What is your name?
Hi my name is Youssef Atlam, but I go by Toola.
What is your genre of music?
I’d say my genre is definitely under the umbrella of house music, it does however change from tech house, afro house, and deep house.
Give us a little bio about you.
I’m originally from Egypt, I study electrical engineering in college right now, and I like my coffee black.
What made you go into music?
I honestly just really enjoy the process of creating “something from nothing” and I was always into dance music growing up. Plus when I started DJing, I always wanted to play my own tracks, so that’s probably what gave the push I guess.
Who are your influences?
I have a lot of musical influences, from Jamie Jones to Diplo to Alex Turner to Mark Ronson and seriously the list could go on and on. But my number one influencer is definitely my mom.
Are you a signed?
Nope…
You released your single ‘La Ola’, tell us more about the single.
The “idea” behind the track came to me when I was in Mexico, I was getting food from this taco truck and a mariachi band approached the truck. The tango guitar and groove really stood out to me, and I really wanted to add that sound in a track. So I went back to LA and found a really old record that I could sample, and just started building the track.
Describe the track in two words.
Minimal Mariachi
What was the writing and recording process like?
Vocal wise, it took me a while to find a record that I could sample and that also had that perfect sound that I wanted. The drums were really fun to make, because I always wanted to make that 909 Latin groove, but the hardest part was definitely the guitar though. I wanted to record a very catchy guitar rhythm but I honestly can’t play the guitar that fast. So I recorded it at half speed and then quantized everything so it went with the groove of the drums. It was also really hard to make an acoustic guitar sound like a latin/tango one, but I was able to do that by adding a guitar vst on top of the guitar recording.
Who did you work with on the single?
Me myself and I
Will we see a music video for ‘La Ola’ and if so what can we expect from the creative process?
Probably not, you’ll probably just see me playing it over and over again at parties if I’m being honest.
Will we see an EP or Album and if so, what can we expect from it?
November 19th, I’m gonna independently drop an EP with some tracks that I’ve been testing out this summer. You can expect more of a melodic upbeat afro house that’s for sure.
What else can we expect in 2022?
For the rest of 2022, I’m still gonna release a couple singles here and there, and just get as many shows as I can!
Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years?
In 5 years I hope to have built more of a musical name/vibe for myself. Hopefully I’ll be playing to more people in different countries and obviously still making music.
What quote or saying do you always stick by?
Don’t take things too serious
When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget?
Flashdrives, headphones, friends, tequila, and a ride home
Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you?
Instagram
Soundcloud
Spotify
