Cheat Codes

Photos by CATHERINE POWELL

by VANESSA SALLES

Set on making a name for themselves and playing by their own rules, DJ/producer trio, Cheat Codes, gets better and better with each song. With a fan base that spans across the globe, Cheat Codes is comprised of the multi-talented Trevor Dahl, Kevin Ford, and Matt Russell. Though the guys had each worked on individual projects before banding together, it’s their joint effort that has found them international success. “After making our first song together [“Visions”], we just really dug the vibe and decided to stick together,” Trevor says, “We kept making new songs and releasing them on a regular basis, all on our own time and dime. Keeping everything in-house was kind of how we got our start and from then on, we just tried to make every release bigger and better than the last.”

Having already achieved such monumental career goals, the guys are both impressed by and grateful for their sky-rocket ride to stardom. “It’s definitely been fast, but everything feels very natural,” Matt says. “Nothing’s been forced in our career and we’ve made sure to do whatever feels right to us and base all major decisions like who we work with, what songs we put out, what we decide to do with our brand, etc. on our gut-feelings. Everything’s authentic and everyone we surround ourselves with is 100% invested in our vision.”

The idea behind Cheat Codes is way more than just music. In fact, Trevor, Kevin, and Matt hope to make it a lifestyle. “The whole idea behind it is to skip all the boring stuff in life and just go straight to having fun,” Matt says. “It’s about doing things that you want to do; that’s the whole point of having a cheat code. While we’re focusing on music right now, there’s a lot more areas that we’d love to get into. We want to be able to expand our brand and eventually have a clothing line, write a book, have a realty TV show, etc. It’s all about timing.”

While everything’s been happening at a fast speed, the trio still makes sure to recognize and embrace every milestone. “Everything’s been happening in incremental steps,” Trevor says. “After we made ‘Sex’, we knew that it could be a big song for us. We’re so grateful that Spotify really supported the song; it got up to #10 on the global charts and at one point, ended up getting 3M+ plays a day. That’s definitely when we started to realize how crazy everything was and how far we could go. It was surreal, for sure.” Having only performed one of their first shows just short of a year ago, Cheat Codes has gone from being music lovers’ best kept secret to an on-the-rise household name. “We definitely have different stand-out moments that we’re always really grateful for,” Kevin adds. “We think of our first tour [with The Chainsmokers] and how we played to thousands of people - it was a wild time for us. That was only last November and now we’re doing headlining shows in Europe and going on tour with Matoma.”

For their viral success, Cheat Codes credits the help from their label partners and streaming services like Spotify. “I think everyone our age understands that streaming is the future,” Trevor says. “It’s definitely been a huge part of it for us and we understood that from the beginning. We didn’t want to rely on radio too much and that played a big part in us coming up. Radio’s also very hit or miss and fans of the radio aren’t necessarily die-hard fans of the artists.” Shying away from any long-term record deals, the trio prefers finding unique partners for each track, assuring quality work. “We’re doing one song at a time which is different than what a lot of other artists do,” Kevin says. “We’ve been very picky with finding partners that work for specific songs. We try and see who’s good at doing what and make sure we’re building our partnerships the right way. We want to be smart about everything and so it’s been really cool for us to be so hands-on with the entire process.”

With fans in different music markets, Cheat Codes is accepting of the fact that not every song will be a number-one hit. “We definitely want to have songs that don’t live on the radio,” Trevor says, “We want to have songs that just live inside certain music worlds; we like that. Having songs that live in different lanes is really important to us. There’s definitely people that listen to and love both our pop and dance songs but there’s some people who’re more into pop than dance, or vice versa. We like being able to cater to them all.” Making sure their fans get what they want, Cheat Codes place priority on making their live shows one to remember. “That’s where it all comes together for us,” Matt says, “One of the great things about festivals or clubs is that you might hear a Top 40 song that you know and love the lyrics to, but then the beat goes into something totally different and unexpected. That’s what we do with our songs and shows; we want to have songs that stand out on their own but where we can tweak the beat to it and give fans something exciting to hear. Whether their favorite song is ‘Can’t Fight It’ or ‘Sex,’ they’re still going to be able to enjoy the whole show because of the energetic, feel-good vibes.”

Having graced multiple stages at multiple festivals, the trio have learned (and mastered) the ropes as they’ve gone. One thing they’ve incorporated into their sets – which has solidified them as unique artists are the use of visual elements and genuine crowd interactions. “People that come to festivals are coming for the music,” Trevor says. “We’ve had a great reaction from people and the festival crowds have been really accepting of us. Adding live elements and visuals is a big part of it all; people are more into the performance if it’s interesting to watch. We’re used to talking to crowds and interacting with them so when we came into this dance world we

felt like people weren’t doing enough of that in their performances. It was natural for us to want to fill that void and be a little bit different!”

With each release having its own vibe, Trevor, Kevin and Matt are very adamant about giving each song its own time to shine. “We usually go one song at a time and then figure out our next step,” Matt says. “We always have a bunch of songs ready to go because we’re always writing, producing, and mixing everything. It’s just a matter of always putting our best foot forward.” Even though the trio focuses on putting out one song at a time, the time in between releases can differ with each track. “We really like being flexible,” Trevor adds, “The dance world creates content like crazy so that world might be ready for a new song quicker than the radio would. Not every song will crossover and be a smash and that’s not what we’re after; songs that are meant for certain worlds will just find its way there.”

As for Cheat Codes’ future plans, the trio is set to have some busy months ahead of them. “We’ll be touring till mid-November and then we have a couple more festivals lined up,” Matt says, “Mostly, we’re just going to continue to do what we’ve been doing which is creating. As crazy as it may sound, we don’t ever want to be content; we always want to want more. In the future, we’d like to create our own festival, our own label, have a residency in Vegas, and so much more. We plan on having our hands in a lot of different areas. It’s just a matter of taking our time so we can go about everything the right way. We’ve had such a great reaction in international markets like Australia and The Netherlands so playing EDC festivals in those places is definitely on our bucket list. Ultimately, we just want to get better and better while having people love what it is we’re doing.”