We Are Fury
We Are Fury is a Canadian DJ and music production duo consisting of Joachim Speidel and Stuart Brookes. Taking inspiration from the feeling their music gave them for their stage name, they are known for their remixes, singles, extended plays, and debut album Duality. We Are Fury's music is primarily electronic dance music and contains elements of subgenres such as melodic trap, future bass, midtempo, and melodic dubstep.
Growing up in Vancouver, British Columbia, Speidel and Brookes began writing music individually in high school. They met in 2015 while attending university and formed the duo act Fury. They saw success within the British Columbian music scene, crediting local fans and receiving help from pre-established producers Felix Cartal and Ekali. They released their debut extended play Signal Fires in 2017 and signed their EPs Dawn and Dusk with the record label Seeking Blue. In 2020, We Are Fury released their debut album Duality via Seeking Blue. Throughout the duo's career, they have signed with record labels Monstercat, Lowly, and Ultra. Their music has surpassed more than 20 million plays on streaming services over the first three years of their career.
We Are Fury write and produce their music in FL Studio, a digital audio workstation developed by Image-Line. Speidel and Brookes often work together by sending each other musical projects via the internet or by travelling to a recording studio to compose together. The duo often split workloads equally to use their strengths; Speidel writes and produces while Brookes focuses on sound design and song arrangement. The two listed heavy metal and rock music bands, video game music, and Speidel's roots of North American and Latin music as influences for their music production style.
Speidel and Brookes are known for their live performances; We Are Fury have played at various music festivals and show sets such as Fvded in the Park, Contact Festival, and Stacked Festival. They specialize their DJ sets with unique intro and outros and use well-known songs to influence the crowd. Various notable electronic music artists, including Ekali, Felix Cartal, and Illenium, have supported We Are Fury's musical career. The duo launched their DJ mix series For The Moment in 2018.
Early life
Speidel and Brookes started producing music during their later years in high school. They downloaded FL Studio out of boredom and wrote songs individually with the digital audio workstation. Speidel began writing house music from 2015 to 2016, while Brookes kept using it as a hobby for a couple of years.Speidel and Brookes met in 2015 during university. Both of them had already had begun producing music independently as solo projects for several years. After working with each other a few times, the two decided to start working together as a duo act as they both worked well together. At the time, the two did not expect the collaborative project to turn into a career. The name "We Are Fury" is a "direct translation of the music" as "it's reflective of the purest human emotions."
The duo credited their rise to local fans within the British Columbian music scene, comparing their success to other Vancouver-based Ekali, Felix Cartal and Vanic. In an interview with Wendel Genosa of Earmilk, Speidel said that the duo saw success within Vancouver's music scene as they had previous involvement within the scene and "we both had production behind us." We Are Fury had advice from Felix Cartal and Ekali about signing music to record labels and touring. Ekali later debuted the duo's song "Mortal" at the Electric Daisy Carnival in May 2018.
Career
2016: "Fade Away" and "I'll Be Your Reason" remix
On 1 June 2016, Speidel and Brookes released the song "Fade Away", featuring the vocalist Tallyn, under the collaborative alias Fury. The duo had previously released remixes and original songs such as their remix of "Way Back Home" by Mako and their single "Robot Sex". Wendel Genosa of Earmilk described the single as finding "the perfect balance of sweet and melodic and numbingly electrifying" and highlighted the single as an example of Fury being able to "themselves apart as a group creating bangers with an emotional backdrop."In 2016, Illenium approached Fury to produce a remix of his song "I'll Be Your Reason" after the duo sent his management their remix of Mako's song "Way Back Home". Illenium released his remix album of his debut album Ashes on 16 December 2016. The album included Fury's future bass remix alongside other remixes produced by Synchronice, Just a Gent, Crystal Skies, and Kill Paris. Writing for Your EDM, Rain Robinson stated that Fury's remix was one of his favourites from the album.
2017:''Signal Fires'', "Kerosene" remix, and "Don't Forget"
On 14 July 2017, Speidel and Brookes, under the stage name We Are Fury, released their debut extended play Signal Fires. The EP contains the future bass and trap songs "Rise", "Signal Fires", "Demons", and "For the Moment" and features the vocalists Alina Renae, Micah Martin, and Fletcher Mills. The duo wrote the lyrics for each song before they recruited any vocalists; they worked with all of the vocalists over the internet, except for Fletcher Mills, whom they worked with in person. Your EDM's Rain Robinson wrote that Signal Fires made "a strong statement" with "the help of some excellent vocalists". One of EarmilkOn 28 July 2017, shortly after the release of Signal Fires, We Are Fury released a trap remix of the song "Kerosene" by alternative rock band Armors. The band contacted We Are Fury on SoundCloud after hearing the duo's remix of "Way Back Home". Armors presented them an opportunity to remix a song the band had yet to release at the time. An Earmilk writer stated that the remix had done justice to the original track with its combination of "melding soft emotions with vigorous drops". Your EDM complimented its showcase of We Are Fury's "signature bass sound, intricate sub movement, and some subtle brass."
In late-2018, We Are Fury released their future bass single "Don't Forget", featuring vocals from singer Mariah Delage. Alejandro Vega complimented the song's sound design and Delage's performance; he described the song as "a testament to their production style of making passionate, compelling and incredible music." Travis McGovern praised the song's lyrics and synthesisers, writing that We Are Fury created "an ethereal vibe with emotionally charged melodies that will have you crying for your past loves.
2018: "Ascension", "Killing Me Slow", and remixes
We Are Fury uploaded a remix of the song "As We Fall" from the League of Legends soundtrack to their SoundCloud account in early 2018. The duo spoke about the inspiration and production of the remix; saying that they were both gamers who were fans of League of Legends and were inspired to rework "As We Fall", keeping away from their "melodic sound" to make something that had "a very dark and heavy drop because we thought it really captured the eeriness of the song." Writing for Your EDM, Travis McGovern talked about the dark-sounding nature of the song: stating that the duo combined "haunting vocal melodies with growling undertones of bass and theatric level percussion". Wendel Genosa of Earmilk noted that We Are Fury "used their talents to add their own flair" to the alternative rock song, saying that "the duo take the original up a notch, adding an adventurous layer of sounds."In March 2018, We Are Fury released their single "Ascension" as a free download.' ThisSongSlaps Brian Bonavoglia wrote that they "prove once again to be a force to be reckoned with in the bass scene", highlighting the single's "hybrid of both acid and trap". Writing for Earmilk, Edwin Tsang gave positive reception towards the song, noting its sound design, bassline, and synths as highlights within the single. Alongside the single was an announcement that Speidel and Brookes were producing their second extended play; they planned it to release later that year.'
We Are Fury released the song "Killing Me Slow" on 25 May 2018; the track is available to download for free through SoundCloud. Production on the single started in late-2017, with three versions of the single existing during writing before the final version was written and released. The duo spoke about the meaning behind the single, stating:
Writing for EDM.com, Rachel Woods noted the track's mix of trap and pop music as having a "unique hybrid sound"; she highlighted the arrangement of "soft vocals" into the "harder drop" as an example of this. Omar Serrano of Run the Trap lauded the track as an "anthemic trap record will melt deep into your soul as you become raptured in its provocative vocals and sound design." The song amassed more than 150,000 plays through music streaming services within four days of it being released.
On 11 July 2018, American music producer and DJ Lookas released a five-track remix extended play of his Lucid EP via Monstercat. The remix extended play included We Are Fury's future bass remix of Lookas and Krewella's collaborative single "Alarm", alongside other remixes by Bishu, Signal, Zaxx, and Tynan. Pavan Kumar reviewed the remix EP and described We Are Fury's remix as "beautiful", continuing to say that the remix would "take you to a tranquil state, however ensuring you groove to the subtle and bright dub beats." One Run the Trap writer highlighted the duo's remix as a stand-out track, stating that the "atmosphere, energy, and exceptional sound design left quite the impression as I completely fell in love with this record." Jordan Farley later included the remix in the 23rd episode of Run the Traps "Best Remixes Of The Week" article series.
In February 2018, We Are Fury announced a remix of an Illenium song planned to release later that year. On 18 June 2018, Illenium released his 15-track remix long-play record for his second album Awake via Seeking Blue. We Are Fury's remix of "Lost", featuring vocalist Emilie Brandt, was included on the remix LP alongside various other artists, including Crystal Skies, Au5, Kompany, and 1788-L. While reviewing the remix LP, Your EDM's Karlie Powell briefly touched on We Are Fury's track; she described it as a "powerful" remix of the original work.
In December 2018, We Are Fury released the first episode of their DJ mix series For The Moment. The duo included five unreleased singles amongst songs by other artists, including Illenium, Kill the Noise, Seven Lions, and Luxide.