On a cold Thursday night, a packed crowd filled the dimly lit dance floor at M8TRX nightclub in downtown Santa Barbara. The club goers were rowdy and ready for Joyzu to play their set. Many were there because they were familiar with the duo’s name but weren’t sure how they would perform live. As the two small-town kids took over the reins, a Joyzu remix of “We Will Rock You” by Queen started to play. With heavy themes centered around trap styles, the build up to the song established high-tension energy in the room. Suddenly, the carbon dioxide cannons filled with cold air fired off on the dance floor as the drop hit. The lights, lasers and specially made Joyzu graphics danced and supplemented the beat and drops in breathtaking fashion: they came to rock the people of Santa Barbara.

Joyzu, an EDM music group from the small town of El Dorado Hills, Calif., features two young producers, Carson Willms and Quinton Pope. At the respective ages of 22 and 21 years old, the two small-town kids have already built an impressive résumé that is making big-city crowds take notice.

After releasing their hit single “Hear You Say,” the group gained momentum, even garnering major-label attention. Willms and Pope, as you know now, are not your typical college DJs, but are your common college students. Willms and Pope attend college, work jobs, occasionally talk to girls and are busy making their way through the EDM music scene.

“We’ve been best friends ever since middle school, but got into dance music around the beginning of high school,” Willms and Pope said in a joint interview.  “We fell in love with the genre so much that is pushed us to pursue production and DJing.”

The love and passion they share for the music definitely shows in their product. While witnessing Joyzu play live at M8TRX nightclub, the one thing that stood out most was the joy they shared on stage, which their stage name aptly foreshadows. The duo danced around on stage, head banged and threw their hands up and down as epic beats dropped on their audience in epic fashion.

Because Joyzu had so much fun with their music, the crowd responded with relentless energy. Of course the music itself was incredible, but the true difference was the distinct feel in the crowd once Joyzu took the stage and started playing.  

“There are many inspirations that inspire us to keep pursuing music. One being our favorite artists that we look up to who continue to push boundaries, such as Porter Robinson, Skrillex, Zeds Dead, What so Not, Chance the Rapper and Childish Gambino, just to name a few,” they said.

Many of their artistic influences can be heard in their music. Still, the music Joyzu produces maintains a unique sound that must be heard to fully understand. As someone who admittedly does not listen to much EDM music, their music can best be described as high energy, with amazing drops that are not too over the top — a nice change of pace from the music of most electronic duos. The music is also complemented with precise vocals and lyrics that extend the energy of the music even further. The music itself, let alone the incredibly fun atmosphere the two producers create, will leave you wondering how these guys get paid to have this much fun. Next time they are in town, which may be sooner than you think, do not miss the opportunity to see two young kids from a small town in California live out their dreams.

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