There are many facets to every act in electronic music. The logistics tend to be complicated, and happen outside of the public eye. Now, imagine all of those logistics but multiplied by three. Working as a trio is rare in the dance music industry, where most acts consist of one or two people. The most famous trio, of course, was the Swedish House Mafia up until there breakup in 2013. One of the most prominent trios in today’s scene is Futuristic Polar Bears. Made up of Luke, Rhys and Fran, these guys are masters of huge tracks and energetic livesets. We had the chance to talk to the guys about life as a trio in the dance music industry, and they broke it down into each little part of the job.

Touring:

This is one of our favourite things about working as a trio – whilst there are three of us in the group, we generally only tour as a duo for most international and UK shows. Fran and Rhys have both have children, so they always alternate on shows as it’s important to spend as much time with family as possible. An added bonus of always having one person back home is that we never stop working – one of us is always in the studio! For a solo DJ, the time split between being on tour and hitting a proper studio can really stretch you; we’re lucky that we can focus on both aspects with our full attention. It’s always good to have somebody with you on tour to keep you company too – especially when you are away for 2-3 weeks at a time!

Studio:

Having three sets of ears and three opinions can be quite tricky as we don’t always agree on everything, but it can also be a very good thing to get different opinions on the music we’re working on. All of us are skilled in different areas of production as well, so we trust each other to stick to those roles. For example, Fran is best at engineering a track so he does that, Rhys is great at writing melodies so he does that etc. It usually all comes together in the end! If we ever have a disagreement, we take a vote, and make decisions based on a majority – it’s a diplomatic way to sort things and it’s generally worked for us.

DJing:

Touring aside, the technical side of DJing as a trio really isn’t all that great in our opinion. Three people behind the decks is too many people – despite what you might see in some sets. There isn’t actually that much that three people can do unless you want to take control of an EQ knob each – or unless one of you wants to just jump around in the background like an idiot. With two of you behind the decks you can actually work the set properly, without somebody just standing there waiting for their turn, and it means you get into the set more. Plus – most DJ booths are small and can’t fit three people in!

Admin:

It’s not all glitzy traveling opportunities and studio sessions – well there is that, but there’s a lot of boring behind the scenes work that doesn’t just involve making and playing music so you have to work as a team delegate tasks. There’s the financial side of things where we have to make sure we’re arranging invoices, there’s the PR side – liaising with our PR team on the different press opps and interviews we get sent; we also have to liaise with our management and agent on music and shows, as well as organising the podcast and radio show each week, programming our own releases and organising our live show music! It’s a lot of work even for three people! Organisation is key – you’d end up letting a lot of people down if you didn’t properly manage your time and ultimately, your own career would suffer.

The Future:

You’d be surprised how different people view the same path, and when you’re in a group like we are, you’ve got to remember that there are three very different people all essentially pursuing the same career path – how many other people have that? In an office you can leave and move to another company if you’re not happy, but for us, everything is experienced together. We work on our music together, we decide the gigs we play together and at the end of the day, we share the successes, and failures, between the three of us and that’s quite unique. We love it though – we’re all very focused on what we want to achieve and we make sure that we’re all on the same page. It’s been an incredible journey together so far, and we’re confident that this is just the beginning!

Top 5 Songs:

1. Futuristic Polar Bears & Qulinez – Kali
   Great club and festival weapon! Works everytime!
2. Kryder – Crocodile Tears
   Without doubt our favourite record this year!! Kryder is on fire right now!
3. MATTN & Futuristic Polar Bears – Café Del Mar 2016 (Dimitri Vegas Like Mike & Klass Edit)
   Been working for us all year now and never fails to get a reaction!
4. Hardwell & Thomas Newson – 8Fifty
   Always works the dance floors and Hardwell never ever disappoints!
5. Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman, Tom Staar – Empire
   Love this record, the melody and chords are epic!

Their time in the studio recently has been quite fruitful. They have had two awesome productions come out recently; one collaboration and one remix. Together with Swedish duo Qulinez, they created “Kali”. This one is a big-room banger with a healthy dose of bass and exotic synth selections.

They also were on remix duty for Frenchman Michael Canitrot. They provide a sweet melodic take on his recent single “Sucker For Your Love”. Their excellent melody pairs perfectly with strong composition for an excellent remix.

About Thursday Thoughts:

At Dance Rebels, we strive to bring our readers as close to their favorite artists as possible. One of the best ways to make that connection is to discuss a wide range of topics with the biggest names in the dance music scene. If there is an artist that you think we need to talk to, reach out to us on Facebook or Twitter!