Starsky & Hutch, Tom & Jerry… duos like that come to mind pretty quickly. How about Toyboy and Robin, ring any bells? Well to anyone reading this it certainly should, as this pairing is starting to make a big impact on the house music scene. Rewind the clocks to 2013, and the summer of that year would see the two lads propelled into the limelight through the release of ‘Jaded’. It’s a slick, well rounded house track that feels right at home on the road, or in the dance.

Fast forward a few years and Toyboy and Robin are generating some serious heat, having just released an EP on Regression Sessions new imprint. Their parties are the stuff of legend, so it’s not surprising this EP deals some serious damage. And the icing on the cake? Well that comes courtesy of Crosstown Rebels mainstay Russ Yallop, who provides a killer remix of the title tune to round up the three tracker nicely. With all that going on, we caught up with the two boys. Check out the interview below.

WWD: Easy lads appreciate you sitting down with us a for a chat! First things first, we first came across Toyboy and Robin a couple of years ago now with your track ‘Motions’ on Subsoul, and we’ve been a huge fan ever since! How have you two been getting on recently, and what have you been up to?

T&R: Thanks for having us guys, and supporting the tunes! We’ve been good thanks – moving in a slightly different direction musically these days as we felt ‘deep house’ of yesteryears became somewhat saturated, so now we’re focusing our efforts solely on the underground scene. Maybe the previous music we were writing came a bit more naturally, so this year has definitely been a case of getting our heads down and trying to nail a sound that we’re happy with. But things seem to be rolling nicely, release on release!

WWD: Wicked stuff the releases are always on point! Now you two recently released an EP on Regression Sessions new label that features a Russ Yallop remix. We’re a big fan of the EP, it’s got plenty of groovy house sounds to keep anyone happy! You guys must be chuffed that a name like Russ Yallop decided to do a remix, so how did that come about? 

T&R: Yeah it’s amazing to have someone as well revered as Russ on the package! Basically the guys over at Regressions had booked him on a previous show, and when our release was signed, I think it felt only natural to inquire about a remix!

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/331931022″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

WWD: Well we’re glad you did! Bit of a random one but there’s one thing we’ve wanted to ask you boys for a long time – how did the name ‘Toyboy and Robin’ come about?

T&R: [Laughs] This answer isn’t going to be as fun as you want it to be! One of us is called Toyin and the other, Rob. So they were kinda just nicknames as such chucked together. Though Rob is actually a Robert, but that really doesn’t work. His surname is Drake and that’s taken by some other guy, so Robin just seemed to fit!

WWD: [Laughs] Both of you are firmly establishing yourself in the scene, with solid releases on the likes of MTA Records and of course Regression Sessions more recently. What advice would you give to up and coming producers that are trying to make a name for themselves in the scene?

T&R: A couple of tips we’d give is really do your research and don’t get disheartened – I think it’s safe to say we’re doing more reading than ever right now. Whether that’s on techniques, plug-ins, equipment or anything else, production is a never-ending learning process. Every single producer out there has days when they don’t feel good enough, nothing works creatively and they feel as if they’re stealing a living; they’re lying if they don’t. So don’t beat yourself up about the bad days, and just persevere as the good ones always come back!

WWD: Sounds like solid advice to us. Speaking about good days, you guys curated a couple of nights at Basing House in January, and it looks like the gigs went down an absolute treat! Have you got anymore plans like this in the future, either there or at a different venue? Because we’ve wanted to see you boys live for a while now…

T&R: Yeah they were so fun as we played for 4 hours on both nights, so we really got to delve into our record collections a little more! I think we’ll definitely do one again, but we tried to avoid doing another this summer as we had a few London dates and didn’t want to have it clash. That said, we’re headlining the Jägerbomb stage at Lovebox on the Friday, and have a couple more pencilled dates for London, so we’ll whack you on the list in due course!

WWD: Nice one boys we’re looking forward to it! Now we like asking artists this question because we always get a different answer, so if you had to choose between DJing or producing for the rest of your life, what would you go for?

T&R: Tough one! You need the productions to earn money from DJing. I’d say DJing is more fun, but production is a lot longer and more rewarding process so production. If we just DJ’d, I think we’d just spend our days playing FIFA!

WWD: Interesting answer! Final question we’ve got for you today lads: If you were us, what question would you ask yourself? And what would your answer be?

R: Who’s better at table tennis?

R: Me… obviously.

T: Rob obviously doesn’t believe that [laughs].

WWD: [Laughs] Good stuff boys it’s been a pleasure!

T&R: You too mate, take care.