Party lovers, nocturnal animals, knowledgeable audiophiles, enthusiastic event-goers, festival freaks, and everybody in between – welcome home.
This new series under the name “The Story After” is where we’re going to be coming together and sharing the stories of the events that changed our lives.
Who are Acrillics?
We met at the University of Otago in August 2016 through a mutual friend. Then we started DJing at student parties together and decided to challenge ourselves by creating an EP within 3 months. By the end of the year, we performed our first headlining show in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington.
We both have mixed backgrounds as music isn’t our only passion. Rob is a geologist by training and Andro works in humanitarian demining. Along the way, we have experimented with our sound a lot due to our diverse interest in music and genres – we started making experimental trap and have expanded into Drum & Bass, Breakbeat, and House.
Both of us have also done music training individually – Andro has played piano since he was 5 years old and Rob has attended a technical course in music engineering. Throughout our many years of working together, we’ve also had the fantastic opportunity to work with other professionals beyond the realm of electronic music. Some great examples are our collaborations with journalist Ian Urbina on his Ocean Outlaw project and Kosta Karakashyan’s interpretive dance videos. We are currently working on new multi-genre tracks and have a few releases lined up for the rest of the year!
Define what “genre” means to you with an object.
Genres look like a restaurant menu to us – within a set list of items and rules, you have the flexibility to choose whatever you want and more. And if you are bold you can ask the chef for stuff off the menu!
How did you come up with your name? What does it symbolize?
We couldn’t decide on a name for the longest time. One day our friend mentioned the name of a song we both really liked at the time and so we decided to change the spelling from “Acrylics” to “Acrillics” because the “i-l-l-i” look like two guys (at least to us).
What motivated (or inspired) you to go into the production of electronic music that combines multiple genres?
Our musical upbringings were very diverse and we both enjoy switching it up and playing different genres. Rob grew up listening to drum and bass and hip-hop in New Zealand, while Andro grew up in Germany listening to house and techno.
Tell us about an event that changed your life.
In terms of our work as Acrillics, our first headlining show in Wellington. It gave us a confidence boost early in our music career. It was a huge success and motivated us to continue working despite knowing we would be apart for at least 1-2 years.
What brings you to Bulgaria?
Andro is half-Bulgarian and has spent 7 years of his childhood in Plovdiv but beyond that, we’ve worked closely with Kosta Karakashyan on numerous projects both in Bulgaria and in the U.S. When he asked if we would like to conduct a masterclass we were delighted by the invite and were also very grateful for the support of Sofia Municipality who has helped our travel through a grant.
We are also performing our Bulgaria debut show on Friday at Sofia Live Club as part of Sofia Live Festival. Many thanks to Ruth Koleva for inviting us to join the amazing line-up!
Can you please share a cheeky little master tip with our readers?
We both feel that one of the most important things, especially with electronic music, is experimenting and testing new ideas in the studio. If you’re stuck while producing a new track – try something new – change the BPM, change the key, or change the instrument. Just keep trying new things – that way you’ll both learn and have fun.
How important is visual identity to producers? Why?
It is super important to DJs, not so much to producers, and to be honest that’s probably the weakest element of our project… But we’re working on it! Generally, we think it’s really vital to have defined visual design to accompany and contribute to the music side of things.
Follow Acrillics here and grab your tickets for their Artist Development Masterclass with Studio Karakashyan here!
The list of people we’ve been eyeing for an interview is getting longer and longer, and you can also be a part of it! This is a space for anyone who’s ever attended an event (whether that’s a digital conference, a yoga retreat, a techno festival, or… you name it!) and has something to say about it.
How did it change your life? What did you learn? Who did you meet? What did you feel? We can talk about the connections we’ve made while we continue building new ones. Let’s co-create a memory book full of recollections we’d like to keep forever.
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Linkedin and send us a DM with a story about an event that changed your life. Don’t miss out on the rest of the series, read the previous interview here: The Story After with Carlos Aller.
