As early birds wandered onto the sand Friday and Saturday and clear waves rolled sleepily onto the shore, the Monster Beach Club was bumping.

Two locals found themselves on the other side of the stage at Hangout Music Festival, DJing for crowds they were in just last year.

"The crowd that came out and the support was just overwhelming. I had no expectations it was going to be as hype as it was," said Ryan Lee, aka Zewmob.
The 2012 Baldwin County High School graduate and Meachie, a 2014 Foley High School alum, have known each other since childhood. To be able to DJ at the festival they've been attending and being inspired by for years is a blessing to both artists, but it didn't happen by chance.

Meachie Tweeted in 2017 he was determined to play at Hangout. That Tweet manifested May 20.

"I got so motivated off this festival. I started making music because of this festival. I was determined to play Hangout. It's what I grew up on," he said.

Meachie considers his music open format, combining samples with sing along mashups and high-energy drops. He recently released an EP and DJs regionally with a home base in Tuscaloosa. Zewmob spins house music with blended elements of hip hop, tech house and bass, and they work with Future Astronaut Records, a Gulf Shores-based regional production-record-label community.

"I always say we, and people say, 'Who's we?' It's the team. It's everyone involved with everything we're doing. I'm not doing Hangout. We're doing Hangout," Zewmob said.

They use each other and others on their team as feedback partners, passing ideas back and forth and promoting each other's music.

"We all have different styles, so that's helpful in pushing each other," Zewmob said.

In the end, they both said they feel the key is to put the work in first. Figure the fun out later.

"Although on the outside looking in it looks like a lot of fun and partying, that is not possible without putting in the prerequisites and the fundamentals of actually learning and getting into the production and making your own product and creating your own brand," Zewmob said. "So, I always encourage people to get those foundations first, and all the other fun things will come from that."

They each played two sets this year to crowds that jumped and jammed and provided the energy they hoped for but might not have imagined even just a few years ago. When Meachie posted that Tweet in 2017, "I was barely DJing at the time. As long as you're putting in the time and work, it's going to pay off. I was self-taught. YouTube is where I learned how to DJ and make music. Everyone's got their thing."

Zewmob said they want to leverage the momentum of their first Hangout performances to gain traction with other festivals and expand regionally.

"After this weekend, I'm going to make another Tweet for what I want to manifest," Meachie said. "I'm going to work harder. This is eye-opening for us. I want to go on tour. I want to keep going. This is just the tip of it."