Dieselboy, live
Concert goers: festival season is upon us. There has been a massive influx of festivals popping up all throughout the United States (and the world), taking our cash hostage and making us lose ourselves in the music (let's admit it though, it's worth it.)
One of the most anticipated festivals of the Fall is Insomniac's Beyond Wonderland, taking place at Shoreline Amphitheater on September 20 and 21. We have a number of interviews coming your way from different acts that are getting ready to take the stage this year.
First off is an interview with drum-and-bass pioneer Dieselboy. I spoke with him about his newest mixtape, his upcoming appearance at Beyond Wonderland, and his musical influences.
You recently released your newest mixtape “The Destroyer” for download. My first question is: where did the inspiration for doing cinematic type mixes come from? It’s so rare to see theatricality nowadays in music.
The cinematic intro has pretty much been my bread and butter for the past 15+ years. The first proper programmed intro I ever made was for a mixtape called “The Directors Cut” from 1998. And since then, I have kept trying to outdo myself. I am a huge movie fanatic. I love movie trailers. I like the drama. When I started doing my intros there was literally no one else out there in dance music doing anything like them. I really feel like I own that sound at this point.
How long did the initial process for piecing together the mixtape “The Destroyer” take? There’s a total of 93 tracks in the mix, so I assume it took a bit of time?
Ha…that would be an understatement. This entire project probably took 40+ hours when all was said and done. It was complicated. I would work at it in bursts. I have to go back and forth with stuff like this so I keep getting inspired. I wanted to make sure this thing had so much detail in it that you could listen to it a dozen times and keep pulling new things from it. I am not sure I can do a better mix to be honest. The next one is going to be challenging.
A lot of drum and bass artists I’ve noticed have grown up with a bit of a rock background since it’s much faster paced music. Who were some of your influences musically when you started out?
My segue into dance music comes from a blended interest in r&b, synth pop and industrial (in that order). Early dance music that I gravitated towards combined elements of all three of these genres. Nowadays I mostly listen to indie rock and metal in my downtime.
You’re one of the artists on the bill for Beyond Wonderland 2014 this year. What can fans (in this case, headliners) expect in terms of your live performance?
I will be bringing a big intro (surprise surprise). Other than that? I will be bringing an energetic set informed by my 23 years of DJ-ing. Not pre-programmed. Mixing live on 4 decks and just trying to push a big, dynamic layered sound. I won’t be bringing cake or pizza to throw at people. I won’t be stepping out from behind the decks, stopping mixing and DJ-ing, in order to stand on a table or speakers or to jump onto people’s heads. No gimmicks. I will let the music speak for me.
What does your equipment setup look like when playing live? Is it complex, or do you like to keep it simple and stick with a few turntables and a mixer?
4 cdj-2000s and a mixer. I play off USB drives. and I utilize all 4 decks in my set. They aren’t up there for show.
I saw that you made the front page of Beatport with your collaboration with Gridlok entitled MDMX. Congratulations! In your opinion, what do you think this says about the state of drum and bass in the electronic music scene? I’d say this is big!
Thank you! I’d like to think that it shows that there is a growing interest in DJs buying and supporting drum and bass. This makes me happy.
The next two questions I ask to every artist that I interview. First: what kind of message, if any, would you like fans to walk away with after listening to your music?
I want them to hear the passion I put into my music. I want them to know that a lot of thought and heart and soul (and blood, sweat and bass ;) )went into my music. And I want them to walk away loving drum and bass more than ever.
Second: what does music mean to you?
Cliche answer would be “everything”. And that is true. But music informs pure emotion to me. I can’t live without it.
What are the future plans for Dieselboy? Essentially, if there’s anything else that you’d like to let fans know about, go for it!
i have some touring coming up with my crew PLANET OF THE DRUMS. i have some new music coming out under my new project with mark the beast called FACES OF DEF. have some potential collabs in the works with phace, spktrm and a few others. next year will see another BLOOD SWEAT AND BASS tour with my man downlink and some special guests. and then another mix DESTROYER II. and possibly a mix with DMC champion shiftee which would be quite cool and different. also more music forthcoming on my labels SUBHUMAN and HUMAN IMPRINT. and clothes from my new clothing line i am doing in conjunction with NIGHTBRAND called SUBKULT.
You can download and listen to Dieselboy's newest mixtape, "The Destroyer", here:
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@DJDieselboy
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