As a nor’easter and cold snap beats up the east coast in March, the most recent release from the production duo THUGLI comes to mind. Cold Winter dropped about a month ago, and the dance energy the song gives off is of definite need during this barrage of cold, snow and ice. Fire still exists during a Cold Winter, you just need to find it.
The dance track is the newest single from Toronto natives - Pat Drastik, a former national Redbull Thre3style and DMC champion and Tom Wrecks, known for his popular remixes and Juno nominated production - features high energy and vibrant synths sure to bring some brightness to your day. Bea Moon, hailing from Sydney, Australia, handles the vocals for the track doing well to control the beat serving as a strong compliment to the steady drums that combine with the movement of the synths to create an anthem guaranteed to get feet moving.
THUGLI’s E.P. Onslaught came out in April of 2013 and the subsequent music videos for two of their singles were received with praise. Run This took home a Much Music Video Award for Best Director in 2014 and the video for their single Sic Em received a MMVA nomination for Best Electronic Music Video in 2016.
THUGLI dropped a big remix of Vic Mensa and Kanye West’s U Mad in 2015 following the success of the duo’s E.P. Onslaught. 2016 saw THUGLI drop their remix of Designer’s breakout hit Panda to over 7 million views on YouTube. And now, 2017 opens with Cold Winter continuing THUGLI’s momentum.
The duo’s love for electronic music mixed with their love for rap out of the dirty south has been highlighted in their past work melding the two genres together into a variety of remixes and bootlegs that have caught the attention of industry heavy weights like Diplo, A-Trak and Flosstradamus. That balance between the remix, bootleg world with the original, single world is the cycle we’re seeing now, setting the group up for a breakout 2017. So I caught up with them to get to know the Canadian duo a little more.
The two of you linked up in 2012. Tell music lovers that might not be as familiar with THUGLI how you came to form the duo and what you're all about as a team.
PAT DRASTIK: We met in our early teens skateboarding at a local park in Ottawa, Canada and became friends through that. We both started Dj'ing and getting into scratching soon after. That led to us competing in DJ battles, Dj'ing in clubs and getting into music production.
TOM WRECKS: I ended up moving to Toronto for university and Pat followed a few years later. We started working on music together on a regular basis until we were sitting on a pile of tracks we really liked.
PAT: We came up with the name THUGLI and just started putting all the music out. It was just supposed to be a fun side project but it took off and soon became our number one priority.
Cold Winter is definitely a dance track, in the winter. How did the theme of the song, and even the release date effect the essence of the song, as it's based on a comparison to a cold and bitter relationship but permeates a sense of brightness through it's synths and dance feel?
TOM: It was definitely a seasonal release. Being that we're from Canada and Bea Moon’s from Australia and that we have opposite seasons made it a little tricky. Bea wrote to it at the beginning of Australian winter when we were just going into our summer. At one point we were so excited to release it that we even got Bea to rewrite the lyrics to a “Hot Summer” version. We realized the original version worked better though and that we would just have to be patient for a winter release date. This is probably the only time in our lives where we were looking forward to a cold Canadian winter.
PAT: There are so many parallel comparisons to draw from a cold, bitter winter to a cold, bitter relationship. They almost go hand in hand. We had a few different versions of the song, each with a different feel, but we chose to go with the big and bright lead synths because they still had an intense feel to them. It kept with the mood and feel of the song.
Bea Moon provides the vocals and does a great job of balancing your high-energy production style with her soft voice. How did that collaboration come together?
TOM: The song came about when we met Bea Moon in Sydney while we were on tour in Australia. The tour promoter played us her demo in the car and we really liked her voice and her vibe. We contacted her and asked if she’d be interested in hearing some of the music we were working on at the time. Being that our name is THUGLI, I think she was expecting a couple of gully North American thugs but instead she was introduced to two friendly Canadians with a hard drive full of beats.
PAT: Bea had ideas right out of the gate when she heard the “Cold Winter” beat so it all came together pretty naturally and fast. So many collaborations these days happen online without ever meeting the other artist, which is amazing that we have the ability and technology available to do so, but things always come out so much better when you actually meet and discuss your vision in person. Even to just get a vibe for the other person and what they're all about. We made jokes and all got along really well. It felt right within the first few minutes of meeting.
Listening to a bunch of your remixes and bootlegs the combination of your passion for dirty south rap and electronic music is clear. Is that a combination you will continue to pursue?
PAT: We're both into so many different styles and genres. We've been DJ'ing for a long time and have always kept an open mind when it comes to music. Our love for dirty south rap just always crept into our production early on. We'd be making a fun, happy sounding house track and we'd find ourselves incorporating these double time breakdowns in the song that just made it take on a whole new feel. We kind of kept that vision for THUGLI, but being that we're into everything, we're definitely not limiting ourselves. We're always open to making anything. We've come to a point now where we've developed a certain sound that you can distinctly tell is ours. So whatever we decide to make, whether it’s trap record or rap, r&b, house or whatever, it will always have our feel to it.
Where is THUGLI headed in 2017? We've seen singles, especially the newest track Cold Winter, and a bunch of remixes and bootlegs in the past. What should we look forward to?
TOM: This year we’re really looking forward to sharing as much music as possible. We have a few new bootlegs and remixes coming out shortly along with a couple more singles with a full E.P to follow. We also have a bunch of collaborations in the works right now that should be really special. We've been very picky with our releases in the past, this year we just want to make sure they all see the light of day.
Who in the industry has influenced you the most - be it through working with them or through viewing them as someone to learn from? If you could choose an artist to collab with - who would that be?
TOM: A-Trak, Diplo, Flosstradamus, our Canadian brothers Grandtheft, Keys N Krates… There are so many others who have influenced us so it’s hard to pick just one. Jazzy Jeff has also been a huge inspiration for us both.
PAT: Hard to pick one for sure but, being that we come from a hip hop/turntablist background, Jazzy Jeff is like the G.O.A.T to us. We were fortunate enough to be invited to his PlayList Retreat for the past two years and it’s been life changing. The Playlist Retreat is a gathering of artists for the purpose of inspiration, motivation and collaboration. We're so honoured to be a part of the whole thing. Everyone we met and worked with there is like family now. Our homie Z-Trip said it best, "Jeff is not only the best at mixing records, he's the best at mixing people". He just knows how to bring people together that all work and mesh so well on so many levels. We owe a lot to Jazzy Jeff for our inspiration.
TOM: We've been really into working with more singer/songwriters/rappers lately. It would be cliche to say someone like Drake or Rihanna but of course, that would be incredible. We've always wanted to do something with Mystikal. He's so underrated and has such an insane, aggressive flow. He would fit our beats so well.
Anything else we need to know about you two?
PAT: Although our name is THUGLI, we are far from thugs. We're just friendly Canadians who love making music!