From One "Maine-iac" To Another: A Heart-To-Heart With TONES

CREDIT: The Vault 626

From music to advocacy to entrepreneurship - TONES likes to stay busy. Now, with a new, high energy track, he is ready to hit the EDC Las Vegas stage! Learn more about him from our conversation below.

How did you originally get into making music?

My background is totally in business and entrepreneurship and it was the first time in 10 years I had been away from technology when I went to my first music festival, which was Coachella. At this point, maybe like, four or five years ago. It was just like this unbelievably, liberating and freeing feeling and I just fell in love with it. I had always loved the music, but I fell in love with just kind of like the energy around it and festival and everything around that. So, you know, two years later, I started really picking it up seriously and getting into it and just really enjoying it almost like, in some ways, like a hip hop or more lyrically forward, like tech house kind of kind of vibe, which has been been been really fun and really cool for me.

Being from Scottsdale, AZ, what would you say the music scene is like there?

We get a little bit of bleed over from LA and everything like that. But overall, you'll get some amazing people and some really great artists who come out of here. It's a lot of fun. There's been some up and coming venues, as well, that are starting to bring in real talent. Obviously, Relentless Beats does does a phenomenal job of putting on great festivals, so I think the scene’s really grown over the last few years here.

What inspired your latest track “Maniac”?

I'm not sure if I'm even able to announce this yet, but I got booked at EDC which is amazing. It was great timing for a track like that to come out. To be honest with you, it's almost like an expression of just being able to let go, again, to be able to just be a true, authentic, raw self is kind of what inspired the naming of it and the lyrics around it. Overall, the energy of it is very festively and, in a lot of ways, for myself. So, yeah, it's very exciting on the timing of it coming out in the announcement.

EDC Las Vegas is going to be so exciting! What can you tell me about your upcoming set?

I think, just generically speaking, I'm a pretty high energy individual, so we have a lot of fun in my sets. I think a lot of moving, a lot of dancing, and it's gonna be really fun during the sunrise set. It'll be incredible to close out the first night of EDC, so definitely bringing the energy, definitely being able to take people through to the final closing ceremony on the first day. I'm excited to get everyone early before they're tired on Sunday.

What did it feel like to be asked to perform at EDC?

My manager and I have been working on it for for quite some time and it’s really been a goal for us this year to land a major music festival. It felt like a lot of hard work from us, an unbelievable team around around me, and being able to see it all come together is an accomplishment, even prior to showing up there. We've already won just by by being asked and, again, all credit be to the team around me helping with socials management, production, and everyone around me is really deserves a lot of the credit.

Tell me about your show on Insomniac Radio, Monotones!

We all just come out with new underground tracks that hopefully people haven't heard before. It’s that kind of tech house style with a little bit of Hip-Hop influence, and it's really a fun show. We have some special guests coming out and some guest mixes in the next month or two here that people can look forward to which will be really cool. If you haven't seen it, check it out. I think you'll really enjoy it, it's a great place for people to find new music I'm listening to and enjoying that that's just coming on the scene.

In addition to all of your musical projects, you’re also an entrepreneur and activist. Can you talk about some of those other things you’re working on?

My background is totally in entrepreneurship and running businesses. It's been really fun to apply similar principles and bring a little bit more of a formality to some of the music scene. My passions are totally around people's mental health, so I sit on the board of Phoenix Children's Hospital Mental Health board. Anything that helps people be happier, I'm a big fan of. Whether it's products, or promoting, the companies I run or invest in, or what I do with charity, charitable donations or anything like that. Creating music that hopefully makes people a little bit happier and enjoy their day. I know for me, music is really, when I'm in a low mood or bad mood, music can really change it like that. It's such a beautiful thing that sound can actually make that literal physical change in your body and emotional change. It's really an unbelievable science that we have as humans, so that's been a lot of fun for me to do with music.

How do you find balance in your busy schedule?

I think a lot of it comes with, again, having a great team around me like I mentioned. That doesn't mean necessarily having to hire people or not, it could be even be just your support structure. Having the right friend group and spending time with the right people and prioritizing. So, on Sundays, I spend time and I say okay, here's my week looks like, what what shouldn't I be doing? What should I be doing more of and at what time? I'm very meticulous about my calendar. I'm very detail orientated, like I block out time to think, which I know sounds funny for most people, but I'll literally have an hour scheduled block to say “time to think,” and it's kind of that that discipline and regimen that I think allowed me to be able to do multiple things at a good pace and keep my sanity, most importantly. I heard a quote you might like, “Most people spend more time planning their next vacation than they do planning their life.”I thought that was a really awesome quote about how little time we spend being very methodical about our life, like what do we want? What are we here for? Why are we doing what we're doing? Should I be doing more of what I'm doing or less of what I'm doing? You spend, you know, a dozen hours planning the next vacation, but you haven't spent that on what the heck you're doing on this planet?

You had mentioned Coachella was your first awakening to the art of making music, so I’ve got to ask - what was your highlight from the festival this year?

There's an individual named Marc Rebillet, he makes all of his music live and he's just, again talking about energy and energetic, and it's a really good show to go see. You see a guy producing music on the spot with the different sounds around him. That was that was my my highlight, but outside of that, it just feels like a very luxurious dream of an experience. You feel like you're dreaming the entire time because it's just so beautiful. Everyone really comes and shows out, there’s grass everywhere - It's a perfect match. My highlight was seeing him perform.

What’s next for you, in terms of new music?

We've got a great catalog of music coming out over the next year and it's gonna be very exciting to just continue to stay true to the genre that we're creating. You know, a lot of the music has a little kind of trap section in it too, which I think is unique and and awesome. You can expect every month for a new song to be released that'll be similar to Maniac. So, if you if you liked that track, I’ve got a lot of new music coming in that direction over the coming months.

Here in Maine, our state motto is “The Way Life Should Be.” According to you, what is the way life should be?

I think life should be about growing and giving. That's how I think life should be and how I think it should be everyday. Did I grow today compared to yesterday? And what did I give? That doesn't need to necessarily mean monetarily. Did I donate dollars or did I put a smile on someone? Did I give good energy to people? Did I help someone, hold the door for them? Or did I donate my time or give my intellect to someone? I'm not speaking about just myself, I'm saying to anyone listening: it's very simple. It's to grow and give for me.

Much love to TONES for taking the time to chat with me! Keep an eye out for him at EDC Las Vegas and for all of the new music he has on the way. In the meantime, you can stream “Maniac” here!