EDM star Com Truise ports at Williwaw Friday night
*Courtesy photograph
When 32-year-old Seth Haley was growing up in a small town in upstate New York, he didn't think in a million years that he would one day be spinning Electronic Dance Music (EDM) all over North America and Europe.
“My family had a piano growing up but I was never really into music. I was much more into sports. I played football and wrestled and ran track so my musical journey was kind of interesting,” said Haley during a phone interview.
Although Haley had fallen in love with some English EDM acts by the time he was a teenager, it wasn't until a chance encounter of the musical kind that he developed his passion.
“For the most part, [EDM] wasn't very prevalent in my town. When I went to high school, there wasn't a lot of kids listening to electronic music and I kind of stumbled into it randomly. I remember being at a family friend's house and I heard a drum and bass song on one of the cable channels - I had been listening to the Chemical Brothers and Fat Boy Slim up until that point - when I heard the drum and bass though, that's when I knew I wanted to do something with the music,” recalls Haley.
He received his first set of turntables when he was 15 and while he continued to play with the pulsing bass and drum beats that had first inspired him, it would take another 10 years before he would transition into his alter ego, Com Truise.
“I was working full-time at an advertising agency but my music had sort of started coming out and blowing up on the internet. At the time I was playing local shows around Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York. Then I got an opportunity to open for the Glitch Mob on tour, so I went to my Design Director and asked if I could take a month leave of absence and he just told me to go ride the music wave as long as I could and that's pretty much what I have been doing,” said Haley.
In 2010, under the name Com Truise, Haley released his first album “Cyanide Sisters” with Amdiscs before quickly following up with a rerelease of the album under Ghostly International. A testament to Haley's prodigious productivity, he released three more albums in just four years.
“I started with the drum and bass music and I remember I got to the point where I got overwhelmed and too focused on learning all of the new techniques - like I was always trying to race people and I was losing the fun in writing,” explained Haley who took a brief hiatus from recording in 2014.
In 2017, Haley dropped his long awaited album “Iteration” which Pitchfork.com described as “arguably the closest you can come to a TRON-like experience of total immersion.”
The comparison is apt, as Haley himself acknowledges his nod to the timeless music and films of the 80s.
“I think this Com Truise project really is a culmination of my love for science fiction, ambient music and really strong beats with really nostalgic, melodic compositions. It's definitely a blend of where I've come from,” said Haley.
The nostalgic feeling of an 80s club is one Alaskan promoters, Showdown Productions, are counting on. The local music mavens have paired up with local light designers to create a spectacular show a la the neon world of TRON to accompany Haley's performance at Williwaw.
Of course the light show isn't the only thing that has Haley excited to make his return to the Last Frontier.
“This is going to be my second time up to Alaska and I am very excited to return! Last time I had a blast and got to play the Anchorage Museum and they made this whole big thing out of it. This time I am also playing in Fairbanks and I think we are going to drive through Denali so I am really excited,” gushed Haley.
*Originally published by the Anchorage Press
