Interview with Tunisian Duo: OUTRAGE

5/26/2018

Artwork by Tonny Romero

OUTRAGE is a Tunisia based producer/DJ duo comprised of Yassine Ruissi, 22, and Mootez Es, 24. They’ve been supported by Hardwell, W&W, Blasterjaxx, YvesV, and Headhunterz. Their releases have been on Quartzo Records, CELL Recordings, Discovery Music Records, and Ensis Records.

Let's start off talking about the formation of OUTRAGE. What were you both doing before the duo was formed and how did you both come together?
Yassine: Before OUTRAGE was formed in 2015, I used to produce Hardstyle under the name of Elyzium. I knew Mootez through Facebook and one day we made a collab together but we never released that track since we lost the project file.
Mootez: Even though we lost the file, we really enjoyed working together so I suggested that we start a new project together. He liked the idea and that's how the duo was formed!
How did you settle on Big Room as your genre of choice?
Yassine: At first I wasn't a big fan of Big Room or House in general, but when Headhunterz switched from Hardstyle to Big Room/Electro House, I started listening more to that kind of stuff. It might sound cheesy, but Headhunterz has always been my favorite producer which is how I started enjoying this type of music. Looking towards the future, we’ll probably try some new styles but for now we’re going to be sticking with the Big Room sound.

Where were you guys when you got your first major DJ support?
Yassine: Our first major DJ support was from Yves V, Blasterjaxx and Hardwell our track "To The Top" with our brothers, GIANTS. I remember when Antonio (1/2 of GIANTS) sent me a screenshot of the email he got from one of Revealeds’ A&R teams saying that they liked the track and want to play it as "Demo of The Week" for Hardwell on Air’s 300 episode special. I was super excited about the news and tried to call Mootez like 10 - 20 times but he was sleeping so I couldn't reach him.

A post shared by OUTRAGE (@weareoutrage) on May 6, 2018 at 7:59am PDT

Mootez: When he finally reached me, we were so hyped up for our track to be played on Friday on one of the biggest EDM podcasts around, but we were so disappointed when didn’t hear Hardwell play it. We contacted the A&R to see what happened and he told us that it was played in the Radio version not the main celebration party. You can read more about this story at EDM Reviewer who covered the story at the time.

What is the division of labor between you two?
Yassine: I mainly do the producing part and Mootez does the mixing. If there's something that has to be changed, he tells me what exactly to change and if I'm not able to do it, he takes care of that. We meet up sometimes of course to pass ideas back and forth in person and we start our work from there.

A post shared by OUTRAGE (@weareoutrage) on Jun 25, 2016 at 7:53am PDT

What are some of the plug-ins, tricks, or presets you guys rely on to make that OUTRAGE sound?
Yassine: We always uses Sylenth 1 & Spire when it comes to leads. We use some presets that sounds like Headhunterz's (one of the presets is literally named “Headhunterz break synth.”) Anyway, we use that for the saws and layer it with a euphoric/distorted Hardstyle synth that I made 5 years ago and top it all off with the famous Husman acid synth. Voilà! That's how we get our aggressive yet catchy sound!

Which producers are you hoping to collaborate with?
Mootez: We are hoping that we might be able to collaborate with Maurice West, Saberz or TWIIG. We think our styles are a bit similar and that we can make something super crazy together

What do you guys do other than music?
Mootez: For me, I like to play Football and video games like PES 2013 or 2017. I also like watching anime like Detective Conan.
Yassine: Besides music, I study film making. For fun, I like to play video games like FIFA and go out with friends. I also enjoy watching movies and anime; I’m a huge fan of One Piece!

What do you guys have planned for the future of OUTRAGE?
We are working on our first tour all around Asia and India although I can't mention the countries until the promoters officially announce it. We also have a new track with Polar Trip that will be released soon on Quartzo Records and a lot of other collabs with GIANTS, HI3ND, Desren, KRNT to name just a few. There are also two tracks in the making that have the potential to be released on a major label so exciting stuff!

How will you be preparing for your first tour?
Well for our weekly radio show, Mootez and I pick the tracks together and then Mootez make the mix and video. For our tour, I guess we will pick the important tracks in advance and the rest we can do live or in our hotel beforehand. We'll be testing the crowd at the first gig and see what they'll react to. We’ll also be doing our best to complete our unfinished tracks so that we can premiere as much as we can in our shows.

What are you both most proud of so far?
Mootez: I’m proud of every track we’ve released together as well as everything we have coming up!
Yassine: For me, I’m most proud of "To the Top" for the incredible amount of support it got like from Blasterjaxx and making its way all the way to the Mainstage of UMF Miami 2017 courtesy of Mykris. We’re both so proud of the continued support from big DJs like Hardwell, W&W, Blasterjaxx, Yves V, Timmy Trumpet as well the support of our fellow producers and fans!