We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Drake Toth a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Drake, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

My parents deserve a lot of the credit for getting me to where I’m at in life. They supplied me with this well rounded balance of culture, common sense, morals , and encouragement to try new things. Even when I pushed back as most teenagers do, it taught me the lesson of trying. Even if it isn’t successful, that doesn’t mean it’s failure, it’s learning. It’s just as important to learn what you don’t like/want in life as it is to learn what you do like. Their well roundedness circled right into music as well. My dad took me to my first concert when I was eight. Front row for B.B. King on his 80th birthday. It was unforgettable. All while at home my mom is showing me MTV and the new wave world such as Depeche Mode, The Cure, The Smiths, etc. Those moments were what subconsciously the reason I chose to pursue music.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I don’t think many people have read about me. I haven’t told my story publicly before.

I grew up in Columbus, Ohio. I really loved it there. There was a balance in Columbus that gave me everything I needed to find and understand myself as a person and a creative. I think I always knew I wanted to be involved in music one way or the other. I started making beats in garageband when I was 13 or so. It was just a hobby, but as days, weeks, months, and years go by, music was one of the only constants in my life. Good, bad, and ugly, music was there for me. Life got difficult towards the back end of high school. I had gained a ton of weight. Depression from that sinked in, but music was still there and became an outlet I desperately needed. I ran a popular tumblr page during the blog era and had someone message me asking for feedback on the first song he had ever made. The potential I heard in this fifteen year old was something I will never forget. It sparked something in me and we began to make music together and became very close friends, despite him living in London. This confidence I had in him and what we were doing gave me this blind faith in our careers and what we wanted to accomplish. I knew even when I was at my lowest, that anything was possible with his music, and mine. We put the first song release up on soundcloud and it got well over 500k streams in a small amount of time and we haven’t looked back since. That artist now goes by 451, and as we have much more to achieve, what we’ve done together from tumblr ideas to now, has been a dream come true. I’ve created memories and friendships that will last a lifetime. The best part is, we’re only beginning.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

As I briefly discussed before, throughout high school and college I gained a lot of weight. I was almost 300 pounds at my worst. During the pandemic when things got difficult for everyone, I decided to take advantage of my time in Ohio, and hired a personal trainer. It was extremely difficult at first, but slowly saw and felt a difference. I kept my head down and worked tirelessly on my physical health, diet, and cutting out bad habits, and creating new ones. It has been over three years now And I’ve almost lost 150 pounds. I feel healthier and happier than ever. That work in my personal life reflects into music very quickly and I will continue to show resilience in both my work ethic and at home.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Happiness and Helping others. It’s that simple. People tend to look for happiness in other people and materialistic things (I think everyone does from time to time), I look for it in the music and work around me. What makes me feel strong and specific emotions? Why do they make me feel this way? those questions drive me to consistently create and chase those feelings.

The thing I never thought of was me or my music helping someone the way my favorite artists helped me. That’s been the biggest reward. Helping other producers and artists from all over the world just connect, create, or be there as a friend has been such a blessing., and as the cult following 451 has established is rather small, the messages we see and how the music has helped them in any way warms my heart. Even if it were just one kid that we positively impacted with our music is enough to keep me going forever.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tr.ee/duvol-sample-packs
• Instagram: @duvolisdead
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drake-toth/
• Twitter: @duvolisdead
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/duvol
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0x2owJPJ7tQZaSSKJq6GXA?si=3z1ZSlO9TGWatYLHBd0CWw

Image Credits

@thedamablake via IG
@beatsbycrpytic via IG
@wizzlegotbeats via IG