With a Strong Third Album & a Worldwide Tour to Support It, Gryffin Looks to Make 2024 His Biggest Year Yet, as The Best is Yet to Come.
Gryffin, DJ/producer/musician, has been an acclaimed name within the electronic-music scene since his college days when he began releasing remixes on SoundCloud. Though his re-works began to get online attention rather quickly, his 2014 remix of Ellie Goulding’s “Burn,” he says, is what really ignited his musical-career path, one which has seen him top charts and play the world’s top clubs and festivals.
A classically trained musician, the 36-year-old talent (aka Dan Griffith) first played the piano growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and then eventually learned to master the guitar. After he graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in electrical engineering, he continued to gain notice for a variety of remixes and decided to pursue music professionally.
In 2016, Gryffin exploded fully onto the circuit with his first official original releases: “Heading Home” (feat. Josef Salvat) and “Whole Heart” with Bipolar Sunshine. In 2017, he collaborated with Illenium and Daya on the certified RIAA Platinum smash “Feel Good.” From there, Gryffin released a pair of well-received, full-lengths – 2019’s Gravity and 2022’s Alive – both loaded with hit singles that exemplify his “hybrid of electric and organic” musical style.
As a true king of major collaborations, Gryffin’s discography reads like a who’s who of top talents, as it includes Kygo, Quinn XCII, Elley Duhé, Zohara, Slander, Carly Rae Jepsen, OneRepublic, Gorgon City, AlunaGeorge, Aloe Blacc, Calum Scott, Tinashe, MØ, Seven Lions, Noah Kahan, and many more. He’s remixed the likes of Maroon 5, Tove Lo, Tate McRae, Years & Years, Portugal. The Man, CHVRCHES, and Troye Sivan, among others. And most recently, he collaborated with Armin van Buuren on the recent hit “What Took You So Long.”
This July, Gryffin will drop his highly anticipated third album, PULSE. As he enters his newest musical era, Gryffin’s latest singles (which also will appear on PULSE) include “Last of Us” (feat. Rita Ora), “Magic” (feat. babyidontlikeyou), and “Magnet” (with MAX & Disco Lines). And, in promoting his latest musical efforts, he’ll be welcomed by fans the world over. After tour stops in Central America and Asia, Gryffin will play residency gigs at Las Vegas’ XS Nightclub/Encore Beach Club throughout the summer, three gigs in Canada, and a prestigious outdoor show at New York City’s Forest Hills Stadium on Oct. 26 before heading off for a quick four-city jaunt through northern Europe.
As he was putting the very finishing touches on PULSE, DJ LIFE sat down with Griffith to chat about his new album, his artistic approach, and his future. Here’s how it all went down…
DJ LIFE: As a classically trained musician, did your upbringing influence your decision to pursue a career in dance music?
Gryffin: I’ve always been kind of a music kid. I didn’t really think about pursuing it as a career when I was growing up. But kind of in hindsight, I think I realized it was always kind of there for me. I listened to dance music when I was younger, but I wasn’t always listening to that genre when I was growing up. I liked listening to all kinds of music.
DJ LIFE: What types of music were you trained in early on?
Gryffin: In terms of the classical training, I was performing a lot of well-known [classical] musicians like Mozart. It was pretty intensely classical. I started doing that when I was 7-years old and all through high school. I first picked up the guitar when I was in middle school. I never really got training on my guitar; that was more me just messing around, learning as I go, and playing in friends’ garages… just kind of jamming around. A lot of my music theory and knowledge comes from the piano, for sure.
DJ LIFE: So, how did it all really begin for Gryffin the DJ/artist?
Gryffin: When I got to college, that was when I started going to raves for the first time and becoming familiar with a lot of the dance acts that I really look up to – and that heavily inspired me during that time and the early days – like Avicii, deadmau5, Swedish House Mafia, and Skrillex. All of that stuff started hitting my ears when I was a freshman and sophomore in college and I started to become obsessed with it, honestly. I started going to shows all the time and getting immersed in [the dance music and rave] culture and scene.
DJ LIFE: What were you studying in college? How did you begin actually making electronic music?
Gryffin: I was studying electrical engineering, actually, of all the degrees. As an escape from studying that kind of stuff and not really wanting to do that, I started teaching myself how to make music on Ableton Live. I downloaded it and put it on my laptop, and just started to really experiment with music. Once I felt like the music was in a decent enough place, I started uploading it to SoundCloud, but at that point the ceiling of what I thought was going to happen was just maybe some of my buddies would play [my music] at apartment parties in college. Hopefully, some of my friends would think it was cool [laughs].
DJ LIFE: But it became more than that, right?
Gryffin: Yeah, and then, a lot of my remixes started getting uploaded to YouTube. Back in the day, there was this website called Hype Machine [a music aggregator with popular charts], and a bunch of my stuff then started charting on there. From there, it all just sort of snowballed. I then started getting messages from record labels, saying: “Hey, we really like your stuff,” or “Hey, would you remix a song by so-and-so artist?” That’s when I started actually getting financially compensated for doing these remixes and edits.
DJ LIFE: Were you also DJing and playing gigs during this time?
Gryffin: All of these fraternities would ask me to play at shows, but at that time I still had minimal DJ experience. I was still trying to figure it out because I never really thought [any of this] was gonna happen, but it just kind of evolved from there. It got to the point where I was graduating from college and was debating moving to the Bay Area to get a job in engineering. Do I want that life, or do I want to try to make it in music? I then had a few scary conversations with my parents… I had an employer that was supposed to hire me, but I ultimately decided to go for music, and I never looked back!
DJ LIFE: When you first started producing dance music, was it similar to the style that you’re making now?
Gryffin: I would say that I released some music on SoundCloud, which was house-music kind of stuff. But I was just making a lot of random instrumental beats for a while, I guess I would say. I think the first one that got attention was a remix I did of Ellie Goulding’s “Burn,” which was the first real remix that I put up on SoundCloud. That was the first one that really just popped within the first few days that I put it out. I remember, I had just been putting random beats on SoundCloud for a while.
DJ LIFE: What can you tell us about your DAW now?
Gryffin: I’m still working in Ableton Live. I’ll cut vocals a decent amount in Avid’s Pro Tools, and I work with a lot of producers that use Logic as well. So, I primarily use Ableton Live, but I’d say it’s my favorite and most comfortable DAW that I use. But yeah, I still rock Ableton, mostly!
DJ LIFE: Any favorite or go-to plug-ins? Studio essentials?
Gryffin: Honestly, my setup is pretty “in the box.” I’ll sure use some hardware gear and analog compressions if I’m doing vocals in the studio, but at home it’s pretty DIY. In terms of synths, [Xfer Records] Serum is probably the most comfortable and versatile one that I use a lot of. I also really like the U-he products – I use Diva and Hive a lot now. I use a lot of FabFilter stuff, KiloHearts stuff, and Native Instruments stuff. A lot of the time – maybe not so much on this upcoming album – I’ve always had guitar kind of be a big feature in my tracks. If I’m trying to get a sound or a vibe out quickly, I’ll just grab my guitar. If I’m trying to get a more realistic signal, I use the Kemper Profiler a lot for guitar emulations.
DJ LIFE: Let’s go back to your earlier days of DJing. Any early memories from that time? What did you learn on?
Gryffin: I first learned on some old-school Technics with Serato. That was actually how I first learned, and then moved up to Pioneer CDJs a little bit later. I honestly don’t have too many memories outside of feeling like I messed up a shit-ton of times in the beginning… [laughs]. But I don’t think anybody is really great in the beginning. I just think that’s just the growing pains of learning how to DJ. I think more than anything, DJing is more about set flow and how to read a room. You can see what kind of stuff is hitting that night and sort of be able to pivot off that and run with that, especially if it’s going a different way than you planned. Back then, I was super-structured – I would make the playlist and not divert from that playlist [laughs]. Now, I can easily maneuver through music depending on how a set goes. I guess that would be one of the biggest differences between [DJing] then and now. It’s different for me because I would say I’m definitely a producer first. I do enjoy DJing, for sure, but the production stuff always came first.
DJ LIFE: That said, what’s your current DJ set-up like for shows?
Gryffin: It’s pretty simple. I just have the Pioneer DJ DJM-3000s and usually have the Pioneer DJM-A9 [4-channel] mixer, but lately I’ve been seeing the DJM-V10 [6-channel mixer] a lot, which is pretty cool. It’s really cool for back-to-back sets. It’s crazy how much more conducive those are for back-to-backs.
DJ LIFE: Who have you done a recent back-to-back set with on the DJM-V10?
Gryffin: I did one with Armin van Buuren during Miami Music Week, actually. That was my last one, but it was super-fun! Armin’s such a good DJ that it made me feel like, “Whoa, I’ve got a lot to learn still…” [laughs]. Seeing how good and versatile he is, that was really cool… just being able to go back-to-back with a legend like that. That was also my first experience with the V10, where I was like: “Wow, this is actually game-changing for back-to-backs.”
DJ LIFE: You said it… Armin van Buuren is a true legend. What was it like working with him on the “What Took You So Long” single?
Gryffin: Yeah, he’s super-cool, and I actually should have mentioned him earlier when we were talking about inspirations, because he’s definitely one of my inspirations, too. He’s definitely somebody that I’ve always looked up and always loved his music. We sort of connected in Chicago at a festival. I think it was post-COVID, so maybe ’21 or ’22. We got to hang out and just talk music for a little bit. We were talking about which of each other’s tracks we really liked, and stuff like that. Honestly, we’ve been trying to do a studio session for the longest time, and he happened to be there for this perfect window.
DJ LIFE: Did you get to work on that one together in the studio or was it a virtual collab?
Gryffin: It’s actually crazy because that entire song was actually created in one double session – that’s what I would call it. I showed up around 11 a.m. to this house in Hollywood, Calif., that [Armin] had rented. We essentially wrote the actual song – two of us and three other writers – on the guitar. It was almost like an uptempo, folkish track. I don’t even really know how to describe it… I would have to play you the original demo. It’s actually not electronic at all. It was a simple kick drum, four-to-the-floor beat, with this cool guitar riff. We wrote the entire song in the first three or four hours. After that, the writers left, and Armin was in his headphones for a bit, while I was bouncing out the files. When he unplugged his headphones, he said, “What do you think of this kind of beat over it?” That’s when he played me the beginning drum-loop vibe for what ended up becoming the song.
DJ LIFE: What did you think right away?
Gryffin: I was like: “Oh shit, that’s actually super-fire!” He asked me: “Do you want to work on this right now?” And I was like, “I’ll cancel my dinner plans!” He had an Exchange show later that night, and he was down to stay if I was, so we just worked another five or six hours and built the track together, which was super-cool! If you listen to the track now and listen to what was bounced at 8 p.m. that night, before he left for his show, it’s pretty similar. Obviously, the mix is better, but it’s essentially the song. That’s honestly super-rare that things happen that fast. Usually, if I’m doing a collab, there’s so much back and forth, and it can take months, and even then, sometimes the song never comes out. It was really cool! I definitely had no real expectations heading into that morning, other than just being excited to work with him, But it’s cool that it came together the way that it did.
DJ LIFE: Do you tend to prefer doing your collabs in-person rather than virtually?
Gryffin: Yeah, I like it when the vibes are good and everybody is excited about a song, in-person, it’s a pretty electric feeling… just feeling that energy with everybody in the room vibing and on the same wavelength. So, I guess it would be in-person for me because of those moments that can be a pretty magical feeling when it happens. I will say, though, that a lot of the songs that I’ve done have been remote, just because we’re always so busy all the time, or in a different country, or whatever the case may be. Most of the work I do is remote, but that was a special one. It’s my favorite situation when you’re in a session and there’s ideas flowing, things are happening at the same time – it’s a very magnetic experience.
DJ LIFE: When did you first start working on your new album, PULSE?
Gryffin: I started working on it late last summer. I was working on “Magic,” which was recently released. That was sort of one of the ones that kind of gave me a direction and a creative boost or jolt. That was when I decided that I wanted the album to feel more like this and to go dancier and clubbier than I had gone previously. It was sort of the catalyst for what inspired a lot of PULSE. It was around August or September of [2023], that I really started getting into high gear. That was when I made so many tracks that aren’t going on the album, too, but it was fun to just make a ton of music. That hadn’t happened for me in a while, where I was just cranking out records left and right. Sometimes when you’re in a creative rut; it’s hard to finish records, honestly. You might be able to put a bunch of ideas together, but once you finish it, you aren’t feeling inspired enough by it.
DJ LIFE: How many songs did you create during the album-making process this time around?
Gryffin: I was really making a ton of music, so it felt really good to just have fun making music again and not overthink shit. I would say I made about 50 solid ideas and finished tracks; I would say in the thirties. The final album will end up being, like, half of that.
DJ LIFE: Included on the album is your recent hit “Last of Us” with Rita Ora. How did the song come together and was Rita always going to be on the record?
Gryffin: [“Last of Us”] was really fun to make, as well! These guys, Billen Ted, producers out of the U.K. that I’ve been friends with for a really long time, actually, hit me up early in the morning my time and late in London. They sent me a cool idea they were working on, which was them and Ruth-Anne [Cunningham] was on the vocals at the time. She’s made a lot of cool songs; I think she actually wrote “In The Name Of Love” by Martin Garrix and Bebe Rexha. She was the original vocalist on it. The guys sent me this pluck melody with her voice on it. I remember I hit them back up immediately asking for the vocal ASAP. From there, I basically just started producing it. This one was remote, so, I basically built out the track, sent it back and forth to Billen Ted for a while, and once we got it to a place that felt really strong and good, we messaged Rita.
DJ LIFE: You were a fan…
Gryffin: Yes, Rita is somebody who my team and her team have been trying to work on a song for a long time. There were a few songs that were almost ready to go, to be honest, but scheduling-wise or creatively, we couldn’t get on the same page with some other ones. But this one, she was super-pumped and excited to be a part of. She actually ended up cutting it in London a week later, added a second verse, and took to the song to another level. I love Ruth’s voice so much, but Rita brought a special sauce to it that really elevated the track to another level. It was really fun to work with Rita on it… her voice is super fucking good! I haven’t seen her since the record came out, but we have something special planned coming up shortly. It’s been fun to be part of a record with somebody as talented as her, for sure.
DJ LIFE: How has the album-making process changed for you from your first two LPs, Gravity [2019] and Alive [2022]?
Gryffin: That is a great question! I would say with PULSE, things were more intentional – I think that’s the best word I would use to describe this one. I think when I was making Gravity, I kind of had no idea what I was doing, to be honest. I’m actually very proud of that album and how it was able to come together. I had never made an album before, so I had just kind of announced that I was going to make an album back then. I was also touring so heavily and grinding non-stop that when I had one or two days off, I would go into the studio to work on music. We kind of released that album single to single, all the way up to the album drop date, and just put the last three or four tracks on and called it a day. It was very much, I don’t know, “throw and go.” We put it together over the course of a year and a half. Alive was kind of similar in that regard too because I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do post-Gravity, post-COVID, and all that kind of stuff. I was still touring a lot and trying to finish records up, whereas PULSE, once I made “Magic” last year, I had a vision for what I wanted PULSE to be and what I wanted it to sound like. In a lot of ways, it’s the most cohesive and conceptual album that I’ve ever done, which has been cool. It’s not been like it was during the first two albums, which is a lot of fun as a creative… especially when you have a vision at that time and then you’re able to execute it.
DJ LIFE: What’s this year been like for you on the gigs and live-show front and what’s to come?
Gryffin: Shows have been great! It’s chill this week, which is really nice [laughs]. It’s going to get really busy through the summer, with a big U.S. tour coming in the fall. There’s going to be a lot more international touring this year. I’ll actually be going to Australia for the first time, which I’m really excited about. I’m going to Europe in three or four different trips, and the same thing with Asia. It’s been fun to think more globally about the music and touring because it’s fun; it’s fun to be in different countries with different cultures. It’s not only very exciting, but it’s also creatively inspiring. Doing more global stuff has been a focus of mine, not for just this year, but moving forward. It’s a little daunting looking at my schedule, but I’m really looking forward to it!
DJ LIFE: What has been one of your most memorable or proudest career moments?
Gryffin: Putting out Gravity, I would say, was a really proud moment for me. Putting out my first album was a big deal for me because I came from the “remix world,” which then evolved into making my own original music. My first original song was also a big milestone for me because it was my first – I felt like it was a big step for me creatively, to start putting out my own music. The first time I played Coachella was also a big milestone moment for me. Some international festivals have also been milestones for me. I actually played Fuji Rock Festival [in Japan] last summer, which was unbelievable.
DJ LIFE: Which artists make it onto your top-three dream collaborator list?
Gryffin: I think Calvin Harris is the greatest hitmaker of our generation. I think producing with Jamie xx would be really cool because he’s so talented as a producer – insanely talented. I’ve also always been a big Disclosure fan, so I think it would be really cool to produce with them.
DJ LIFE: You’ve already accomplished so much in your career, do you have any other bucket-list items – goals, milestones, etc.?
Gryffin: I think in terms of accolades or awards, I’d say that a Grammy Award is on my radar. That’s definitely an achievement I’d be excited about. In terms of artists, I always feel that I’m very fortunate to work with very talented artists, so it would be cool to be able to continue that. There are also a few talented dance-music producers who I’d like to work with that I haven’t yet, as well as a few songwriters who really inspire me. As far as touring and venues, I’ve been doing Red Rocks Amphitheatre for a few years now, which was a huge bucket-list thing for me. I’m going to be announcing some arena shows in the U.S. for the first time soon, which has also always been a checklist for me in my career. Those would be the immediate goals at the top of my mind.
