Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to YT SUNS. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi YT , so excited to have you with us today, particularly to get your insight on a topic that comes up constantly in the community – overcoming creativity blocks. Any thoughts you can share with us?
For us, there are two prominent ways we have dealt with writer’s block over the years. They may seem counterintuitive, but taking breaks, while also having the ability to push through your block has proven to be the most effective for us. There is a difference between taking a break and flat-out giving up. You can’t always force yourself to create, we’ve found it to be healthy both musically and mentally to give our minds a break in whatever way is most therapeutic, i.e., going on a walk, working out, playing basketball, or even smoking a j.
On the other side of the coin, there are times when you just have to push through that initial phase of getting into the “zone” during a session. Just like with most skills in life, persistence and repetition are what allow you to perform your best. Going to different colleges led us to vast amounts of time where we weren’t able to create music in a session together. We would still work on tracks and ideas separately and talk almost every day about our craft, but we also knew that our music and creative process really shined when we were able to work together. Getting back into the studio together after a long time apart led to a slow first couple of sessions, where we needed to shake off the rust and get back in sync. During these sessions, we knew it would never get better if we didn’t push through those hours of low creativity to eventually get back into our rhythm. Once we did, we were able to get back to our best work, firing on all cylinders and completing projects before having to leave back to our respective colleges.
Part of being successful as a creative is improving your ability to force yourself into a state of mind where you can create, and more importantly, finish projects. You might think that with two people working together in a studio, one person can compensate for the other’s creative block, but we have found we truly create our best music when our ideas can bounce off each other, like a chain reaction that leads to art that we couldn’t have ever conceived by ourselves. Over the years of working together, we have learned to be catalysts for each other’s drive, knowing when we need to take a step back from the music, and when to push through the bouts of us just staring blankly at our screen to get back to a creative mindset.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
We started our music group, YT Suns, out of a passion for the mix of different genres that we both listen to. What makes our music special is our ability to touch a large range of emotions with our unique sound, that blends from a mix of hip-hop, pop, EDM, electronic, and rock. From the start of our career, we have done every step of the creative process ourselves – from production and recording all the way to mixing, mastering, and distribution. We take pride in our ability to infuse our taste into each individual process of our sound, which we believe allows us to stand out from the crowd. We like to surprise our fans and subvert the expectations of what they believe we can make by always striving to take on the next challenge and try something new.
Following the release of our second album MOODS & INTERFERENCE, which dives into a mix of grunge trap bangers and soft emotional breaks, we decided to push our creative boundaries into new realms and experiment with EDM. We have made dance tracks in the past such as our single “Mixology”, but now we are looking to dive even deeper into the EDM and club scene starting with our next release “Neon Lights” – a crowd favorite we have been slipping into our live shows as of recent. Following the release of “Neon Lights” we will also be releasing an anthology of house bangers and incorporating DJ’ing and live remixing into our upcoming shows… it’s something that we have been working towards tirelessly since the beginning of summer and we are eager to have it all ready soon for an all-new live performance experience!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Probably the most important area of knowledge in our craft is our music production skills. Being able to produce our own songs has allowed for an expansive range of creative possibilities and unique sounds. Music production as a whole is a very extensive and deep area of knowledge, one that we still find ourselves learning more daily. We have found production to truly be the backbone of our music. We have always been very prided on our unique sounding beats and vocal effect chain. Being well-versed in production has allowed us to elevate our song crafting, song flow, and general creativeness in our process. It has also allowed us to harness and master our own unique sound, which remains present throughout the varying feels/emotions we evoke in our music. Instead of paying for studio time, we have spent our money on building our own studio over the past 8 years to hone our craft, getting more and more professional with each track we drop. It has taken a long time and countless hours to reach the level of expertise we find ourselves at today- and we are no where near mastery- but we can’t imagine where we would be if we hadn’t gone down the path of self-production, mixing, and mastering.
This leads perfectly to what we find to be one of the most important qualities in music, that being the drive to learn and grow your skills. The realm of music production is vast and intimidating – no matter how skilled you are there is always more to learn and experiment with. One of the best things you can do for yourself in music and with life, in general, is to push yourself to grow and improve every day. It’s cliche, but the internet is your friend when it comes to information. There is an unlimited vault of resources and knowledge to tap into to help sharpen your skills. For example: Jack took classes on synth creation in serum by Xfer Records. This opened the door for us to be able to further sound shape and create our own unique or specific synths without having to tirelessly search through presets. Another example that is more recent, Reef has taken on DJing, learning more about the craft through videos, local connections, tons of practice, and mixing at local venues and events – all so that we can take our performances to the next level. This has also allowed for new inspiration in mixes and sampling for our overall production. On top of this, it is important to not let your pride get in the way and seek out new knowledge from your peers. Most musicians are more than happy to share some of their secrets – being able to show humility is an honorable quality and will only allow you to grow and improve your skills.
Being able to find and connect ourselves with like-minded individuals has also been an important factor in keeping our drive and flame alive. There have been a lot of moments of self-doubt, drops in motivation, and periods of slow movement within our career, and being able to stay in touch with a close group of creatives has helped us gain traction, inspiration, and competition to push ourselves and the rest of the group to be the best we can. Being a part of a collective called The Kent Boys, spearheaded by the likes of John Thomas and Kid Cambo, has not only opened up so many opportunities for new connections around us, but has also created a space for all of us to work and talk about our craft, gain feedback on projects, and help support other artists that we believe in. While each artist within the Kent Boy collective has their own unique sense of identity and purpose, we all represent and give a voice to the passion found in our hometown and will continue to push each other towards greater heights of success.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
With these upcoming house tracks, we would love to find some singers and artists whom we can spotlight their vocals and produce with. All though we are still incorporating our own vocals into a lot of these tracks, we feel like this new experimental direction is the perfect chance for our production to shine through, and allow us to collaborate with an artist in a way that is more directed toward their abilities as opposed to have an artist just feature on one of our tracks as a verse or chorus. Having another artist take the spotlight of the vocals allows us to shape our sound around them, opening us up to new creative spaces that we haven’t explored! If artists are interested in collaborating with us on a track they can reach us on Instagram at @YT_SUNS or email us at jackandreef@gmail.com!
Contact Info:
- Website: ytsuns.com
- Instagram: @YT_SUNS
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ytsuns
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/yt-suns
- Other: https://linkpop.com/ytsuns
Image Credits
Joel Musafiri Oliver Stamatatos Imogene Eagan