We had the good fortune of connecting with ATLYS Music and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi ATLYS, do you have some perspective or insight you can share with us on the question of when someone should give up versus when they should keep going?
I’d say the only reason to give up would be because you no longer derive any joy or satisfaction from what you do. Striking gold and going viral are urban legends and it won’t happen to you. We’re all just out here driven by fascination, excitement, and a belief in the process. I think if you have a critical eye and/or ear and still enjoy your product, someone else will too, but because there is so much out there, the process of getting your work seen is painstakingly slow. But if you stay steady and focused and always keep learning, your reach will only continue to grow.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
We are a classically-trained string quartet — a genre/instrumentation that is perhaps the pinnacle art form of classical music. So intricate yet pure. However, we do not perform anything from the standard repertoire. We’re taking this highly developed/tradition-steeped structure and bringing it to the modern world. We incorporate 21st century technology, amplication/looping/EQ and other effects to bring this artform to wider audiences. We are proud of how we can maintain the precision and attention to detail for which we were trained but play the “every day” music everybody knows and cherishes. It has, of course, not been a straight line to the top, by any means. The unconventionality of this career path was something none of us anticipated or were fully trained for, and yet we have been essentially self-managed and democratically run since the beginning. Many weeks feel like a directionless grind — and then — BOOM we’ll hit a major milestone or breakthrough! We have over 3 Million streams on Spotify and this year we released the first of many ATLYS-original sound packs! Every year has opened new doors to dreams we didn’t even know we had and we’ve got our seatbelts on and are ready to keep grinding!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We love the seamless mixture of city life and nature that LA effortlessly blends. We would definitely take them for hikes and walks along the beach, and then go wander around LACMA, and at night hear the some of the country’s/world’s top live music! As for eats, it’s hard to go wrong, and with some plant-based members in the group we never have to be concerned about finding a place where there’s something for everyone! Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
So many individuals!! Our success directly stems from our mentors and real-life guardian angels, and we meet new ones all the time!

To start out, we were given a mario-kart-level boost to our career with our very first endeavor together as a group — to perform 6 nights a week for 13 months (spread over 2 years). The kind of foundation and bond this formed between us cannot be replicated any other way–we’re practically telepathic now. Through this opportunity, we became connected with Todd Reynolds, trail-blazing violinist/composer/all-around-badass. It’s crazy that one human can contain the knowledge and experience he does. Todd believed in what we were doing which was, in-and-of-itself incredibly affirming, but he also gave us crucial criticism and was able to help us see what needed improvement and tweakng.

If I were forced to pick just one supporter to take the cake for directly contributing to our successes, it would be Neil McTavish (of McTavish Productions), who happens to be one of the members’ father! Neil has recorded every professional ATLYS recording we’ve ever published, and for our first 3 years he refused to take a cent for any it (not that we even had any to pay), until we insisted (especially after our single on Spotify, January 2020, hit 1 million streams in just weeks)–he’s not even a recording engineer by trade! Not only does Neal put his 100% all and full enthusiasm into every project of ours, at the drop of a hat mind you, he is fully dedicated to constant research and having the top equipment and software to the best job he can do. On top of this, he is always on the look out for opportunities and avenues for us, and whenever he can hook us up witha contact or friend-of-a-friend, boom! Words do not begin to describe our gratitude to him.

It would honestly fill 10 pages to properly highlight each of our mentors and supporters, so in the spirit of brevity, I will simply list more names: Briagha McTavish (our pro-bono graphic designer), Andrew Vogt and Ari Fisher (top genius arrangers/composers whom we never could pay enough), Kenneth Edwards (our favorite photographer/videographer/musician extradonaire whose work gives our music that edge to get it seen), Brave Enough Artists (our booking agency that believed in us before anybody else did!), all of our collaborating musician friends, our Patreon community, our instagram enthusiasts, and Spotify listeners!

Website: www.atlysmusic.com

Instagram: @atlysmsusic

Twitter: @atlysmusic

Facebook: www.facebook.com/atlysmusic

Youtube: www.youtube.com/atlysmusic

Image Credits
Kenneth B. Edwards; Marshall Tidrick

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.