Channel Tres Is Reaping The Rewards Of His Work — But He's Not Satisfied Yet

Channel Tres Is Reaping The Rewards Of His Work — But He's Not Satisfied Yet




By Jack Irvin


On the evening ahead of the release of his third EP, I Can’t Go Outside, you’d think Compton hip-house musician and producer Channel Tres could be getting willing to celebrate. As a substitute, he’s on his sixth hour in the studio, already working on his next project, for which he says this one is “just the precursor.” It’s that mighty work ethic and also a dedication to honing his craft that have taken Tres all over the world — on tour with Robyn and Childish Gambino — as an independent artist with just a few EPs under his belt. Case in point, prior to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, he’d never really taken a break.


“This is sort of the initial time I’ve been able to sit down for this long and not be on a plane or going somewhere else,” the 29-year-old tells MTV News over a telephone call, mere hours before his project dropped on December 10. In the absence of touring, which has routinely been the main driver of his creative process, Tres has been forced to take a closer look at his surroundings. “It’s really easy some days as soon as you’re doing music, or perhaps any job, to don't think about different problems you have because you can just fly somewhere and forget about it, nevertheless throughout this time I haven’t been able to disregard anything. I’ve been having to deal with things.”


Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, the musician place on Earth Sheldon Young immersed himself in the music of his church choir at a young age, later learning the drums and taking dance classes; at one point, he even joined a krumping order. Raised by his grandparents, Tres left high school early right after his grandfather’s death to take care of his grandmother, who later passed as well. By his late teens, Tres was left unhoused and reliant on welfare. Feeling marginalized by his environment, he fled to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to study music at Oral Roberts University, working night shifts at Chick-fil-A to stay afloat. He came back to L.A. Soon after college, started working as a touring DJ, and speedily noticed himself creating music in rooms with Kehlani, Duckwrth, Wale, and more. By the time his debut single “Controller” dropped in 2018, Channel Tres was already primed for success.


Fast forward to 2020. Soon after years of constant touring (and picking up fans like Elton John while doing so, the musician noticed himself stuck indoors just like the rest of us. Channel Tres immediately got to work on I Can’t Go Outside, a seven-track set inspired by quarantine and the anxiety, loneliness, and global chaos he’s endured throughout it. At first, boredom was a main source of inspiration — even for the groovy lead single “Skate Depot” and the project’s cover art, which sees Tres’s face peeking through a giant banana leaf. “I picked up skates for like one day. I learned how to play chess. I wanted to learn how to do the Rubik's Cube,” he details. “I’m just showing myself really bored and not having anything to do, so I put a leaf on my face.”


I Can’t Go Outside is the initial project Tres has crafted without an efficiency in mind, and knowing live shows are out of the question for a while, he determined to leave his longtime apartment and buy his first residence — a major milestone, especially considering the struggles of his past. “It feels good. It’s a testament to consistency, and hard work, and just never giving up whenever obstacles come your way,” he says. “I hope that it inspires younger kids or any other artists who need to be inspired, ‘cause it took me a long time to get there, nevertheless the journey was well worth it.”


Clare Gillen
His environmental shift is accompanied by a sonic one, because the project strays from Tres’s signature crisp residence sound to incorporate more hip-hop elements, string section, as well as a self-described “aggressiveness” in its mixing.


“A lot of my stuff is polished, however this one I purposely didn’t polish all of the way. 2020 wasn’t a polished year, also it doesn’t feel like I can just be that polished artist I'd like to be,” he says, describing the agitation he felt creating amid the Black Lives Matter protests earlier this summer. “When I made ‘Fuego,’ there was a lot of noise outdoor, rioting and that sort of stuff. You could hear it in the verse, I’m talking to myself: ‘It ain’t that bad. Why you scared of this shit? You ain’t that rare. You just a beat they gon’ flip. My n---a, get off your knees. It’s trash, ain’t it lit?’”


The track’s dark intensity reflected Tres’s headspace at the time, nevertheless those emotions were soon offset by an exhilarating text Tres acquired from Tyler, the Creator’s engineer asking if he had any tracks that would fit a visitor verse from the rapper. He sent over “Fuego,” which Tyler rapidly wrote on and sent back — a full-circle moment for Tres, whose remix of “Earfquake” elevated his own profile and became the opening remix of a Tyler, the Creator track to ever receive an official release from the rapper. Also featured on I Can’t Go Outside is Tinashe, to whom he reached out for a verse on the soulful, stimulating “Take Your Time” soon after she posted a video jamming to his song “Topdown” in her vehicle about per year prior. “I hit her up, and we just became cool. We made some music with each other. She’s a real fun person to work with,” he remarks, noting that there really are “definitely” more tracks to come from the pair.


Channel Tres is nevertheless to achieve mainstream success as it’s often defined (Billboard Hot 100 hits, RIAA certifications), however in an age any time impressions are made online and not on the radio, the array of artists knocking on his door to collaborate is a clear symptom that he’s on the verge of something truly wonderful. Earlier this year, he appeared on SG Lewis’s disco-house banger “Impact” alongside pop auteur Robyn, whom he right now considers a mentor following his experience as an opener on her Honey tour in 2019. “I’ve learned a lot from her. I feel like she inspired me a lot throughout that time, and she just taught me little things. The way I work has changed, and the way I was performing changed,” he specifics. “She sees music a lot of the same ways I visualize it, so it’s nice converse with someone as dope as her and have the ability to level on certain conversations about music.”


Aside from mentorship, there really are several perks to being on the radar of the industry and its leading artists. While in a celebratory dinner for Tres’s first London show in late 2018, his manager let him know that Disclosure had reached out with interest in teamwork. A number of months later, they got with each other to make the sticky, infectious “Lavender,” off of the duo’s latest album Energy. Nearly two years immediately following the session, the project is nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 2021 Grammy Awards — an astounding feat for Tres, who says he's put in well over his 10,000 hours of practice. “Man, it feels astonishing. I knew I was going to work in music, however I never thought I’d get this far, so I’m kinda just riding the wave. It made my mom really happy, and yes it made people that know my story and what I’ve been through happy,” Tres says. Nevertheless it only scratches the surface of what’s to come.


“It’s wonderful, however I’m certainly not satisfied. I certainly want my own Grammy one day.”









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