ShyGhy revels in first festival appearance, discusses Dimitri Vegas mentorship at High Ground Music Festival [Interview]

by: Cameron DeFaria Oct 27, 2021

In an exclusive on-site interview at High Ground Music Festival, burgeoning electronic act ShyGhy opened up to Dancing Astronaut about his first festival appearance. Prior to the pandemic, the 25-year-old talent garnered hefty support from Dimitri Vegas‘ Smash The House Records. Having recently opened for Flux Pavilion at Academy LA, ShyGhy exhibited nothing but sheer enthusiasm to be performing live once again.

“When I first started releasing with [Smash The House Records], we were planning on doing some shows. But sadly, COVID-19 hit and everything kind of got washed away. [Academy LA] was the first real show back at a club or a venue. It was definitely a really good experience,” he said.

Billed alongside Snakehips, Louis Futon, Kasbo, and Chet Porter, among others, ShyGhy played an entirely original set during his performance on the Levitate Stage at High Ground. “Every song I played was my own music, and I’d say around 60% of my set was unreleased music that I plan on releasing soon. There are definitely some tracks that I now want to take back to the studio to refine, but I played a lot of new music today to see if people like it or not,” he remarked.

ShyGuy first came into contact with his mentor, Dimitri Vegas, after sending over a demo with his uncle’s assistance. “It actually started because my uncle is friends with him. My uncle basically said to me, ‘I’m going to give you one opportunity to send Dimitri a song,'” ShyGuy explained. “And then we got on a phone call the next day.”

From then on, Vegas began mentoring the budding talent, offering “a lot of personal, good information that probably would have taken [ShyGhy] a lot of years to figure out on [his] own.”

The young producer has been at it for more than nine years. He ran through a handful of different artist projects and names until he landed on and eventually stuck with ShyGhy. “After nine-and-a-half years of producing and playing some small shows, stepping on a plane to fly to a state I’ve never been to to play a festival was the coolest experience to me,” he said. “It’s just an amazing feeling being able to play music that people enjoy in different states. It’s an unexplainable feeling.”

If there’s one artist that ShyGuy would be exhilarated to collaborate with, it would be Seven Lions. “I think Seven Lions is probably one of the most talented artists in the world. He’s my biggest inspiration,” he added. Having played World of Warcraft for quite sometime, ShyGhy explained that he “initially found [Seven Lions] while watching videos about the game before [he] was even famous. To me, he makes the best electronic music in the world. So if I could sit down in the studio with him? That would be life-changing,” ShyGuy reflected. Seven Lions, if you’re reading this, then you’re now equipped to change the life of a young producer.

As ShyGhy prepares to announce new tour dates, stream his latest single, “Can’t Let Go,” below.