ARMNHMR: From DJing Frat Parties To Vegas Residency

For the last decade, ARMNHMR has been constantly on the road. The Asian-American duo made up of Joseph Chung and Joseph Abella started off playing in side rooms across Los Angeles, first as DJs before becoming music producers.

As they began making their own music and joining their local friends on tour, the duo hit the college circuit, playing fraternity parties across the country. Those shows allowed them to grow their audience from frat houses to clubs to their own Las Vegas residency.
Chung and Abella made history as the first Asian-American duo to have a Vegas residency at one of the strip’s premiere nightclubs, the pair having 10 shows at the Wynn Las Vegas between March and September. The first night took place on March 20 at the XS Nightclub inside the Wynn Resort.

In between their residency dates, ARMNHMR — who are booked by United Talent Agency’s Max Freeman and Kevin Gimble — is staying out on the road with their 2024 tour that includes performances at Beyond Wonderland, HARD Summer, Breakaway and Lost In Dreams festivals, as well as headline dates at 45 East in Portland, Oregon, SOMA in San Diego, The Ave in Philadelphia and more.

Throughout this most recent trek, ARMNHMR has been touring their debut full-length album, Together As One, which was released last August.
As the duo speak with Pollstar, they admit that the constant touring is starting to take its toll. Their life on the road, with long flights and a different hotel room each night, has proven to be an adjustment.

“Joe and I are homebodies,” Chung admits. “We’re introverts by nature. And then, we’re thrown into this really transient lifestyle. Normally, on weekdays, we’re in bed by 9 or 10. And then we got thrown into this fast-paced lifestyle. Adjusting to that was the hardest for us. But, we always knew we wanted to do this. It isn’t until you start traveling every weekend that it really hits you as an introvert.”

A solid decade in, the two admit life on the road is still rough. Dance music in particular is known for its difficult hours, shows oftentimes stretching until the sun rises (and, in Miami and parts of Europe, they can go on for 24 hours straight). After a headline show, it’s not uncommon for DJs to move to a different venue and keep playing at the after parties, oftentimes hitting two and sometimes more shows per night.

“We’ve been doing it so long, I think it’s never going to get easier,” Abella says. “These hours are not for anybody. It’s literally the hardest thing. Even for people that want to make it, the up-and-comers that do it on a smaller scale, they don’t truly understand what kind of beast this is until they’re actually touring as much as us or even like a quarter of what we’re doing. It’s a lot mentally, but having somebody with you — that’s why tour managers exist — luckily it’s the two of us so we can lean on each other. Even the Vegas residency that we just got, we mess up our sleep schedule on weekdays. Wednesdays, we end at 3:15 a.m., which is absolutely absurd. But, it’s what we signed up for and it’s what we love doing. It’s never going to change, we just need to figure out how to sleep faster.”
To maintain a sustainable touring model, ARMNHMR will often take two weeks off in between larger dates so that they can regroup and hit the road again. However, this year, they’re trying to tackle as much as they can throughout the next three quarters, with their winter expected to be much lighter.

The biggest show the duo has performed in recent months took place in Chung’s hometown of San Francisco at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on Dec. 2. The sold-out date grossed $431,563 and sold 8,684 tickets. The two say the San Francisco performance held a lot of significance to them as they were able to invite their family and friends.

The duo’s manager, Alex Tabrizi of Next Step Management, also grew up in the Bay Area. Abella and Tabrizi first met while in high school, but they didn’t connect over their mutual love of music until after graduation.

When it comes to their live performances, ARMNHMR prefers to play recent songs they’ve been working on and special edits for their songs. The two say when they start off each tour, the show will begin a little differently.

“But, as the tour progresses, we shape the set,” Chung says. “It’s a lot more organic with our shows because we’re always making music. We always find these cool combinations of things. So, as the tour goes on, we’ll add, pick and choose. By the time festival season comes around, it’s the best hits of the tour all thrown into our main festival set.”

They like for their shows to jump between various dance music genres, hopping from house to trance to melodic bass.

Five months in and this year has already seen numerous firsts for ARMNHMR and their community. Along with making history in Vegas, the duo’s set at Ultra Music Festival in Miami in March saw them become the first Asian-American duo of Korean and Filipino descent to take the stage.

“We are Korean Filipinos,” Chung says. “What we once thought was a pipe dream is actually attainable. And there are a lot of up-and-coming artists that are like us. We just need to express that.”

Chung adds, “You’ve got to keep going, just keep trying. We don’t know the exact recipe for it — we still don’t know even though we’re on year 11 now. It’s a game of inches. Just go little by little and hopefully we can all be performing on the same stage one day.” s

Contact
Management
Next Step Management
Alex Tabrizi
[email protected]
Booking Agency
United Talent Agency
Max Freeman
[email protected]
Kevin Gimble
[email protected]
Record Label
Monstercat
Vivienne Hill
[email protected]