Digital Dreaming with Dzeko & Torres

by Jackie Willson

Toronto-based DJ’s Dzeko and Torres seem to have it all. Support from the most respected artists in the world, thousands of followers on social, and most importantly, a good head on their shoulders. Watching them preform in their hometown, it is obvious that Dzeko and Torres love what they do and truly appreciate their craft. Their energy and stage presence make it seem like they have been doing this for years. In reality, this is just the beginning.

We caught up with this dynamic duo at EDM festival Digital Dreams this weekend to chat about their recent success. Gaining insight on how hard they actually work, how much sleep they actually get (barely any), and why a little bit of gratitude can go a long way.

Jackie Willson: First of all, congratulations on all of your recent success. How have the past few months been for you guys?

Dzeko and Torres: We’re excited for everything that’s happening. It’s still hard to believe that some of the stuff that’s happening is really happening. It’s all a little bit surreal. Even small things, like Thursday, we were at local radio station Z 103.5.  As a teenager, ‘Drive at Five’ is the biggest thing, and we just played it on Thursday.

JW: You have a really supportive fan base here in Toronto. Do you think that they have helped you become successful internationally?

D&T: To be completely honest, no. I think the way it is, especially in Toronto, people don’t support you until you get successful internationally. When they see that other guys like Tiesto or Chucky will play your stuff and then they will be like, “oh wow”.

JW: So it is harder to get support from the local fan base in Toronto?

D&T: It is harder. It sort of starts off like you’re just another DJ and no body really takes you seriously, until you start getting that support. At the same time, now that we do have the Toronto support, it really helps. Now any time we play in Toronto its crazy.

JW: Is there any one thing that has significantly helped you break into the music scene?

D&T: Support from specific people right from the beginning. Chucky was playing our stuff and he’s the guy. Once he started supporting our stuff, he took us seriously. Before that we were just doing this for fun, but as soon as he started pushing us, we were like, “ok lets start taking this seriously!” After Chucky, it just followed with Paul Oakenfold, David Guetta, and of course Tiesto, they’ve all been playing our stuff. Once you get the first step of one big DJ literally supporting you, not just playing your stuff, but actually trying to push you and giving you releases on their label,  that’s a huge help. For us, it was Chucky.

JW: Have you ever had a tough show?

D&T: We’ve definitely had some times where things went wrong. We played in London Ontario, opening for Sebastian Ingrosso, and the music just cut for like a minute. The whole crowd was like, “you fucked up, you fucked up!” The power just off. You know what’s funny? Those kind of moments actually kind of help the set sometimes because when you come back in, the energy is high because of that break. We have never had anything that is really terrible besides that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKcNb-qeAPU

JW: You have had a chance to work and collaborate with some amazing artists. What kind of advice have they given you?

D&T: How they get the crowd going and hyped up. They can teach you a lot about preforming for people. Not only that, but looking at guys like Steve Aoki – that guy never stops working. It doesn’t matter whether he’s on stage; if he’s on a plane, he’s on the phone or answering emails. We were backstage with him once and he was about to play a show and had his headphones on and was working on a track. Any opportunity he has to work, he works. It’s really inspiring. Its like, if you want to be big you have to work.

JW: Success in this industry happens quickly and without warning. Can that be overwhelming?

D&T: The only thing that’s overwhelming is touring. We played last night in New York and we haven’t slept. The day before that we didn’t sleep. That kind of stuff is overwhelming because it looks so amazing when you see these big djs playing, but you realize that these guys are some of the craziest people on earth. They do not stop or sleep for two or three days at a time, and the hours are unbelievable. I mean it is amazing, but there is a lot of work that goes behind it.

JW: Have you guys been able to take the time and appreciate it all?

D&T: When you step off a good set, like today, we stepped off and were like, “wow that was amazing”. That’s the only time you really ever feel it, when you play a great set and have a great reaction. The other times, you don’t really have time to think about it, you just don’t want it to go away so you just keep working.

JW: If you could give one piece of advice to Djs trying to break into the scene, what would it be?

D&T: Don’t be a douchebag. Just kidding.

Don’t give up, and make a lot of music, and don’t think your too cool because that’s the problem. You need to be nice to everybody and be friends. That’s the thing in this industry, everybody is friends. It’s just a small close-knit community that you always see everyone, all of the time. If you have beef with some of these guys it’s not a good look. You need to constantly support each other.