Photo by Daniel Dorsa
Audio By Carbonatix
If the synth-wave atmospherics of Com Truise (AKA Seth Haley) remind you of the score for a lost 1980s sci-fi flick, you wouldn’t be completely wrong.
“Most of my music is based on a fictional story I came up with about an android astronaut trying to find civilization,” Haley tells New Times during an early morning phone call. “He meets an alien girl, they fall in love, and they have to escape.”
Is he serious?
“I don’t write songs about my personal life,” he stays steadfast. “I have trouble translating breaking up or someone dying into a song.” For a moment, he thinks about it and corrects himself. “There’s one song based on the passing of my grandmother and her long, storied life with lots of children, but I’m not someone who stubs their toe and writes a song about it.”
Born in upstate New York, Haley got into drum ‘n’ bass in high school.
“I begged and pleaded with my parents to get me turntables,” Haley says. “I started as a DJ doing hip-hop stuff at local house parties, then I got a computer and started writing my own stuff. I fell in love with ambient music. Now I do a mixture of all three: ambient, drum ‘n’ bass, and hip-hop.”
In his twenties, he moved to New Jersey, where he got a day job working as a graphic designer for an ad agency, rushing home afterward to make music at night.
“With less time, somehow it was easier for me to write music,” he adds.
He credits his time at the ad agency with crafting a narrative for his mostly lyric-free music.
“Working in advertising forced me to have a solid concept to drive what I’m doing. With the astronaut, I’m giving myself a client almost,” he says.
During his time in advertising, he also found his signature sound.
“I had a friend who was a big fan of 1980s music. I wasn’t at the time, but I fell in love with the drum machine,” Haley explains. “It was when chillwave was coming up.”
In 2010, he sent his music out to a bunch of labels. When one wanted to release his EP, it needed a name to match the sounds. Instead of using his given name, he brainstormed a bunch of spoonerisms with his coworkers, switching the letters in connecting words. The assembled group couldn’t stop laughing at changing the actor Tom Cruise to Com Truise.
“The name was meant as a joke,” he says, but it stuck. And he hasn’t heard any complaints from the Hollywood star. “I don’t think I’m detrimental to his income.”
Since being able to make music as a full-time job, Com Truise has lived in Orlando for the last five years. You’d think he’d be a fan of theme parks, but he’s only visited Universal once and never the Tomorrowland of Walt Disney World. He does take advantage of his proximity to Cape Canaveral in seeking space-age inspiration.
“Whenever there’s a rocket launch, I try to see it,” Haley says. “It’s taken me a while to acclimate to the heat. I find the afternoon rainstorms inspirational; cloudy days are more inspiring to me than sun.”
On Saturday, April 22, he’ll make the four-hour drive south to Miami to DJ at Understory as part of Sweat Record’s Record Store Day celebration.
“I go through all my songs,” he says of his pre-show preparation. “I rearrange the music and make edits to tracks to have fun with.”
The performance will be a quick break from work for his next album, where perhaps the android astronaut and his alien love interest will finally find happiness.
Com Truise. With Salacía. 7 p.m. Saturday, April 22, at Understory, 7145 NW First Ct., Miami; instagram.com/understorymia. Tickets cost $15 to $20 via eventbrite.com.
