Cruzin’ to Groovin’: Four frat bros to play Soundgarden Hall

Meet Cruzko, a group of four Media Studies and Production majors and brothers of Sigma Alpha Mu turned music and media production company.

The team is made up of junior Zach Brewington, senior Matt Burns, junior Rob Ortega and senior Yonah Rosman.

The Tab sat down with the hottest group on campus to learn more about their move from the a basement on Broad to the big leagues.

All four guys have been into music their whole lives. Boston native Yonah played drums and piano before beginning to DJ in college. Matt, from Doylestown, started playing drums as a kid and played music throughout high school, which was when he realized he wanted to be a part of the production side of music.

Rob, from the Poconos, started his music career playing guitar, trumpet, drums and piano at a young age and began to DJ in tenth grade, starting with sweet sixteen parties and moving on to weddings and venues. Zach, also from the Poconos, grew up in a musical household full of jazz, blues and Latin music which helped him to shape his love of music and dream of wanting to be a rapper.

“Finding people to share my passion with was definitely exactly what I needed,” said Yonah. “My college experience has been going to class and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life but realizing it was right in front of me. It’s something I’m good at and something I love.”

Rob and Matt began Cruzko in the spring of 2014. The guys, originally a big/little pair, realized they shared similar music tastes as well as a passion for making music. They would DJ together at fraternity parties. They later asked Yonah to manage them and he became a part of the production side as well as a DJ. Zach, a photographer by trade, moved in with Matt and Rob which brought a whole different dimension to their work as a company.

“We each have different strengths which is what makes us work so well together and grow as a company,” said Matt.

Cruzko’s musical success has been measured by both the 20,000 plays on their three mashups on SoundCloud and the gigs they’ve booked. The guys have DJ’d at Lit Ultrabar and the Raven Lounge.

Cruzko also had the huge opportunity to play the after party for Mad Decent Block Party at Soundgarden Hall. They got the gig after the booking manager heard their music on SoundCloud and asked if they were interested in playing. More recently, Cruzko asked the booking manager if he had any availability for them to perform and they were given an opening slot for Tommy Trash’s Soundgarden show on Saturday, December 5.

If that show goes well, the guys could be offered a more permanent spot at Soundgarden as an opening act.

“The most consistent thing we do is DJing at Sammy Saturday’s. They’re not very professional but they’re a lot of fun,” said Rob. “It’s still a good way to get our name out there to all of the different people who come to our house on the weekends.”

On top of all of the music work they’ve done, they filmed an infomercial for Diamond Cutz Barber Shop, a wrap up video for Electric Forest and sold merchandise as a way to get their friends involved in their work.

What’s next for the guys? Original music on top of their mashups is what they would like to do. “We’re still looking for our sound. We’re into a huge range of EDM with a bunch of different genres, but for Cruzko we want something unique that represents our taste as well,” said Yonah. “This past semester we honed in on that and it’s a combination of deep house, future house and tropical.”

Booking more shows is another goal, hopefully to secure a spot at Rumor Night Club in Center City or open for a show at the Fillmore.

For tickets to see the guys of Cruzko open for Tommy Trash, click here.

Follow them for photos and updates, follow @teamcruzko on Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat or on Facebook.

Check out their SoundCloud here.