FEATURE: PROJECT 46
“It’s a two way street,” Shaw added. “The other thing that really gave us a strong point
is that Henderson and I have very similar personalities. We get along with a lot of things,
but we also clash on many things. We are both pretty proud people and ambitious. We will
each have an idea, clash about it, fight it out, and usually that resolves into something
magnificent.”
Whatever they’re doing to work together, it’s clearly showing through their quick success.
Recently, the guys toured North America with Morgan Page Presents Tour. Ready to explore
emerging dance markets all over the world, they’re hot off a multi-city tour in India.
After constant shows the past few weeks, the guys are happy to be back in Canada and are
ready to roll out some new stuff.
“When you produce music you want to be in your comfort zone,” said Henderson. “For me
it’s at home with my family. For Shaw it’s at home in his parents’ basement. When I’m at
home for two or three days it’s where I’m the most comfortable. That’s where we can be the
most creative and get the most work done as well.”
Shaw agrees, saying getting production done on the road is extremely hard for him.
“It’s impossible to sleep and if you are exhausted you can’t work,” he said. “It’s really hard
to find time to put on FL Studio plug in your headphones and make quality music.”
Their number-one Beatport track, Reasons ft. Andrew Allen, gave them a much deserved
breakthrough. Now, festivalgoers and EDM fans everywhere can be heard belting out Last
Chance by Kaskade and Project 46 whenever any DJ plays the track. Kaskade himself often
opens his sets with the track and it has a top spot on his newest album, Atmosphere.
Giving fans a full Project 46 album is long overdue.
“The unique thing about the album is 12 new tracks, 14 in total. 12 tracks all having
acapellas. “ said Henderson. “It’s going to have a lot of life.”
On their Facebook page, Project 46 posted two of their most recent acapellas and asked
fans if they wanted to collaborate with them. Fans posted over 100 comments offering
feedback, showing support, and linking to versions they’ve remixed themselves.
Acapellas, pretty vocals, and a sound that you want to sway to is something they definitely
want to keep up and fans of the current tracks released by Project 46 can look forward to
loving the new stuff.
Shaw promises lots of vocals, specifically female, saying “It gives us an identity.”
“You can have a strong melody that identifies a song, like Clash or Reload, but I think a
vocal takes a track and turns it into an actual song,” Henderson adds. “It makes [the track]
timeless.”
Shaw says when it comes to sound, the hard-style type of electro house music doesn’t really
work for them.
“I don’t know if it’s our sets or the way we take them, but the hard stuff doesn’t really work,”
he said. “We had a vote of what should our next releases be. We played four tracks. One was
an electro-house track, kind of like Tommy Trash meets Knife Party. One was the Hardwell,
W&W style. And the two others were more like our kind of stuff. One was Motionless and
one was an orchestral progression into a drop. Those went head to head! The others got
like 5 votes.”
Jumping onto the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs List at number 70 this year, Project 46 is obviously
doing something right. Henderson and Shaw have focused on breaking into the
international dance music scene, but also honor their Canadian roots. Whereever they go,
the duo says their heart is in Canada.
“Well we are biased, but Vancouver is my favorite city in the world,” said Shaw.
“Canada has been my favorite country in the world, and I’ve been to a lot now,” said
Henderson. “When we came back from India there was a sign that said “Welcome to
Canada.” and the first thing we did was take a picture of it. Canada is the best country in
the world.”
Canadian fans will likely agree that the love is very, very mutual.