You couldn’t find a more unassuming pair of beat bullies than DJ Drastik and Tom Wrecks, collectively known as the production team Thugli.

Picture this: two friendly, unassuming kids from Ottawa with a penchant for skateboarding and scratching records move to the big city. They reveal their “ugli” alter-egos to a bewildered public. Haunting rap adlibs with bottomless bass and gnarly synths fill the airwaves. Public willfully submits. No one saw it coming, but they did. All hail the trap gods.

After a whirlwind of free single releases, instant blog love, endorsements and spins from the cutting edge of EDM, and performances halfway around the world, the duo sit down to reflect on Thugli’s sudden growth spurt, the extended family that supports them, and the environment that nurtures them.

The Thugli project has been a great success since its official coming out last year. How would you sum up the progress and growth that has come from this artistic venture?

Your introduction to the trap scene came at the same time as all of the household names were coming up: RL Grime/Bauuer/Flosstradamus. Was this the perfect storm of bringing your past production efforts into this new slowed down project?

Drastik: We were making a lot of 70 bpm dirty south sounding stuff with dance music a long time ago. There just wasn't any kind of lane for it. It's only now that it's become viable. So now that we've gotten together, it's feel like it's the right time now. We could actually take it somewhere beyond, "Oh hey listen to this fun little thing that I could never play in the club." Now we can play it, and people are going to go crazy.

What is the discerning quality that separates the Thugli sound from every other artist putting out trap projects?

Tom: I think because we've been making this style of music for a long time. The times have caught up and everything has aligned. It's not like we jumped on a bandwagon and started making the music that's relevant at this moment in time.

Drastik: We have a unique sound in the trap world compared to most. We're not into making the heaviest trap ever with most annoying noise. We've carved a certain sound that might mesh well with the RL Grime and Baauer but it's still unique. We have might have figured out our sound because we've been doing it for so long. We know where we want to take it. We're not doing the same cookie cutter stuff that comes out.

Tom: I think being turntablists and coming from DJ battles you can get sense of aggression in our music.

Would I be wrong in describing Thugli's sound as having an aggressive nature to it? It's indicative of trap music, but is it also Thugli's particular angle?

Pat: When we were competing, we used to enjoy using aggressive music. That was my shit. That translates to our current music. And it's also a fitting genre to be aggressive. That's what kids want nowadays, too. People want something they can make a scrunchy face to.

Tom: It's like the new version of punk rock. Like wild out and rage type music. We grew up on a lot of feel good stuff too: we were house heads, neo-soul, etc. But Thugli became this umbrella where we could do all our "beat you up through the speakers" type music.

Tell me about the circle of artistry that has evolved from the EH Team DJ's collective. It's gone beyond party rocking, and now many of the founding members have their own side projects that are coming into their own. It's like Eh Team 2.0.

Pat: We all came together as party DJ's. The majority of us have turntablist backgrounds. It's like natural progression: this one thing worked for a while, we still love doing it, but what it was like "what could we do next?" It wasn't anything we collectively decided on. We were all doing individual work: me (and Tom) with Thugli, Illo is making his own records, Hedspin is getting more into production, Grandtheft is doing really well, and Keys'N'Krates (DJ Jr Flo's live band) We can only make party edits and tour the country so many times. It's a new form of expression.

It's cool that we're all still super homies that work together after the party. For example, me and Jr. Flo would be booked for a party, then we would be in the studio the next day making remixes for each other. The chemistry translates from performing to the studio then back into performing. The family is still a family but on this next journey.

Is there any one guy that everyone takes an example from or is it a collective brain trust?

Drastik: It's definitely inspiration. When you see someone close to you doing something awesome, it's total inspiration to do the same. It gives you ideas, and pushes you to do the next cool thing. It's cool to have a team of close homies that are like-minded striving towards the same goal.

Tom: It takes me back to the days when we first started DJ'ing, and one of our friends would learn a certain scratch. Then you'd go home and practice all week to figure it out. When your homey does something cool and you're like, "Hey, I wanna do that too!"

I feel like Toronto is such a melting pot for so much cool stuff. I think Toronto doesn't understand its potential. That's why sometimes guys like us set up shop and see the potential more than some that were born and raised here. It's such an amazing city, and there are so many influences left and right, no matter what genre of music, or artform you do, or culture you come from. (Toronto) has really inspired us in the past year.

Drastik: That's the only reason why I came here: to work on music. I was kind of stuck in a rut back home, and no one really to super inspire me. There was Illo, but he's a family man, so I didn't get to see him that often. I needed something to give me that extra push. Upon coming here, everything changed right off the bat. I was working on music every day. I quit smoking. I work out. Life has completely changed. Toronto has a lot to do with us doing something a bit greater. Coming from a smaller city, you kind of know the opportunities around you, and you'd want to work that much harder when you're here. Maybe even to prove people back home wrong.

Tom, you’ve established a signature party in the city with ITZSOWEEZEE. Musically, it has distinct electronic music roots, but has the capability of going any direction you wish. Now three years running, tell us about its origins and why it’s become such a staple with the party community.

Tom: Itzoweezee started as a family of people that wanted to throw a party and it mutated into a blog where we post up music that we're feeling. Pre-Thugli, I was able to test out a lot of music I was working on, which has now become the music we're making.

Pat: It's also the family that makes good music that influences us as well. And it keeps evolving and stays open to what's next. We try to keep it moving with new sounds.

Thugli is still relatively young, but you have already scored some cool international bookings. How is the trap scene abroad and how is your sound being received when you travel?

Pat: We had done L.A. last November, when we were first coming into our own. We played with dudes that we're now super tight with and have built relationships across the border. We were in Hong Kong back in March, which was amazing. To be on the other side of the world and know that people are giving you the same love as you get back home is pretty mind blowing. Like they recognize, by the keys being played, that "What Happened" is coming in, and everyone's reacting. And you think, "Is this because the song invokes that reaction? No wait, these people actually know the song!" It's cool to see that come to fruition.

You must be pleased with the way people are receiving your music and artistic vision so quickly in this age of instant information.

Pat: It's not like we're pushing our music to labels, and A'n'R's are pushing vinyl. It's just us, right to the internet, and right into people's stereos in like Japan. Sometimes we look at our webstats and we're blown away by where we're getting plays. We've gotten clicks in like Abu Dhabi…

Tom: Shout out to Uzbekistan!

Pat: Places I've never heard before in my entire life giving us plays. It's a super trip. It's such an easy way to build fans nowadays. Usually in an hour, we can have a couple thousand plays.

Tom: A couple years ago, I remember making the Kanye West "Love Lockdown” remix, and all it took was sending an email to my boy Benzi in the States, and then getting an email from Kanye's team saying, "Ye is going crazy in the studio over your remix!" And I was like what? Who? Huh? When that happened, I realized the power of the internet. It's like the world's biggest record label. It's what you make it.

Pat: It's crazy how you can reach out to your hero like that whereas before you had to spend money to press up vinyl to give away to these people.

What are the next logical steps in the grand Thugli scheme?

Pat: Today we had a few remixes submitted for Dim Mak and Maybach Music. But I think the next logical step would be to put out an official EP on a proper label. More remixes, more bootlegs, and original tracks. We have a video for the track "Run This" from the Onslaught EP. It's being directed by Amos LeBlanc, who did work with Autoerotique.

Tom: Now that we've established our sound, we'd like to collaborate with artists and establish relationships in this beautiful music scene that's happening in the world. We'd like to step up our work ethic to a Beyonce level. We have just as many minutes in the day as she does.

Pat: Those are our days now. Since moving here, both of us have changed our lifestyle. We've been professional DJ's for a decade - with part time jobs here and there - which is dope because it frees up our days. So now we've flipped it so our 9-5 is now music. We're all in. Any day we have free we can do whatever but we do make it a point together and be productive. Since we've been doing that, that's one of the main reasons we've been so successful. We've had our heads in the books, and been persistent. It's hard to force creativity, but there's so much more to get done as Thugli to progress. I really take that part seriously.