Open Mic with Audien! (September 30th, 2020)

Mr. Voice:
And now, WolfBytes Open Mic.

Logan Sims:
The Bassjackers.

The Bassjackers:
I’ve just came home actually from tour.

Feenixpawl:
Hey guys, This is Feenixpawl.

Shaun Frank:
What’s up? This is Shaun Frank.

Mr. Voice:
WolfBytes DJs, and your favorite artists.

DjWhtDaHek:
Sophie Francis. Sophie, thanks for joining us today.

Sophie Francis:
[inaudible 00:00:13] Super nice to join you guys.

Armin van Buuren:
What’s up guys? this is on Armin van Buuren.

Mr. Voice:
Now, Open Mic.

DjWhtDaHek:
Hey guys, it’s DjWhtDaHek, here for another edition of Open Mic. Today, my guest is Audien. Thanks for coming on the show, man.

Audien:
Yeah. Thanks for having me, dude.

DjWhtDaHek:
So where are you at right now? What’s going on?

Audien:
Yeah, I’m just hiding away in my bunker in LA, AKA, my little tiny house. I’m lucky, I have a pool, so I’m very fortunate to be able to spend a lot of time outside, and not be all cooped up during this quarantine. So that’s what I’ve been up to.

DjWhtDaHek:
That is the one thing I did not get a chance to do this summer, is hit the pool or the beach. And I’m very upset about that.

Audien:
You should, there’s still time.

DjWhtDaHek:
There is still time. There’s still time. Here, it’s going to start getting to very low 80 degrees, and then it’s going to be, probably forties, like, flick of a hand. It’s going to be crazy.

Audien:
Oh yeah.

DjWhtDaHek:
Well, it has been a crazy summer for you, with COVID and all of that. And you’ve really missed out on touring. I mean, what have you been doing over the summer, and what’s the tour scene kind of looking like for you?

Audien:
You know, honestly, believe it or not, during the pandemic, we’ve had some show requests and stuff, and we decided to hold off because we just don’t feel like putting anyone at risk. And we also… I don’t want to be at risk either. But I think that it’s just going to be better to just wait until this thing is completely gone, which it will be, and then return to touring. But in the meantime, I’ve kind of shifted my entire mentality and focus towards just spending time making music, and also just relaxing. For the past seven years I’ve been constantly touring, and I never had a chance to really lay any roots or get some real routines. So I’ve been spending a lot of time doing that. And I think that when we return to touring, I’ll have a better… I’ll be in a better head space for that.

DjWhtDaHek:
Right. Yeah. That’s one thing that this whole pandemic has kind of brought about, is that there has been more time on the hands, so to say. So setting up routines, or getting on a schedule has been a little bit easier maybe, but yeah.

Audien:
Yeah, for sure.

DjWhtDaHek:
I’ve also seen… You kind of mentioned not doing any tours until we’re back up, but I’ve also seen some DJs now doing these drive in shows.

Audien:
Yeah, I saw that too.

DjWhtDaHek:
Yeah. Maybe do one of them, maybe just one.

Audien:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

DjWhtDaHek:
Maybe.

Audien:
Yeah. Maybe, we’ll see, we’ll see. Still time.

DjWhtDaHek:
Yeah. It would be an interesting experience. So, jumping into when you sort of started out, I’m curious as to where you got the name Audien, where did they come from?

Audien:
You know, I was walking home from, I think it was eighth grade in middle school, or it might’ve been high… No, it was high school. It was high school. Ninth grade in high school. And I need, I… you know, I started making music and I didn’t want to use my regular name. I wish I had a better description for this, but I remember my thought process was, that I was an avid listener and lover of dance music and electronic music. And I guess I wanted a name that put me within the confines of everybody else, the audience. So I guess I was one of… I’m one of them. I came from that, you know, it’s like a singular version of something that’s very plural, I guess.

DjWhtDaHek:
Got you.

Audien:
If that’s the correct terminology. But, I think that was my thought process. You know, it just kind of came about. It was so long ago, it was well over, I think, 12 years ago now.

DjWhtDaHek:
Right.

Audien:
Yeah.

DjWhtDaHek:
Well, it definitely stuck.

Audien:
It stuck.

DjWhtDaHek:
It worked, it worked. And you were an avid listener of dance music. What kind of got you into that whole dance music scene?

Audien:
You know, In the beginning, I was really into weird dance music, kind of like stuff that you wouldn’t expect. I was in the UK hardcore, and I was a big follower of the guys who actually are doing really well now, which I’m so happy to see, like Darren Styles, Gammer, just all those older, kind of UK hardcore vibes artists. I used to love that so much. I used to wait until all the new compilations dropped, they always did compilations. There was this long one that had like 15 volumes, it was called Bonkers. And I would literally… I think I used LimeWire to get my first Bonkers compilation, if you remember LimeWire. And that was the early inspiration for me. I was like, “How is this music made?” It just blew my mind. I literally was so fixated by it, and I kind of gradually transitioned into some more slower stuff, like trance. That’s when I discovered Armin, and the State of Trance show. And I remember the first episode I downloaded was 234. So, it’s come a long way.

DjWhtDaHek:
Wow. Yeah, Armin is great. We talked with him, a while back now, but we did talk with him, and he was great. He was wonderful.

Audien:
He’s a great dude.

DjWhtDaHek:
Yeah. Let’s talk about some of your tracks, and there have been a lot of them that are just absolute gems. I mean, my personal favorites are Circles, Rollercoaster, Serotonin. Then we’ll talk about Craving with ARTY in a few, but absolute gems. And I just want to talk about this one, Favorite Sound.

DjWhtDaHek:
(singing).

DjWhtDaHek:
What was it like putting that track together?

Audien:
You know, I really, for the longest time wanted to do a song with Echosmith. I just really am a fan of what they do. I think Sydney has one of the most underrated and amazing voices in music. She’s so talented, and it’s just… It was such a fluid experience. It was so easy, working with them was so simple. They’re all family, they’re literally brothers and sisters. So it was kind of like a family affair of sorts. But yeah, I mean the song itself really resonated with me, the lyrics, and I tried to try to match it the best I could with my instrumental work. And so, I’m pretty happy with the result. We had a really cool video done by Drew Kirsch. He’s an amazing director, did a bunch of Taylor Swift videos, and stuff. And he’s done some sick work. So overall, the entire… Everything that surrounded that song came out pretty amazing to me.

DjWhtDaHek:
Yeah, it’s a great track, and it’s one of our favorites here on the station as well. Another favorite of ours is Hot Water with 3LAU. What was it like working with 3LAU, and putting that track together?

Audien:
Well, 3LAU has been a really good friend of mine for ever.

Audien:
(singing)

Audien:
As long as I can remember, at least 2014, I think, is when I first met him, and started talking to him. And we’re like best friends, we’re going to do more songs together, but we wanted our first collab to be kind of unexpected, and Hot Water was that. It was completely so distant from either of our styles, which were what we’re known for. And it was just like… We had this amazing vocal, and it just came really naturally. We got to debut it at EDC when we played back to back. And it was just like… There’s so many good memories attached to that song. Really.

Audien:
(singing)

DjWhtDaHek:
Yeah, you definitely have a specific sound to you. And I’ve heard it throughout the years in your tracks. And I thought Buzzing was one that kind of came out, and I was like, “This is definitely an Audien track.”

Audien:
Yeah.

DjWhtDaHek:
Yeah. So just, that’s just over a year old now, it was released 2019 September, roughly.

Audien:
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

DjWhtDaHek:
What was putting this track out like?

Audien:
It was great. It was one of my first completely independent releases. Did it with STEM, and it was kind of a nod to my old progressive house days. I did a masterclass with JBL last year, and that was the song that I was kind of playing with during the masterclass. I had been producing it at the time, and I had it up on the screen, and I was kind of breaking it down for everybody. And it ended up turning into a song, which is kind of fun. But working with Nevve was fantastic. Nevve is amazing. Nevve is like a writer group. It’s multiple people, I believe. But, they’re responsible for so many great dance songs. And I’m glad I can be a part of their catalog, so to speak.

DjWhtDaHek:
Right. We… Yeah. That’s another one that we love around here on the station as well, Buzzing. I still have… I was listening to Roller Coaster before you came on and this is like… That’s the song I hear in my head right now. I want to be hearing these other songs as we talk about them, but that’s the one that’s stuck in my head.

Audien:
Oh.

DjWhtDaHek:
Yeah. So the last one I wanted to talk about, is pretty cool, because we talked with ARTY back in March, and he mentioned you guys would be doing this track. And then here we are today, Craving is out. What was it like working with ARTY, and then putting this track out?

Audien:
So Craving, believe it or not, is me and ARTY’s first collab. Although we released a collab together in late 2018 called Never Letting Go, on Anjunabeats. And, when we finished Craving, we were like, “This is not going to be our first collab that we’re going to release.” We really wanted to do something that we were both collectively known for. And that was the Anjunabeats sound. And so, we had Craving for a couple of years, and I had been playing it out and sets, and just watching people’s reaction to it. It really is a great club song, as well as the radio song, in my opinion. But, watching people’s reaction to it-

Audien:
(music)

Audien:
I realized we had to get the song out. Lyrically, first of all, Ellie’s amazing. She’s just an amazing singer and writer. Lyrically, the lyrics made so much sense for me in my own life. It just kind of was rearing its head. And I was like, “We’ve got to get this out.” I want to embrace this thing. And so, I hit up ARTY, and we got it together, and we finally got the song out. So, I actually love it. I listen to it once in a while. It’s hard to listen to your own music, but… On your free time, but I actually kind of listen to that song now and then.

DjWhtDaHek:
Yeah. We love it here on the station, and so many other people love it as well. Is there maybe one collab, or maybe an artist out there that you haven’t done any work with yet, but you’re really hoping at some point you might get the chance to do that?

Audien:
Oh yeah. Definitely LANY, for sure. Loving his music right now. I think it’s some of the best music out. I would love to work with him. MK, maybe?

DjWhtDaHek:
Yes, Okay.

Audien:
Some of the more housey stuff. A lot of my new music is kind of, going to be a lot less big, big room, and a little bit more, kind of palatable for day-to-day life, when you’re in the car and whatnot. Not that big room isn’t palatable for day-to-day life, it’s just that, I think that sometimes the vibes need to be a little more chilled. It’s a little easier to leave room for thoughts and processing things when you have a song that’s more simple, more minimal, and just more… Kind of subtle. So I’m working on some stuff like that, but yeah, I’ve been just really diving into so many different kinds of music during quarantine. I’ve had the time to do it, which is great.

DjWhtDaHek:
Right, right. Well, we’ll be excited for all the new music, and just… What can everyone expect next from you? You mentioned doing some new tracks. Is there going to be a lot of them coming out shortly?

Audien:
Oh yeah. I mean, I’m spending a lot of time on them. I’m not rushing them out, but I have a few that I’m really excited about. One in particular as well. That’ll be the next single. It’s really a different style for me, it’s something I’ve never done before. So, and I don’t… I’m not one to make the same style of music again and again, and again, I mean, I simply can’t do that. And I know that that’s… It’s tough for some people to follow, but I just would rather make whatever I’m inspired by, and this next song is something new for me, completely.

DjWhtDaHek:
Maybe could you give us a little sneak peek of maybe what a title could be?

Audien:
It’s a color.

DjWhtDaHek:
Ooh. Okay.

Audien:
It’s a color. The title is a color, and yeah. I’m hoping I can get it out in October, but it will be the next single for sure. It will definitely be the next single

DjWhtDaHek:
Awesome. Well, we will be anxiously awaiting that one [inaudible 00:13:50]. Audien-

Audien:
You Like this one.

DjWhtDaHek:
Oh good, I will be anxiously, even more anxiously awaiting it then. Well, Audien, this was great, and really appreciate you doing it.

Audien:
Thanks man. Thanks for having me.

DjWhtDaHek:
Yeah, and stay safe out there.

Audien:
You too.

DjWhtDaHek:
All right. Well that was Audien here on this latest edition of Open Mic, and it’s DjWhtDaHek, I’ll see you guys next time.