DJ Trevi Talks Shallow, 7 (God's Child), and New Single.
It’s been a while since DJ Trevi has made the rounds in the music industry. The award nominated music producer sit’s and talks to us about his new album, his hit singles, Shallow, 7 (God’s Child), and new single. Trevi, better known at Treavor Alvarado has been going back and forth from film, TV, and music production. I got the time to to speak to the Barcelona DJ.
S: Last year you surprise your fans as a contestant on the reality series, First Dates. How did that come to be and how was the experience?
T: It was great, like anything it’s a gig for me and I always have a good time filming. As we all know it’s not the first time I’ve appeared on reality TV. The fun doesn’t change but the outcome does. Reality TV is deferent and has changed from the first time I was on. A difference is that fandom has grown and fans can really make or break careers. Social media is a powerful thing.
S: You and your co-star Jordi got a lot of attention from the media as well as a lot of love and hate from the shows fandom. How do you deal with all the attention.
T: I didn’t realise what I was getting into. Here is a show that is on prime time on a major network, with a major production company, Warner Bros, that all of Spain watches and here I am, never watched the show and have no idea what to expect. I remember getting the call by casting saying that they wanted me to come on board. They were super hype and they spoke at a level 10, like a hype man at a rap concert. You just want to say, yeah! And that is what I did, I said, yes. Like I said, fandom really has changed reality TV shows. This means the experience also changes and how we deal with it. The experience of filming is fun and you get to meet all your cast-mates all while having an experience only you and them can share. It’s almost cathartic. It’s also overwhelming process. You have to process everything that was said and done during filming several time; after you're done filming and when the show airs. Like any show there is drama, and I had to process all of that drama and come to terms with it after filming. Then there is the aspect of dealing with social media. Fans had a lot to say about Jordi and myself. Some was great most was either shade or just plain curtly. Best thing you can do is have fun and not take anything personally. It’s TV and that is how I see it, a show. I appreciate freedom of expression so I don’t mind all the love, nor the hateful messages. I would be scared if there was no freedom to talk or express yourself in a healthy way. Besides I had a good laugh reading all the comments and memes on social media.
S: Currently you have two songs on heavy rotation around Europe and spreading to the Americas. Shallow and 7. How do you get singles off the ground?
T: To be honest it’s a lot of work. I’m not some supper star DJ here, and to be honest I haven’t had support from major players. I have to work long hours, and very hard to promote myself. It’s not easy as it seems, but if you want something very bad you will make sacrifices. I’ve created my own platform, the label and and media production. It takes a lot of work to run it. Sometimes you have to decide to get some rest or work. You also have to give up a lot of time with friends and family. At the end of the day you have to make choices. If you want it, you will work hard for it. No one will give you success. I want it bad. I want to sit in front of Armin and tell my story. I want to be at the Grammys and Oscars and say, I did it. There is no wrong or right way you just have to make mistake and learn. You have to work and make things happen. I love what I do and even though it's time consuming I enjoy it. Shallow is a song I wrote and produce with Mike Avery. Mike is very talented and I enjoy his work a lot. It was really an honour doing Shallow with him. I’m sure it won’t be our last time either. It’s also one of my favourite songs and I’m happy people are listening to it. I’ve worked really hard to make sure it just didn’t sit there. I’m a fighter and one listen is better than none. When No Way Out came out everyone thought it was Swedish House Mafia and it got a lot of play due to that. With Shallow and 7 (God’s Child) everything is so organically and I’m glad people are discovering my music around the globe. Both songs are special to me. Shallow is different and I like that aspect of it. 7 is a song I wrote after No Way Out was nominated for single of the year. It was also a transition period for me. I was plagued by personal legal issues. I was on house arrest. I was in and out of court and looking back it took a lot of my time. I didn’t know what sound design I wanted for the song. That was an issue in my head. The song was also a tribute to my brother and my nephew who both passed away in a horrible way. My nephew played football and 7 was his shirt number. The number stuck with me for a long time and that is all I kept seeing while writing this song. In the bible 7 means full circle. That is where the name came from. The song had been sitting in the vault forever, and I don’t know what came over me three years later but I decided release it. Now I have time to promote and actually work the song. The last three years I was busy working on film projects I didn’t like and other people music I didn’t care for. I just needed to pay bills so it’s easy to say yes to them. I waited to fulfil my contract duties to finally work on my stuff. This year I’m working on my personal projects. Music wise and film wise. It can be overwhelming at times. Especially when you sit there by yourself to create riffs and chords it can be a lonely process.
S: You just posted your new single coming out March 29th called Oh Father (Eneko’s Song), it is different from what you have released in the pass. Why that change?
T: I’ve always been a trance guy. I have done many trance sets through out my DJ career. In fact I started with trance and it will always be in my heart. I love all sorts of trance. I love all sorts of music. From country to trance to top 40 to freestyIe. Trance wise I love going to a Christopher Lawrence show. He knows how to take you on a journey and rearrange your brain cells. It’s always so dark and intense, but equally amazing. I get off on it. I’m also a huge Gareth Emery fan. His writing and production skills are off the roof. There is not one song I dislike. He’s the artist that I look up too, not just in music but in business. He’s created this empire and has felt the struggle that many of us go through. I can never be either one, but I could be myself and do trance my own way. I tend to write very happy songs which is a mind fuck sometimes, because I also have a dark side that I have not tapped into musically as an artist. I write very brightly as an artist, but as a DJ I can play some dark stuff, I guess that is may balance between this duality of mine. I digress, living in Spain and having a mom that is very Catholic has inspired me to create this religious theme for my new music. Hence the names of the songs. I have tons of songs I’ve written and I have never released. Originally I wasn’t releasing anything because I wasn’t so sure about my production skills. I was waiting to grow musically. Sure, I had release stuff but that was just having balls and not giving a two cent what others thought or happen. After my music nomination I took everything a bit more serious and wanted my stuff to be better, and I wanted to work on my skills a bit more. What I realise, there is no such thing as the right time. You either do it now or never. Originally I had recorded Oh Father with Haythem Hadiri, but that fell through for so many reason and the song was just sitting there. We had recorded the song and I had the vocals ready, everything was ready and it just didn’t happen. One day a good friend, Eneko, and I were going though my stuff and he insisted this should be the next single. He insisted it was good enough and that gave me the courage to say, fuck it, let's do this as an instrumental. As time went by I started calling it Eneko’s song and the name stuck in my head. I don’t really put titles on my music. Sometimes they just have a genre and a number. Adding his name to the title was my way of thanking him for pushing me. He’s the type of friend you want in your life. He is always pushing me. He holds me accountable for my work, maybe that is why I work harder these days. I don’t think anyone can make it in this type of industry without a good support and people who believe in you and push you. Don’t get me wrong I push myself too and I’m the first to believe in what I do, that is the reason I have released music. The amazing thing is having people that go beyond having a drink and actually care about your work.
S: Do you consider yourself a roll model?
T: Oh God no! I don’t want to take a responsibility that great. What is my responsibility is making sure I take part in helping young people especially those in the LGBTQI community. There are places were you can get killed or arrested for being LGBTQI. Some places you still don’t have any protections and can be hard socially on the community. I don’t live in such a place, but even in western society we have issues that should not be there. I want to tell all the young people that it is ok to be you! We are not different, we are no freaks, we are normal as they come. Society has bundled us up and we accept it. We need to get to the next stage of normalisation. We are all equally the same. We all live on this planet and no one is going somewhere fast. The only thing that makes us difference is morality and our actions. That is why we have wars and hatred. I’m not saying I’m prefect and I’m far from it, but even I try to better myself. We are all damaged one way or another and have to look at whats right and what is wrong. We have to leave the labels behind and just be human. I think people take religion, creeds, colour, and sexuality seriously. The world is being divided in half and the only people that are benefiting are a few and that is it. This can be a dangerous thing and we all most do our part. If you don’t like someone or something then good, you have all that right. Just don’t go out there and try to harm them either.
S: Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us.
T: No problem it was my pleasure and we will be seeing all of you on the road.