Gryffin is my new favorite artist and not just because he’s hot
From electric engineer to DJ, record producer, and musician
On Saturday, Dan Griffith, AKA Gryffin, performed at a venue he's always dreamed of. Last night, the 30-year-old DJ, record producer and musician tore up Terminal 5 with a sold out show on his Castle in the Sky Tour.
Before the concert, The Tab sat down with Gryffin and found out how he went from electrical engineering to performing sold out concerts for hundreds of thousands of loyal fans.
A Bay area resident who now resides in Los Angeles, California, Gryffin attended the University of Southern California where he majored in electrical engineering. He quickly replaced engineering with music when he graduated.
“I’ve been into music since I was young. When I got to school, I got into dance music hearing Skrillex, Deadmau5, Swedish House Mafia, and Avicii and they were making great music so I was inspired” Gryffin said. “I immersed myself into that world and started releasing music on SoundCloud and the internet but I never expected it to become a career.”
By the time Gryffin finished school, he began making a career out of his passion and opted to go the route of music rather than electrical engineering. He began touring in January of 2015 and now has over 250,000,000 streams on Spotify, 100,000 followers on Facebook, 20,000 followers on Twitter, and 186,000 followers on SoundCloud.
“My first original song was Heading Home back in early 2015,” Gryffin said. “My inspiration comes from everywhere – traveling and seeing new places is very inspiring for me creatively but in terms of artists, it always changes, but I’ve been inspired by Calvin Harris’ production styles and Skrillex even though our sound design is different because the color he uses for music is very inspiring.”
Gryffin has been playing, on average, four to five shows this bus tour. “Five minutes before every show I get nervous, otherwise I’m pretty chill before the show and conserve my energy to let it all out when I’m on stage, but then I get on stage and that all goes away. I just make sure to go to the bathroom so I don’t have to go in the middle of a show,” Gryffin said. “I always try to make my music very electronic, but also give it an organic element; I want it to be emotional and uplifting and make you feel good, so as long as I’m doing that I feel proud of the work I’m putting out.” He’s performed at many festivals including Coachella, Governor’s Ball, Lollapalooza, and Ultra Music Festival.
“It’s really important to have a music identity and a vision of what people get out of your music and what you want to say as an artist,” Gryffin said. “The biggest challenge is still wanting to keep your sound intact and getting all the vibes I want to give off, but not getting complacent and make sure I push myself as an artist.”
If Gryffin could play one of his own songs on repeat, it’d be “Nobody Compares to You,” his newest single. “When the production was done, I almost fell in love with the song more," he said. "I love everything about the lyrical content and what it’s about and I think it’s a song that will grow on people.”
If you couldn't go to the show last night, follow Gryffin on Instagram and check out his latest music on Spotify or SoundCloud to get a glimpse of what you missed!