While out to see Albanian rapper Gashi headline The Sinclair in Cambridge last night, we found ourselves really grooving to the sounds of the opening DJ. Hailing from New York, Will Sass is only 19 years old and already sharing stages with some of the music industry's elite talents. After working up a major sweat on the dance floor, we caught up with the rising star following the show to learn more about his budding music career.
How did you land the gig opening for Gashi?
I met Gashi and his manager Nima at Coachella 2019 through our mutual friend $2 Steve. We vibed right away. A few months later, Nima came through NYC. He was working with Hitboy, who was playing the Hammerstein Ballroom, and invited me to tag along. They ended up having a ton of technical difficulties that night. I jumped in and was able to resolve them and that left a big impression on Nima. I remember Nima being blown away when he found out I was only 18 at the time. Later that year, Gashi was opening for Blackbear on Blackbear’s tour and Gashi’s tour DJ fell through so Nima called me up to see if I wanted to fill in. I was all in of course. I had just graduated high school and it was an awesome opportunity. Fast forward a year, and Gashi is now headlining his own tour and this time, he and Nima asked me to open for him. I’m really grateful to Gashi and Nima for these opportunities and to $2 Steve for introducing me to them. We’re starting out on the east coast before heading out west. The first few shows have been incredible. The fans have been really engaged and reposting my videos and DMing me nonstop.
When and how did you get into DJing?
I have been all about music for about as long as I can remember. I started off on the guitar as a toddler and then DJed all throughout high school. I was coming of age as Marshmello, Kygo, the Chainsmokers, Zedd, etc. were not only starting to blow up but also crossing over into the mainstream so that definitely impacted my approach to music. Plus I’m born and raised in NYC, which has an off the charts music scene obviously. All throughout high school, I would sneak into clubs and watch the best DJs perform and I would also travel to festivals whenever I could. That had a major impact too. DJing is much more involved than it looks like. You need to be a crowd psychologist, a technologist and an endurance athlete all at the same time. But for me, it never feels like work. I love it. I just get in the zone and can go forever.
What was your most memorable gig?
Other than these recent shows, I would say performing at Rolling Loud in Miami. There were maybe 10,000 people in the audience, which is largest audience that I have played for to date. That was definitely a cool and different experience.
What do you have on the horizon?
I took a gap year after high school and moved to LA to focus on music production, which is way different than DJing. That was a transformative experience. I’ve now written and produced a handful of original songs, which I will eventually contribute to my artist project. I haven’t released any music yet but I have been weaving some of my original music into my DJ sets and the fan reaction has been insane. I’m obsessed with music production and that’s where my future lies but it’s been great to take a break from the studio and get back on the road and DJ for a bit. As much as I love music production, I also love performing live and feeding off of the energy of the crowd.
Which artists are your biggest inspirations?
I mentioned a bunch of them already. As I said, I’m obsessed with music production so Benny Blanco is also way up there. I am also fascinated by singer/ songwriters. I really like the way someone like Sasha Sloane carries a story. She’s definitely one of the reasons I wanted to get into writing and care so much about the lyrics in my songs. Long term, I am committed to working both sides of the glass in the studio — I want to both develop my music and help other artists take their music to the next level. It’s a different genre of music than I have been making but I really admire how Dr. Dre is not only a platinum selling artist but also ignited the careers of Snoop, Tupac, Eminem and so many others.
Photography by: Photos Courtesy of Will Sass
