Q&A: DRAX PROJECT
Don’t know about you, but we’ve been Catching Feelings for Drax Project’s music after All This Time and we’re definitely still not Over It (sorry, we had to 😉).
They’ve had HUGE hit songs with SIX60, Fetty Wap & Hailee Steinfeld, over 300 million streams on their debut album just on Spotify, toured with Camila Cabello, and now they’ve just dropped their latest track ‘Crazy’!
WE'D LOVE TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR MUSICAL JOURNEY SO FAR FROM WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED MAKING MUSIC TOGETHER!
Our journey started individually around 11 years old when we started getting lessons on our instruments! As a band though, whilst at Music School in 2014 we started busking as a duo (drums + sax) on Courteney Place to pay rent over summer. From there we started getting covers gigs in pubs/school balls etc and added Sam and Ben on bass + guitar which kickstarted our original music journey!
WE'RE CRAZY IN LOVE WITH YOUR LATEST TRACK ‘CRAZY’! CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE MEANING OF THIS TRACK AND THE INSPIRATION BEHIND IT?
We all know the last couple of years have been pretty hard and we just wanted to put something out that would give people something to dance to. There's not much to it beyond that, just a light-hearted singalong!
IT’S AMAZING! WHAT WERE YOUR MAIN HIGHLIGHTS WORKING ON ‘CRAZY’?
We've been fans of Grey's production work (‘The Middle’ by Maren Morris, Zedd and Grey, ‘Starving’ by Hailee Steinfeld & Grey ft. Zedd) for a while now so getting to work with them and their team has been super cool.
INCREDIBLE. DO YOU HAVE MORE NEW MUSIC ON THE WAY SOON?! IF SO, WHAT CAN WE EXPECT?
We definitely do. We'll be releasing the rest of an EP in March which is really exciting. There’s a mix of throwback funk, some 2000's JT vibes and a couple of R&B bangers in there.
WE CAN’T WAIT TO HEAR IT ALL! WHO WOULD YOU SAY ARE YOUR BIGGEST INSPIRATIONS IN MUSIC?
Collectively, JT would have to be our biggest influence, but we all listen to a massive range of music and are influenced and inspired by all of it.
WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVOURITE NZ ARTISTS RIGHT NOW AND ARE THERE ANY SONGS IN PARTICULAR THAT YOU ESPECIALLY LOVE OR CONNECT WITH?
AACACIA (we hear she has some bangers coming out this year 😉), 33 Below's song ‘Burning’ has been cranking on Matt's UE boom this summer, Rob Ruha's ‘35’ is a banger and Niko Walters’ ‘Not My Neighbour’ is a NZ classic.
WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT NEW ZEALAND? DO YOU HAVE ANY FAVOURITE PLACES TO TRAVEL TO OR LOCAL SPOTS THAT YOU LIKE TO VISIT?
We love the fact that there are always new places to discover and they're all so different. Places like Urupukapuka Island in the BOI with its beautiful tropical beaches, driving around Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown to Glenorchy and being surrounded by the mountains, the surf up the Taranaki coast - there are too many to name but the river at Matt's house will always be a favourite of ours.
YOU'VE HAD A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF GLOBAL SUCCESS! WHAT WOULD YOU SAY HAS BEEN THE HIGHLIGHT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
That's really hard to pinpoint, but a moment that we realised everything had changed for us was when we played ‘Woke Up Late’ to 40,000 odd people at Mount Smart before Ed Sheeran and everyone sang it back to us, that was really special.
SOUNDS LIKE A SURREAL MOMENT! WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BIGGEST LESSONS YOU’VE LEARNT AS AN ARTIST, AND WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR OTHER ARTISTS OUT THERE?
It only takes one song to change everything. Be prolific and write as much as you can. Don't buy into the hype, you can always be better than you are today.
LASTLY, WE END ALL OUR INTERVIEWS WITH THIS QUESTION - IF YOU COULD SAY ONE THING TO EVERY PERSON IN THE WORLD, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Go easy on people you meet, you don't know what's going on in their lives.
Thanks heaps Drax Project! Make sure you keep up with them on Instagram, Facebook, Spotify or Apple Music.
