An Interview with The Buzzing Melbourne Producer, DJ and Musician RYAN RIBACK!

Photo Credit- Filip Konikowski

Buzzing Melbourne producer, DJ, and artist Ryan Riback released his new single, “One Last Time” ft. some chick, on June 23.

The track is distributed through RBCK Records in North America along with Kontor, Spinnin, Discowax, Happy Music, and BMG, and is available to stream and purchase on all major digital retail outlets.

As an exclusive, Riback premiered the single with Billboard.com, through a YouTube video stream (here), one day prior to its official launch date. Listen to and share “One Last Time” via SoundCloud (here) or Spotify (here).

Riback has made major waves since remixing Starley’s “Call On Me” in early 2016. As he gained support from heavy hitters such as Tiësto and Kygo, the remix impressively racked up over 427.6M Spotify streams and 6.03M SoundCloud plays. Meanwhile, his January single “All That She Wants” quickly generated 4.46M Spotify streams, while Terror Jr’s “Come First” remix is at 1.75M Spotify streams. Nylon Magazine noted that “Ryan Riback takes his future ’90s house magic to it and adds some euphoria to what is otherwise a cocky bedroom eyes anthem. Riback is riding high after the success of his remix of Starley’s “Call On Me.” This remix is yet another home run. Its brightness doesn’t take away from the original’s coy playfulness; it amplifies it, rather. Turn up to this and get down behind closed doors to the other.” Ryan’s remix of Fifth Harmony’s “That’s My Girl” is at 2.45M Spotify streams, Maroon 5’s “I Don’t Wanna Know” is at 5.96M Spotify streams, and his most recent remix of Andy Grammer’s “Fresh Eyes” just crossed the 2.29 million mark. Of the latter, Idolator wrote, “It’s not easy to transform a mid-tempo bop into a banger but this works perfectly.”

“One Last Time” possesses the power to be his biggest anthem yet. Building on an acoustic sample, Riback deftly creates another dance floor hit. Be on the lookout for more from one of the world’s hottest young producers!

About the song, he comments, “‘One Last Time’ was originally an acoustic guitar-based record, but something about the vocals grabbed me. The vibe helped me translate the acoustic style into an upbeat dance tune. Lyrically, it’s a breakup song, but it doesn’t focus on the negative side of breaking up—which I really liked. I think it has the same energy as my remix for ‘Call On Me,’ but with some fresh elements. Plus, it’s a song I can call my own.”

Connect With Ryan Riback Here:

Ryan Riback’s socials:

https://twitter.com/ryanriback

https://www.facebook.com/ryanribackmusic/ 

https://www.instagram.com/ryanriback/ 

https://www.youtube.com/user/RyanRiback 

some chick’s socials:

https://twitter.com/idksomechick

Learn more about Ryan in the following All Access interview:

Thanks for your time! What are some words you would use to describe 2016? How has 2017 been treating you so far? Musically, did you approach this year any differently then you did last year? 

2016 was an incredible year. It was the year of change for me. I had come to a low point with music and had thought about giving it up. I live in Melbourne and the type of music that had become popular there wasn’t for me, so I was struggling musically. Eventually, I’d decided to give it one last try so that year I went to ADE music conference. I told myself I’d meet all the A&Rs I could and I’d volunteer to do remixes for them, as long as I could do my new style of music. “Call On Me” was one of those remixes. It came out 8 months after I did it and it just took off, completely organically. It was incredible to watch. Obviously that carried on into 2017. I still do remixes when I love the record, but now I’m working on my own music which I love.

Where does this interview find you today? Is there music playing in the background? If so, what is it? What kind of music do you listen to when you are working? What music gets you instantly out of a bad mood?

Today I’m in the studio working on music. I’m wrapping up a new remix and going back and forth on some originals. I generally listen to a lot of Spotify and whatever comes up in my discover weekly playlist. The best music to get me out of a bad mood is some flamenco guitar flavored South American music. Works every time 🙂

Growing up, did you always want to be a musician? Can you recall your earliest musical memory?

Totally! My earliest memory of being musical is playing on this pretty crappy plastic guitar that I got one birthday… must have been 3 or 4.

If you weren’t a musician today, what else could you see yourself doing? Or could you really not see yourself doing anything else? 

Tough one! I’ve always seen myself as a musician or working in music so never waivered there, but if I wasn’t able to, it would probably be something else creative, maybe comedy? Maybe a chef?

I always like to ask artists about where they came from and how that city or town has influenced them as an artist now. So how do you think your hometown of Melbourne has shaped who you are as a musician and the art that you create?

Actually, I was born in South Africa, so the early house music scene there really influenced me. I lived in London for a while and the funky house/electro era was just starting to gain momentum. Then moving to Australia 11 years ago when electro house and dance music in general was in a really strong growth period, so that influenced me a lot too!

Let’s talk about your brand new single, “One Last Time.” What was it like putting this song together? What was the inspiration for it? How is it different or similar than anything else you have put out?

Well, I’d say it’s different than anything else I’ve put out because it’s my own record! It was fun putting this one together. The main songwriters on this one did an incredible job creating a story about that last night in a relationship, when you know it’s over but you choose to not be negative about it. It’s a break up song with no anger! I asked some chick to sing on it and she absolutely nailed the sentiment of the record.

You have remixed so many amazing songs so I am curious to know what is all involved with remixing a song? What are the steps? How do you pick and choose with tracks to work on? 

Sometimes I pick a song and ask my team to find out if I can remix it, but more often than not, we’ll get a request from an artist or their team to remix their record. My team continuously tell me to make it about the music. If I love a record, even if they don’t have the right budget, or if it’s something I’d prefer to collab on, or any variation, we’ll figure the business side out. From there, I just give it a listen and if there’s something I think I can do with it, I’ll go in and play around. I usually pull the acapella off the record and start over with the production. The rest sort of depends on the record.

Can you pick a favorite song that you have remixed in the past? Are you currently looking forward to remixing anything new? 

Well, I’d probably have to say “Call on Me”! When I first heard Starley’s original version I loved it. It had organic instrumentation but lead into a dance drop which had that super catchy pitched up vocal that I used to start the track. I’m always focused on the vocalists as well and Starley has a great voice. I was pretty much left to my own devices on that record and watching it take off like it did was incredible for me!

There are definitely a few records I’d love to remix currently, so I’ve been putting the feelers out there to see which ones make sense to actually do!!

Who are some of your very favorite artists or rather, what musicians have continued to inspire you and your music? What musicians would you absolutely love to work with in the future? 

I’d have to say Kygo, The Chainsmokers, DJ Snake, Major Lazer, all really make amazing catchy music and that really inspires me. And probably working with any of them would be an amazing experience!

What do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope people continue to take away from your songs?

When I’m working on songs or records I listen for the feel of the song, which generally comes from the combination of the vocalist and the track (I don’t immediately listen to the lyrics). If it’s a sad song I want the vocalist to make me feel sad. If it’s a happy song, I want to feel happy. So, I guess, for my music, it just depends on the record.

What do you have planned for this summer? Will you have any time to play out live at all?

I have a lot of shows coming up and I plan on working on more music and remixes!

What advice would you give to someone just getting started on this music path? Or even to someone young that is thinking of becoming a musician one day?

Believe in yourself. Don’t chase someone elses sound. Figure out what you love musically, stylistically, etc and perfect that sound. If someone wants a Kygo track, Kygo is out there and can give them a Kygo track.