[INTERVIEW] Toby Romeo Discusses DJing On A Mountain And Dreams Of Remixing Tate McRae

Austrian DJ Toby Romeo is on his way to becoming an EDM veteran. The buzz-worthy producer is gearing up for a massive year with a hot new single "Devil's Cup" and busy touring schedule, including a special slot at the Electric Love Festival. Toby Romeo is making his presence well-known throughout the EDM community with some of the best singles and remixes that will put him in your playlists. We spoke with the Austrian Music Awards nominee about what lies ahead for this bright young star.

Read iEDM's exclusive interview with Toby Romeo below.

iEDM: Congratulations on being nominated for Best Electronic/Dance act for the 2022 Amadeus Austrian Music Awards. How do you feel about accomplishing this achievement at such a young age?

Toby Romeo: Thank you! I feel really blessed that I was nominated because it’s something I have never dreamed was possible so it is just super unreal to be nominated for being THE best Electronic/Dance Act here in Austria. It makes me feel really good and honored, especially because I was struggling a lot at the beginning of my path to be taken seriously due to my young age. The nomination is really cool already, but of course, it would be sick to win this thing now! Fingers crossed!

iEDM: What has inspired your sound over the years?

Toby Romeo: Inspiration is everywhere. It is what you experience. After my shows, I always come back home full of inspiration because playing live is something I really love!

iEDM: What can you tell me about your new track “Devils Cup”?

Toby Romeo: “Devils Cup” is a special one! I am totally in love with the song as it’s something super different and edgy and I am a big fan of things that are kind of different! I’d just suggest listening to it, I don’t think I need to say any more.

Toby Romeo · Devils Cup

iEDM: Last year, you collaborated with Felix Jaehn and FAULHABER for your hit single “Where The Lights Are Low.” Who do you hope to collaborate with in the future?

Toby Romeo: Collaborating with Felix and FAULHABER was such an amazing experience! Little did I know “Where The Lights Are Low” would turn into such a hit! There are many artists out there who I’m really looking up to and would love to collaborate with! I’m a big fan of guys like Tchami, Kungs, Oliver Heldens, Justin Mylo, Joel Corry, KREAM – just to name a few!

iEDM: You’ve provided official remixes for artists like Clean Bandit, Nicky Romero, and Alan Walker, and recently released a few mashups on SoundCloud. Who would you love to remix next?

Toby Romeo: Yes, I did a lot of remixes last year. The focus on this changed a bit as it got more and more important for me to put out original music that is 100% representing who I am. But of course, I’ll never stop putting my style to other people’s original tracks! When it comes to deciding who I’m remixing, I’m way more into if the song itself is really grabbing my attention. There are also so many artists out there I’d love to remix in the future. Right now I’m a sucker for Tate McRae’s voice, so remixing her would be a dream come true! (Tate, if you see this, hit me up haha) Right now I’m actually working on a bunch of remixes, can’t reveal too much about this yet though.

iEDM: How would you describe your personal fashion aesthetic? How does this translate to what you wear on stage?

Toby Romeo: Actually, I don’t know if I even have a personal fashion aesthetic. Most of the time, I just go after what I like haha. Scrolling the web for new pieces and just buying what my gut is telling me to. What I can say is that I am much more into colors than I used to be in past years. Bright colors represent good vibes, and I am a happy person through and through, so I decided to put more color in everything from now on. You are probably also seeing this in my single artworks, stage visuals, and so on.

iEDM: You’re performing at a number of festivals in Austria this year, like Project One and Electric Love. What have you been doing to prepare for your upcoming festival sets?

Toby Romeo: I spent a lot of time on my shows the past couple of months. You can definitely expect a lot of unreleased songs, unreleased remixes and also edits from known tracks which you’ll hear at my shows only!

iEDM: In 2021, you performed a special DJ set on top of the Hauser Kaibling mountain in Austria. If you could do another unconventional performance anywhere in the world, where would it take place?

Toby Romeo: Hauser Kaibling was an insane experience! The view from the top of the mountain was just insane! The usual thought of that livestream was to keep my fans motivated through the lockdowns and use the insane surroundings of my hometown Austria as the visual. My team and I actually started loving this project so we decided to come up with even more livestreams like that pretty soon. Don’t wanna say too much about the locations we chose yet, as I want it to be a surprise of course. I’d suggest just keeping an eye on my socials so you won’t miss it.

iEDM: Tell me about your favorite festival performance to date.

Toby Romeo: That’s actually so hard to choose! There are definitely a lot of shows which I’ll never forget! To give you some examples, I shared the stage at Donauinselfest with Felix Jaehn to perform 3 of my remixes back in 2019 which was life-changing! The promoter told me that must have been 60,000-80,000 people standing in front of the stage. This was unbelievable.

Of course, my yearly highlight to date is Electric Love Festival in my hometown Salzburg. It’s just insane having one of the biggest electronic dance music festivals right in front of your door. I’m always having ALL of my friends and the whole family at my show here which makes it a really special thing for me each and every year.

iEDM: What do you have planned for 2022?

Toby Romeo: A lot! I don’t wanna tell too much as I wanna keep surprising people (I already told too much some minutes ago) But in general, I've got a lot of music coming up this year. And when I say a lot, I mean it. Super hyped to get all I’ve done in the past couple of months out to the world. Thanks for having me!