THEY. are Drew & Dante. The two were introduced in Los Angeles through Dante’s production partner and best childhood friend “Big Drew.” At the time, Dante was churning out beats in the studio with the elusive producer, and now label mate, ZHU, and Drew had just relocated to LA from Maryland in search of a like-minded writing partner.
In an effort to move away from pop production towards something more boundary-pushing, Dante saw Drew as his ideal collaborator. Without even knowing it, they formed a group. Influenced by the two-singer dynamic of Taking Back Sunday and the nursery rhyme simplicity of Kurt Cobain’s lyrics, Drew and Dante meld their diverse musical backgrounds to create songs without boundaries. Melodically, Dante and Drew have a mutual admiration for late 80s gems such as Babyface and New Edition; “The Ralph” even features as one of Drew’s many studio voices. The pair combines these influences with their own limitless and evolving sound to produce something that can’t be placed into one box.
Their label affiliation came about in a true THEY. moment of serendipity: Dante ended up playing their tracks for Mind of a Genius founder, David Dann, as he was leaving the studio shared by all the artists. Two weeks later, the deal was penned. Four months later, the pair released their debut Nu Religion EP which received praise from The Fader, Hypetrak, Beats1, Complex, Vibe, BBC and more.
The success of the EP led the pair to join Bryson Tiller on his worldwide tour, which concluded with two consecutive sold out nights at Manhattan’s historic Radio City Music Hall. As their first-ever run of live shows, THEY. brought immense amounts of energy to the stage, securing them new fans around the world. In addition their “Working For It” collaboration with ZHU and Skrillex, which has been streamed over 70 million times, THEY. have spent countless hours in the studio with the production legend Timbaland who continues to invest in and guide their talents. THEY.’s debut full length HYENA is slated for release in the spring of 2017 via Mind of a Genius and Warner Bros. Records.
