X&G (Xian and Gaszia) on Dark Sounds and Positive Energy

By Oscar Holland, February 6, 2017

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X&G is the coming-together of producers Xian (Christian Williams) and Gaszia (Aaron Spasion), who met after they both moved from California to Salt Lake City (separately). This month, they’ll be playing The Drop’s notoriously bass-heavy night at Dada.

Do you ever consider the alternate universe in which you’re called G&X?
Nope, but we've considered the universe of &GX.

Do you know that – in the dark world of internet fandom – X&G also refers to Xena Warrior Princess (X) and her sidekick/lover Gabrielle (G)? How does the comparison make you feel?
We can only hope to be compared to more warrior princesses and Gabrielles in the coming future.

2016 was a terrible year for the world, but a great year for X&G. Discuss.
People think 2016 was a bad year, but TBH, it was a very good year. It all depends on what you put into the year. If you put in bad vibes and focus on negative energy it attracts that energy to you. But if you put in positive energy and focus on pushing good things out, more positive energy will follow.

OK. Now a question for Xian: Depending on pronunciation, ’Xian’ can mean a whole bunch of things in Chinese – pitfall, thread, to be apparent and idle, among others. What does your 'Xian' mean?
Those meanings are all very deep compared to what my 'Xian' means. My Dad used to call me Xian [pronounced ‘X-jin’] as a short form of Christian, just like Christmas gets abbreviated to Xmas. But I think I'm going to have to start telling people one of the meanings you mentioned [laughs].

Are your respective solo careers on hold as you focus on X&G, or are you multi-tasking?
We've released a few things here and there on our own Soundcloud accounts, but for the most part we're fully focused on pushing X&G as far as possible.

If we were to take the sound of Xian and the sound of Gaszia, then put them together, I’m not sure I would have guessed this result. So how did the X&G sound come about?
Our friend Eastghost reached out to us for a remix, and Christian [Xian] started this really dark clubby idea. We were both really inspired by Sinjin Hawke and the remixes Lido was throwing out at the time, along with Milo and Otis. We just wanted to make something more upbeat and different. When the remix dropped it received a lot more buzz than our other tracks, so we made some more tracks with that same vibe which showed up on our One-Offs album. After that we just wanted to experiment more with a dark sound and actually sat and fleshed out a vision for the sound we had in mind.

What do you wish you’d known about the music industry when you started out?
Spend less time worrying and more time enjoying what you love. Stay true to who you are and don't let outside forces steer you off course.


Shanghai: Thurs Feb 9; Price RMB100; Dada, see event listing.

Beijing: Fri Feb 10; Price TBD; Dada, see event listing.

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