY is a direct translation of the music, it's reflective of the purest human emotions, which was very evident in our first few releases." – Stuart
Today EARMILK exclusively presents to you WE ARE FURY's debut EP Signal Fires, a curation of melodic bass works immersed in a striking energy. With a wide range of vocalists included offering very characteristic sounds, the duo touch base on a spectrum of feels in 4 unique tracks. As a first EP, the duo have mastered a captivating sound that doesn't seem to fit under one umbrella genre of electronic music. The sound of Signal Fires is one that strings together the impact of a banger and a poignance in their melodies to create a sonic rollercoaster of emotions. Regarding the concept of the EP, Stuart speaks to the sentimental component of the record, "…we're hitting a bunch of different emotional spots throughout. It's all relatable but is an exploration of feels.". Joachim comments on a more introspective reflection of Signal Fires mentioning, "The EP reflects what we were going through at the time, from being from two kids having fun with music to taking it more seriously as a project and adjusting our priorities accordingly.". Marking a maturity in their musical process, WE ARE FURY wanted to solidify their trope of contrast and emphasized a record that showcased melodic orchestral vibes with an intense bassier side.
"For Signal Fires, we already had the vocals written out, it was just about finding the perfect voice. We found Alina just by searching for artists with similar sounds and she did a great job. Micah on "Demons", heard of us through Trap Nation. He reached out to us and he's a rock singer in a band so we thought, how can we make something different? How can we make something that makes people uncomfortable since it's outside our genre? It's either you love it or hate it…Fletcher on "For the Moment", we met through mutual friends. He was on the X-Factor New Zealand. Fletcher was the only one we worked with in person so it was a smooth process in bouncing ideas off each other. It's a challenge at times working via the internet since it slows the process and you're lacking that human connection, but when you work with the right people, it's well worth it. "
And as the duo climbs the ladder up in the electronic scene, it's without a doubt there were a couple hiccups on the journey. Having your tracks vanish on streaming platforms can be a terrifying thought for any artist, especially when it's accidental and completely avoidable. Reflecting on their lowest and highest points, Joachim chuckles and goes back to a memorable facepalm moment, "I was on our Soundcloud and thought two tracks were playlists. I accidentally deleted our Mako remix and Robot Sex, both with a significant amount of plays on Soundcloud.". And as you'd expect this story to turn for the worst, the rookie mistake somehow flipped around in their favour, "I re-uploaded them and I always creep the first 50 likes or so. It just so happened one of the likes was from Illenium's management and we've been big fans for a while. I slid in the DMs, sent the Mako remix. Two seconds later Illenium's following us. He was putting together a remix album for Ashes and after we were approached, we jumped on it quick and the track came out on Seeking Blue. I think more than anything, we were stoked that we had the chance to remix "I'll Be Your Reason" and execute it well.".
As expected, the conversation segued into the topic of positioning themselves within the local scene and the electronic culture as a whole. Though the Vancouver scene is evidently thriving with passion and talent, Joachim and Stuart comment on the difficulty that exists in truly breaking onto the scene. Joachim stated, "Vancouver's an active city in terms of talent, but it's hard to crack into the scene. I already pretty involved in the scene and we both had production behind us. There's a lot talent and it's a very supportive community. But it's a matter of work ethic, if you have your priorities right and are willing to sacrifice a couple nights out, you'll find yourself in a place where you can thrive."
With excitement for their first EP release, the duo concluded the convo with some wise words for those seeking to pursue their passions:
"With how casual and tight knit the industry is in communication sometimes, reliability can be an issue and no one is accountable. It's about being self-aware, true to yourself and about being consistent in url and irl. We've learned that we can all be afraid of being straight up. Be truthful. It's about not taking things too personally and approaching music from a more critical standpoint."
Fast Four Questions
E: Who are you guys listening to at the moment?
J: Boombox Cartel, QUIX, Illenium, Juelz is also sick.
S: "k?d, decent amount of Monstercat, KRANE, MYRNE.
E: If you guys couldn't make music, what would you do instead?
J: Do something with strength training and rugby probably.
S: Always been big into games. Go into game design or art for gaming.
E: Tell us a surprising fact.
J: I'm hispanic, speak 3 languages. I lived in South America most my life.
S: I'm a black belt in karate.
E: If you had to choose one song to listen to the rest of your life what would it be?
J: Divinity by Porter Robinson. Or the ODESZA remix. Or Cut to Black by Le Maitre
S: Something that reminds me of highschool, something nostalgic, maybe Lose Yourself by Eminem.
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