ZestVlog

FOVOS is a New Zealand based electronic duo that boasts a sound that blurs the lines between techno and house. Mario & Lorenzo draw inspiration across multiple electronic genres and heavily focuses on the nostalgic rave scene of the 90’s. You can expect dark atmospheres, gritty baselines, and brutal rave synths that pay homage to the core tenets of the underground music aesthetic. We had a chance to chat with Mario and Lorenzo from FOVOS, and we asked them about their latest releases, their thoughts on music industry, inspiration, and upcoming projects.

Hey Mario & Lorenzo! Thanks for join us. Let’s take it back to the start. How did you meet and form FOVOS?

That takes us back to high school, we sat next to each other in science class and would often send tunes back and forth until we both ended up stumbling across a Tchami remix of DJ Snake’s ‘You Know You Like It.’ After that, we both were very inspired to learn how to make club music and we’ve been doing that ever since.

How would you summarize the FOVOS sound in a few words?

Pure warehouse rave energy!

Your new remix of Masked Wolf’s single ‘Butterflies & Bandaids’ has just landed on Teamwork Records. What was it about this single that caught your attention? And what inspired you to give it a drum ‘n’ bass edge?

The vocals are a big aspect of why enjoyed the original Masked Wolf is talking about some personal details of his life at the moment which is always a very brave thing to be doing especially when expressed through a creative outlet like music.

It’s probably a bit of a shock that we decided to stray away from our usual techno sound to do a drum n bass remix, but we felt it was the best way that we could showcase his vocals and at the same time bring to the table a track that would work in the club scene as well. Coming from New Zealand, we can’t escape D&B so it was a nice change of scenery to be able to add to a scene that we’re very familiar with.

Another 2023 release already in the bag is ‘Flashing Lights’ which saw you collaborate with Lister and the track dropped on Hardwell’s Flashover Recordings. The single has a real warehouse rave feel to it, how did this track come to be? And do you produce with a live crowd in mind?

Yeah, this one has been a very special tune for us as we’ve been waiting for a while to be able to put this one out there. Working with our mate Lister, who is extremely talented, bought this track to the next level. When we started this track, we had an idea of what setting it would be played in. Once we had a general idea down, we sent it over to Lister so he could lay his ideas down. The track came together pretty quickly as there wasn’t a lot of back and forth. It’s almost like we both sort of just knew how we wanted parts of the track to sound, and we just stuck with it.

Who are some artists, of any genre, that you’ve had on repeat lately?

We’ve been listening to far too much Kream lately, so much so that we’re worried we’re going to start copying them!

We’ve also been playing a lot of music by MTOVS, Eli Brown, Space 92 and tonnes of Kaytranada.

From your experience, what’s the most challenging, and the most rewarding, aspects of working in the music industry as an artist?

I reckon the most challenging thing at the moment is being able to manage our time between all the different aspects that the music industry sort of requires us to do daily. I’m only guessing now, but I think as we start to get the hang of this, it probably won’t be much of an issue in the future. The most rewarding part is probably split between getting to play a show and having the crowd connect with what you’re playing to them, or just seeing that people are streaming our music in general just means so much to us.

When you’re not working on new music, what do you both like to do? Any hobbies?

We both like to keep pretty active, so we’ll go to the gym or play some sport Mario’s not a bad water polo player, so he’ll play a bit of that every now and then. I’ll try to get out and play some tennis as well. It’s just good to get out of the house and go do something since we spend a lot of our day just in the studio.

If we were to catch up again in five years, where would you hope to see FOVOS? Any specific goals you’ve got in mind?

Such a good question, hopefully in five years we’re still making music that we enjoy and getting to play shows in as many different places as we can, that would be our dream.

What was your biggest highlight of 2022?

It would be split between Hardwell playing our track ‘Feel the Rhythm’ at Ultra, or being able to officially remix a Dillon Francis and Vinne tune.

What are your most excited about in 2023?

We’ve got a big Europe trip coming up at the end of May, we’ll be over there for about three months and we’re looking to get lots done over there in that time, can’t say too much else about it yet, but we’re very excited!

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