We The Beat presents

The Moss

w/ The Kaleidoscope Kid

at SOhO Music Club

Santa Barbara, CA

Thursday, February 2

Doors: 7pm

18+

We The Beat presents

Tourist
w/ Shane Tyler

at SOhO Music Club

Santa Barbara, CA

Thursday, February 23

Doors - 7pm

18+

In 2015, William Phillips won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year, as a co-writer for Sam Smith's 'Stay With Me.' "It's an absurd compliment," he says, "but my intention has only been to write music and work with great musicians." Since then, Phillips has released three albums as Tourist -- 2016's 'U' and 2019's 'Wild' and 'Everyday' -- and several solo EPs. He's also remixed Christine and the Queens, Churches, Deftones, Wolf Alice, Swedish House Mafia & The Weeknd and Sofia Kourtesis. In May 2022, his fourth album, 'Inside Out,' will be released on Monday Records. Growing up, Phillips fell in love with dance music: Goldie, Daft Punk and MJ Cole were favourites. In 1999, he started making beats on production software Reason; later, he taught himself piano by listening to his fathers pop records. It's a process he put to the test in the Covid-19 pandemic. After hearing the devastating news that a friend had passed away, locked down with his phone, laptop and a keyboard, Phillips started writing 'Inside Out.' Though it came from grief, 'Inside Out' is tender and uplifting, with kaleidoscopic fragments of garage grooves and French filter house. After playing Coachella and Glastonbury, opening for Bonobo on tour and selling out two nights at Village Underground, Tourist is preparing a new live show that will make his dreams come true: to feel everything, with everyone, through dance music.

We The Beat presents

Winston Surfshirt

at SOhO Music Club

Santa Barbara, CA

Tuesday, February 28

Doors: 7pm

18+

ARIA double-platinum six-piece Sydney collective Winston Surfshirt have spent the past six years establishing themselves as one of Australia’s, and the world’s, finest R&B-soul outfits. Building a dedicated fanbase off the back of two dreamy albums and a handful of unforgettable collaborations, they’re a group of unassuming cult heroes making music that’s old-school in feel and modern in style. Led by the eponymous Winston Surfshirt, the band channel a vintage kind of rock stardom, one led less by ego than by openness, earnestness, and a drive to share their music with the world. Combining a classic west coast hip-hop sound with the snap of psych-pop and sunny, uniquely Australian charm, the band are a testament to the power of the free-minded and the casually virtuosic. 

Breaking through with 2017’s “Be About You”, Winston Surfshirt have gone on to release multi-platinum singles and sell out tours across Australia and Europe. Across their two indelible full-lengths — 2017’s Sponge Cake and 2019’s Apple Crumble — they’ve built a catalog of warm, impeccably produced hits, winning praise from Zane Lowe and, amazingly, Sir Elton John, the latter of whom called them his “favourite band of the moment”. Their reputation as a bold, undeniable collective — bolstered by their status as a true live band among so many DJ-and-vocalist acts — has led to packed sets at major festivals including Splendour In The Grass and Groovin’ The Moo.

The third full-length album is out now Panna Cotta. This album sees Winston Surfshirt work with a wishlist of his favourite artists. The series of career-defining partnerships have produced 15 tracks of accomplished and star-studded material, and ultimately the record that Winston has always wanted to make. From Brooklyn royalty in Talib Kweli, to New Zealand pop icon Kimbra, Houston’s Devin the Dude, Los Angeles’ SWSH, San Francisco’s Ramirez and a wide roster of Australian-based talent in Genesis Owusu, Dope Lemon, Young Franco, Milan Ring, PRICIE and more, Panna Cotta is Winston’s pièce de résistance. 

Recorded via Winston’s UK hometown of West Sussex, known for its postcard-ready countryside of winding roads and green pastures, Panna Cotta expands the signature Surfshirt sound with a lineup of acclaimed musicians the world over. A collection of influences spanning 90s basement hip-hop to bootleg beat tapes, dusty jazz recordings and 60s psych-pop is anchored by the band’s trademark brass section, Winston’s love-song dedications and warm R&B melodies. 

PANNA COTTA LP IS OUT NOW VIA SWEAT IT OUT & BMG
BUY/STREAM HERE

We The Beat presents

An Evening With
Hiss Golden Messenger

at SOhO Music Club

Santa Barbara, CA

Wednesday, March 1

Doors: 7pm

18+

We The Beat presents
Get Lucky
A St. Paddy's Day Celebration
with Whethan
Support: Dos Lonely Boys, 
Evan Durant, Edwin Kugler,
& Fama b2b KEO
at Fergusons Downtown
Las Vegas, NV
Friday, March 17
Doors 7pm
21+

Join us FRIDAY, MARCH 17 for a St. Patrick's Day celebration at Fergusons Downtown! Featuring DJ performances from Whethan with special guests Dos Lonely Boys and support from Vegas locals Evan Durant, Edwin Kugler, and Fama b2b KEO.

Whethan Bio:
For Whethan, evolution happens in real-time. He doesn't wait around or look back. Instead, he forges ahead, making the most of not only each song, show, and album, but of every second, minute, hour, and day. The gold-selling Chicago-based artist, producer, and remixer consistently canvases new creative territory from a place of pure curiosity. Committed to constant perpetual motion, he never stops searching for peaks to summit and barriers to break. Once again, he confidently pushes forward on a series of singles and his 2021 second full-length album for Atlantic Records.
 

"I've been in the electronic music community for a while, but I'm really exploring now because I'm more comfortable with who I am," he reveals. "I'm growing up and experimenting at the same time. The music is exciting and real because of it. I want to keep evolving and reaching people who haven't heard me."
 

At this point, an awful lot of people have heard Whethan...
 

Since 2015, he has quietly emerged as an influential and inescapable force in not only the electronic genre, but popular music at large. Beyond tallying over 1 billion global streams and counting, he notably became "the young artist ever on Australia's Future Classics." He earned a gold single with "Good Nights" [feat. Mascolo] from 2018's Life of a Wallflower, Vol. 1 and notably collaborated with everyone from Dua Lipa, Charli XCX, and K.FLAY to Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine, Portugal. The Man, Jeremih, The Knocks, and Wafia. During 2020, he reached another high watermark with his debut album, FANTASY. It incited tastemaker applause courtesy of Billboard, SPIN, Earmilk, Flaunt, American Songwriter, OnestoWatch, Dancing Astronaut, EDM.com, ThisSongIsSick, and more. Along the way, he graced bills of marquee festivals such as Coachella, Lollapalooza, Outside Lands, and Electric Daisy Carnival in addition to selling out a co-headliner at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre and topping the lineup of MTV's Snowglobe Music Festival.
 

As he continued to create throughout the Global Pandemic, advice from one of his heroes, Skrillex, echoed in the back of his mind. "Skrillex told me you should make music for your inner child," he recalls. "That always stuck with me. It was a revelation. I want to always be excited about what I'm doing."
 

After touring heavily for the last few years, he maximized his time off the road. He produced five tracks on Oliver Tree's critically acclaimed debut album, Ugly Is Beautiful. Combing Soundcloud for music, he immersed himself in the burgeoning hyperpop movement at the same time. "After putting out FANTASY, I took a break from my solo material," he elaborates. "I wanted to go outside of the box and work on all types of music. I knew doing that would lead me back to music as an artist."
 

His instincts proved correct. He reached out to rising hyperpop star Glaive and genre-bending ericdoa and cooked up the 2021 single "Think You Right." On the track, synths shift like tectonic plates underneath hypnotic vocal interplay. Meanwhile, strings underscore a hook teeming with uncontainable energy.
 

"I was able to work with Glaive and ericdoa very naturally," he states. "I didn't feel like I was sacrificing my sound or integrity. These guys were all about getting crazy with the production. They wanted me to be as Whethan as I could be. There was a ton of freedom, so it's a very special song to me. It's a big moment. It's pretty much what I want the next project to sound like. It absolutely set the tone."
 

Working with the likes of Matt Ox, midwxst, Yeat, Reocragun, Slump6s, and many more on tracks, he continues to widen the scope of his sound. "I hate doing the same thing twice," he affirms. "I love surprising people and keeping them on the edge of their seats. I want to make music that can be played for everyone on the biggest scale possible. I love synths, crazy video game sounds, and hard bass. Everything is a part of the next chapter."
 

In the end, this evolution services a higher calling for Whethan. "When people hear my music, I want them to party and dance," he leaves off. "I just hope they have a good time."