Dropgun

The mighty Russian trio bring us ‘Angst’…one of the biggest bangers of the summer

Interview by Dan Prince


Mike, Ilyas, Kirill welcome to DMCWORLD…where in the world are you today?

“Hello Dan and everyone at the DMCWORLD community! Firstly, thanks for having us today. Currently we’re back home in Tomsk, working, studying and cooking some hard new beats in the studio.”

Massive record that has sent the Buzz Chart office crazy, please talk us through the sound and history of “Angst’…everyone loves it!

“Thanks a lot for this warm support, we really appreciate it making into the Buzz Chart with this track. Honestly, Angst has a long history, we tried around 5-6 different drops to that breakdown before it became the tune it is today. We weren’t satisfied with it and switched to other projects instead. Eventually we decided to go with something different, we found it interesting and this version found it’s home on the Metanoia Music label.”

When I told the Buzz Chart king Guy Garret I was interviewing you today, he shouted across the office…”we love Dropgun, ‘Angst’ is the biggest banger of the summer” – did you know on completion that you had created a monster?

“We love you too, DMC! Usually we won’t finish working on a track until we’re 100% satisfied with it, but we didn’t expect it to be this well received. Thanks to Metanoia for having this track reach out so far!”

The tune has gained support from the likes of Hardwell, Tiesto, Romero and W&W… who are the names you always check to see if they like your music, who’s name on the support list makes you proud?

“Can’t really pick out anyone in particular. We are grateful for any support but of course it’s always exciting to receive it from big names like Showtek, W&W, Hardwell, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike…”

Tell us about your studio set up…

“Our studio has a very basic setup. For software we use Cubase 7. The hardware part of our studio includes Speakers: KRK ROKIT 8, MIDI Controller: M-AUDIO Oxygen 49, Audio Interface: TC Electronic Impact Twin, Headphones: Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro.”

How does the Dropgun studio process work, who excels in what production department?

“All three of us take part in the production process and usually it consists of us taking turns at the PC while the other two sit behind and contribute with ideas and feedback. Skill wise we’re all equal.”

It’s that time again…the DJ Top 100 Poll. Been asking a lot of DJs about this recently, some say there are too many DJs to take it seriously, some say it’s fixed, some love it, most don’t give a shit. What’s your take on it?

“We don’t really pay much attention to it, honestly. We’re aware of the ratings but we have our own favorites.”

Nervo dropping ‘Amsterdam’ at Tomorrowland. Wow. Where did you watch that?

“It was completely unexpected so everything happened at home on Youtube during the live stream!”

Let’s rewind for a moment. When did you all first come into contact with dance music?

Ilyas: “For me it was when I first heard Prodigy’s album ‘Experience’ back in my early childhood, but I only first attempted writing music when I was 12.”

Kirill: “Royksopp – ‘What Else Is There’ (Trentemoller Remix) was the track that kick started my interest to dance music back in 2007.”

Mike: “It all started off with my first interest in trance music and this was my first experience back in 2010.”

When did you first meet, how did this trio of production superstars begin?

“We met on a local music-related Internet forum in our town back in 2010. Back then, Kirill and Mike already had a duo project of their own, whereas Ilyas had his own solo career. We weren’t really very serious about music production at the time we met, but the three of us decided to collaborate together on a track called “National” and we really enjoyed working on it. It was released on Sick Slaughterhouse and even got supported by W&W. It was from that point on that we decided to take a big step forward and get serious about music, which ended up in the making of the united Dropgun brand. We’re not even a year old yet!”

Over in the UK we know the name Tomsk – your home city – as the name of one of children’s TV show The Wombles!!! What is the best and worst thing about living in Tomsk?

“The best thing about Tomsk is that it’s our home city and we’re used to it. We have our whole family and friends here and we value that a lot. On the other side, however, for a musician with potential gigs this is a pretty bad location because it’s really far from anything related to EDM and the transportation costs are gigantic.”

What did your families think of your career choice?

“On one side they try to be supportive of our choices, but it’s fair to say that right now they’re skeptical regarding the profitability of this career.”

Tell us about the sample packs which finally brought you to unveil yourselves…

“We try to use as little sample packs as we can and try to do most of our sounds ourselves. In the past, we were successful in selling our own sample packs anonymously so a lot of the sounds in our present tracks come from there.”

Who are some of the producers from around the world you are giving high fives to right now?

“DVBBS, Ralvero, DJ BL3ND are some of the recent ones.”

The tune of summer 2014…?

“Dubvision – ‘Backlash’ (Martin Garrix Edit).” 

What is the record that…

…reminds you of your childhood?

“Any Rammstein song!”

…always get you dancing?

“Fedde Le Grand & Nicky Romero ft. Matthew Koma – ‘Sparks’ (Atmozfears & Audiotricz Remix).”

…reminds you of being broken hearted?

“The Killers – ‘Mr. Brightside’.”

…you wish you would have made?

 “Showtek – ‘Booyah’.”

2014 has been a major year for you…skip forward 12 months…what do you want to have achieved this time next year?

“Mainly we hope to get some gigs organised by then and hopefully some interesting collaborations.”  

An up and coming Russian producer to watch out for in 2015?

“Vigel could be an interesting sound to look out for next year!”

Whenever we interview producers from Russia we always get two opinions. Some say the club scene is great, there is good music coming through and big things are around the corner. Others say it’s not a good scene. What is your take on it?

“The community in Russia doesn’t yet understand festival EDM music. If anything, there is some stuff coming through in Moscow and St. Petersburg in the form of festivals and concerts from big DJs but we think the Russian community as a whole isn’t ready for EDM yet. Clubs are still stuck with the popular commercial music and hardly anyone risks playing the modern EDM tunes. It’s really hard to say whether there is potential in the Russian market and whether EDM will ever get to that level of recognition amongst the population as it has in Europe and the US.”

And finally, what is coming out next from you studio wise?

“We have a really big project coming up, cant say much, but it’s already signed and you’ll hear of it really soon!”

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