We had the pleasure of interviewing TELYKast over Zoom video!
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Fusion provokes progress. TELYKast unifies three distinct musical personalities into one genre-busting collective equally suited for clubs and festival stages alike. The Los Angeles trio—Linus Altman-Kurosaki, Kyle Tonoli, and Trevor Klaiman —organically assembles anthemic electronic pop with live instrumentation. The group now backed by Astralwerks continues to push the envelope. They are generating upwards of 40 million streams and over 20 million video views earning praise from Dancing Astronaut, Substream Magazine, and Earmilk, and selling out shows coast-to-coast.
“We meet in the middle,” exclaims Linus. “I’m an East Coast bedroom producer raised on hip-hop, R&B, and classic rock. Kyle used to DJ underground clubs in Texas. Trevor is a California native with a metal foundation and experience playing shows like Warped Tour. By coming together, our mentality is to always push it forward.”
“You never typically think of electronic music as being made on live instruments,” adds Kyle. “We thought, ‘Why not?’ We decided to make a band in the electronic world.”
Fate placed TELYKast together. The son of two Julliard-schooled parents, Linus grew up in New York’s Upper West Side. His dad taught him about songwriting, chord structure, harmonies, and theory at a young age. He picked up violin at four-years-old before transitioning to blues and jazz guitar. In between constantly playing and listening to everyone from Phish to D’Angelo, he excelled in the pool and became a Division One platform diver. Suffering an injury, he transferred to Icon Collective. Upon settling in Los Angeles, he ended up sharing a room with Kyle. The Texas native played hockey around the world and discovered Benny Benassi on a trip to Sweden. Facing his own injury, he decided to pursue music full-time, which brought him to Icon.
Forming an early incarnation of TELYKast as a duo in 2014, they uploaded remixes such as “Heatwave” and built a growing fan base online. Simultaneously, Trevor cut his teeth in metal upstarts Burn Bridges, gracing the stages of legendary venues such as Whisky-A-Go-Go and the Troubadour. While working at a studio, he met Linus and Kyle. With Trevor on the mic, the three of them “immediately clicked,” as he puts it. Soon after, they all shared the same house.
The boys teamed up with Ellusive for the single “You & I” [feat. Shara]. Right out of the gate, Trap Nation touted it, and the band steadily caught fire. Over the next three years, one banger after another followed, including “Every Every” [TELYKast Remix] with MOONZz (over 6.1 million streams), “There For You” (3 million streams), and “Worth Fighting For” with Rico & Miella (2.2 million streams) in addition to collaborations with legendary producer Kaskade, platinum songstress Georgia Ku, Arlissa, and Aly Ryan. As a result, they emerged as a formidable force on stage with Linus on guitar, Kyle on drum pads, and Trevor on vocals and guitar. The trio played sold out shows at Exchange LA and Social Hall SF as well as various college events across the US.
“We can do a straight DJ set or a hybrid set” adds Trevor, “It’s all about that versatility.”
“People would tell us, ‘You can’t pull out a guitar over track drops’,” recalls Kyle. “However, the crowd freaked out the first time we brought the guitars out at a show. We knew we were on to something.”
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