[INTERVIEW] Adventure Club Gives Insight into New Single "You Found Me" with Jessica Audiffred + More

Over a decade into their illustrious career, Canadian producer-DJ duo Adventure Club recently released their heavily-anticipated single. In collaboration with dubstep powerhouse Jessica Audiffred, “You Found Me” is the perfect match for its surrounding imprint, Monstercat Uncaged.

The combination of Adventure Club’s alluring melodies with Audiffred’s heavy basslines forges a sound that will appeal to both dubstep veterans and new listeners alike. In this interview, Adventure Club discusses their recent releases, creative and technical processes, and the evolution of the bass music conglomerate.

Check out iEDM’s exclusive interview with Adventure Club below.

iEDM: Your new single with Jessica Audiffred, “You Found Me” featuring Clara Park, is so infectious and electrifying! What led to the decision of bringing your artistic talents together on this collaborative single? What was your initial vision for the track?

Adventure Club: Thank you! That means so much to us. We’ve been big fans of Jessica Audiffred for quite some time now; her passion and talent for the craft speaks so many volumes. After meeting, working together just felt right.

Both of our projects have this kind of duality that we wanted to play with. We both like making heavy bass and softer melodic records. So initially, the idea was to make a two-song EP– one heavy song and one melodic song (I’ll let you decide which one this is). We’ve been playing both songs live now to incredible responses.

iEDM: The cover art for “You Found Me” is spellbinding as well! It depicts a mirrored image of a hooded adventurer equipped with a sword, surrounded by skulls, bloody roses, and cherry blossoms. Where did this imagery come from? Are elements within the image symbolic to the track?

Adventure Club: Both Adventure Club and Jessica Audiffred, we’re both fond of anime and manga. That’s one of the reasons I think we all got along so well. This artwork is an homage to one of our favorite anime series. We put our spin on it, just to showcase the juxtaposition of this project.

iEDM: Both the Adventure Club project and Monstercat are some of the longest-standing trailblazers in the dubstep community. How have you managed to preserve your momentum and keep your thumbs on the pulse of the scene for over a decade?

Adventure Club: I think we’re really just blessed to have such a dedicated fanbase who continually props us up and exposes our music to newcomers. It’s no real secret that we’re not fans of making content for content sake. The main drawback of that, is the lack of connection fans and potential fans might have with you.

Luckily, I think our music has always resonated and spoken for itself. Monstercat of course has the uncanny ability to be one of the most prolific tastemakers, curate and find some of the most talented artists.

iEDM: You used Cakewalk’s SONAR to create your sophomore LP Red// Blue. Using a DAW other than Ableton Live or FL Studio is rare amongst dance music producers. How does this affect your ability to collaborate with other artists? Do you still find yourselves most comfortable on this platform?

Adventure Club: We’ve been using Cakewalk since the days we tracked and recorded music in our metal and rock band projects. It’s natural to us and although unorthodox, I think it plays a major role in the Adventure Club sound and the way we craft our music.

We’ve definitely learned how to navigate Ableton (albeit not as well) and this is mostly reserved for just laying down ideas on the road or making edits. While it's a little bit more complicated to collaborate without being able to use Ableton's project feature, we still manage quite well.

Adventure Club, You Found Me, Monstercat

iEDM: Many of Adventure Club’s projects follow a heroic theme, with many motifs similar to comics and movies about superheroes. Why did you choose to build a brand surrounding this trope?

Adventure Club: We’ve always had an affinity for the subjective battle between good versus evil and the power of comics or stories to inspire and create a person's “arc”, so to say.

Growing up, we always watched superhero movies, sometimes we would resonate with the hero and sometimes we would resonate with the villain. As we grew older, sometimes the lines would blur as to who was really in the right. A bit of a tangent, but this theme inspires our music and brand.

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iEDM: A lot of music fans describe the “Golden Age” of EDM as approximately 2010-2014, likely surrounding the rise of a nuanced dubstep sound often featured on platforms such as UKF and Monstercat. However, dance music’s timeline spans across four decades. Do you agree with this sentiment? What would you describe as the “Golden Age” of electronic music?

Adventure Club: I think this may be where we saw the rise of EDM being accepted in the mainstream, large scale EDM festivals and of course a bit of a cultural and musical shift towards EDM.

I think we see this happen in many genres. Of course, it's subjective; depending on who you ask, the golden age may be a completely different period. We, however, have a big affinity for that time period.

iEDM: Similarly to giants such as Skrillex, Sullivan King, and Borgore, you both began your musical journey with metal. What are the parallels between bass music and metal? Do you believe there is a cause for the surprisingly common pipeline between the two genres?

Adventure Club: Yup, guilty. We grew up listening and playing in hardcore/ metal bands. It’s still a majority of what we listen to today; the resurgence of all our favorite bands and the sheer amount of talented new bands coming out is astonishing.

We love breakdowns. We felt there was a form of kinship between the metal breakdown and the dubstep drop. That heavy halftime feel, same feel, different elements. In fact, it was a Tek-One remix of Bring Me the Horizon (one of our favorite bands growing up) that really inspired us to start making EDM.

I really think it’s our roots in metal music that have provided us with the tools we needed to really hone our craft and provide direction for the Adventure Club project.

Photos courtesy of Adventure Club and Monstercat