San Francisco-based house producer Lane 8 made quite a splash when The Magician played his debut single, “Don’t Want You Back”, in the 23rd installment of the wildly popular Magic Tape series in May 2012. The follow-up single, titled “Dusty,” surpassed all expectations, racking up diverse DJ support from the UK’s Jody Wisternoff and Kidnap Kid to California’s Viceroy and Goldroom. The rest of 2012 saw Lane 8 releasing a flurry of original songs and remixes for established bands like Snowden and Fenech-Soler, and attracting support from a variety of DJ’s including Tensnake and Zimmer. In early 2013, Lane 8 released his most popular single to date, “Every Night”, which has been streamed over half a million times on soundcloud and youtube since its release. Moving from strength to strength, Lane 8’s record label debut came via London’s Anjunadeep imprint with the single “Be Mine”. Within a week of release, “Be Mine” hit #1 on hype machine, gained support on BBC Radio 1, was named record of the week on Above & Beyond’s radio show, and earned an ever-exclusive spot on the Majestic playlist (his second to date). In the club, Lane 8 has built a reputation for mixing his own energetic productions with private edits of hip hop and funk classics, as well as peppering in exclusive new music in a hybrid live-dj set that is a truly unique experience for the audience.
Vito Roccoforte and Gabriel “Druzzi” Andruzzi, known as the DJ/ production duo, Vito&Druzzi, are no newcomers to dance music. As members of the band The Rapture, both artists were front and center during the rebirth of electronic sounds in popular music. Considered one of the seminal indie bands of the 2000s, The Rapture are well known for their seamless marrying of post-punk with elements of disco and house.
Roccoforte (drums, programming), an original founding member of the band, and Andruzzi (multi-instrumentalist /in-house engineer/producer), were often drawn to the more club based elements of the group’s sound and they spent the next decade helping make hits that would come to define The Rapture’s aesthetic.
As members of The Rapture they worked with a number of esteemed producers including James Murphy, Tim Goldsworthy, Paul Epworth, Ewan Pearson, Danger Mouse, Zdar and Timbaland and have toured with music legends like The Cure and Daft Punk. It was also during this time that both Vito&Druzzi began to explore production and Djing at a deeper level, taking notes along the way from the surrounding world-class producers. DJ-ing also became a central focus and they embarked on some events back home in New York, playing regular nights at local venues like Studio B, Plant Bar, and Happy Endings Bar, some of the more underground venues of the time.
It was around the time of the Daft Punk tour that Vito&Druzzi co-founded the Throne of Blood imprint, with partner DJ James Friedman. With the Rapture still in full swing, Throne of Blood was born as an independent label project for exploring new sounds. The Throne of Blood DJ’s including Vito&Druzzi were also the main DJ’s at all of the 2007 Daft Punk tour after parties.
Vito&Druzzi then began DJing all over the world. Over the last few years they’ve played at Space in Ibiza, Zouk in Singapore, the Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival; from Tokyo to Rio and everywhere in between. In addition they also headlined with both live and DJ sets at Coachella – all the while honing in on a sound that would come to define the duo in their personal releases. As DJ’s they’ve shared the stage with prominent artists like Cassius, Simian Mobile Disco and Justice to name a few. As The Rapture they were also responsible for a series of mixes including The Inaugural Mix for K7 Tapes and The 5 Minute Mix for Annie Mac among others. Additionally in 2012 Druzzi released the “Apeman” record as DJ Druzz and The Omega Mu’s, also on Throne of Blood.
These days team Vito&Druzzi are creating their own sound fit for the club, the air-waves and everything in between. Currently they have several 12” singles on the horizon, the first of which is set for release on Throne of Blood coming out early this year. Their journey both as band mates and now as producers and DJ’s has given these artists a unique musical experience to draw from which has come to inform their current house-based, melodic sound identity. Their many past experiences have deeply affected who they are now and who they will become as they embark on the next leg of their creative journey.