On Nov. 10, GTA’s “Goons Take America” tour stopped at the Music Farm in Columbia. Despite it being a Tuesday, many USC students still came out for the show-and none of them were disappointed.
Other performers, including local DJ Dylan Deekay, Sweater Beats, and rapper Rich the Kid got the crowd warmed up and moving before GTA took the stage at 11:30 p.m. when the crowd really got wild.
Luckily for us, two of our writers here at Her Campus SC scored two backstage passes and an interview with Julio Mejia and Matt Toth- the guys behind GTA who are currently taking the EDM world by storm.
Photo: Sophia Krysa, inside GTA’s tour bus
*****
There has been much speculation over what GTA actually stands for. I’ve seen many different variations all over the Internet. Care to enlighten us on what the letters actually mean, or is it meant to be a mystery?
Julio: Good Times Ahead!
Matt: [laughing] Yeah, we used to let our fans just come up with their own acronyms
Julio: We had a bunch of different ones, but finally we were just like, ‘you know what? Good Times Ahead.’ It’s a pretty good meaning.
Yeah definitely, because then the good times are always ahead!
Matt: See, you got it!
I love it! How did you guys come up with that?
Julio: Just like “death to genres,” our music kind of just speaks for itself. What we want to emulate at every show is just good vibes and good times…you know having fun…getting drunk…just having a great night with your buds. And with us, at our shows!
Matt: Honestly…we were just going through a bunch of different meanings, acronym meanings, and someone said that one and we were just like, you know, that’s a good in-between of everything, just good vibes…nothing too crazy or intense.
Definitely. I understand you guys met through social media, can you tell us how you came together and became GTA?
Matt: So, you know, we were just on Facebook like normal people and some mutual DJ that we knew, a local DJ in Miami, was like “Oh hey, this guys making music, you make music, you should check each other out and see what’s going on.” We were both like, “Oh, cool!” So we met up one day and hung out and listened to a bunch of music that we were into and both had a really good time. And the next day we started working on stuff and since then…we’ve just kept working.
And now you guys are best friends?!
Matt: I mean…I still don’t know his name…
Julio: [laughs]
Oh this is awkward! Haha, but you guys are both from Miami?
Matt: Yeah.
Julio: “Born and raised!”
Would you say that your hometown influences the kind of music you create?
Julio: “Yeah, definitely. I think our sound has a lot of Latin influence more than anything. And Miami is like…super Latin.
Matt: “It’s pretty much a different country”
Julio: “I also used to be in a jazz band and stuff and there are a lot of Latin Jazz bands and salsa bands that I was a part of growing up. I used to play trumpet for a lot of bands.
Can you also salsa dance?
Julio: I can salsa!
Matt: I can eat salsa!
Julio: [laughing] But yeah, I would definitely say that our sound is influenced my Miami and stuff. But we also…we like to emulate everything. Whenever we travel we always look into that style of music and we learn a lot. Like we were recently in South America, so we looked up what songs were super popular in that region or whatever…
Matt: And we’d incorporate that kind of sound and those songs and stuff into our set. Just try to work on music that’s influenced by it…try to keep our minds open.
Very cool. I’m sure your fans appreciate that as well. So you mentioned “death to genres” earlier, which I take is kind of your slogan. What’s the backstory to that phrase?
Matt: We were actually doing a written interview on an airplane, and at the end of it, it just said, “death to [blank]” and Julio said, “death to genres.” And we thought about it and were like, “Whoa. That actually makes a lot of sense for what we’re trying to do.” So we just kind of rolled with it since then. It’s just become a thing.
Julio: Yeah, we pretty much like to make everything. A lot of artists get caught up just doing one thing, and you find a lot of artists trying to break in, doing what is popular instead of whatever they want to do because their fan base doesn’t like that. Fans will be like, “Why don’t you stick to Trance” or whatever that artist is known for. We just wanted to go right off the gate and just say…
Matt: We do everything
Julio: Yeah, don’t expect one sound from us. We’re gonna do what we like to do. We like all kinds of music and being open minded about music is really important to us, we just want our fans to know that.
Matt: And since we started doing that, honestly, we kind of climbed the ladder up. We showed other artists like, “Hey man, just be open to anything” and sure enough now I think a lot of people are just making whatever. Kind of taking “death to genres” into their own hands, if you will.
Wow that’s pretty inspiring. Now, you guys have performed in a bunch of different places at this point, do you have a favorite spot? Or where was the coolest show you performed?
Matt: Hmm…probably in El Paso, Texas. That was one of the biggest, craziest ones.
Julio: Yeah that was the first show that we saw 3,000 people literally just there for us. It wasn’t a festival or anything.
Matt: And it wasn’t really planned, either. It was a stop on our last tour earlier in March, and the venue we were going to was originally a 1,500 capacity. But then something happened with the sewage that destroyed the club, so the only thing they had was a 3,000-person venue, and that was two days prior to the show. Then, all of a sudden double the attendance just showed up and it sold out. And we were like, “What? This is crazy!” So that was definitely one of the craziest shows, and one of the craziest places too. They’re like really, really passionate about music—anyone that goes through there they support heavily, it’s awesome.
Wow, I would’ve never guessed that about El Paso! So it seems you guys have been pretty successful so far, do you have future goals? Where do you hope to go from here?
Matt: Honestly just keep making crazy music. You know, we’ve been working a lot with more vocalists and rappers and stuff like that, like we were just in Atlanta yesterday with Migos and other people. And really just…to keep making crazy tracks, crazy records and think outside the box. Trying to get people’s voices on stuff you wouldn’t expect and make it work really well. And to keep traveling the world. I haven’t been to Japan yet, I want to go to Japan.
Next stop?
Julio: That’s our next stop, yeah!
Photo: Kristina Zagame, fans and HCSC Senior Editor Sophia Krysa enjoying the show
And do you have advice for aspiring DJ-producers?
Julio: Don’t give up; follow your dreams, forever! [laughs] Um, just stay open minded. Don’t be afraid to give things out of your comfort zone a try. Like, if you don’t really think you like a certain kind of music, or playing a certain kind of music, just try. Give it a try once.
Matt: And also if you’re passionate about something, work hard at it. And even when you think something’s not going to come from it, keep working at it and something will come, eventually. It just takes time. [Whispers] Patience.
Julio: [mimicking] Patience. [Laughs] And eat your vegetables, too.
Matt: Yeah, and stay in school.
Haha, all pretty solid advice for any profession, we’d say. One last question: if you weren’t doing this, what would you be doing?
Matt: I’d probably be picking up garbage [laughs]. Hey, garbage men have good benefits! They get paid pretty well.
That’s a solid back-up plan!
Matt: Right? It’s a government job!
Julio: [laughs] It’s a good job. Me, I’d probably still be working at Victoria’s Secret. I was working at Victoria’s Secret before this.
Did you love it?!
Matt: That’s actually the job he’s really passionate about [laughs].
Julio: I’d probably just still be there, even if I didn’t like it. I’d still be there, as a cashier, just mackin’ it. [laughs].
Haha so this is just kind of your side job, then?
Matt: Yeah he actually still works there part-time. This is his side job.
Julio: [Laughs] Yeah you can hit me up if you want a discount.
Definitely! You want to give our readers some promo codes or something? I know we’d all love that.
Julio: Oh yes, definitely.
*****
Sorry to disappoint ladies, that last bit was a joke. Julio does not still work at Victoria’s Secret and (sadly) does not have any discount codes for us. But take that as a blessing, because instead he and Matt have graced us with their musical talent and awesome personalities- which we got to experience firsthand, being backstage and onstage taking pictures throughout the concert :)
GTA- thank you from all of us here at Her Campus SC for the interview and for an amazing show! Good luck with the rest of the tour!
Matt Toth, Kristina Zagame (CC HCSC), Sophia Krysa (Senior Editor/blogger), Julio Mejia