CYK MediaWhen you listen to a song by Robotaki or Manila Killa, the only thing you might hear is a groovy dance beat. What you don’t hear is the time and effort they took creating the song and the struggles they’ve overcome to deliver it to your ears.
After meeting online years ago, the future bass artists finally met face-to-face on their joint tour and took the stage at The Chvrch of John here in Edmonton. Other stops on the tour included multiple shows in LA, which the duo managed to sell out; it’s a testament to their growing success in the dance music scene. Manila Killa (Chris Gavino) has played at Coachella as part of his other act, Hotel Garuda, and recently reached 100,000 followers on SoundCloud. Meanwhile, Robotaki (Preston Chin) was recently featured as Apple Music’s favourite new artist of the week and opened for electronic music stars Porter Robinson and Madeon on their massive Shelter tour.
In a sea of never-ending EDM artists, Chin and Gavino have managed to achieve their own signature sound while maintaining a mainstream appeal. Their respective releases, “Monkey Bars” and “I’m Okay” are prime examples.
“I used to kind of shun anything that was pop-structured, but I realized I was coming from the wrong place,” Chin says. “There’s something there, but you just gotta make it your own.”
“(My music) combines all my influences into one thing. Things that you wouldn’t necessarily think would mix well together,” Gavino says. “Like I love Bon Iver, which is totally chill and acoustic, but I also like (Porter Robinson), which is very high-energy.”
The pair’s recent success has been the result of countless, tedious hours in the studio over the last decade.
“People think it’s a crazy creative process, but it’s like me picking a snare for 30 minutes. I don’t know theory or anything, so I just butcher the notes and it’s just the wrong notes for 30 minutes,” Gavino says.
While music has been a strong passion throughout their lives, both Gavino and Chin originally followed more traditional career paths. Chin has a Master’s degree in anatomy and cell biology from McGill, while Gavino has a degree in business management from George Mason University. Therefore, one of the biggest challenges of their music career was gaining the support of their parents.
“You really have to dedicate a lot of time and energy to this thing that a lot of people won’t understand,” Gavino says. “I had a job offer in New York and I turned it down, so my parents were like, ‘What are you doing?’ Then I had a show come up in D.C., and I brought my mom out to see me play for the first time. After that night, she realized that this is something serious and something I can actually do.”
Chin had a similar experience trying to convince his parents that music was the right decision.
“The Shelter tour that happened in Toronto, I brought my mom — and after that, you can tell there was a level of understanding,” Chin says. “It’s so personally gratifying and it justifies everything.”
Perhaps the similar circumstances of both these artists is the reason behind their chemistry. While the two have only ever collaborated on stage in performances like the short back-to-back set they played during their Edmonton show, a collaboration in the studio seems almost inevitable.
