all photos taken from the Official Egzod Facebook Page
Currently based in Miami, Florida, Egzod already has quite the impressive career. With over 35 million streams on Spotify, an impressive number of music released in such a short time, and now a feature in a Samsung commercial, the music world better keep their eye on Egzod. We had the chance to sit down with him right before EDC Orlando and his second time performing on the Boombox Cartel.
Festival Squad: First off, thanks so much for sitting down with me. How’s your day so far?
Egzod: Yeah, of course! I’m good. I just arrived from Miami. We drove three hours.
FS: Yeah, I just did that drive last week. Not fun. But now that you got that over with, are you excited for this weekend?
E: Yes, very. My second time.
FS: Did you approach this weekend, being your second time performing at EDC Orlando, any differently than last year?
E: Not really! I mean, I’ll be playing the same stage. So, just more music!
FS: Alright, can you give us any hints as to what we’re gonna see from you this weekend?
E: Yes! So I’m going to be playing some exclusive tracks that I just finished. One is going to be released on NCS next month. That one specifically is going to be on the NCS album in partnership with YouTube. Yeah, so I’m going to be playing that, and then I’m going to be playing another release that is going to be coming out next year on Trap Nation. I’ll be playing a bunch of other tracks that I’ve been working on as well.
FS: Awesome! So let’s go back a little bit. The name Egzod. I’m assuming that is French?
E: Yeah!
FS: And it means departure, right?
E: Yes.
FS: Why that? Why, when you were first starting out, did you think, “I want that to be my name?”
E: Well, first, it’s read in phonetic, so everyone can pronounce it the same way. I picked that name because I wanted something that represents my music. My music is really cinematic. When people listen to it, they generally have quick little images that come to mind. And that idea of like, traveling, departing. So, yeah.
FS: Cool, I really like that. So, you’re from France, right?
E: Yep!
FS: But you weren’t born there?
E: Yes, so I was born in Portugal, but I grew up in France.
FS: Ok, so why Florida?
E: Ok, so I moved to Orlando a few years ago to study audio engineering at Full Sail.
FS: Oh really! Awesome. I love Full Sail.
E: Yeah! Then I graduated. Did some music production there. And now Miami.
FS: Awesome. Ok. So why music? What made you go down that path?
E: Well, I’ve always been into music, especially electronic, because of my dad. Like, I remember listening to techno and house when I was like seven. I started DJing when I was like twelve back home. I was mostly into house music at first. Then I started playing in some clubs in the south of France when I was like sixteen or seventeen.
FS: Sixteen or seventeen? That’s crazy!
E: Yeah! But then I kinda got tired of playing other people’s music, so I started making my own. Then I created this project [Egzod] when I moved to the US. I wanted to make something different. Something with more meaning.
FS: Ok, the Samsung commercial.
E: Yes.
FS: How did it feel to hear your own song on a commercial?
E: That was pretty awesome. Actually there were two tracks. One unreleased track called, “Expedition,” that got on there, and then I got a second license for, “Sands of Time,” which was one of my early releases.
FS: So when you’re not doing music, what do you like to do in your free time.
E: Play soccer. A lot. I love it.
FS: Awesome. Ok, so if you could start your own festival, who art a few acts you put on your lineup first.
E: Oh man. I think Craine, Cashmere, Woodkid, Point Point, and the last one would be DJ Snake.
FS: Dream collab with any of those?
E: I would love to collab with Woodkid. He’s a French artist. He produces music, he writes, sings, directs his own music videos. He’s amazing.
FS: Alright last, but not least. What can we expect to seen from you next year? What are your goals for 2019?
E: I just want to be able to play more shows. I’ve been releasing a lot of music, and so now I want to be able to show that to my audience and play them.
