"Rise Above" with Chester Young [Exclusive Interview]

"Rise Above" with Chester Young

8/29/2019

Over the past two years, you've grown at a very impressive rate, rapidly approaching one-hundred-thousand monthly listeners on Spotify! Could you give us a bit of backstory to the Chester Young project?
In 2010, I visited Mayday, which was my first electronic music festival, and I just fell in love with it. Unfortunately, due to the volcano, world-class artists, including Paul Van Dyk, could not come to us that year which left a lineup consisting of local artists. Regardless, the lights, sounds, incredible crowd numbers, all produced an environment which set off something inside me akin to a nuclear bomb. I've been stuck to electronic music ever since. At first, I had a project called ArtPlay where I focused my efforts mainly in Russia, but I closed it and opened Project Chester Young two years ago with an international focus.

The experience of my friends such as Matisse & Sadko, Arty, Shapov, Volac is that first you become popular in the West, and after that you begin to gain interest in Russia. I don't know why, it's sad! Therefore, it was decided to establish a new project and aim for foreign listeners. I didn't initially set out to make future house, it came to me while I was experimenting with different sounds. The really resonated with me and I decided that was the sound I enjoy most and want to work on in the future. Fortunately, it seems many other people have enjoyed it as well!

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A post shared by Chester Young (@chesteryoungmusic) on Oct 23, 2018 at 12:52pm PDT

Can you walk us through the creative and collaborative process on working with Triple M and Nathan Brumley on "Rise Above"?
Triple M wrote to me on Facebook and offered to work together. We've been meaning to work on a collab for a long time, but it was cat and mouse for a while until finally our schedules lined up! We did the bulk of the work on the track in one week and Nathan Brumley recorded the vocals in just a day. He was fully responsible for the lyrics and vocal melody for this track, this is an experienced performer and I completely trust him in this regard. After everything was finished, we sent the track to Strange Fruits and they answered us literally an hour later, "This is a great track, we want to sign it!"

As an American, it's hard to imagine the EDM scene over in Russia when we're constantly seeing your country in the news in unsavory light. Could you give us your first hand experience of having a career in music in your country?
Even I find it hard to imagine EDM in Russia, even though I have lived here all my life. The EDM community is poorly developed in our country. Here, RnB and pop music is much more prevalent. There are local stars who have large fees and touring scheduled for six months at a time, but nobody knows them outside Russia. That's the biggest reason why I closed the ArtPlay project. I had the opportunity to work in the domestic market like writing remixes to play in the Russian clubs, but I always wanted something bigger. As for the politics, I'm simply not a political person. I like this country, I was born here, my family and my friends are here, but there are no prospects for development in this country me as a musician.

One reason I became a fan was because of how quickly you jumped on trends in future house and got out in front of them, putting your own spin on the sound. How do you go about staying on top of these trends and deciding which ones to work into your tracks?
Music develops very fast. What was fashionable yesterday, is no longer relevant today. There is no recipe for success! You just need to do what you like! In my life, there is a lot of music - it plays all the time, either in headphones or on monitors at my place. I listen to tracks of different styles because it helps me understand how diverse the musical world is around Sometimes I use other sounds that I've heard before into my own, but each artist has their own emphasis so it's not something I worry about!

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A post shared by Chester Young (@chesteryoungmusic) on Aug 17, 2019 at 8:54am PDT

Outside of the booth and studio, what do you enjoy doing in your free time?
In my free time, I play soccer for an amateur club in our city. I also love to travel with my wife whenever the opportunity arises. As Mark Twain said, "We will only regret two things on our deathbed - that we loved little and traveled little"

What can we expect next from the Chester Young project? What goals have you set for yourself and which tracks or collaborations should we be on the lookout for next?
This month, I'll be launching my podcast called "Young Nation" that will feature my released tracks, upcoming ones, and guest mixes from my friends. Coming up soon, there will be several new releases that will pleasantly surprise you! In particular, Jasted and I returned to the studio and recorded a great track which will be released soon on one of Spinnin' Records sub-labels!

Thanks so much to Chester Young for taking the time to answer our questions! Be sure to follow him using the links below!