Music is one of the most powerful and beloved things on the planet. Whether you listen to it or create it, music serves as a source to uplift you, an instrument for self-identity and connection and a way to express yourself.
The cool thing about making music is that there are no hard and fast rules that artists have to follow. Anything goes when it comes to self-expression; you can do it just about anywhere and with anything — including fruit.
Truly Hard Seltzer, one of North America's leading hard seltzers, knows flavour isn't just how something tastes; it's a representation of culture, identity and self-expression. And they're on a mission to prove it.
Championing self-expression through sound and demonstrating the power of owning your own individual flavour, Truly enlisted some of Canada's best artists — like up-and-comers Mour and Bombay from Toronto, Rich Aucoin from Halifax and Teon Gibbs from Vancouver, as well as Montreal's Ouri and Lunice, and Vancouver's Overland and DiRTY RADiO — to show how Truly Hard Seltzer's refreshing, fruity flavours can inspire creativity and self-expression through music.
To do this, the artists used Biodata Sonification technology to "tune into nature" by connecting to plants (or fruits) and turning their biorhythms into audio. The resulting sound waves can be mixed into songs, like "Motivation" by DiRTY RADiO, which used Truly's Strawberry Lemonade at its core. Truly collected together all these fresh creations into the playlist: Truly: For The Flavourful — which you can listen to now exclusively on Spotify.
In this interview with Narcity, DiRTY RADiO talked about their music, why they were a part of Truly's For The Flavourful project, what it means to them to be authentically themselves, and how they expressed their art, creativity and talent through this opportunity. Here's what band members Farshad "Shadi" Edalat and Zachary "Waspy" Forbeshad had to say.
Questions and responses have been edited for clarity.
For readers who may be new to DiRTY RADiO and your music, tell us a bit about yourselves.
"DiRTY RADiO was formed in 2010. Over the last decade, we've become known for crafting a synthesis of progressive pop, R&B and electronic music and have released a number of collaborations on international labels such as Spinnin' Records, Majestic Casual Records, Fool's Gold, Mad Decent and Partyfine. In 2019, we hit the road for the first time in Europe and had a blast playing a ton of shows before COVID came and ruined the party."
What are three fun facts about DiRTY RADiO Narcity readers may be surprised to know?
"We're all multi-instrumentalists and have a background performing and playing different styles of music. Shadi (Farshad Edalat) grew up performing musical theatre in his high school and Waspy (Zachary Forbes) played in punk and metal bands. We're also both big into video games."
Talk a bit more about "Motivation," your contribution to the Truly For The Flavourful playlist.
"'Motivation' was such a blast to make. Thanks to Truly, it was our first time collaborating with a strawberry and lemonade via plant technology that allows midi notes to be extracted from the fruit. We were able to take those elements and work them into an idea that Shadi had and from there. 'Motivation' was born!"
You sampled biorhythmic sounds from the actual fruits in Truly's Strawberry Lemonade Hard Seltzer's flavours to create this track. Was the process complicated?
"It's not as complicated as it sounds, actually. You basically hook up a device made by PlantWave to whatever fruit you want (in our case, lemons and strawberries!) and different midi information is generated through that process.
"It's really no different than hooking up a midi keyboard to your laptop and playing notes into a digital audio workstation (DAW, like Logic, Ableton, etc.). We essentially cycled the generated midi notes through different synthesizer and drum sounds until we found pieces that inspired us to complete the track."
Narcity is all about showing love for your own city. As a Vancouver-based band, did you use your hometown and the local music scene at all to inspire your biorhythm music with Truly? Do you use it to inspire your music in general?
"We love the Vancouver music scene and are always inspired by the diversity and talent we're surrounded by. There are so many amazing artists in the city, so it's easy to be inspired by what's happening here."
How were you able to successfully express your art, creativity and talent through the lens of Truly?
"In the same way we do on a daily basis while creating any other songs — by channelling the essence of who we are and injecting it into the project we're working on. No one can be you like you can."
Is this something you would incorporate into your music again?
"Waspy would personally like to do a musical collab with a banana next."
The point of this experiment was to use Truly's flavours to inspire creativity and self-expression through music. As a duo, how do you come together and use your own individual and unique self-expression to create music?
"We draw on the experiences we've lived and the passion for music we share to try and create the most amazing work we can. It's important to be yourself as much as possible as an artist and connect the dots creatively to try and make something no one has ever heard before."
What does it mean to you to be authentically yourself?
"To never compromise your vision and focus on having an artistic impact with your fans and the community."
How do you personally inspire creativity when you're feeling uninspired?
"Inspiration comes and goes but if you approach making art like going to the gym, it becomes less about inspiration and more about doing it every day, even if you're not motivated in the moment. We almost always feel better afterwards!"
What else are you working on in the near future that Narcity readers may be interested to know about?
"MORE MUSIC!!! We look forward to more singles and collaborations in our future."
Finally, what's your ideal scenario in which to enjoy listening to Truly's For The Flavourful playlist this summer?
"Sitting by the pool or beach in the hot sun enjoying the summery vibes and sounds that all the artists involved have created — sipping on our cans of Truly, of course."
As DiRTY RADiO knows, self-expression and creativity are paramount to anyone in the music space. With this in mind, Truly is released a For The Flavourful Soundpack on Landr loaded with the sound samples created by their product flavours (like strawberries, lemons, mangos and more) for Canadian musicians to express their own flavour and create fresh music.
If making music isn't your thing, you can grab your favourite flavour of Truly Hard Seltzer (they're jam-packed with flavour and sweetness, and they only have 100 calories and 1 gram of sugar per serving) and listen in to some beautiful sounds.
Listen to Truly's For The Flavourful Spotify playlist to hear music made with the sounds from the fruit in Truly's flavours. To learn more, visit Truly's website and follow them on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.
For more stories from the UNFILTERED series, check out the Truly hub here.
Narcity does not condone the overconsumption of alcohol. If you are going to drink alcohol, please do so responsibly and only if you're of legal age.