Drove: Take Me Somewhere, Live Instruments, and ADE Connections on the On Location Sessions at ADE 2023 10/19/23

Drove: Take Me Somewhere, Live Instruments, and ADE Connections

In this energetic Virtual Session from Amsterdam Dance Event 2023, The DJ Sessions host Darran Bruce sits down with Dutch electronic duo Drove to discuss their journey, creative evolution, and latest release Take Me Somewhere. Known for their melodic approach that blends electronic production with live instrumentation and vocals, Drove explains how their new EP represents a shift from mainstage club sounds toward a more band-like, organic feel.

The pair share their origin story, meeting nearly a decade ago in their hometown of Emmen, Netherlands, and bonding over a mutual desire to create music that pushed boundaries. One member came from an electronic background, inspired by acts like Swedish House Mafia, while the other grew up surrounded by live bands, learning drums and piano before exploring electronic production. Together, they discovered a way to merge their influences into a unique project that balances energy, melody, and emotion.

The conversation highlights their first releases with Dillon Francis, including the single Places, which helped introduce Drove to a global audience. They reflect on the importance of collaborations, their love of immersive audio formats like Dolby Atmos, and their openness to exploring VR as a future creative platform.

From live video performances in Barcelona to intimate networking sessions at ADE, Drove emphasizes that music is not only about tracks but experiences. Their focus remains on building connections, creating moments that transcend the club, and inspiring audiences to go on a journey with them.

Show Notes –

Host: Darran Bruce
Guest: Drove
Location: ADE – Amsterdam, Netherlands

Overview:
Darran Bruce sits down with Dutch duo Drove at ADE 2023 to discuss their EP Take Me Somewhere, their evolution into live performance, and how collaborations and technology are shaping their artistic path.

Topics Covered:

• Release of Take Me Somewhere EP and shift toward live instruments and vocals
• Origin story: meeting in Emmen and merging electronic and band backgrounds
• Early influences from Swedish House Mafia and live band upbringing
• Collaborations with Dillon Francis on singles like Places and Together
• Mixing projects in Dolby Atmos and exploring immersive sound experiences
• Interest in VR for future music and visual projects
• ADE networking and the value of connecting with other artists and industry leaders
• Performing live in Barcelona for a filmed sunrise session
• Balancing mainstage energy with more organic, emotional productions
• Vision for the future: creating journeys and experiences beyond just the club

Call to Action:
Follow Drove on Instagram @thisisdrove and stream their EP Take Me Somewhere on all major platforms.
Discover more exclusive interviews and live sessions at thedjsessions.com.

[Darran]
Welcome back to another episode of the DJ sessions on location sessions coming to you from 80 in Amsterdam I’m your host there. And right now we’re sitting with two gentlemen from Drove. How’s it going today gentlemen?

Hello doing great, man Thanks for having us.

[Drove]
Awesome Is this your first 80 that you’ve been to or you’ve been here before? Oh, definitely not the first one but like with our current project I think this is the third no second year third year.

[Darran]
I think second second year 80. It’s been it’s been packed It’s been full like this. I think the first 80 where we’re like, we don’t have a single empty spot in the schedule So that’s great.

And you know, you you don’t live too far away from here You’re like just a hop skip and a jump or you’re up north, but you come down, correct? Yeah You’re from that’s quite easy.

[Drove]
Like everything with public transport is like One hour away, so that’s fine with us like we’re used to So that’s easy.

[Darran]
I mean we were nine hours into Heathrow which supposed to go to Dublin We got diverted last year was into Iceland and then Iceland over here and then it was 50 minutes It was like well, but we had to sit on the tarmac for like an hour and a half Yeah reason so I don’t know why that happened. But you know what you have a new EP out Take me somewhere. Tell us about that

[Drove]
Yeah, basically the the new EP it was something we’re going to try out something new We’ve been making a lot of electronic music in the past with the projects But there was always this feeling that we wanted to combine it with a more bent like perspective to play the keys yourself Sing the songs more ourselves That’s basically what we made for an EP Yeah

[Darran]
I guess like the the previous years were very much like I guess more more club and main stage oriented and now we really wanted To like tense I’d like get almost like that in the band feel into the tracks still keep it electronic And and I think take me somewhere it’s just like a perfect combination almost with like what our project is about so Now, how did you two meet? Well, we actually met I think almost like 10 years ago. We’re from the same hometown called an elder It’s way up north in the levels And yeah, we went to the same school And this guy actually it was actually in a different school but like during like the lunch breaks He would just like pop by and though it wasn’t allowed So like at a certain point he got like a no no access it went on like a no access list for the school He couldn’t get in anymore but like he was just like Popping into conversation.

[Drove]
Yeah, I just want to make sure to meet new people because at some point You know the people at your own school and you’re like, okay I will meet some new people meet some new guys I could maybe do some music with and that’s how I got to his school I I rudely interrupted your conversation with someone else. He did he did so That’s how we met and from the moment on like straight on we just met every week I pop by so a friendship build it Yeah Now was music production something you both?

[Darran]
Aspired to do in school or something you’d outside of school is like kind of a hobby get-together. I like this I like going to the clubs. I like dance music.

We should make some music or how did that all get started? I think for me it was it was very natural that I think that’s what’s exciting about a project like I come really from like a electronic music background I First discovered like guys like Swedish house with you. They’ve got and like back in 2010 2011 So like from that moment on when I heard like my first electronic music like my first experience with it.

I got was hooked Immediately also wanted to see like how can I make this because it sounded so interesting and like it was I couldn’t play any Instruments, I love music. But this was like the first type of music where I could be like I could do something creative and actually Like like make something So for me, it’s been like hard electronic Yeah for me was completely different like at our at our homemade like music was a big part of our upbringing But mostly in the band form my father used to play in the band.

[Drove]
So I was only used to the guitarist bassist drummer singer and at some point I just want to make some music and I was mostly interested in drumming. So I started drumming first, but I was like Yeah, I want to do something with notes So I started playing some piano and then I met this guy and he was saying like yeah I’m doing this on my computer. I was like, how is that even possible?

I wasn’t really aware of that thing yet So and that’s well I think that’s what’s really interesting because somehow we found a way to still make something together It still touches the things we both love in one project.

[Darran]
What year was that and what doll are you using? I think when we started doing it, I think it was 2015 probably when we really started to work today. I used to work in logic Now switched over like since 2018 to Ableton and I’m big-time Nothing against Ableton, I’m an Apple guy used to work for the company But though we do actually still use logic also for like the Our new EP is also been like mixing in Dolby Atmos actually, we’re involved in that ourselves and We did that in logic.

So you know hearing a lot of good stuff about the Atmos stuff. Love it now now what is your take on music creation and Virtual reality. Have you ever looked at doing anything in VR or look at the we have in VR?

Not not like actual the music creation in in VR I do think like with our project as well. Like it’s all about a journey and experience We have been looking into to do something like that where? With even with like Dolby Atmos which makes the audio more immersive to really create like an experience also Visually because that’s something we just adore it.

So that might be it might be something but Check out our nightclub beta nightclub in VR chat. Yeah, we launched a few years ago Well, actually last this year we launched it in all space first then Microsoft shut down all space Then we had to move quickly over to VR chat, which we’re gonna do already. But yeah, we love it because you know you have that Interactive experience.

It’s it’s a little different than like a 2d experience where you’re online I think you know, obviously it’s it’s gonna become more prolific out there of a record release parties album parties Music creation I’ve been in some spaces where you kind of move into this room and as you move it changes the sound Yeah, when you’re going over to this side and it’ll change and it goes stereo, but it’s crazy. Yeah, it’s gonna be some VR is gonna be some crazy stuff speaking of working in collaborations a Name comes to mind or a name that you actually sent to me saying you’ve worked with this person You’re working with this person Dylan Francis.

Tell us all about that collaboration It’s an interesting story actually like we Seriously, our first song we ever released under this project was together with with Dylan Francis Like we we both used to do like music production either for other people just we were in in the scene and So we knew Dylan and when we were starting up the project We just sent one of the demos of the project to him and he immediately loved it. So That’s it back in 2021 our song places came up We did another one called together as well the following year or even in the same year I don’t know and actually yesterday we were playing at his his 80 party went up again Was great. Where was that at?

Club Prime Club Prime Haven’t been there. Really great. Really great.

All right. Are you playing any other shows at 80 this this week weekend? Not playing any more shows do have like a bunch of meetings mixers just meeting as much people as we possibly can see, you know Absolutely.

That’s the one great thing about 80 years. I posted on my Facebook or instantly. I’m supposed to say meta now, right?

It’s meta. That’s true. It’s matter though.

Yeah Facebook. I put you know going to meet the top of the top But being around hundreds of thousands of people that are the top of the top There’s so much you can do here at 80 that you can meet so many people you get to do that handshake And it was last year that was like the first 80 after Pandy you know where people had not been able to handshake people have been doing these zoom meetings and all that fun stuff and It just there was such an energy last year and I plan to come back every single year to 80 And meet artists just like yourself, you know yourselves because you know, that’s what it really is about It’s I could go out and hey Dylan nothing wrong, man.

I’d love to get you an interview Love to have you on camera Malpia. Okay, great Yes, though all you all you awesome people that already don’t need interviews, but meeting people just like yourself, you know I post in the forum say hey you want to do an interview? Let’s do an interview and make those connections.

That’s what 80 is all about a networking So congratulations gentlemen on being here and and having fun and having a great show last night Is there anything else you’d like to let our DJ sessions fans know about before we let you go and get back to out there? Get back out there No, yeah, it’s it’s just it’s it’s been a crazy year. Like we we just released this Live video accompanying our taking some repeat.

[Drove]
We shot it in Barcelona in Spain It was really awesome Like we just want to give it some narrative where we started with driving in the car going to the location And that’s the actual first time. Oh, no the second time we play with live instruments singing ourselves live It was awesome, so that was something we made for DP as well definitely like I think it just Visually perfectly represents like it would yeah, take me somewhere.

[Darran]
We’re on a mountaintop in Barcelona at night playing into sunrise That was an amazing experience. So that’s out on our YouTube channel actually, so I haven’t seen yet But let me ask is there a drone shot? Oh, yeah We’ve got Gotta love the drone shots.

Those are so amazing up on a mountaintop. Take me somewhere new EP out Okay, Drove any shoutouts you want to give to anyone before we let you get going Amsterdam Shout out Thank you so much for having us yesterday awesome Where can people find out more information about you what y’all got going on?

[Drove]
If you guys want to find us you can find us everywhere under this is Drove or on our music platforms on Drove DRO VE.

[Darran]
Yes. All right, cool. Well gentlemen, thank you so much for coming on the show pleasure having it We’re gonna definitely follow up with a virtual sessions interview where we’re gonna get more in-depth with you.

Yeah hit that hour-long in-depth I’m gonna make you guys cry on camera. No, I’m just Thank you again gentlemen for coming on the DJ sessions, thank you so much You’re welcome on that note Don’t forget to go to our website the DJ sessions calm find us on meta X Twitter twitch tricks, whatever all these socials But you know what the best place to go is the DJ sessions calm You’ll find all our socials 600 news stories exclusive interviews exclusive mixes and more at the DJ sessions calm This is Darran and Drove coming to you from ADE in Amsterdam and remember on the DJ sessions. The music never stops