In light of their debute album release, I had the chance to catch up with the lads from Hydeaway and Ganunga (Thomas and Joe respectively). From musical influences to advice and what comes next for the Glasgow producers, see what they had to say!
Firstly, who is Hydeaway and Ganunga and what inspired you to form? How did it all start?
We are a music producer duo from Central Scotland. We both started off our musical journey as individuals. It started off just sharing ideas and giving mutual feedback on projects. Through this we discovered we had similar goals ambition and musical taste. So becoming a duo and releasing work together just seemed like a logical step.
Collectively, who are your top 5 musical influences?
(Hydeaway)
Gareth emery and Avicii!
(Ganunga)
For me it’s got to be solarstone, The prodigy and Robin Schulz
Can you tell me a bit about the creative process for this debute album and if there were any differences from your usual creative process?
(H)
The album is a compilation of some of our most popular tracks and some interesting unreleased work. We decided to compile an album to showcase our work under the one title. “Chasing Stars” as we felt this represented our passion for music and our drive to reach the top.
(G)
The creative process for most of our songs last year was completely different due to covid restrictions and being pretty much confined to our own houses. We were fortunate enough in that respect, we could both work from home and bounce ideas back and forth to each other through email, phone and video call’s.
If you could collaborate with 1 artist/group, alive or dead- who would it be?
(H)
Avicii. 100 percent for me it would be Avicii. The guy just oozed creativity and class. When I first heard “Broken Arrows” I must have played it on repeat about 100 times. I do believe the world was robbed of something great when he passed. RIP AVICCI ✌️
(G)
This is literally the hardest question I have ever been asked as there are so many amazing artists out there now never mind the ones who are sadly not with us any more. From a producer perspective I would need to say Halsey to work with as her voice is phenomenal.
Favourite track on the album?
(H)
For me It’s either let the love come out or obsession.
(G)
My favourite tracks on the album are obsession and I lived how I wanted to I can’t choose between them.
What’s the best advice about music/ your music career you’ve been given?
(H)
I think the best advice I ever received about making music is. “you cant really get it wrong.” when you create something its an expression of yourself. In terms of career I would say it was just work hard and never stop learning.
(G) the best advice I ever got was to keep going and not to stop, which in this industry is pretty true as it’s constantly changing and growing with new genres and techniques.
Did lockdown impact the making of the album in anyway? If it did, how so?
(H)
A loooot of video calls, emails and many hours infront of a laptop with headphones on.. (swear I’ve formed a dent in my head from them)
(G)
Exactly what he says, it got that bad I had to buy a few sets of new headphones as the previous ones I had just couldn’t handle the length of time they were in use.
What makes Hydeaway and Ganunga different from other artists in the scene?
(H)
We are are the little guys in a big pond. We are self released self promoted and self made from the bottom up.
(G)
What makes us different to other artists I think is that we can go between genres pretty easily so we aren’t tied to a specific style. That lets us produce what we feel on that particular day.
Advice for new, upcoming artists?
(H)
Make music because its what you love to do. Make it for yourself and for your fans.
(G)
Learn as much as you can from what you are doing and be absolutely relentless when it comes to getting your music out there because if you don’t have faith in it then why should anyone else.
What’s next for Hydeaway and Ganunga?
Lots and lots of new music and we are currently looking into opening a studio space with recording facilities. We are gonna be on the hunt for local vocal talent to work with on some really exciting new projects. We are also in talks with a company to release a line of merch so it’s existing times ahead for us.