Get to know Chace, the boy wonder destined for the big time

Trying to listen to new music in China is a real hassle. Thanks to a ban on sites like SoundCloud, iTunes and Spotify, the only way Chace could get his hands on it was by accessing the country’s “super illegal” music sites. But that wasn’t the only issue the 18-year-old producer faced growing up. He also had to convince his parents to let him drop out of school to pursue DJing and producing. “The plan was to get a college degree, but I fell in love with the DJing scene,” he explains. “I threw the idea to my parents and at first it was a hard ‘no’. We went back and forth for half a year on this topic.”

A talented drummer from an early age, Chace, born Zhu Yihan, was touring with his dad’s band, playing funk and soul, by the time he was four, and started attending the Shanghai Conservatory of Music when he was 10. While the initial intention was to one day turn professional, over the next seven years his musical interests would drift from drumming to production.
At first making acapella covers, he eventually moved into dance music after discovering Swedish House Mafia on the illegal music sites. “There was this energy around their music,” he tells us. “It was the first time I was introduced to dance music and I became obsessed.”

Chace’s sound is trademarked by a melodic orchestral bounce, throbbing bassline and his recognisable restrained vocals, as he brings together elements of UK garage with a polished r’n’b shine. With buzz building around his music, he soon started landing gigs in Shanghai. And after a chance encounter with the younger brother of DJ Jerry, from the Dutch trio The Partysquad, Chace teamed up with Yellow Claw’s Barong Family imprint early last year to drop his four-track ‘Destination’ EP.

The Dutch crew took him to Tomorrowland last summer where he became the first Chinese DJ to play the Belgian festival. As well as picking up support from tastemakers like Pete Tong, Zane Lowe and Diplo, he’s also managed to win over his parents. “I brought them to one of the festivals I was playing last year and they finally got to witness what the music scene is all about,” he says. They’ve now joined the ranks of the many tipping Chace to make it big.

‘For A Day’ is out now on 2TE Records