Audiodrama

Audiodrama
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Katrina Benson & Chace Hadley
Background information
Formed	2012
Origin	America
Genre	Electronica Alternative
Years active	2012-Present
Label	Independent
Associated acts
Pandora Jetfire Calvin Hawthorne

Audiodrama are an American underground electronic duo made up of producer Katrina Benson and vocalist/violinist Chace Hadley, formed by Katrina as a side project to her work as producer for Violetta DiNozzo. The duo first made their appearance on the premiere season of The Uraps Factor, where they made it through the judges' houses and into the top 16. Their success on the show was short-lived, as they were the first eliminated and finished in 16th place. After their time on the show, they were featured on "Don't Play Those Games" for Violetta, and then started work on their debut album "Shakespeare In Binary". The single "Dancing With A Broken Heart" was released in March, as an EP including the first four tracks of the album.

Band Members

Katrina Faye Benson - currently 26 years old, born on August 3rd, 1986. Katrina was born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut. Growing up, she was deeply influenced by the rave scene and electronic music. In her teens she started producing her own tracks and bootleg remixes, quickly building up a following as a local DJ. She gained further exposure when she began playing interstate at various EDM festivals, which caught the attention of Violetta DiNozzo who was seeking a DJ to bring with her on her debut headlining "Behind Enemy Lines" tour. Katrina took the job as Violetta's tour DJ, and later teamed up with Violetta and guitarist Raphael Monaghan to form The Darling Violetta Project. Initially, the DVP was to be a band fronted by Violetta for the release of her third studio album, but public reaction was not favourable so the project was released under Violetta's name alone. The DVP was kept on as Violetta's creative team however, and are still together. In October of 2012 they began work on Violetta's fourth album, which is set for a 2013 release.

Chace Rowan Hadley - currently 31 years old, born on November 19th, 1981. Chace was born in Miami, Florida; since club music is popular there, Chace developed an interest in the style. In contrast, Chace took up classical violin and also studied classical voice, which he went to New York to further his studies. Despite his involvement with classical music Chace had no interest in playing with an orchestra or to make a career as an opera singer, and he had no desire to break into musical theatre. Chace developed a more contemporary vocal style to complement and contrast his classical technique, while working with EDM producers on demos. This is what led him to meet Katrina in 2011, and they began working together. Their professional chemistry was strong, which is how they decided to form a duo together.

Formation

Outside of her work with Violetta DiNozzo, Katrina continued to work on her own productions. Having experienced major success as Violetta's producer (including three #1 singles and a #1 album), Katrina decided to branch out and work with other artists producing demos, but she deliberately avoided big-name artists looking to capitalise on her success with Violetta. Chace sought Katrina out because of her previous success, and she was initially dismissive of him with his classical background believing that he would turn out to be just another classical-crossover wannabe. Chace won her over though, when he proved that he was just as enthused and knowledgable about electronic music as Katrina was, and convinced her to work with him after showing that he could sing more than just classical music. The duo began recording demos together, blending Chace's vocal talents and abilities on the violin with Katrina's production work.

Music

The Uraps Factor

Audiodrama auditioned for the first series of The Uraps Factor with "In The Dark" by DJ Tiesto featuring Christian Burns. Katrina provided live production and a playback track for Chace to sing the vocal on top of. Their performance was enough to impress judge James Moss, who took them with him into the competition. During the first live show featuring the top 16, Audiodrama performed a cover version of "Us" by James Frost, in their developed electronic-meets-orchestral style. Chace played violin and sang lead over Katrina's dance production; James was the only one to understand their intended direction. As a result, their performance was panned by the other three judges and the public voted them out in a double elimination. They finished in 16th place.

Upon exiting from the show, Violetta DiNozzo extended an offer for them to appear with her on her then-current single "Don't Play Those Games", to give them a chance in the industry and to give the public another shot at understanding their musical aesthetic. Audiodrama appeared on the remixed single version of Violetta's single, and were featured in one of the song's two music videos. The single was a top 3 success, but its initial release failed to sell to Violetta's previously-established standards and was eventually re-released. The re-release accounts for only a small portion of the single's final sales, but was enough to push the single to gold accreditation. Later in 2012, Audiodrama began working on material for their debut album.

Shakespeare In Binary Era

The first single from Audiodrama's debut album was "Dancing With A Broken Heart", a song combining elements of glitch, dubstep, industrial and orchestral music. Chace's voice was extensively processed on the recording to sound hollow and robotic, to fit with the song's mechanical feel. Three additional songs were recorded and produced throughout 2012, and these three were featured alongside "Dancing With A Broken Heart" on an EP which was Audiodrama's debut release. During the promotion of the single, the duo announced that their debut album would be titled "Shakespeare In Binary", and that it would be released in full late 2013. Their release plan is to release the album in stages; "Dancing With A Broken Heart" was the first part of the album, and four more songs will be released in July as a second EP. The full album will be released in October/November with a third single.

"Dancing With A Broken Heart" proved to be a success when it was released; radio openly received the song, and it peaked at #2 on the national airplay chart. It also received strong iTunes sales, and on the main chart it was a top 5 hit. The EP spent two weeks in the top 5, and is currently certified silver. Due to the success of the song, and to keep fans interested while they waited for more new material, Audiodrama announced the release of EP track "Amygdala" as a digital/airplay single. The song is due for release to iTunes on May 13th.

Discography

Singles

Year	Single	Peak	Album	Certification	Sales	Digital
2012	"Don't Play Those Games" (with Violetta DiNozzo)	#3	Divide & Conquer	Gold	223,602	48,957
2013	"Dancing With A Broken Heart"	#4	Shakespeare In Binary	Silver	187,843+	77,961
	"Amygdala"	TBR		N/A	N/A	N/A