GTA is a DJ club music duo from Miami, Florida. The duo’s “Death to Genres” style, which fuses different genres into their mixes, has toured with superstars such as Rihanna and Calvin Harris. They have also performed at music festivals such as Ultra, EDC Las Vegas, and Coachella. The Eagle spoke to the duo before they opened up for Skrillex at his Oct. 24 Echostage performance.
The Eagle: How did you get the name GTA?
Matt Toth: It was a s*** talk day with our friends and one of our friends said, ‘Good times ahead.’ And we thought it was a good message.
E: How did you guys meet and start GTA?
Julio Mejia: We met on Facebook probably like four or five years ago through a mutual friend who was a club promoter in Miami who showed me Matt’s SoundCloud. I messaged him on Facebook and said, ‘Man, your stuff sounds so professional’ or whatever. I was just starting to produce and one day Matt was like, ‘Hey man, I’ll come and pick you up, let’s hang out and come chill in the studio.’ And so we ended up that day hanging out and trying to make music in the studio and ever since then it’s just been clicking.
E: Did you ever play other music besides DJing or play instruments?
MVT: I got into this whole thing just by playing guitar. In high school I would play metal, classic rock and all that stuff. I taught myself guitar for a long time, and then I wanted to record myself playing and it kind of brought me into software for recording and all that. And just getting into that I started getting onto forums and electronic music is really huge in producing some forums. I started checking it out and heard “Satisfaction” from [Benny] Benassi and I was like, ‘Woah, this is crazy. I really like this.
And then I started DJing. I always liked the thought of being a DJ and DJing. Like old school vinyl and all that stuff. And for Julio, he played trumpet and was in a salsa band.
JM: Yeah, I’ve been in band since seventh grade and have always loved music. And that’s what pretty much got me into producing music later. I was in college and got bored with playing trumpet.
E: Where do you get the “Death to Genre” inspiration?
JM: It’s just kind of everywhere, really. Inspiration comes from anything, any kind of music. We grew up listening to everything. It’s really hard to pinpoint one thing.
MVT: We both have the same kind of likes and ideas in all kinds of music. We both like System of a Down Slipknot, and all like this stuff. We grew up listening to these old salsa records and really like hip hop as well. We like every kind of music and like it for what it is.
E: Has Skrillex been supportive of you guys?
JM: He’s been supporting us since, like, two years ago. We’ve really gotten the support of Diplo, A-Trak and like those guys early in our careers. Skrillex is one of the main dudes who has put us on the map and has shown our music to everybody else.
E: Do you have any new music coming out?
JM: We are working on a bunch of new music, but we are planning on putting out an EP
of some new originals and cool collaborations we have been working on lately. That should be coming out in a couple of months.
E: What do you want people to think when they hear the name GTA?
JM: We just want people to hear it as good music. A lot of people try to classify music, and that’s what separates people. For example, if you say, ‘Oh, I want to go see 2 Chainz. Someone else will say, ‘Oh, I don’t like rap music [or] oh I don’t like trap’ or whatever. We want to get that notion out of people’s heads. Is it good music? Does it make you vibe? Then go watch it.
