Amidst the break-neck pace of the electronic music industry, it’s always a big deal when long-standing legends come together to make something new.
That’s why world-famous Anjunabeats label staples Gabriel and Dresden, Andrew Bayer, and renowned Vocalist Sub Teal (Brittany O’Neil) made waves with their track “Other Eye,” whose meaning and origins represent much more than just a dance song.
As they tune in from different corners of the country, the artists catch up with each other and reflect on their journeys, being drawn together by hardship, and contemplate the future of the US trance music scene.
EDM Maniac: Hi everyone, Thank you all so much for being here!
Andrew Bayer: Hello! This is great, it’s wonderful to see everyone in one place –well virtually in one place but you know what I mean.
Dave Dresden: (Chuckling) Yes it certainly is. Well, Andrew, do you want to talk about the origins of this song?
Andrew Bayer: Yes, I was doing a show with Gabriel & Dresden and noticed that Dave was on his own, and I just felt like something was not right. When I got back, I heard that the reason Dave was on his own was that Josh had a really serious heart attack and it was terrifying.
We were on the phone getting emotional talking about it, I mean, it’s an incredible testament to Josh’s character in many ways that he defied all odds with this giant health crisis.
A while after, we were thinking about how we could combine our forces, highlight everyone’s strengths, and work together in a way that could make something beautiful out of such a devastating life experience. That’s how the conversation started for me. I’ll leave it over to Josh to pick up on some of that as well.
Josh Gabriel: Well yeah, after this heart attack, it was clear that I was not going to be able to get on the road anytime soon. But that didn’t stop me from wanting to be involved in music and wanting to push things forward.
We talked amongst ourselves and brainstormed ways that we could keep things moving but not require me to do the day-in and day-out producer duties that I was used to doing. We came up with the idea of collaborating with somebody, for which Andrew was the obvious choice.
Andrew Bayer: Britt, how was that writing process for you? Did it feel natural driving over to a non-dance backing track or was this something fully new for you?
Sub Teal: Yeah, so I come from an indie spirit and that’s where a lot of the things I write begin. I don’t always get the opportunity to develop such a strong, indie rock idea before it becomes a dance track so I feel like in a lot of ways it allowed me to tap into some different parts of my influences that only lend themselves positively to my performance there.
That made me really happy to be able to see the transformation. I loved being able to take this little bud of an idea and pass it off to you guys and just see how it evolved over time.
Josh Gabriel: Yeah, I mean, we decided to collaborate in a special way where Brittany and I first worked on writing– you may not know this, but when a song like this comes to be, it doesn’t necessarily start out as a dance song. In fact, if you played out the song when we wrote it, it would have sounded more like an indie rock song.
It’s basically an anthem for people who want to be okay with who they really are. There are a lot of people who have to bend and form themselves into an image that maybe isn’t them and this is the anthem for being true to yourself.
EDM Maniac: Where do you guys see the trance scene going forward as electronic music grows?
Dave Dresden: You know, I’ve been on the front lines of trance for 20 years and I’ve seen the rise and fall, and the almost the embarrassment of being associated with it, and now I keep seeing all these little things that just keep saying it’s not a bad word anymore.
You’ve got people doing trance sets at Anjunadeep Explorations and Skrillex making a trance record so it feels like a growth industry again to me.
And it’s up to the producers to actually carry that flag and deliver music that puts you in a trance. That’s sort of where I feel like Josh and I really had it, but we’re kind of figuring it out.
Andrew Bayer: I think we’re all figuring it out, too. I hate to say the word but it is a post-COVID music landscape that we’re in right now.
It’s wild, I had so many conversations with people in the music industry during COVID where they were like, “Big room music is going to die out, no one wants to hear aggressive music anymore, everyone wants to hear the sort of chilled-out stuff that does really well on streaming.” Basically, your career is coming to an end.
There was a lot of doom and gloom around that, but actually, I mean, not to toot my own horn, but I was like, that’s fucking bullshit because when this shit is over, people are going to want to get out there and get their emotions out on the dance floor. They want to go crazy.
That’s exactly what happened. We transitioned from the deep house era into melodic techno—a.k.a trance where people are going nuts for it.
Sub Teal: I think the culture of these days in general is trending towards micro trends. TikTok has allowed you to live in a niche of your own and only be surrounded by people who are equally as fanatic and passionate about it as you are.
Trance has always been its own niche, and it has its own little facets that branch off like any movement or any style does through time.
I think it’s beautiful to see that there are still people here, there’s still passion, and it’s really just about finding a way to reach your people because they are there, whatever your love is.
I’m grateful that this community is one that’s really focused on peace, love unity, and respect you know? As a foundation for a group of people to come together, you couldn’t ask for something more.
Cover Image provided by Maria Cavali
