Italian Dubstep Import Toro
When in Manila and you enjoy nightlifing it, why not try something new? Discover dubstep: a music genre related to EDM (electronic dance music) that originated in London (UK) and is slowly growing its following in Manila. Several nightclubs and underground places now play dubstep in the city. One DJ you won’t want to miss in the scene: Italian dubstep import Toro!
Italian Dubstep Import Toro
Beginnings in Italy
Born to Filipino parents in Rome, Roman Torosky, who simply goes by Toro, grew up in Rome and Milan, Italy. During his childhood he visited his parents’ home country three times. Raising and training his own chicken just to loose it at its first cock fight in Cebu remains one of his most vivid memories of those times.
At a very young age, Toro realized that he had three opportunities to succeed in life by making use of his talents and passions. His first passion was soccer: playing for more than 10 years in a semi-professional team, he knew becoming a professional soccer player could give him the fulfilling life and bright future he strived for. For various reasons, though, he decided not to go the professional athlete route. Toro saw his second opportunity at success in becoming a professional drummer. However, he felt that his true passion and calling lay in a different field, so he also put that idea aside. Realizing that he needed to channel his creative energies into only one direction, he focused on his passion for making music. In 2009, after having played for several years, he decided to pursue a life as a professional DJ and producer.
Becoming a DJ
Toro’s musical beginnings were as a drummer in a punk rock band. Learning how to play the drums on his own, he supported the Italian punk rock band “Keep Coming” from the age of 12 to 15. Listening to different genres of music – punk rock, hip hop, metal – as well as his passion for music led him to the NAM music school in Milan in 2005, where he took a 3-month DJ course. Upon finishing the course and landing local gigs as a DJ, Toro only played hip hop. In 2008 he added producing music to his resume, when a rapper asked him to produce some beats for him. Eventually that same year he discovered his passion for dubstep and started to exclusively play his newfound favorite music genre at clubs and gigs. At the time, the dubstep & underground scene was still relatively small in Italy. In 2009 he experienced a first breakthrough when he was asked to open for the established UK-based DJ-Duo “Savage Rehab”.
His real breakthrough came in 2011 when he started playing weekly gigs at famous Italian underground place “Vortex”. This led him to “Meredith”, an Italian production group where he was assigned a manager that organized different gigs for him on a weekly basis.
Career Highlights
Through hard work, a vast network, passion for the music and his craft as well as a big dose of talent, Toro was able to expand his career and add serious big-name gigs to his resume, some of whom are: Venetian Snares, Zomboy, Emalkay, Salmo, Jazzsteppa, Eptic, Culprate, Son of Kick, Tomba, Mrk1, Niveau Zero, Shekel, Bong-Ra, The Bug and Xilent. His most memorable performance to date would have to be opening for one of dubstep’s original curators: famed Canadian dubstep producer Excision.
Life and Music Career in Manila
In early 2013, Toro moved to Manila, for one part to be closer to his father, who lives in Batangas and whom he hadn’t seen in 7 years, and for the other to escape a 9-to-5 lifestyle and live his dream of being a full-time musician. Not seeing the same opportunities in the music industry in Italy, Toro decided to expand his creative career as a DJ and producer in the Philippines.
Shortly after arriving in Manila, Toro was able to secure a weekly gig at Keg, Fort Bonifacio, where he played Mondays at a party called Basscore, along Torta Manila and Nomad Massive. He then became a resident DJ at gastropub Barley in Quezon City and afterwards added a gig as a resident DJ at Dragon (in QC), where he played each Tuesday at a party called Tunesday. These days you can find him each week at “Throwdub Thursday” at Dragon.
When playing gigs, Toro usually plays live instead of sets. He enjoys the challenge of entertaining the crowd and tweaking the music to the audience’s liking. His trademark can be found in dubstep flavored tracks, mixed with drum & bass.
Apart from playing at various clubs and gastropubs in Manila, Toro also currently works on producing beats for Filipino cinematographer and music video director Willan Riviera.
Being fluent in Tagalog has helped Toro integrate in the city quickly. He enjoys how his life in the Philippines is so different from Italy and finds it exciting to meet different people, make new friends, explore the city’s and country’s different sides and play his music for a growing audience.
While he says the dubstep and underground scene in the Philippines is still in its beginning stages, Toro is hopeful that the music will find the following it deserves when in Manila. He is dedicated to help grow the scene by continuing to produce, play, spread the word about and introduce more people to the genre. He compares dubstep to punk rock: in the beginning punk rock was disregarded by many, then grew a huge following and fan base and even became a lifestyle to countless people. That is the potential he sees for dubstep: to become a lifestyle music genre. And with his music and passion, he works towards making just that dream become a reality.
To hear Toro play live, find him at these places:
Uno Lounge (Greenfield District, Mandaluyong): Wednesday
Dragon (Don A. Roces Ave, QC): Thursday
Barley Gastropub (Sgt. Esguerra Ave, QC): Friday
Follow Toro here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TOROPROD
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/fucktoro
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/fucktorello
