Interview with TASSiN & SEAN TERRIO By Tammy Ann Chaman

 

Hamilton’s Rock and Country Magazine Interview

 

YASSiN & Sean Terrio

 

Please post on or after February 27

 

Link to press photo is HERE

 

Link to single art is HERE

 

https://www.instagram.com/yassinandseanterrio/

https://www.tiktok.com/@yassinandseanterrio

1. “Right Here Right Now” captures that split second before taking a leap of faith. Was there a specific personal moment that inspired this song? and did writing it change anything for you afterward?

1. Hello! Yassin here! I don’t know if this one was inspired by a specific moment. Sean and I both kind of took that leap a couple of years ago, but I feel like this tune comes from a place where we felt like we needed a reminder that we really love making music. When we finished it, I think it re-energized us in a big way. When I listen back to it now, it feels like comfort food. It tells me it’s WAY better doing what we’re doing now than just dreaming about it and taking no action.

2. What led you to country music for this story, and how did you put your own spin on the genre while keeping it authentic?

1. You know what, we didn’t really sit down and consciously think “oh let’s make a country tune,” I think that’s what really makes it authentic to us! It just came out as it was, and we didn’t work too hard to change it to be anything other than that. PLUS, having written this tune with Charissa, who is a country POWER HOUSE, It was inevitable that the country vibes were going to shine.

 

3. You met at the Unplugged North Showcase and instantly connected creatively. What was the first spark?  Was it lyrical chemistry, vocal blend, shared values, and how did that shape the final version of the track?

1. Yes! Sean and I met Charissa at Unplugged North. We really just fell in love with Charissa’s voice as soon as we heard it. It is pure magic. If you ever get a chance to see her live, you’ll see what we mean! As soon as she got off stage, we all became friends! Over the next few years, we did a handful of shows together and became closer friends. Since she is a country artist, and we’re whatever we are, we didn’t really think of collaborating, but we always made time to support each other the best we could! It was only late last year that we decided to try writing together. The song came together in an hour, and I think the years of playing shows together and understanding each other’s voices made the process easy. The way Sean’s voice blends with hers is a match made in heaven!

 

4. Charissa’s music often moves between stripped-down intimacy and experimental textures. How did that duality shape your approach to this collaboration? And YASSiN & Sean, in what ways did working with her style push you creatively?

1. Sean Here: Well, it was a welcome change introducing someone else into the writing room like this, and especially when it’s someone like Charissa. I don’t think any of us really noticed a departure from our respective creative styles or any compromise in friction. It all felt very smooth and fairly casual on the day we 3 sat down to write. I think knowing the quality of Charissa’s previous work and the calibre of her ability is something that pushed us to bring our A-game. If I’m tooting our own horn here, I think we did.

 

5. Thinking back to the night you met at the Moonshine Café open mic in 2019, what’s one thing from that moment that still shows up in your work together today?

1. Sean here: I think YASSiN’s ability to see in others what they don’t see in themselves has always been there from the beginning. Like many people, I experience a lot of self-doubt, so much so that I can stop myself from trying things. I’ve gotten better through experience and just showing up, but I think everyone can benefit from a YASSiN in their life. I’ve been lucky enough to have a good handful of family and friends who have pushed me, but when it comes to music and entertainment, that’s my guy. As well, the humour between us doesn’t stop. Some would say it can’t be stopped; our hilarity is unstoppable.

 

6. With over 95 million views and a rapidly growing audience, how do you stay grounded in the “right here, right now” mindset when your career momentum keeps accelerating?

1. Writing a song like “Right here Right Now” really helps actually! It’s hard to know what to feel with these big numbers, its so exciting, but there is a strange disconnect with social media that we’re still figuring out! A big theme in a lot of our new music is about being present, and getting back to what we started doing (writing songs) has really helped keep us grounded and grateful over the last little while.

 

7. From Rock The Halls to supporting the Daily Bread Food Bank, community clearly matters to you. How does giving back influence the way you create and share your music?

1. Giving back is a very important part of our lives beyond music. Being able to make art and do what we love feels like an incredible privilege to us, so giving back will always be a priority, simply because we can. And we want to get bigger and keep growing as a duo so we can keep giving back more and more as the years go on to any of the causes that we feel close too.

 

8. You’ve performed for massive audiences — from the Sound of Music Festival main stage to Team Canada’s Fan Fest. How does performing in those high-energy environments compare to writing something deeply intimate like this single?

1. Sean Here: It’s an interesting thing because those two settings, the quiet, more vulnerable writing room and the extroverted chaos of the stage, are two stops on the same bus route, so to speak. When I think of some of the coolest concert moments I’ve experienced and, now having our own years of experience, you can start to see the “seed” within the fully realized “flower”. Before so-and-so was playing whichever song on “insert huge venue name here”, there was that quiet moment, months, years or decades prior, where that extravagant moment was unintentionally being planned. Someone wrote a song, made it, and then performed it live. In a very obvious way, these two crucibles are incomparable, and in a very meaningful way, they are the beginning and the end of one, singular thing.

 

9. This single is the first chapter before your Summer 2026 album. Does “Right Here Right Now” set the emotional tone for the full project, or is it just one piece of a bigger sonic shift?

1. Great question! It is definitely one piece of a big puzzle that we call album two. We’ve taken “genre bending” to a whole other level on this record, but thematically, “Right Here Right Now” is definitely what this record is about to us. Our first album was mostly about me falling in love with my now wife, whereas this album is mostly about Sean and I, and the at times very tough experiences we’ve had navigating the music industry.

 

10. If listeners take away one feeling or realization after hearing this song, in their car, on headphones, or at a live show, what do you hope stays with them long after it ends?

1. Sean here: That feels like a big question! For this song specifically I think the 3 of us hope people can give themselves permission to have as present a moment as they can. We hope people can make room for these moments to themselves, despite living in an ever-changing, wildly connected yet tragically disconnected world. I know from experience that folks can get really good at catastrophizing and thinking the world is their fault. This isn’t necessarily a concerted effort, but perhaps a learned pattern, one that we can get really hooked on. Considering this, it may not be the worst thing if we sometimes root our feet within a moment and try to help our minds get quiet, if only to use that foundation of silence to push ourselves forward. Each of us has the ability to make our own world a bit better, no matter how gigantic or minute we feel our “better” is. We gotta Just Try :), maybe learn and apply, so we can start to fly; because, after all, you’re my wonder wall.