One True God Dives Into His New Tunes and More at Wobbleland

We sat down with the mid-tempo maestro One True God at Wobbleland to chat about his new music, past projects, and plenty more!

It’s not uncommon to see artists working hard for years on end, chiseling away at their sound to get to a point where they feel confident enough to share their music. For One True God, this perseverance has served him greatly, allowing him to perfect his sound, grow as an artist, and reach more fans across the world in recent years.

While this Canadian artist may seem like he sprung up out of nowhere, but the truth is, he’s been around for some time. Staying committed to his production and release schedule is what helped him grow exponentially to where he is today. His unique sound resonates with many, appealing to those attracted to dark, emotion-filled seduction, with a rhythm to it. This includes his most recent release, “Kill Me With Your Love,” along with collaborations with artists such as Not The Father, Arius, and more.

After seeing that One True God would make his Wobbleland debut this year, chatting with him was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. We sat down with him to discuss his recent release, his previous projects, and his rise through the scene. So check out “Kill Me With Your Love” on Spotify or your preferred platform, and continue reading for our insightful conversation with One True God!

Stream One True God – Kill Me With Your Love on Spotify

Hi Alan! Thank you for chatting with us. I’m super excited to learn more about you and share your story. How do you feel about your set and how it was received?

Sure, I’m happy to be here. Good, I had a lot of fun. It just went as well as I would want it to go. I’m really happy with it. Honestly, it’s hard for me to see people’s reactions because once I get in that zone, I almost blackout and go on autopilot. I think I perform well under that state, but it’s hard to keep track of reactions and things like that. But from what I remember, it seemed like it was awesome.

I’m super glad to hear because it looked well-received from my perspective in the crowd. Speaking about your style, it’s a unique combination. I’m wondering how you came to find your sound?

I initially thought it was really niche, too, with the name One True God and everything, but it’s blown my mind how big it got with streaming. I feel like it escaped and got to a pretty wide audience overall, but to me, yes, it’s still niche. It’s music that I make for myself that I like. It took me a long time to get to that sound. I feel like there’s a very natural progression that you can follow. If you listen to my first release, to my latest one, I think it all kind of makes sense, but you can sort of see where it turns. And I think I stay true to that original vibe, but just kind of added to it over time and took some stuff away.

We can see how it’s developed over time and reached more fans.

Yeah. And I think one of the biggest things that helped was when I decided to start singing on my own music. In 2020, I released a song on a mau5trap compilation called “Come to Me,” which was the first one. I just decided to sing a few sentences on the newer songs. The old songs I always used to speak on. So “Move Slow,” stuff like that, those were always me. I never used any sample vocals or anything, but I decided to start singing on stuff. To me, it sounded like it worked well, so I just went forward.

You’ve mentioned that you were part of a duo before you started One True God. Can you talk a little bit more about that? What led to you leaving and creating your own thing?

Sure. I was on multiple projects. I’ve been in music for a really long time, and I’ve seen success and downfalls with a bunch of different projects. But regarding that duo you’re talking about, it’s called Yntendo, and it was my friend Phi and me. We decided to start a project together, and it was going really well. It started getting pretty big, pretty fast, but it wasn’t paying very well at the time. I had also started a pop project at the same time. It was another duo with a pop producer that I was living with at the time. We organically started working on pop music together, and that got huge quickly, and it started paying well. It’s called Fancy Cars. It’s still around.

That’s so interesting!

But at the time, I just saw those dollar signs because I really needed money, and I decided to focus completely on one thing, and I chose Fancy Cars over Yntendo. I feel like I kind of had to. But then, over time, I got more comfortable financially, and things were looking all right with the Fancy Cars stuff. Naturally, I tend to make dark music, and I just needed to have that outlet. So I just kind of started making it for myself, and I thought, “okay, this can be like a new project.” I also never had a solo project before, and OTG is my first completely solo project.

Out of all the projects I’ve ever done, I’ve never experienced anything on this level regarding what people say to me and how they connect with what I’m doing. It just blows my mind every day. Like, people get tattoos and stuff. The first time I saw that it made me cry. I just didn’t even know how to deal with it.

Thank you for sharing that! What was the inspiration for One True God? I understand it’s related to a satanic belief of, “We are our own true God.” How did you identify with that?

I’ve always just kind of believed that everyone creates their own reality. I feel like everything exists because I can see it. And if I’m not here, then it doesn’t matter anyway. So I feel like I’m kind of in control of everything that happens around me to a point. People are much more in control of their lives and situations than they think they are. That’s just an important message, I feel. And it resonates deeply with me. I think that dedicating a project to that belief was important.

I can see how you created a whole identity around it. So my next question is more about your production style. You talked a bit about how you naturally create a lot of dark music. Where would you say that stems from? And how does it play into your sound and production?

I’ve always been comfortable in the darkness. Everything I’ve loved, even growing up, has always been filled with dark vibes—even cartoons. Honestly, I grew up watching a couple of Russian cartoons. Originally I’m Russian, so there are more than a few dark cartoons there. And I’ve always just been attracted to dark characters and superheroes, like Spawn. I loved Blade out of all the superheroes, and I always liked Venom. So it’s just overall what I’ve been attracted to. And sound-wise, same thing. I don’t like high-pitched sounds or screeching stuff. I like more low frequencies and deep vibes.

That’s what resonates with me too. That’s why I felt connected to your music because that is more of my vibe than fast-paced or high frequencies even. It doesn’t feel as natural to me. I noticed that you said you were Russian, but you also lived in Canada, right? So what was that transition like, and how did it influence you?

So I was born in Italy. And then I moved to Canada when I was really young, like one year old. Then I grew up in Toronto. One really important thing in my life is that when I was about 13, my family moved us to Dubai in the Middle East, and I went to high school there for four years. That was one of the most important things that happened to me because it opened my eyes to the world.

I feel like even with EDM, I was such an early adopter. I listened to dance music when I was 13. It was already just so deeply a part of me. And that’s because I had a ton of European friends, and a lot of the European people had those roots in EDM even way before it got huge in America. So that was a big influence on me. I used to sit with my dad’s business partner’s son at the time, who was already into production. That was my first experience seeing electronic music, hearing it, and just watching someone make it. So it just blew me away. I’m like, “Holy crap. This is what I want to do.”

That’s awesome. Did he also continue with music?

Not really. We actually did a project together later in life, and we even moved to LA together about ten years ago to shoot for our dreams and stuff. It didn’t work out, unfortunately. But yeah, I just didn’t give up, luckily.

Right. You tried again.

Yeah, I had to try again over and over again because, with music, it’s incredibly hard to succeed. It’s just like one of the craziest businesses out there. And to make even a dollar in music is a huge feat. So I’m grateful to support myself for a long time now, just doing music.

I recall a show that you were scheduled to play at DNA Lounge here in SF a few months back. You were on the lineup supporting Lick, and you both create mid-tempo style music, so I couldn’t help but wonder if you guys have anything in the works together?

Yeah, we have a collab coming within like two months or something. The song is dope. It’s called “Tesla.”

Amazing! I can’t wait to hear that. To kind of bring us back to current times, your newest release, “Kill Me With Your Love,” just dropped recently. It seems to be a very personal and intense track. What was the story behind its creation?

Yeah, it’s personal, and it’s just kind of the other side. It’s more of a submissive side as opposed to the dominant side that I usually write about. And it’s just showing that other side. I also partnered up with my buddy from Fancy Cars to write it. I was just having issues getting the right words down with the feeling and called him up, and there he was to help. It’s a shared experience with him. So that’s how that one kind of came about.

Many of your songs are emotional, even though they have a dark sound. So how does that work for you when you have trouble getting those emotions out?

Well, my wife helps me write a lot of stuff. She’s a writer, so she writes a ton of poetry, and sometimes she’ll just send me a ton of poems, and I’ll read them over, and I’ll just use whatever makes me feel something. And then I’ll take bits and pieces, apply them to music, and write with it. So it’s been a good collaboration. And I think she brings a really good feminine energy to the project, too.

That’s beautiful that you can share that collaborative work. Now, what can we expect from the One True God project? Are there any major festivals or releases coming up?

Well, this year I have a few things. A few goals and some of the stuff I’m not sure I’m allowed to talk about yet, but whatever. I’m going to release two songs on NIGHTMODE, which is a label that’s helped me a lot and my favorite label. We’re supposed to get into, like, a video game with those releases, too, which is cool. I’m also in talks with Deadbeats to release an EP with them and hopefully get some tour dates with them and their artists. My goal would be to collaborate with Zeds Dead. That would be incredible, even if I could just sing on one of their songs.

I would love to see that!

But I know that if I start touring and playing often, it will probably hurt my release schedule. It will be really hard to keep up with releasing that much music. And for me, the main thing has always been to make the music. I’m more of a studio guy than a performer, but I’m hoping that I can do both this year. So anything that takes me away from my studio just kind of depresses me. If I can’t sit and write and make music, I just kind of don’t feel like myself.

Finally, is there any favorite festival experience that you’ve performed at that you can share?

Wobbleland is my favorite. I mean, I’ve been coming to Wobbleland for so long, and it means a lot to me because I’ve seen it evolve. To perform here and be a part of it, it’s just really special.