One of the most exciting artists on the North American electronic scene. Here comes the firestarter
Interview : Dan Prince
Troy welcome to DMCWORLD. You have just concluded a massive Spring Euro Tour, it’s been nine months since you last hit European shores – how do our crowds over here differ with their musical appreciation to their American counterparts?
“Hey Dan…just finished the tour, it was crazy! By far my best tour yet over here, and got to play in a bunch of really cool places I’ve never been before. It was interesting, right now “trap” music in the US is probably at its pinnacle so I usually end up playing quite a bit of it while in the US or Canada…but while over in Europe, not many people really got it, or just didn’t like it much so I would end up playing quite a bit harder and more aggressive. It was really cool tho, the kids on this side of the pond go f*cking crazy!!”
After one show last year in the States, a journalist asked you what had just happened to you then up on stage, to which you replied ‘I played dubstep for a bunch of people that didn’t really know what it is was, but they moved which was great.’ Does this happen a lot still, are you still entering unchartered waters with your sound from time to time in far flung places?
“Haha, yeahhh, that was on the Korn tour with my homie Downlink. It was a real eye opener to how lucky and awesome we have it in the EDM scene. It was tough trying to play dubstep for Korn fans because they just were NOT interested. It almost felt like we were torturing them for half hour! As the tour progressed tho I started reading the crowd a lot more and playing metal mashups and stuff and they started to really get stoked and get into it! I think the whole thing was an amazing experience tho in which it trained me to become a better performer. When I’m in uncharted territory where they may or may not know the stuff I’m playing, I for the most part just stick to what I do best and what got me there. Who knows, in 6 months they could look back and say that I was one of the first people to play dubstep in that area!”
Describe that now famous standing in the crowd at the Shambhala Festival in B.C. when you heard that crazy sound of dubstep on a big system for the first time…was it an awakening after years of hip hop?
“It blew my mind literally. I had always been screwing around making dubsteppy kinds of sounds but at that point I finally found out what it actually was and realized there was a scene for it! That, plus the fact it was being played on a PK sound system which was the best possible system to hear it on. The minute I got home I started working on all types of different stuff and realized I didn’t need an MC to finish a track! That was the turning point for me.”
How important for you is it keeping a little hip hop influence in your music?
“I would say fairly important, but I don’t want it to fully define me. I play 80% whatever I’m feeling the most at the time and 20% for the crowd. It usually ends up being a good balance of the new & the old with a dash of hiphop flavour spliced in between!”
An interesting thing you said last year, how you kinda missed the early days of underground dubstep before everything went completely mainstream. Nowadays you have to keep up with your neighbors – same big production, same lazers and lights. When was the last time you did a gig and simply flicked the off switch and kept it dark n’ dirty…?
“I had a gig like that just recently in Zurich…it was amazing. It’s nice when people aren’t constantly staring at you underneath bright lights, but are fully in tune with the music and bass. I play more shows these days then not, and it’s always those gigs specifically that stand out the most to me. “
Miami must seem like a distant memory for you now, six dates in seven days. What was the best thing that happened to you in WMC week?
“I think my favourite part of Miami this year was doing a b2b set with 12th Planet in a dark grungy club with no lights in our faces. That was the 3rd show of the day for me and definitely the highlight of my trip! Kids were going bananas.”
You have been on tour with Steve Aoki and witnessed dozens of massive dance producers in clubs and festivals. Who has impressed you recently?
“Honestly I would have to say I really enjoy watching house sets. I really enjoyed watching r3hab, Chuckie and a few others. Carl Cox was wicked in Australia at the Stereosonic after party. I feel like house DJs always have so many cool tricks so when I watch them spin I try and take in as much as I can with shit they are doing with the mixer or whatever! Hmm, I would ALSO say Andy C & Dieselboy as well. Triple drops? COME ON!”
It’s 12 months now since the release of your debut album Vitamin D. Looking back now that the dust has settled…you happy with it and the reception it received?
“I would say so, it opened a lot of doors in terms of touring and stuff, and it did well too. But I feel like that album was testing the water a bit for me. I recently released an EP on my own label “Firepower Records” and made it all really dark and evil, and it ended up crushing the sales of my album which blew my mind. It was so hard for me to grasp that dark and evil music can rise to the top of the EDM charts. I look at everything I’m making quite a bit different now.”
Who are the young artists you’ve spotted who are going to be some of the future stars of dubstep?
“Too many to list. This is the whole reason I started my label, to recruit all these guys and work with them! Got nothing but love for all the guys on my label, and they are all good friends with each other so its just a bonus. Makes bus tours extremely fun! DKS, The FRIM, Carvar and Clock, Konec have all been really impressing me lately. All fairly new but insane talent and fresh ideas. But like I said, I believe in all the people that I sign.”
What is the finest album in your collection – apart from your own!?
“Wu-tang – 36 chambers, Tha Dogg Pound – Dogg Food, Method Man – Tical.”
It may not be good for my image, but I really love…
“DUCKS. I LOVE DUCKS.”
I love the story of your first tender foorsteps into music. Your father was big time into his high end audio equipment. Tell us the story of the occasion when you were 6 years old when he gave you the opportunity to build a system…
“For my birthday, he gave me a high end 5.1 surround system for my room, and told me if I could set it up by the end of the day I could keep it! Been blasting loud music ever since.”
What is coming next from the mighty Datsik studio?
“Currently working on my next EP (about 7 tracks) and its going to be the sequel to the Cold Blooded EP. Really stoked, tons of swing on this one and doing some reggae kind of stuff too. Should be interesting to see how it goes down!”
And what are the next releases swinging our way via Firepower Records?
“Carvar and Clock, dropping their Miskatonik EP in a couple weeks (sounds like Noisia mixed with trap), new stuff from Protohype, tons of remixes of my tracks and A BUNCH more. We’ve been so busy lately with the label and have so much fresh new stuff coming out.”
Not many people know this, but Datsik is really good at…
“Injuring himself. He has always been an accident prone child haha. (*currently covered in cuts, scrapes & bruises from Europe tour, on the plane back to Los Angeles)”
And finally, you are from Kelowna in Canada, a city on the Okanagan Lake. In the UK we have a mystery monster called Nessie lurking in Loch Ness, you have Ogopogo living in your lake. Ever seen him?
“Yeah like 20 times. I’m the only witness left living, he ate everyone else. And yeah they should battle. Ogopogo is beast mode.”
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