This Interview was conducted by 3MiloE, and DJ Deadly Buda, and took place at Insomniac’s Escape: Psycho Circus 2017.
3MiloE : So, where are you from and what’s the music like where you’re from?
Coone: Like we basically grew up with EDM in Belgium, where I was born. Ah, I’d say EDM in general, not only an hard style, has been big for ages, you know. Before you guys picked it up, let’s say ten years ago, maybe more. When it got big here, everything was rock, hip-hop, you know, everything above the ground was hip-hop, everything underground was a little EDM, and now it blew up, and now we get the mainstream crowd as well, but I grew up with mainstream Hard style parties, whatever. It always has been big, as far as I’m concerned.
3MiloE: That’s cool.
Deadly Buda: Is, ah, the hard style different in Belgium the Holland?
Coone: Ah…yeah, of course. Let’s say, ah, the Netherlands are more picky, so they are a little bit more spoiled, but if they go off …like the crowd loves it, that means you are really doing a good job. Because Like I said they’re spoiled. In Belgium, guys are a little bit behind, or something like that, behind the when so, they like the little bit more commercial stuff, you need to play more bootlegs and remixes of like more famous tracks, but, ah, I love Belgium, it’s, ah, it’s my hometown, my home country, so I love it, I love the crowd. They are really energetic and enthusiastic every time a play for them, so it’s like, I’m in love with my country.
3MiloE: How did you become a DJ?
Coone: …my older brother was a DJ, so I learned being a DJ because of my brother, you know, he played records in his bedroom, and then he started playing national radio stations, that’s how I rolled into it, you know.
Deadly Buda: Oh, wow!
3MiloE: How did you come up with your DJ name?
Coone : Its, ah, its actually my real name, but it is spelled different. My real name is Koen, so Coen, actually, and I just say like, let me write it different, that’s it. It might be offending to some people, cause it’s like, in some part of Australia, over here, its like, ah, like a bad word. But, fuck it! It is never my intention you know. It’s my name! I’m sorry, my mother gave it to me, come at me if you have a problem!
3MiloE: So what animal best personifies your music?
Coone: An animal?
3MiloE: Yeah
Coone: Oh, wow, that’s…ah…. My music? I’d say, ah, dog.
3MiloE: Ok
Coone: Cause a dog can be sweet, and can be like tough as well. My hard style is, is hard, but it has sweet moments as well. And it also fits cause I love hip-hop as well, and that actually fits hip-hop as well. You know the big pit bull, DMX, (growling noise). So, I think a dog it pretty cool. Cause I’m not going to say a lion, cause that’s too tough, that’s more raw style, you know.
Coone at Escape: Psycho Circus 2017
3MiloE: That’s awesome! So, what are you trying to convey with your music?
Coone: What do I what?
3MiloE: What’s the message you are trying to send people?
Coone: I don’t know man, I fell in love with hard style because of that energy and, like I said the roughness that it has. And I, ah, think there is too much pussy music man. I mean, like, music should have balls, like, for example, rock or gangsta hip-hop, I like that cause it has balls. What am I trying to do? Ah, I think there are parts of the world were hard style is not big, for now, and I’m trying to change that. Cause the feeling I had When I first heard hard style…I cannot be the only one that feels that way. So, I’m sure that a lot of people can relate, and could feel that way that I felt when I first hear hard style.
Deadly Buda: What country would you want to play that you haven’t played yet?
Coone: To Africa, like the continent. I’ve been to, ah…everywhere else, actually, but that is the only place. I would love to play, buts it’s like, EDM in general is, like, really small. But, ah, yeah, not to spoil you guys, but, California is doing great. I like the atmosphere and the vibe that you guys have, ah, same goes for South America, let’s say, Chile for example, Chile is doing great. And then Asia is picking up.
Deadly Buda: Have you played in China?
Coone: Yeah. Two months ago.
Deadly Buda: What was that like?
Coone: Ah, the only rave scene that is big is in Tian Zhen, and the rest is picking up, but really slow. The don’t got social media, so, so it’s hard for them to get in touch with the last hypes or whatever. For me, for my China tour, it went great. I did five shows, four of them were sold out. All the clubs are now big, like thousand plus. But, then again, for the first year I did a tour, something’s gotta give. Just like, eh, everyone. Like … what you get more of over there is bottle service clubs. Like high standard clubs. Like, its not about me, it’s not about the DJ, it’s how big your bottle of Grey Goose is. Its different, like I said, the only rave scene now I think is in (Tian Zen?). And the rest it picking up, a little bit more slow.
This interview was conducted by 3MiloE, in DJ Nightstalker’s trailer, at Insomniac Events’, Escape: Psycho Circus.
3MiloE: Well, my name is Milo.
DJ Nightstalker: Nice to meet you, Milo.
3MiloE: I’m representing the Hard Data Magazine today.
DJ Nightstalker: Nice.
3MiloE: And I just wanted to ask you some questions.
DJ Nightstalker : Sure.
3MiloE: So where are you from?
Nightstalker : I grew up in Colorado, but came out to L.A. years and year ago, so it’s got to be like 20 years by now, yeah.
Milo: 20 years?
DJ Nightstalker : Yeah, yeah.
3MiloE: What was the music scene like?
DJ Nightstalker : It was just starting at that time. It was sort of warehouse raves, backyard party. It was kind of emerging out of the party vibe, like backyard party, ditch party, underground, like you break into a warehouse, into legit parties, and stuff like that, too. So it was pretty cool.
3MiloE: Awesome. So how did you come up with your D.J. name?
DJ Nightstalker : D.J. name? I think I was probably like thinking of … It was the ’90s, German base, and general, and the hardcore was dark, and I was skinnier (laughs) at that time. So I probably looked a little more like Richard Ramirez . But it had a good vibe like L.A. style, where we were kind of creeping around at night, kind of like breaking in and playing music and renegade parties and stuff like that. Did a lot of desert renegade parties and other cool stuff.
3MiloE: That’s awesome.
DJ Nightstalker : Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was kind of weird, acid, mushroom kind of vibe, you know what I mean?
3MiloE: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I have the L.A. Underground scene, so I there’s a lot of that. Okay. What animal best personifies your music?
DJ Nightstalker : Personifies the music? It would probably be well, some kind of mythic creature probably, like a phoenix or something. I don’t know. Like the claw, I get known for the claw, so something that kind of rises out of the ashes, and then just like bites you, kind of after you’ve been in the trance. So that or maybe some kind of snake or something, who knows?
3MiloE: That’d be cool.
DJ Nightstalker : Yeah, yeah.
3MiloE: Awesome, awesome. What are you trying to convey with your music?
DJ Nightstalker : Really, for me it’s the whole idea of taking people on a journey is a cliché and stuff, but for me it really is … it comes from a spiritual place, so this is where we build community, through music. It’s also a space where we come together, and I kind of want to push the boundaries a little bit, so people almost feel like they’re in a dream and then they break out of that dream. You know what I mean? Instead of just like kind of hitting them hard the whole time, it’s like kind of building them to that sort of breaking point. That’s what I’m doing, yeah.
3MiloE: Can you describe the feeling you get when you’re on stage?
DJ Nightstalker : Before you’re on, you’re always like … it’s anxious or, What’s going to happen? Do I have everything? I can’t quite see past maybe the first few tunes or something like that, but then when you’re in it, it’s like you’re just sort of lost almost, like sort of merge with the crowd. And then you get spit out the other side, and you’re like, “Oh, shit. I don’t even really kind of remember what just happened.” It’s kind of weird. I wish I could be more present, but it’s like I’m just so caught up in the music and stuff that yeah, it just kind of flies by like a blur, but it’s almost like an out-of-body experience or something.
3MiloE: Yeah. Trippy.
DJ Nightstalker : Yeah, yeah.
3MiloE: Okay. What moment do you cherish most of all in your career so far?
DJ Nightstalker : So far? There’s been a lot. I have really sort of pivotal moments more recently, doing a lot of EDCs and the big festivals and stuff, but I would say it being way back to when I was still spinning vinyl, when there was still a vinyl scene, and I got asked to support Goldie in Japan. So I went to Japan, and did like three dates in Japan, two dates with him. But yeah, it was just like all music, and taking me to these crazy places, see different people, different cultures, and like, “It’s 4 a.m., and these people are still here just for me,” kind of thing. It was pretty trippy. It was part of a moment that I still cherish.
3MiloE: Awesome. What are your major influences?
DJ Nightstalker : Influences would be … early, classic-era drum and base, like folk-tech, maybe any sort of even like left-field, Electronica, hardcore. I was really heavy into hardcore coming up. But also, I used to go to after-hours, when I didn’t even know genres and it’d be like house music and I was just like, “I don’t know what the hell this is,” but I’m just like lost in the beats all night until the sun comes up kind of thing. But I grew up, my dad had a huge record collection that I’ve inherited now. So we used to listen to Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. He’d put on albums and we’d just sit there and listen to music. I’d say that’s really where it began, just this of love of … He collected everything from funk to Kenny Rogers to soul and all that stuff. So, I’d say that’s kind of where the roots began.
3MiloE: Where do you see yourself a year from now?
DJ Nightstalker : A year from now? This is probably a good transition year where I’m finally taking the production seriously so hopefully that’s going to elevate the game. I’m in a really good spot in terms of coming up as a name, or coming back up, because I was an old-school DJ, and sort of faded away for a while and then coming back, kind of resurgence.
But yeah, like Ableton, I’m getting into Ableton and stuff. What people don’t realize is …I’m also like, my other life is, I’m a professor. So I teach.
3MiloE: Oh, wow. I’m in my master’s program in psychology. Yeah.
DJ Nightstalker : Nice. So I got a PhD and I teach at University. Sometimes my students find out what my other life is, but that’s really my career, and so I sort of feel like I’m behind in that way, I can’t devote 100% of my time towards making music, because in my free time I have I’m writing, writing articles that that sort of thing.
3MiloE: May I ask you what you teach?
DJ Nightstalker : So, Chicano studies and then it’s like rhetoric, and critical thinking kind of thing, and also writing.
3MiloE: That’s great.
DJ Nightstalker : Yeah, yeah.
3MiloE: That’s great, man. Well, thank you for your time.
DJ Nightstalker : Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
3MiloE: It’s been a pleasure. We really appreciate this, so thank you.
DJ Nightstalker: Nice, nice, nice. Yeah. Thank you. Keep doing the good work, man.
Hello readers, this is 3MiloE! This interview took place at Escape: Psycho Circuis 2017, with producer/DJ Pulsatorz!!! The interview took place within Pulsatorz’ trailor. Those involved were; Pulsatorz, 3MiloE, CiM (Pulsatorz close friend, and hype man), and Mike the camera man.
Pulsatorz
3MiloE: So where are you from and what’s the music scene like here?
Pulsatorz: I’m from New York City. The music scene is not what it used to be, but it still happens ever here and there.
3MiloE: That’s cool. How did you come up with your DJ name?
Pulsatorz: Long story short, Pulsators was a four man group when it first started and we were trying to come up with a name and we were just googling stuff and trying to figure something out and one of my friend’s girlfriends said something with pulse because, you know, your heart, it drives you. It’s how you live. So let’s do something with pulse and then we were working pulse, pulse, pulse, and then Pulsators ended up coming out.
3MiloE: That’s cool.
Pulsatorz: Yeah, and then … came up with a good concept. You know, a good concept with a logo, marketing. It all came together and we stuck with it.
3MiloE: That’s beautiful.
Pulsatorz: Yeah. And then, unfortunately we had to bring it down to one person because no one wants to book a four man group. But we still all work together very closely and do our thing, you know?
3MiloE: That’s great. That’s great.
Okay, so what animal best personifies your music and why?
Pulsatorz: Monkey. It’s just everywhere. Like, swinging from trees, throwing shit. You know? I don’t really have a direction anymore, I just kind of do whatever happens. You know, you’re sitting there and then you’re just working on stuff in the studio and you gotta break out of your comfort zone so you just kinda go all over the place, you know. That’s what I’m trying to … I’m trying to keep that like kind of a controlled chaos in a sense, you know?
3MiloE: Awesome.
What are you trying to convey with your music?
Pulsatorz: I just want to have good music. Just stuff that, when you play it, people dance. When you hear it, it makes sense. It stays in your head, you’re humming it. You know, people are humming it when they’re driving down the freeway and shit. Like that’s my goal, just make people happy, make them want to dance, make them want to party, make them want to have fun, you know? At the end of the day, it’s entertainment, I just want to entertain.
3MiloE: Awesome. Can you describe the feeling you get when you’re on stage?
Pulsatorz: It’s intense. It’s like you’re controlling everybody through sound. I mean, that’s what you’re doing. So you could make people go nuts, you could mellow them out. So it’s like a … what’s the word … like a conductor almost, you know? I guess that’s why, you know … music conductor. There you go. Yeah, it’s just a good feeling. You’re making people have a good time. They pay all this money for the experience and you’re part of the experience, you know? That’s definitely … at the end of the day that’s what I like.
3MiloE: That’s great. What moment do you cherish the most in your career as a DJ so far?
Pulsatorz: the first time I got on a large stage out west and when I looked up there was maybe 400 or 500 people there and then every time I put my head down in the mix and put it up, another 100 or 200 people came in until the whole tent was packed. I was at Nocturnal Wonderland 2016? Yeah, 2016. And that was definitely … that’s one thing that always stands out. I had the extended set, every time I looked up people were just pouring in, pouring in and everyone was jumping and going nuts. I’ll never forget that, that was a good set. Then the only other thing I can think of is when my track chords dropped and it was on top 40 for three months in a row consecutively. Yeah, so I definitely didn’t expect that. So that’s another one. But it’s definitely the two.
3MiloE: What are your major influences?
Pulsatorz: In music? It’s just whatever sounds cool, you know. Sometimes I’ll watch like a Netflix show or just a sample from a commercial and I’m like, “Oh that’s cool, let me work with it.” And then I’ll work with it. Sometimes it goes somewhere, sometimes it doesn’t. Or like I’ll hear something, not a car, but you know how when trucks pass by because the wheels are so big they have like this crazy hum? In the city there’s so many potholes but when the trucks hit all you hear is dub sounds so it kinda … I got really fucking stoned one day and I thought it was someone bumping dubstep. But no, it was just a truck passing by. So now, I think of that every time we’re driving and I see a truck and I hear it. But it’s just random things, like whatever’s on the radio, whatever’s, you know, in anything. If something sounds cool, I want to play with it.
3MiloE: That’s cool. I really dig that whole getting influences from, you know, non-musical inspirations.
Pulsatorz: Organic sounds. Always better. Because they’re organic so it gives you a different texture in your music, you know. Definitely always liked that. Like, if I can’t get a live instrument, I like getting sample instruments because they’re organic and then just messing with them and playing with them. You know? So those are always cool. But, you know, just any time of sound that just is cool. Like a little fill or something.
3MiloE: Cool. Where do you see yourself a year from now?
Pulsatorz: See myself a year from now, that’s a good question. Hopefully doing a lot more shows out west. Getting more music out. Just in general, just more grind. I just wanna grind it out, keep grinding and just keep moving and getting it going, you know? I don’t really care if it takes me anywhere, I’m just having fun doing it.
3MiloE: That’s great.
Mike: Okay, where do you think the American hardstyle is going?
Pulsatorz: It’s going where it’s going. There’s really no … there’s no direction. We’re not the same as a European crowd. We’re not European, we’re American. We like different music, we have a different culture so just naturally, because of that, we’re gonna have a different style. It’s not the typical European style, it’s not the typical whatever style. Like Italians have their own sound, Dutch have their own sound. Whoever is making this stuff has their own sound. But being an American producer, you have to have your own sound. You have to stand out. Because, what good is it for an American producer to sound like a European producer? We’re not in Europe. So, that’s my thing.
CiM: You market to America. You’re shows are here. So make your music for the people that are here. You gotta go where your money’s gonna come from, you know?
3MiloE: You having an overall blast though, today?
Pulsatorz: Yeah, definitely, I mean there’s a lot more of the night to go but it’s gonna get fun, it’s gonna get crazy, that’s for sure.
Mike: What does the next year look like for Pulsatorz? Any new music coming out?
Pulsatorz: I have a couple I’m working on. Just finishing up the labels, waiting for them to seem right because I’m not trying to always put out on the same label, you know? I want to reach a different demographic, you know? I wanna stick to something in the hardstyle realm. I don’t wanna specifically just do hardstyle because it’s been proven time and time again, if you just do hardstyle and hardstyle only, an American crowd … I’m talking about majority, I’m not talking about the … the core fans, they get tired of it. So you gotta throw shit at ’em to mix it up. You gotta do a little bit of this, a little bit of that, whatever’s popular. You just put a little bit in there, spin it into your own, spin it into a hardstyle-type thing. So that’s my whole thought on the whole American thing. That’s when I don’t like when people are like, “Oh, this doesn’t sound like this specific artist.” We’re not those artists, we’re in a completely different element, we’re completely different. Whole other side of the world.
Bart: I love the page, by the way. I love the page, I’m always on it. (reffering to TheHardData)
Pulsatorz with 3MiloE
3MiloE: Really? You read? Have you read my 3MiloE articles?
CiM: I haven’t … pretty far back. We’ve been busy preparing for the shows. Anything hardstyle-related, we always are … trying to keep on top of things, you know? Especially on Facebook or Twitter and stuff like that. So, a lot of his viewpoints are the same viewpoints I have. Same things. You know, a the New York City hardstyle guy too. We’ve been working together since 2008.
3MiloE: That’s amazing, that’s awesome.
CiM: Yeah, so when he (referring to Pulsatorz) comes down … so, I always tell him, you’re playing out there, I said I’m coming.
3MiloE: That’s great man.
CiM: It’s a support system. If there’s no support system … which he didn’t mention … if there’s no support system, there is no system. Everyone else has a support system. When you’re here you can’t have your back turned to someone else. If someone asks you for help, you help them out, lend a hand. It may make you go further or it may not go nowhere but you’re still helping out. A little philosophy.
3MiloE: Yeah, that’s great.
CiM: Well, like I said, he is the face of Pulsatorz. I mean, like I said, I’m part of the team, because we are a team.
Pulsatorz: Yeah, all of us are in the same studio.
CiM: We’re a team. Like I said, since day one, me and him have been working together.
3MiloE: That’s great.
Mike: How does New York hardstyle differ from LA hardstyle?
CiM: We’re lucky to get a show like this with just 200 people, in a basement. You got this over here, that Basscon stage is probably gonna hold at least 3000 people easy, easy. And with these shows out here it’s almost like when people refer to Defqon and say, “Oh the Europeans are so jealous.” Guys we got non-stop shows in Cali. It’s closer to Cali. Europe is … and not to say … it’s about seven or eight hours depending on where you’re going. But go to Cali, support the American guys, they had Wasteland a couple months ago. It was a great turn out. But that’s a step in the right direction. A lot of local people, a lot of people from different parts of the country all come together and all work together. That’s where it goes.
Pulsatorz: Nothing really. Like as far as American artists mingling, nothing really–really significant happened from that. Some kid just sent me a track, I played it today. “Hybrid Theory” or something like that. We’re working on it right now.
CiM: I’m telling you, a lot of people don’t do things like he does. Like he said, monkey throwing shit, you know? And that’s why things work. Everybody literally has their own way of working. And the way he works, he enjoys. He ain’t going to do something if he doesn’t like doing it.
Pulsatorz: Yeah that’s true.
CiM: Because people might get mad at you.
3MiloE: So I guess, you’re doing what you love, man?
Pulsatorz: I’m having fun. I definitely, definitely enjoy it. It’s more than a hobby but it’s not a job, you know what I’m saying?
3MiloE: Yeah.
Pulsatorz: So I enjoy … I really do enjoy doing it but I’m not sitting here banking on this thing to be my fucking breadwinner. But I’m having fun doing it. I’m gonna keep doing what I do. If something happens, something happens. If not, well, whatever, you know? I just want to have fun, dude. That’s what it is at the end of the day.
3MiloE: Okay so, where are you guys from and what’s the music scene like there?
Andrew: L.A. area born and raised. I’m from around this area, grew up in Laverne. I live near Long Beach now. What about you, Scott?
Scotty: I’m from Florida originally, and I’ve been living in Los Angeles for the past two and half, three years. The scene in both Florida and Los Angeles couldn’t be any different. But they’re definitely both a great ode to electronic dance music. Florida, for example, has Ultra Music Festival in Miami and then, you know, Los Angeles has…where we’re at right now… Escape. So yeah, the scene in Los Angeles is way more underground. It’s thriving right now.
Andrew: I think it’s the best for new artists because many can’t go play shows in other states cause they aren’t getting paid enough to travel. But over here…
Scotty: You can play shows here and build your entire fan base out of Los Angeles. I’ve seen it happen.
3MiloE: So how did you guys come up with your DJ names?
Both: (Laughs)
Andrew: Well, we used to tour and make music as Night Owls together, then we went through a re-brand process from April 1st?
Scotty: Yeah, and we’ve always had this concept of… duality within our brand.
Andrew: And in the fascination with owls and nocturnal life and the occult things. I’ve always been infatuated with those kind of interests. But yeah, a mix between duality and like… our love for owls.
3MiloE: So, obviously the animal that best personifies your music is the owl.
Scotty: Yes.
3MiloE: Why?
Scotty: Essentially, it really comes down to, Free Masonic imagery, as well as the Illuminati symbolism. In the middle of the Redwood Forest is Bohemian Grove, there’s a forty-foot stone owl that they call Malik. (Editor’s note: Moloch.) Malik, as we know, has been around for whatever, so um…
Andrew: From the mythology, Malik isn’t supposed to be an owl, it’s supposed to be a bull.
Scotty: They’re both, so, Malik is an owl but it also, the same… force…has been represented as a bull. So it’s like, the same thing. So I say it’s like a bull, the symbolism is really interesting. And someone snuck into the Bohemian Grove and took hidden camera footage of people sacrificing what seemed to be like a human, or maybe they, if maybe it was, just some sort of a whatever…
Andrew: A mock sacrifice.
Scotty: …to a forty foot stone owl. So this has actually been going on for thousands of years. (Editor’s note: Thousands, eh?)
Andrew: What does that have to do with our music, dude? (Laughs)
Scotty: And, this is where, I think that’s where a lot of power of the brand comes from. Because, that has existed throughout human history for thousands of years. So I think it could thrive in a brand and use it.
Andrew: I like owl’s personifications. They’re really swift creatures that are able to see through the bullshit.
Scotty: And they’re nocturnal.
Andrew: And nocturnal. I’m a nocturnal person. I kind of see our music as swift and sleek. But owls are also very dangerous things. Like, kind of like our drops.
Scotty: Yeah, my bedroom is also full of owls too. I have all these different owls.
3MiloE: That’s great. So what are you trying to convey with your music?
Scotty: Emotion. The goal, yeah? To be able to convey emotion through music. That was a good concise answer.
3MiloE: Alright, next question okay? Can you describe the feeling you get when you’re on stage?
Andrew: Not really, I mean, it’s almost like…
Scotty: …Transferring energy.
Andrew: It’s almost like, when I was playing baseball as a little kid, and I was like, batting. Like, I almost like, blacked out. I don’t know how to explain it, it’s like you black out and you go in…
Andrew: Yeah, blackout…
Andrew: If you’re prepared, you just go. That’s how, that’s how it is for me. I don’t know, I mean, we work well together. We can read each other, off of our energy. We can do things with each other and we’ll do things vise-versa, and I don’t know, it just flows. Like, I just almost blackout. It’s weird. I don’t remember what I do during my set, or after my set (Laughs). I don’t know. And also, every single one of our sets is prepped different. We couldn’t go and do the same set twice. A lot of artists do the same set forever, but we never do that.
Scotty: Yeah that’s very true. Yeah I definitely agree the whole blackout thing definitely does happen. As soon as we go on stage and we press play, everything else is just a blur until we’re off that stage. It’s really… it’s a really interesting feeling. I think as far as being on stage, I feel like there’s this transfer of energy between the person on stage performing and the crowd. So it’s like, the person hypes it up, and their crowd looks at that and is like, “Okay, this person is hyping up. I’m gonna hype! And that’s like this transfer of energies for the crowd’s hyping and, the performer is hyping, so it’s this cycle that goes on and the bigger the crowd the more you can feel it. You can actually feel this.” (Editor’s note: HEADY!)
Andrew: That’s true though, the better response I get from a crowd, usually, the more confident I am with my DJing, too.
Scotty: Yeah, it’s so surprising. The bigger the crowd, the more confident we are because we know that they’ll fucking like what we do. So the more people there, the more heads we can turn.
3MiloE: What moment do you cherish the most so far in your career?
Scotty: Moments like these, when we’re with our friends at these festivals, and able to, you know, run around the entire place like a playground… it’s like a theme park.
Andrew: I think the one I cherish the most was probably our Global Dance set. Because that was our first time playing to a real festival crowd, and I was really nervous before like, “Fuck. It’s my first time having fucking, 5,000 people watching me do what I do.” But I really cherished it. After I got off stage. I was like, “Damn. I really just did that.” That was probably the one I cherish the most. It was the first time, it’s like losing your virginity, you know what I mean?
Scotty: (laughs) Very true.
Andrew: Yeah, that was the one for me.
3MiloE: So what are your major influences?
Scotty: As far as music or as far as…?
3MiloE: Anything.
Andrew: Major influences…
Scotty: His is baseball. If the Dodgers lose, then he can’t make music. If they win, he’s grinding.
All: (Laughs.)
Andrew: Nah, but major influences. Let’s see. Music wise, a lot of the guys doing melodic shit right now, like Illenium, Seven Lions, Zed’s Dead, Nghtmre. People like that. As far as direct music, but I draw a lot of inspiration from like, I used to listen to a lot of heavy metal shit, like screamo post-hardcore shit. I grew up listening to that. I still draw inspiration from that going into, creating chord progressions or something like that, you know what I mean? But yeah, I also draw inspiration from just everyday life, you know what I mean? Like, some days I’ll be in a rut like, I’ll open Ableton and I’ll just stare at it. And I’ll go do something, I’ll go get lunch or something and just get inspired, come back, and get ready to work. I don’t know, but yeah that’s it for me.
Scotty: I think there is a really fine line between what your influences are, and what you’re actually a fan of. I think there’s a lot of artists and music that I’m a fan of, but don’t think actually influence me. And I think at the end of the day we most influence ourselves. We become some sort of anti-influence because we’re our biggest critics you know? We have the most to lose. So in a sense our criticism of ourselves is what really influences us.
3MiloE: That is profound. Yeah, that made my head spin. I like that.
Scotty: So I didn’t get you at the forty foot stone owl that they sacrifice people, to but I got you at influences. (Laughs.)
3MiloE: Yeah, well I mean. I take my influences, and they’re not necessarily the people I listen to.
Scotty: Well, I get influences from movies, I get influences from books, I get influences from stuff that has nothing to do with music. That still influences me. I see comedians, the way comedians come up is so similar to the way DJs come up. A comedian for example starts off at a small club, doesn’t have any pull, is probably performing for free. They have to develop an entire set, test it out with the crowd to see if the set works, like, “Oh, these jokes don’t work, let me scrap it.” DJs are kind of like the same thing. It’s like, “These songs don’t work, let me scrap it.” They develop a set, they start off at this shitty club. They’re not even getting paid, and they end up, you know, being able to pull their own crowd, being able to, go on their own tour with their own headlining tour. So I think kind of stand up comedy and DJing, are both thriving in Los Angeles. I think both of those scenes kind of are so similar. So that influences me too, I could see the way this dude came up, how can I superimpose that to our shit.
3MiloE: Awesome. Where do you see yourselves a year from now?
Andrew: Hopefully doing more of these at a later time (Laughs) But really…
Andrew: We opened the main stage today. We’re kind of getting on the stages where we see ourselves being. But we want to make it more frequent. Maybe outside of California like, other east coast festivals, blah blah blah. Try to get some of these later time slots, bigger crowds, you know what I mean? But we got to start somewhere, definitely blessed to be doing what we’re doing right now, even opening, that was so awesome.
Scotty: Exactly like, I love DJing. It’s so fun to DJ. In a year I would hope to be at a placee where we would be able to make something that we wouldn’t be able to make right now. I would like to be at a place where we’re able to make something we couldn’t make a year ago. Whether its goals or achievements or whether, it’s music. As long as we’re always improving. One year ago we were not able to fucking make this song, or one year ago we weren’t able to fucking pull out, or sell out this venue or something like that. So whatever it is, I hope we’re always progressing, whatever it is, it better be something we weren’t able to do right now, you know what I’m saying?
Mike: When you guys said you opened up the main stage, what was the moment you realized, “‘Wow this is actually happening?”
Scotty: Well, we kind of got booked for these shows months in advance, so we were kind of able to somehow envision and strategize everything out, you know? For example, we’re playing at Countdown, Insomniac’s New Year’s Eve event, and it’s October. So we have three months to prepare for that.
Andrew: Also to answer the question… I don’t even think I’m personally at that point yet, you know what I mean? I’m still struggling every day man. We can be on the stage right now and not there tomorrow. But take everything with a grain of salt. Appreciate everything.
Mike: Whose the brains behind this operation? Like, do you guys have equal parts?
Yeah, it’s equal, definitely like, we’re partners. Business partners, music partners…and I mean it, fucking basic brothers. But there’s no brains. I mean, sometimes he’ll take the head on something, sometimes I will. It’s just how we trust each other. That’s just how it works.
3MiloE: All right, that’s what I like to hear. Okay, my name is Milo.
(Kenth walks away from the interview for a brief moment)
Marcus: Sorry. Just me, the other guy walked away. We’re done here! All right. sorry, sorry. Yes, your name is Milo.
3MiloE: Yes, Milo. I’m a writer and promoter for the Hard Data magazine, and we’d like to ask you some questions.
Marcus: We are always open.
3MiloE: Where are you from, and what’s the music scene like where you’re from?
Marcus: Okay, we’re both from Norway. Born and raised in Oslo, the capital of Norway. The hardstyle scene in Norway is pretty non-existent. There’s one promoter, and he does his best. He makes a party called Hardstyle DNA and we made the anthem in 2010. I think that was the first anthem we ever did. It’s small, but it’s super dedicated, is all I can say.
Kenth: Everybody is super excited, every time we come over. They even talk English to us because they don’t even know we’re from Norway. Every time we’re there, everybody is very humble and they know all the songs. Not that many people, but it’s still growing. Kind of like here, except you’ve got more bands over here.
DeadlyBuda: Wait, how’d you get discovered in Norway? How’d you end up in Holland? What the hell happened?
Kenth: When we started off, we had no connections to Holland, for example, where hardstyle was booming back in 2008. We started off just listening to stuff on YouTube and we were like, “Wow, this is really cool… definitely something that we want to do.” So, we started making music, and we got signed to an Italian label at the beginning of 2007 or 2008…probably in 2008. Then, in the end of 2009, we got contacted from a promoter from Belgium through a website called Party Flock. You guys heard of it?
3MiloE: Yes.
DeadlyBuda: Yeah.
Kenth: It’s a big Dutch website where you can check up on where you can go party, pretty much… a big forum. We got contacted through a promoter from Belgium and he said, “Hey guys, I’ve heard about you already and I want to put you on my label called Dirty Workz, and want to book you for Bassleader, like all the Belgium parties.”
( Coone shows up. and comes in on the interview.)
Coone: Are you doing an interview?
Marcus: Yeah.
Marcus: This is Coone, by the way.
(Marcus graciously interviews the DJ known as Coone)
Coone: No. I did the interview already.
(Coone referring to the interview we had done earlier that night)
Deadly Buda: Is this a new collaboration here?
Kenth: He wants to do it, but we’ll see if…
Marcus: We’ll see if he’s good enough for us.
(Everyone laughs.)
Kenth: Anyway, so we got contacted by this Belgium promoter, and we ended up having a little talk and he came to Norway and we partied for a weekend. Pretty much at the end of the weekend, he told us, “Welcome to Dirty Workz.” And that’s where the whole journey started.
Marcus: I got to say, because Dirty Workz is family. They don’t sign just anybody, they sign people who they think will fit.
Deadly Buda: So, you have to get drunk with them?
Marcus: Not necessarily. (laughs) I think we’re an exclusive for that. But, Dirty Works is a gimmick, it’s a brand. And we all represent the same thing; happiness, family, love, unity… the same as here. Here in America it’s PLUR . In Belgium, Holland we present unity, family, real friends. When we do Dirty Workz nights in Belgium and Holland, we’re all on stage having fun, showing respect and love for each other. That’s what it’s all about.
3MiloE: That is awesome. What animal best personifies your music and why?
Marcus: What animal best personas our music? I would say a bunny. It’s cute, it’s fluffy, but it fornicates like a motherfucker, meaning it spreads like wildfire. And it’s jumping up around like crazy!
Kenth: That’s pretty accurate.
Marcus: Yeah, it is. Yeah, bunny.
Deadly Buda: So, you’re mutual on this? You both said “bunny.”
Kenth: Yeah, I’m pretty cool with that.
3MiloE: That’s great. What are you trying to convey with your music?
Kenth: When we go on stage, all we want to see is happy faces. We want everyone to have a good time. When we sit in the studio, we pretty much brainstorm. How can we make the crowd have a good time? We want to bring as much energy, as much party feeling, as much joy, and fun as we do making the music into the vibe of the party. That’s the best we can describe it.
Deadly Buda: What’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to you when you were mingling in the crowd?
Kenth: I signed a potato.
Marcus: But, we brought the potato. We brought this bag of potatoes.
Joel: In other words, you were signing your own potato.
Kenth: No. I signed an onion too.
Marcus: You didn’t bring the onion.
Kenth: No. I know I signed an onion. Got a lot of those weird penis grabs. (laughs)
Marcus: Penis grabs. I’ve signed a moon. We’re talking like, you know, because I’m balding as well. I admit it. I’ve signed a moon, I’ve signed butts. Weirdest things.
Kenth: Potatoes and the onions.
Marcus: Potatoes and onions. Signing potatoes and onions is not a normal thing.
DeadlyBuda: No, it’s not.
Marcus: But we do it.
DeadlyBuda: What country was that?
Marcus: Australia.
Kenth: And Sydney.
Marcus: The next year, we brought bananas. We ate bananas on stage. It’s actually potassium. We need potassium to stay awake. It’s good.
3MiloE: What moments do you cherish the most in your careers so far as DJs?
Marcus: To be honest, going on stage and playing our songs, and to see people smile happy singing along. We’ve had people cry when they meet us. We’re just some regular guys having fun. We go in the crowd, we get drunk… we party just like the crowd. But, to see the mutual respect, the happiness that we bring. There was a terrorist attack in Norway in 2010? … ’11?
Kenth: ’11.
Marcus: ’11. We wanted to dedicate out set to them. We made a song called “Become”. The whole track is about how the world is evolving and what we’ve become in the world. We play this track in Norway, and a lot of the victims’ friends were in the crowd. They were crying, and I was crying on stage. I will never ever forget that. I had sunglasses on, and they couldn’t see I was crying, but tears were just running down. I couldn’t stop. I’m getting emotional talking about it.
Kenth: I just want to add one thing: what makes this job so precious is when you get messages or you meet fans that they’re in a really rough patch in their life, and they’ve considered ending everything. They say that our music has helped them get through some of their toughest times, and that is so touching. Because we’re just sitting in the studio having fun, making music, and we don’t really realize how big of an impact our music has on certain individuals. And it’s …
Marcus: It’s unreal.
Kenth: It’s unreal, and it’s so heartwarming to hear people like that.
Marcus: To hear that we save lives, we save souls with having fun, and spreading the joyness, the happiness… it’s unreal.
Kenth: Yes.
Marcus: It’s incredible.
3MiloE: Wow. That answer was amazing. So, where do you see yourselves in a year from now?
Kenth: In a year from now, we’re hopefully going to have a little break. We’re going to be chilling on the beaches of Hawaii.
Marcus: But, we won’t because it’s 10 years of Tweekaz. So, we’re actually aiming for a big year next year. I’ll probably be bald because of all the stress. I’ll be bald in Hawaii, okay? Let’s just say that.
Kenth: I guess they want us to be sipping on Mai Thais in Hawaii, hopefully, but that’s not going to be story in the end.
Marcus: Wer’e going to have a luau.
3MiloE: Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Marcus: To the U.S. fans?
Kenth: Sure. Well, the thing is… like Marcus just said. We’re going to be celebrating 10 years of our career next year. So, you better be on the fucking look out for Da Tweekaz because we’re bringing shows, and we’re not talking ordinary shows, we’re talking specific special shows to every single country that we love playing in. So, we’re going to be bringing Tweekacore, and we’re going to be bringing one hell of a fun show, right?
Marcus: And some Jäger.
Kenth: And some Jägermeister. So, be on the look out because Da Tweekaz are not one, we’re not retiring, and we’re not going anywhere.
Marcus: Sometimes I wish we did, but…
Kenth: No, we’re still here, and we’re going to keep on rocking til’ we hit the grave.
Marcus: Yeah. And we’ll do some special contest next year as well. Some special meet and greet, some special giveaways, so be aware.
3MiloE: Can I join?
Marcus: Yeah, of course.
Marcus Nordli with 3MiloE
Kenth: You may.
Dedicated to the harder sound of electronic dance music.
