GW: The first time I heard your music was at your Grand Social show with Elzzz two years ago. The live energy was raw and I feel like that same energy carries over in your recorded music. How important is it for you to have that kind of energy present in your music?
Grand Social was a special show. I shot the video for ‘Blockbuster’ outside that show and it blew up – it started going crazy. That was when I first started getting noticed from outside of Ireland. The journey’s been crazy and we’re only going for more.
[About the energy] That’s me, since a young kid I’ve been very unhinged. I don’t care what people think, I don’t care too much about money. I just want to do the best that I can and never change. I just want to be who I am. Over time obviously you’re gonna grow and you as a person will be more refined, but that same core energy will be there. I just be out here living for real.
When you first started performing you went by TraviS. What prompted the change to Travy?
I was with this girl and she said ‘Travy stop’. And I was like, ‘fairs I like that’. I was also doing a lot of shit in America at the time and people advised me that every time they tried to look up Travis, Travis Scott would show up. My actual name isn’t Travis, that’s just my instagram name, I just made that alias. I just liked the name and was like fuck it if i do anything in the future I’m going to keep this name.
What do you think you would be doing if you weren’t an artist?
If I wasn’t an artist… I’d probably be a huncho or a kingpin. Either some mad shit like that or something random like working with kids – maybe an astronaut or deepsea diver. Music saved my life to be honest, I don’t really know what else I would do. I’ve never really thought about it. Right now I’m trying to get into movies. I went to acting college for a year but I dropped out. Every so often people still hit me up about roles. I got an audition for a Snoop Dogg biopic earlier this year, it was reviewed by Dr. DRE. As part of the review process he looked at my acting and my music so that was really cool.
Where did you study acting?
I went to Bow Street Academy in Dublin. Barry Keoghan went there, Cillian Murphy.
How did you record your first ever tracks? Do you have a local studio you record in or used to record in in Dublin?
At first I would just freestyle with my buddies, and every so often my friends would be like ‘yo, you’re actually kinda cold’ – but I didn’t put much into it. I used to just rap with my cousin, we would use wired headphones and rap into his computer. We made a bunch of songs, like one called ‘Rack City’, when we were 11 or 12. My brother actually bought a lot of home studio equipment eventually, he used to record in the crib. We didn’t know how to use it properly, but one day my friend pulled up and we managed to record this song. My buddy Sam, who records most of my music videos, was like ‘lets do something with this’. The song I released was called Hold On, I think it’s still on soundcloud somewhere. The lyrics are bogus – I wasn’t really writing, wasn’t really rapping then.
The first real song I dropped was ‘To Be Honest’. I was never really trying to be an artist. But from then on, I obviously fuck with music and with the culture surrounding it, and I feel like its been in me.
So I ran into you on Fade Street a few weeks back. Can you tell me a bit about artist hangouts in the city and if there is anywhere in particular you go to meet likeminded people?
Mainly just the studio. We just organise shit. There are not that many places for creative people to meet and do stuff in Dublin that isn’t in the studio. If we are just on a chill vibe we go normal spots like Fade St. One of my boys used to have a studio up there.
In an interview with Sighted magazine you said that Dublin’s arts and cultural scene is 10 years behind other big cities like London and New York. Do you feel like that gap is getting smaller?
I think the artists here are becoming more current, but the infrastructure is still ten years behind, you get me? The infrastructure in London is five years behind New York. Dublin is ten years behind. Wherever you have more people and more artists, that’s where there is more going on. It’s going to take a while before [Dublin] gets the infrastructure, but we’re getting there.
Do you think that this generation of Irish rap – most notably you and DeathtoRicky – can start a trend that brings the spotlight to Ireland?
For sure, it’s already being done, we’re already doing it. Ricky’s doing it, I’m doing it. JJFinz covers all of the underground scene, he’s Irish as well you should check him out. He just dropped a tape, too. The Irish kids secretly run the scene man, I don’t care what anyone says.
Who are some Irish artists we should look out for?
Deathtoricky, Ace3, Elzzz, Yungiz, Reggie B, Babyjuly.
You have talked about this before but for those who might not know… what is the Gliders brand, what is your role in it, and how can fans show support?
Gliders started during lockdown. Me and my friends used to do houseparties, illegal raves. They would get shut down by the feds. Eventually people started calling us the Gliders, because to glide just meant to party. Then we wanted to make it tangible, so we dropped these baseball caps and they sold out in a day. There’s four of us – me, Elzz, Sam and TJ. Lockdown was the time we just said fuck it lets do something. Now we do clothes, music, art. Me and Elzzz have made two albums together since, one got number 1 and the other number 2 on the charts. My friend Liam Harris was the producer, he still produces the majority of my songs. He’s my go to guy.
How was it working with renowned DJ Interplanetary Criminal on your song ‘Fón Póca’?
So mad with Interplanetary Criminal. My manager hit me up when I was in London and just said ‘go to the studio this guy wants to make a song with you’. I didn’t know who he [IP] was. I liked his vibe, we were just recording stuff. Those aren’t usually my beats, so I was kind of in a different world. I just laid a long verse down and we chopped it up. I said ‘love for the session’ and then left. That was at the start of the year and I completely forgot about the song. At the start of August or end of July he tells my team that he’s dropping a song. I nearly told him I didn’t want it to come out because we hadn’t done too much with it. I’m happy I didn’t, though, because he dropped the song and it went crazy, it’s on its way to 1 million streams and it just dropped like 3 weeks ago. I think I needed to do that one. I made him call it Fón Póca for his Irish fans – it made sense. I didn’t see it then, but I see the benefits of [the song] now in terms of my sound and experimenting. He’s a really cool guy [Interplanetary Criminal], I really fuck with him. Wait until you see the next thing we got going on, not with IPC but someone else…
Lastly, what can we expect from Travy and from Gliders in the near future?
Just more fire drops. The brand is going to be dropping more pieces. If anyone wants to get anything they should tap in to glidersshop.com. Follow @glidersbbb on instagram. Exciting stuff coming up – dropping a song this month. The new music is crazy man, more experimental. Bringing back my very first sound – like back with my cousin on the computer – but mixed with the rap I’ve been doing. I’m excited to drop it and see how people react to it. Tell the haters ———————–, the only way is up gang.
