Today we’d like to introduce you to Drew Pratt.
Hi Drew, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Hi, my names Drew, and I’m a DJ and Producer under the alias COVAH. I have always loved electronic music, but never dreamed that it could be a career. I love every aspect of the job, and it gets me out of my comfort zone a ton. When I was younger, I had a very hard time socializing with people and making friends as I dealt with pretty intense social anxiety. I had a hard time maintaining friends and making new connections with others my age as well. I began making friends with people that were older than me and these friends single handily changed my life. When I was in high school, one of my friends got me hooked on an artist named Illenium. I saw that he was playing at a festival in Tampa called Sunset Music Festival, and I knew I had to see him there. When the time rolled around, I saw him play on May 25th, 2019, and I instantly became addicted to electronic music. I loved how much emotion went into each and every one of his songs and how much of an impact these songs had on the festivalgoers. I loved seeing how different people interpreted these songs and knew that this was the career path I wanted to pursue. After the festival was over, I went online and researched how to make electronic music and ended up buying a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) called Ableton that same day. I soon started exploring how some of the DJs/ Producers made such beautiful music. It took me about a year or two to feel confident in releasing my music to streaming services, but once I did, I became even more hooked. In early 2022 I took up music full-time and worked day in and day out trying to get my music as professional as possible, as well as enjoying the journey every step of the way.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There were a lot of obstacles that I’ve had to deal with and am currently still dealing with on this journey. I’ve dealt with a ton of rejection throughout the time I have been doing the whole music thing, and me being a perfectionist has been very hard to come to terms with at times. I’ve also had a tough time explaining to those around me what was going on work wise. My family had a hard time coming to terms with this career as well because they are more of the traditional “Go to college, get a degree, and then go into the workforce”, but once they saw how passionate and dedicated I was to this craft they were on board and supported me whole heartedly. Music was very hard when I started and is still very difficult now. I never had a background in music when I was younger, nor did I play any instruments. Learning music theory, chords, scales, etc. was very challenging and was probably the most difficult learning curve I’ve ever experienced. I did struggle with releasing music too. I compared my work to a lot of other bigger DJs/Producers, and it got me down because their music was so much better than mine. I was comparing my songs (a complete beginner) to that of professionals that had years of experience, but once I broke that habit and started comparing my new music to my old music rather than that of someone else, I began to see a slow learning curve that was making my music better and better each song I put out. The moral of the story is, don’t compare yourself to anyone when it comes to art or life, you will do more harm than good.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a DJ and Producer, as well as a full-time student at Florida State University based in Tallahassee. I make electronic music in the Future Bass/ Progressive house genre of the electronic music scene. Playing shows throughout Florida is an absolute dream and I am very proud that I can help people make lasting memories as well as escape from reality for a few hours. I also love seeing all the smiling faces and seeing people happy, it makes me so happy seeing so much positive energy around this industry.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I believe every step-in life is a risk, but you’ll never know the outcome until you make that leap onto the next chapter. Personally, I never wanted to take the traditional route working 9-5. I love being creative and felt as though working in an office wouldn’t do my creative side justice. I took a big risk when I started music, as I had no prior knowledge about anything in the music industry. I believe taking risks in life is what makes things interesting, and it gets your adrenaline pumping because you never know what the outcome could be. Risks are exhilarating and I definitely would not be where I am without taking one. In life you are going to take risks so why not take one while doing something you love!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/covahmusic/
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/covahmusicofficial
- Other: https://linktr.ee/covah
Image Credits
Daniel Garcia
Ryan Fries
Taylor Regulski
Madison Poveromo
Julian Zalez
