Goldrush 2018: An Unexpected Interview With Day Gatsby and Said the Sky

During the chaos that was Goldrush 2018, I found myself in the media lounge looking for some water or a snack, but I stumbled upon something better. Trevor Christensen, a.k.a. Said The Sky, and David Scott, a.k.a. Day Gatsby, were sitting on the couch after putting on a great show for Goldrush attendees. I was lucky enough to make some great conversation with these two gentlemen. Here's how it went down. 

New Times: Who inspired you guys to do what you do?
Day Gatsby: Donald Glover is my biggest inspiration. I know it has nothing to do with this music, but he does what he wants and he does it very well. So I appreciate that I want to be able to do the same.

Said The Sky: For me, my number one would probably be Owl City for sure. I just like the vibe he puts out, like all the music and all the shows, everything just exudes happiness and pure shit. I don't know how to explain it. It's so weird but I love it. I also came from some post-hardcore shit like Asking Alexandria, We Came As Romans, I got into trance for a while, Sasha and Digweed, and Darude. It's been all over the place. A bunch of the recent ones though, there's ODEZA, San Holo, and a lot of stuff that Illenium is doing is amazing. There's a bunch of them out there; [inspiration] comes from everywhere.

What is the most fulfilling thing about what you do?
STS: Anytime I get a message from a fan that's like, "Hey, I love your music," to "Hey, your music changed my life," that's the coolest shit for me. Every time I read a message like that, it grounds me a little bit more. This is why I'm doing what I'm doing.

DG: I would not be here doing any of this without people like that. It's crazy to think that, you make what you feel and it connects to other people. The fact that people enjoy what you enjoy is really cool, and it brings people together. I feel like the creative process is an extremely vulnerable place to be in and to have the courage to put it out; it's crazy. That's your heart and you're putting that out and people say "I feel that," it's like, damn, you're feeling my heart.

Are you working on any new projects right now?
STS: I got a remix that I just finished up not too long ago that might be coming out pretty soon. I don't know if I can say what it is or who it's for, but I'm really excited about it. The original is one of my favorite songs I've heard in a long time.

To people who aren't big fans of EDM, what can you guys say about it to reel them in?
STS: I feel like it's just like any other genre in the sense that once you get a little bit into one genre, you start noticing how many different avenues and umbrellas of that genre there are. So somebody who's not into EDM, that means they're not into dubstep, or trance, or hardstyle, there's melodic future bass, melodic dubstep. There's just so many different sounds in EDM. It's such a blanket umbrella that if you actually take a little bit of time, you might find a pocket in there that you're into and that might get into other ones, but it's such a vast library of music.

DG: It's grown so much. I start to lose track of what genres are inside of EDM alone.

STS: There's so many subgenres.

What's your favorite subgenre?
STS: Right now I'm into ... I don't even know what you would call it? It's just indie electronic shit like what San Holo is doing. Even a lot of stuff that ODEZA does is nice, organic and very melodic-based. It's not too focused on the sound design necessarily. It's not crazy bass noises happening like dubstep or the heavier genres. It's very happy and uplifting and organic. It feels very natural, to me at least.

DG: I get down on some Boombox Cartel. It's definitely more aggressive, but they throw in some random chords somewhere and I think that's the coolest thing. It's like, "Oh yeah, here's some melody and let's get aggressive again."

STS: They do a really good job of combining the very aggressive bass sound design with lots of melodies and chords. Very well-rounded for sure.

Is there anyone you wish to collaborate with at the moment?
STS: Owl City for sure. That's my goal; I've always wanted to work with him on something.

DG: With Said The Sky, Owl City.

How is it working with Illenium?
STS: It's great. I've known Nick for I think five, going onto six years now. We met each other through this dude who was a sound engineer working with both of us. He introduced us to each other and we started writing music together. We ended up living together for a while, which is cool. Since then, it just grew. He wanted to do a live show and I knew some things about instruments to put it simply. Then he [points to Scott] started drumming with him as well because I've been drumming with him since middle school, we've known each other for so long.