In a magical land far from the virus-battered shores of the United States, there is a place where drum and bass fans are out in full force at live events and bathing in the heavyweight beats of their very own homegrown champion. The land is, of course, New Zealand, and with the internationally renowned DJ and producer known as Trei leading the way, the country is taking full advantage of the post-lockdown era to dive headfirst into continuing evolution of drum and bass culture.
Known for both his massive singles and collaborations with the likes of The Upbeats, Futurebound, State of Mind, and Concord Dawn, Trei is the rare artist able to pull from an eclectic range of influences while continually re-inventing himself and inspiring others to follow in his wake.
With his latest project – the aptly title ‘Magma’ – Trei pulls out all the stops and delivers a proper journey into the heart of the very best that drum and bass has to offer. With an accompanying video that we’re proud to be premiering to the world today, we thought we’d check in with the man himself for a glimpse into what life looks like on the other end of the world, with a deep dive into the vision of ‘Magma’ and beyond.
The single drops on Friday, July 31 so lock in your pre-order here and check the interview below:
Talk to us about your Magma project, how it came together and what sort of vibe you feel like it captures.
At the time, I was quite frustrated and a bit angry with music in general, which I think peeled back a bit of a harder, “fuck the system” kinda edge to what I was doing. Jabz and I had been doing a lot of live gigs together over that time and really wanted to get some music done together. We’d started the project a couple of years ago, but it wasn’t quite ready, so we kept whittling away at it until we felt like it was ready.
To me, it has a kind of natural chaos to it, and captures my earlier rockier roots, and of course, Jabz has absolutely nailed it with his scorching hot delivery.
The project feels very cinematic so it’s only fitting that you guys knocked out a video as well – give us a sense of how that came together and if that was a consideration when you were creating the tune. Did you already have a sense that it would lend itself to the visual medium as well?
Not really at the start, but by the time we felt like we’d harnessed the vibe of it; it had such a thunderous sound and searing nature to it, leant itself to a darker side of imagery and exploring natures forces I guess, and Music Video was the perfect accompaniment to the music.
With the rest of the world on lockdown and the international music scene is disarray it may make some people jealous to know that the NZ scene has rebounded in a major way. Give us a sense of what things are like there in NZ at the moment and especially how the live gigs have been going off.
To be honest, we’re very fortunate here in NZ to be basically back to normal, apart from the obvious border restrictions. Within the country itself, there’s a huge movement to get out and get tings moving again, where people have come out in full-force to support everyone as much as possible and shake off the lockdown.
Local nights are huge, and the bigger nights are even bigger. Local heroes like The Upbeats, State of Mind, Lee Matthews, Tali, Concord Dawn, Flowidus, Truth can really thrive, but also means it opens things up for the next tier of artists to have more of a chance to break through as well which is awesome to see and sets an incredible ton for when things can open back up internationally.
Pre-Covid, we had a pretty awesome scene for DnB in NZ, but it was getting quite chaotic, so the lockdown has provided a reset for everyone. In saying that, when thinking about my friends from all around the world through touring, knowing that they’re in lockdown still, it’s definitely a little bittersweet.
It’s definitely inspiring to see you and the rest of the NZ crew returning full-force with lots of support. Any final parting words for the rest of your fans around the world chomping at the bit and ready to get back on the dancefloor?
I struggle to find the right words being in such a fortunate position over here, being in this position now when we see the rest of the world grappling with the situation.
But absolutely: keep positive and productive, wear masks, check on your friends and family.
Everyone working together can have a massive effect on this. Resilience has to be the key; we’ve found that things have come back bigger, better and stronger. The good times WILL roll again!