EAZYBAKED: How Childhood Friends Are Taking Their Chemistry, Careers to the Next Level

While most people can only dream of going to work every day with their best friend, Eric Ray and Andrew Principe of EAZYBAKED have made it a reality. Known for their intricate sound design and explosive beats, the Orlando-based duo have cemented themselves as essential players in the world of experimental bass music.

Now on the cusp of releasing their debut LP, INTERTWINED, EAZYBAKED is preparing to build their own empire—one beat at a time. Eric and Andrew caught up with MP3 MAG to discuss the origins of their friendship and their future plans for the EAZYBAKED project.

EAZYBAKED have been cooking up intergalactic mischief since their high school days. However, their story begins long before then. Eric and Andrew met in elementary school and quickly became friends. Even as they moved through middle school and on to different high schools, their friendship never wavered.

Then, somewhere around eleventh grade, Eric received an iPad, and the two best friends decided to dabble in music-making.

“We were literally in my room every day making beats together,” Eric recalled.

After a while of “posting random beats” to Soundcloud as separate entities—Eric as “EAZY” and Andrew as “MR. BAKED”—the two decided to combine their talents to become EAZYBAKED. They converted an RV belonging to Eric’s family into a recording booth, where they spent their free time experimenting with rhythm. Not long after, they got an offer to play their first show.

“We got a show offer from our friend in high school,” said Eric. “Then we got a DJ controller. And we were like ‘alright, this could definitely be something that we could do consistently.’”

Buzzing with the realization that they could perform their music to other people, EAZYBAKED went on to cultivate their distinctive style of experimental bass.

As Eric explained, “In Orlando, there wasn’t much underground bass or forward-thinking music out, to our taste. We just wanted to push this sound as much as we could.”

And then, before they could blink, they had a full-fledged business under their belts—touring the country, pushing merch, and performing in front of scores of bass music lovers.

The chemistry that Andrew and Eric share is undeniable. Though two separate individuals, they have developed a seamless symbiosis as they’ve grown up together—finishing each other’s sentences and complementing each other’s strengths and shortcomings.

“Eric has more of a flow sense, and I’ve got more of a technical mind,” said Andrew. “So in that sense, it’s like yin and yang.”

“We fill each other’s gaps really well,” Eric added. “I’m not gonna lie, I’m pretty disorganized when it comes to most things. But Andrew’s really good at that. [It’s obvious when] you have a conversation with him—the way he breaks things down.”

While most friends occasionally butt heads, these two have managed to largely avoid conflict. They chalk this up to the fact that they know each other so well, as well as their identical outlooks on music and life in general.

“People ask me all the time, ‘do you argue, or do you butt heads?’ It’s like ‘no, not really,’” said Eric. “I can probably count on my hand the amount of times we’ve argued, knock on wood! We just count it a blessing that we can work like we do together because we know it’s not something that’s very common.”

In early 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit and live music ground to a halt, something amazing happened in Andrew’s life: He became a father to baby girl Ella Mae. Stepping into his new role as Dad allowed Andrew to grow and mature as a person.

“[Fatherhood] taught me a lot about myself, especially patience-wise,” Andrew explained. “There’s a lot of times when I want to work on music, but it’s not about just me anymore. I have to make sure she’s good, too. It was a learning curve trying to balance out how we’re going to squeeze in as much studio time as possible while still raising a child properly. But it’s been great. Ella loves the music, so that makes it fun, too!”

Around the same time, Andrew and Eric began laying the foundations for what would become EAZYBAKED’s debut LP, INTERTWINED. The first track they wrote, called “Simulated,” was the seed that sparked a new phase of creative output for the duo. Over their time in lockdown, the concept of the LP would gradually unfold.

“We got tired of being stuck at home, basically,” Andrew remarked. “We didn’t even know [INTERTWINED] was going to be an album at first. We just decided to write a longer project—something at least seven tracks.”

Eric added, “We had tried writing an album before, but it never came out. [Quarantine was] the perfect time to really just do that.”

After sitting on the project for a year and coming under new management, the duo decided that now was the perfect time to release their debut LP. Now, fans can experience INTERTWINED in all its glory. But as the old saying goes, comfort is the enemy of progress. With INTERTWINED, EAZYBAKED hopes to showcase a slightly different sound than what fans have previously heard from them.

“It’s really easy to work yourself into a mold when it comes to production and what you’re trying to portray,” said Andrew. “We’re trying to basically just evolve, break free from doing the same type of sounds all the time. Hopefully, people can see [our] progression and evolution.”

“I hope fans gather to not stay too comfortable and to just keep pushing forward, and that being vulnerable with how you’re feeling—your emotions you’re expressing, whatever you’re doing with art—is okay,” said Eric.

EAZYBAKED has big plans in the works. Right now, they’re focusing on touring and collaborating with other artists. In the future, they hope to own their own label and storefront, curate creative events, and headline Red Rocks. As they build their empire, they want as many people as possible to be a part of the magic.

Eric sums it up best: “We out here, and we want everyone to be out here with us!”