June is going to be a crazy month for Hard Music in the United States. Among the craziness comes the first edition of Overload Festival, Colorado’s biggest Hardstyle party to date. The lineup consists of a wide variety of acts – Code Black, Da Tweekaz, LNY TNZ, Gammer & Noisecontrollers will be taking over Denver on June 17th – a totally new experience for Colorado.
Check out the Overload trailer here:
We spoke to Da Tweekaz about their upcoming visit to Denver, and learned a little bit about their career as well.
Hi guys! We can’t wait to have you in Denver, Colorado. It’s been a long time coming. What’s something you absolutely have to do when you come out here?
Well, we definitely can’t wait. It’s really exciting to know that a festival which includes Harder Styles is popping up in Denver. What are we going to do? We don’t know.. got any tips for us? We love to spend our time discovering new places during our travels. All tips are welcome.
Good stuff! So, you guys have had quite the year already, with multiple gigs in the US lined up at the biggest Hard Music parties in the country. Can you tell us how you two crazy Scandinavian guys ended up touring the world?
Well, we’ve been DJing for almost 10 years now. And like everyone, we started out small. Doing some really small gigs in Norway and some other Scandinavian countries. We were also always producers (just not Hardstyle, until we decided to join forces – but that’s another story). We believe our music is quite unique and after a few releases on DJU back in the days, we were contacted by Dirty Workz and it all just went up from there. The last 5 or so years has been amazing, sometimes even hectic. So many countries, so many events, so much flying and traveling. We think the key is that we are quite a unique DJ duo in the scene. We produce music that other artists may not want to risk producing (Disney-tracks anyone?) and we deliver a fun, energetic and above all happy DJ performance. So, that just rubs off on the crowd.
Your music has a very unique energy to it. What separates you guys from the rest of the EDM world?
We like to take risks and we like to have a lot of fun doing it. If a track doesn’t make us smile, then we don’t use it. When people listen to music or visit an event, more often than not, they’re there to forget about the World, about their daily lives and just have the ultimate good time. That’s exactly what we want to give to the audience, and it also makes our job a lot easier because we have a blast as well.
We’ve seen you do some unorthodox stuff, like bootlegs of Disney songs, and tracks with crazy samples of rubber ducks and numerous video games. What inspires you guys to think out of the box like this?
We’re actually pretty geeky guys. We love to play games (from retro classics to the new adventure games), we love collecting geeky stuff, we love watching TV series and all types of movies during our many inflight hours and we can say we have quite a broad fantasy. So, basically we’re just 2 kids in an adult body. That helps a lot, although our bodies wish they were a little younger 🙂
When you guys perform, you are entirely in sync. How much time do you spend practicing your moves on stage?
Yeah, we spend at least 3 days a week working on our choreo in front of a mirror. Those fist bumps and facial expressions are hard work. Haha, no that’s a joke. In all seriousness, our “moves” just come to us naturally. We’ve been performing together for 10 years now we know each other’s style and we know our own tracks, so it’s really easy for us to keep in sync and sometimes do some out of the ordinary things. We just have fun together, that helps a lot.
You guys have a totally crazy artist name. I’m a little scared to ask this, but what is the story behind it?
Well, it’s not what you think (if that’s what you’re thinking about ;)). To “tweek” something in producer terms is to turn on knobs and fiddle around until you get that sound you’re after. Spice it up a bit with some “cool” sounding letters and there you have it.
Finally, please tell us a little bit about what you’ve got coming up this year. What can we expect from Da Tweekaz in 2017?
Well, you mentioned it earlier. 2016 was an insane year for us. We did our Tweekay16 project, after the success of the project we did in 2014. We released one track each month along with a video clip. It was so intense, definitely because we had a lot less studio time to work with in 2016, so the deadlines were killing. So, usually after such an intense project we like to keep the next year a little less hectic, otherwise we’re pretty sure we’d be headed for a rapid burn-out. So, this year we’re concentrating on our “Tweeka Tour” which is guided with some pretty awesome artwork and press photos (check our Facebook page), performing as much as possible while still slamming out tracks. Just no deadlines.
2018 will be a special year for us, so we’re working on another project for 2018 as well.
Thanks for the interview guys! See you at OVERLOAD Festival!
Psytrance and hardcore techno are 2 distinct electronic music tribes. Psytrance is typically characterized by psychedelia brought by morphing sounds that make your mind float above the clouds, while the main element in hardcore is an energetic, grounding and distorted kick drum which vibrates through the whole body at a fast pace. The peaceful neo-hippies and the aggressive gabbers are seen as stereotypes of these movements, but there is a lot more to these scenes than their mainstream crowds and music. In the last 5-10 years there has been a parallel development in the psytrance scene similar to what happened to hardcore in the 1990’s. More and more psy artists from around the world started to experiment with 180-200 bpm and faster tempos, sometimes even with speeds similar to speedcore. The psytrance scene has traditionally been quite strict about tempos, which have usually been around 130-140 bpm, below, or up to 160 at best, with a few exceptions here and there. Now however, more and more people are opening up to the energies and possibilities of faster rhythms. In this article I’m going to discuss the various interpretations of the fusion of hardcore and psytrance aka “Psycore”, developments around it, artists you should check out as well as my personal cross-subcultural experiences. In addition to my own investigations, I also contacted some of the pioneers of these hybrid styles to ask about their views on Psycore.
Early developments
Some early prototypes of “psycore” can be traced back to 1992. The Speed Freak’s first EP, or his track ‘Citrus’ a year later, for example start as what you’d consider ordinary acidcore, but they also have very rave kind of vibes and soon things start flying around giving a psychedelic effect similar to psytrance. Subculturally these have little to do with the goa trance of the time, but some similar ideas are there.
One example of an early psytrance track I could find, which experiments with a 190 bpm tempo, was ‘Kikapelaus (A Spugedelik Return To Monoverse)’ by Huopatossu Mononen from 2001. This track is in the psy subgenre called suomisaundi, which originates from Finland and is by default one of the more convention-breaking psy styles, or as one suomisaundi artist I know puts it: “the breakcore of psytrance”.
Dutch Trancecore/Psycore
In 1996, Michel Klaassen aka Leviathan and his label Cenobite Records started to push a style that combined the Ruffneck artcore/gabber sound of the time with influences from goa trance and hard trance. This style came known as the Cenobite style, trancecore or psycore.
Michel describes his label:
Trancecore , Psycore or Acidcore – call it what you want, but Cenobite listens to all. I think there are many tracks that could be categorized in that style and there is many other styles you can mix it with. I really like dark melodies, but also fast trancy riffs, breakbeats, of course some acid synth sounds, there is so much you can explore, we try to make songs, a musical story with a beginning, middle part and end. We see Cenobite as a really wide range of styles concept, and music & sound as our playground. When producing music you have to follow that gut feeling and take some risks, if you really like it, nothing else matters, dare to be different.
Cenobite also likes putting messages in the tracks sometimes and the story arc is influenced by the Hellraiser mythos. The Cenobite style never truly spread outside the gabber scene. Michel tells that underground illegal tekno parties are the places where the music scenes and styles are mixed more openmindedly in The Netherlands. He has also played the occasional psytrance dj set with his Tellurian alias at events like Ground Zero Festival.
Michel tells about the difficulties in collaboration between the 2 scenes:
If you have 1 psytrance area on a festival, it could be hard for the people to buy a ticket for only 1 psy area. Also, it’s really hard to get booked on a psytrance festival with Psycore and I think it’s because of prejudice. The thing with Hardcore also, it sounds really aggressive, but the people on most parties are happy & peaceful. Would love to be the final act on a psy festival or event.
Cenobite had a break in early 00’s before making a comeback in the second half of the decade. Meanwhile, artists like Ferox and his online Trancecore.nl community carried on evolving the sound and merging it with the millennium developments of Dutch hardcore.
Psycore in the Psytrance scene
The popular free music portal and psy netlabel Ektoplazm describes Psycore as follows:
The faster end of the psytrance spectrum, clocking in at 180+ BPM. Almost certainly an extension of darkpsy but a lot of it isn’t really that dark–just fast and crazy. Although it is certainly an acquired taste it enjoys a great deal of support worldwide. Psycore is also related to neurotrance or hi-tech.
Infect Insect from Macedonia is a pioneer for this experimental sound that was coined with the term Psycore. Here is what he had to say about his vision:
Long story short, by some synchronicity of events the psycore inception started as experimentation with audio forms and music genres for the sake of testing and shifting the human frequency treshold (towards burning). The basic concept in the works was the hermetic philosophy and the trinity of virtues: psychedelia (change and pattern), core (depth and rhythm) and noise (entropy and resonance). It started somewhere around 2002 and fermented with first releases in 2005, on some psytrance, noise and hardcore labels. The french NABI-Records hosted the first releases. The sound is a hybrid form of hardcore, industrial, psychedelic and noise, and the blend seemed to have high power and potential. It is not very dancefloor oriented, but rather mindfuck oriented. It was good to see it spread through the psy scene as the heavy underground version of psychedelic trance and some other artists as my good comrade Datakult and the rest of the Nabi gang seemed to follow the path. From statistics it looks like the legacy is mostly spread in countries as Mexico, India and central Europe. For psycore bpm would be somewhere in between 160-180 bpm, going forward to 200 would turn it into speedcore or above that noisecore. A perfect tune would be the one that sounds faster at lower bpm. When doing psychedelic you can’t go into higher tempo, because you lose the extra space for syncopation, modulation and pattern definition, sound loses clarity which you need to tell a story and things start to distort with higher FM, thus you enter noise, am aware of this since I do both psycore and noisecore. The general idea of psycore is to overcome the static form of hardcore genres (speedcore, acidcore etc), which are more rhythm based and lack the diversive morphing sound of psychedelics. That concept is too dry in my terms, a rhythm should be only a backbone not the front face of a track, the fish skeleton. Another preference is live played / recorded sound over sequenced / automated. On the other hand psycore should bring a harsher, faster and harder side to psytrance which was lacking back in the days. When you are on a psytrance party you know psycore is playing when 2/3 of the crowd leaves the floor.
Darkpsy
In addition to psycore, fast bpm’s in psytrance are nowadays most commonly associated with hi-tech as well as some darkpsy artists. The borders between these 3 subgenres also interlap as we go into the faster tempos. Darkpsy is similar with a lot of hardcore in that the tone is dark and the themes often depict darker sides of humanity. It is sort of a rebelling contrast within the psy scene continuing similar ideas as industrial, metal and hardcore, although in psy-fashion often with a spiritual twist leaning more towards eastern spirituality and native tribes than judeo-christianity.
Apuruami Records from Mexico is one of the first darker psy labels to release tracks crossing 200 bpm. Digital Darkness is one such artist:
As well as aGh0Ri TanTriK from India who at times explored speedcore/flashcore bpm’s:
Hi-tech
Hi-tech is a psy subgenre that has popularized and brought higher bpm’s to wider psy audiences in recent years. The term was invented by Osom (Kindzadza & Psykovsky) from Russia to describe their music and grew into a relatively big movement worldwide. In contrast to the dirty and rough sound of psytrance’s own psycore, hi-tech focuses more on clean dynamics and detail in production. It is not necessarily dark and can express many emotions. The positive thing about this is that it proves that fast music does not always have to identify with dark, so there are no such artificial limits. Sometimes people classify music that is technically the same as hi-tech, but faster or more extreme, as psycore. What is considered as faster and more extreme varies from person to person, so there is no universal consensus on where exactly this shift to psycore happens.
Now that we have discussed what are considered the Psycores in the gabber/mainstream hardcore and in the psytrance scenes, there is still more to be said about developments along the borders of the underground hardcore techno scene and underground psytrance.
Around 2007, there was a project happening by a Russian duo called Inshizzo who started hybrid experiments without outside influence. Alexey Karlin (aka M.M.C. and MushroomJet) of the duo had a background in darkpsy, whereas the second half Sergey Shevelyov (aka Brainfilter) was into idm, frenchcore, hard techno, breakcore and noise. They created a unique cocktail of experimental core and psy with fast tempos. The bassdrums in their tracks are more hard hitting and distorted than in regular psy, yet keeping more fluid dynamics and not trying to cover a very wide frequency like in a lot of hardcore techno. Their boundaries pushing albums were released on Sergey’s Acidsamovar Records and they were also featured on labels such as Flurokarma and Entity.
Splatterkore Reck-ords from the UK started doing CD releases in 2008 and later became a free netlabel based in Berlin. The label has been mainly associated with the underground core scene, but supports freedom of expression and has released a wide variety of underground electronic music promoting cross-subcultural hybrid experiments. In the label’s early years, artists such as OmniPresence (aka Junkie Kut) and Azamat Softsleeve were pushing psycore with high speed psychedelic trance combined with distorted kicks and breaks. OmniPresence also used distorted vocals similar to digital hardcore. Their vision of psycore or “psykore” was to have mostly separate segments for psy, hardcore, speedcore and breakcore beats to create an energetic fusion. Infect Insect was also releasing on the label. In 2012, Kid Corrupt’s track The Mad Revisionist, with its rolling distorted hardcore kick (similar to a psy bassline), inspired Splatterkore’s Cross-Dimensional Contamination compilation that featured underground psytrance, hardcore and various psycore experiments by 36 artists.
I began collaboration with the Splatterkore collective inviting them to my parties in Finland, starting with their 2010 European tour, and playing at their parties in Berlin as well as releasing on the label. In 2013 I played at CEREBRAL CHAOS Anniversary II – ACID THEATER, which Splatterkore co-organized with Cerebral Chaos, a crew dedicated to dark, experimental and uptempo psytrance. A year before they had also done a psytrance + core collab party at which a certain psy artist came exposed to the psychedelic side of hardcore and speedcore. A year later, he performed as Coredyceps at this party on Splatterkore’s Cyber Dungeon stage. His vision has so far been the most intense experience for me personally in this evolution of psycore. The stage also had an especially strong presence of French flashcore and speedcore artists among others and I was there with my shamancore. The bigger stage hosted by Cerebral Chaos had some of the most intense music that psytrance had to offer.
The party definitely exposed the crowds to new music as 2 scenes were exploring each other. As I understood from the locals, there was also some minor tension between the crowds. One thing to mention about Berlin is that people there tend to stick to their own subcultural cliques. From what I’ve heard there are even 4-5 distinct crowds of hardcore who are not really collaborating with each other. But as Splatterkore founder Zoe Mindgrrind puts it: “Fuck your ego scene wars, we are one!”.
Another interesting and original cross-dimensional artist to mention, who has also released on Splatterkore, is Rose Red Flechette from Pittsburgh. His music is not always necessarily fast, but it is very rough and has unconventional structures combining ideas from industrial/rhythmic noise, core and psytrance.
Psytrance and the Teknival scene
As Michel told above, there is collaboration happening in the free party / free tekno scene, which hosts some forms of hardcore as well. Sometimes tekno/tribe labels include psytrance tracks, or a combination of both, on their vinyl releases and some variants of tribe music such as the so-called “mental tribe” are very psychedelic themselves. Some cultural clash also does happen unfortunately. For example the famous Boom Festival in Portugal dedicated to psytrance has an Anti-Boom counterpart happening. Usually these kinds of counter parties happen when events like Boom promoting seeming oneness between electronic tribes become too commercial and exclusive. The Teknival scene on the other hand promotes a free and temporary autonomous zone (TAZ) and there are some aesthetic differences as well which might play a role in the separation, although in the end both crowds might have a lot in common. Apart from the cultural differences, different budgets, money philosophies and such hierarchies are also one of the bigger obstacles in the collaboration between the more experimental hardcore and psytrance tribes.
Fast music identity and the desired psychedelic effects
Internet memes surrounding hi-tech, darkpsy and psycore often mock “the lesser” slower subgenres in a similar adolescent fashion as hardcore techno memes and troll with who is the fastest or hardest. This is perhaps where there is still some growing up to do with fast music in general as it associates it with some kind of ego games, when in fact for the people who enjoy it it is actually about the cathartic bliss that is achieved by shaking at the peak of ones physical limitations.
Although many artists, beginners and pioneers alike, seem to cross the 200 bpm mark nowadays, I still found some rejection towards higher bpm’s particularly in the psytrance scene. A common element that came up was the FM lead, which is used in many modern psy subgenres, including hi-tech. It was also popular in the hard dance subgenres hard nrg and freeform in the last decade. Elements such as this can give the feeling of an intense speed and energy rush in the head, even if the bpm itself is not that high. Many say that it, and other smaller mind expanding elements and details, lose their purpose at higher tempos. I also found differing opinions and that psy can also have faster bpm’s. Fast music can of course also be psychedelic and there are various psychedelic hardcore subgenres to prove that, but they would require articles of their own, so let’s not go there this time. One way to combine the mind expanding elements, distorted kicks and fast tempos is fractioning the sounds in short separate bits as is done in idm and flashcore music. A more constant psychedelic flow can also be achieved at intense speeds, but we also have to remember that music and its effects are very subjective to the listener and the same effects might not be felt by all.
The future of Psycore
To sum things up, Psycore is a term used in many established contexts and there is not only one right way to use it or make it, leaving room for experimentation. At the moment there is more and less psy and core collaboration happening in the free party scene and select few underground core/psy parties. Earlier this year I also had the honor to play my psychedelic hardcore/speedcore music as Teknoaidi at an underground psy party in Oulu, Northern Finland. Sometimes there is an advantage to smaller local scenes, because the people are more exposed and open minded to many music styles. The experiment went surprisingly well as the crowd was warmed up with some fast suomisaundi and hi-tech sets before I played. It felt like there is definitely more to be explored here. I hope to do more cross-subcultural collaboration in the future and to encourage others to do so too and to expand their minds and possibilities! On the surface psy and core are like two different worlds, and they are cool for what they are doing, but this holistic fusion of mind (psy) and body (core) from inhibited dualism to uninhibited oneness and having a dialogue beyond our comfort zones is something that the world in general could really use more of. Let the new multisubcultural underground tribes emerge!
What are your experiences of this collaboration and is there some Psycore that should have been mentioned? Please share in the comments section below!
Thanks to Leviathan, Infect Insect, Inshizzo, Tekhne Freq, M-Core Da Omkor and others I may have forgotten for your input on Psycore!
DJ Wildstylez has been at the forefront of hardstyle for over a decade. We had a chance to catch up with him before his performance this weekend at Basscon Wasteland!
Joram, thank you so much for taking the time to interview with me! Tell us, when and how did you first become interested in music?
Music has always been important to me. When I was young I played guitar in several small bands. After that I started producing music myself and left the Rock Academy. I had a new passion and was determined to become a professional DJ/producer!
Were you influenced by other artists or genres? If so, which ones?
As a beginner, it is hard to give your productions your own sound, so I listened to the music of older producers like The Prophet a lot. Through the years, I started to develop my own sound and had the guts to create something I like instead of pleasing others. My first track had typical hardstyle sounds, but also some different unusual elements. These were my first steps to the real Wildstylez sound.
How do you balance your life with other obligations?
My life as a DJ is very unbalanced because I travel a lot. For example, this month I have 14 gigs in 9 countries and 3 continents. Yes, that also means a lot of hotels and a major jetlag from time to time haha! When I’m in Holland I’m working in the studio as much as possible during the week. When I get home it’s time to relax!
How do you prepare for a big show? Do you have any pre-show rituals that you follow?
I don’t really have a pre-show ritual. Most of the time I relax a bit in my hotel when I’m abroad. I always make sure to take time to do some research on the events I play at. Therefore, I know some practical things like the capacity and line up. Of course, every country has a different audience. It never gets boring!
Project One at Qlimax in 2008
You and DJ Headhunterz performed at Qlimax 2008 as Project One, now 8 years later, you reappeared together at Qlimax 2016. How did it feel to bring back Project One after so many years?
Bringing back Project One at Qlimax this year was one of the highlights of my career! It felt great to share one stage with Headhunterz again and to produce new music for this act.
Can you give us any hints on upcoming releases by either yourself or on Lose Control Music?
I have a lot of new music coming up! Currently I’m working with Hard Driver in the studio and I recently finished two solo tracks. In May I will release my collab with Noisecontrollers and Bass Modulators at Lose Control Music. Of course I’m going to play some new material at Wasteland as well!
Are you excited to be back in the US for Basscon: Wastelend? Do you have anything special planned for the party?
I am crazy excited to be back in the US again because it has been awhile! I am really looking forward meeting my American fans again! Let’s make this crowd move. ☺
Wildstylez is guaranteed to make the crowd go crazy! Make sure you don’t miss his set at Basscon Wasteland on Friday, April 28!
Mekanikal is one of the fastest rising talents in the North American Hard Dance scene. He began producing music when he was 14 and gravitated towards hardstyle after watching Coone’s video series of the making of his album “The Challenge.” After spending time developing his sound, Mekanikal got his first major break in 2013 with his remix of T.A.T.A.N.K.A Project’s track “DJ’s Life” was released on Zanzalabs. Because of that, in 2013 he had the opportunity to play at Defqon 1 NL, and the first edition of TomorrowWorld in Atlanta, GA. In 2014 he saw even more success as his original track “Questions” was released on Q-Dance Records. Due to that he was invited to play at The Qontinent: Wild Wild Weekend, Decibel Outdoor Festival, and the first edition of Mysteryland USA. We had the chance to catch up with him in preparation for his appearance at Basscon: Wasteland, April 28-29.
Thank you for taking the time to sit down and interview with us! How did you decide on you DJ alias Mekanikal?
Originally I was playing at shows like Defqon and TomorrowWorld under an old alias, which people had a lot of trouble pronouncing—especially in Europe. So I, Q-Dance, and Headliner Entertainment—(who I was signed with at the time) had a sit-down and came up with the name “Mekanikal,” which ultimately became my new alias.
Are you influenced by other artists or genres? If so, which ones? How did you eventually get interested in the harderstyle? When do you first remember being hooked by the sound?
I’m influenced by many genres other than hardstyle, especially trap and bass music. Some of the sound design elements in those tracks and the high energy inspire me, and I strive to inject that into my own productions. I got interested in hardstyle back in 2006-2007 after previewing a bunch of compilation albums on iTunes (the modern-day equivalent to crate-digging through records). I came across Headhunterz’ track “The Sacrifice” and I moved into jumpstyle and hard trance after hearing that track, Once I found D-Block and S-te-fan’s Qlimax anthem that’s when I knew I was hooked on hardstyle!
What are you trying to convey through your music? Are there any themes or ideas that are important to you? Is there anything in particular you find yourself wanting to communicate to the audience?
In my music, I try to convey all the elements that I like in hardstyle. From the melodies, to the basslines, to the atmosphere and energy, I want people to have a good time while listening to my music. In terms of ideas or themes, I like to incorporate a non-hardstyle element into each track I make. For example, one track you’ll hear at Wasteland has a two-step moombah section, and in another track I might throw in an acoustic guitar or create a trance-esque atmosphere for the breakdown. I want to show the audience that the binary of euphoric vs. raw that currently plagues the hardstyle scene is counterproductive, and looking to other styles of dance music is okay in hardstyle. It will grow on you if you just give it a chance.
How do you prepare for a big show? Do you have any pre-show rituals that you follow? Do you ever still get nervous before a performance or show?
To put it simply, I down two or three Red Bulls and get on stage haha. In terms of pre-show “rituals” I usually like to go over my SD cards one last time to make sure I have all the songs I want to play, and I like to get to the stage early. I think if you don’t get a little nervous before you go onstage that is a sign of cockiness and it will screw up somehow. Having pre-show nerves keeps you focused and ensures that you will deliver to the best of your abilities. Personally, I don’t get as nervous as I used to before a show, but I am definitely not calm either… just ask anyone who’s tried to talk to me onstage!
You recently released your track Psycedelica, a Hardstyle and Psytrance crossover track, as well as Hardstyle Made me Do It with Reactor and MC Sik-Wit-It. Are there any other interesting tracks or potential collabs in the future we should look out for?
I just wrapped on three tracks that will be debuted at Wasteland: a remix to an Ummet Ozcan track as well as a Markus Schulz bootleg, and a new original that will be the first track of my set, so get there for that ☺. For future collabs, I have a couple that I’m nailing down final details for, so look for those in the second half of 2017.
Of all your music, what song did you enjoy creating the most and why?
I really enjoyed creating Psychedelic. It was my first attempt at making a psytrance-influenced track and I really had no idea how it would turn out. It was a lot of trial and error and mangling sounds in ways that I hadn’t thought of before.
You’ve played several other Basscon parties, and even at the Basscon: Wasteland stage at EDC Las Vegas, are you excited to be back in the CA for Basscon: Wastelend? What is different about this time?
I’m always excited to play in California. The sheer energy and volume of people that turn out for these shows is staggering and rivals the size of European crowds in many cases. What will be different, though, is you can expect a lot more variety in this upcoming performance. Don’t expect there to be just one BPM or style played.
Do you have anything special planned for the party? Unreleased tracks? Oldschool throwbacks?
Catch DJ Mekanikal at Basscon: Wasteland on Saturday, April 29.
Expect to hear a lot of energetic tracks, and some unreleased material from both myself and other up and coming east-coast producers. Also, I might throw in some classic hardstyle if the crowd seems hype to that. I don’t plan my sets too much in advance so it’s hard to definitively say what will be in it.
Is there anything else you’d like to tell the readers of The Hard Data?
Thank you all for helping grow the community to the size it is now, and let’s work to build it up even more! If you see me at Wasteland walking through the crowd, feel free to come up and say hi. I love talking with fans of the harder styles. Finally, California, I’ll be back later this year if you miss my performance at Wasteland. Stay tuned to my socials for that announcement ☺.
Catch DJ Mekanikal at Basscon: Wasteland on Saturday April 29.
American artist Mrotek was born to bring a whole new level of madness to dark and extreme music. Throughout his earlier years, deathcore and progressive metal held his creative focus. In 2009, he redirected his sights to Hardstyle music, drawn by it’s powerful sound and high production value. Twenty years of experience in the creation of music came to fruition when he began producing his own tracks in late 2013. Working closely with widely known artist “MC Heretik”, he aimed to combine his knowledge of music theory with his passion for Raw Hardstyle into a new progressive sound.
He continued to refine his style into 2015 with the completion of a series of raw and sinister tracks, including Penance (with Arctus and MC Heretik), Voice of Fear (with Deimos and MC Heretik), a remix of Prime Suspects – Biblical (with Arctus, released on Spoontech records), and numerous others.
Mrotek, thanks for taking the time to interview with us! How did you first get into hard dance music? From a very young age I played guitar; mainly metal and classical. So I’ve always been into making music, but late in High school I started going to raves. At that point my focus switched to electronic music. I was actually really into Happy Hardcore and first. But then at one particular rave, I remember walking into the main stage and Samara by Noisecontrollers was playing. At that moment, the synth in the break was the sickest thing I’ve ever heard in my life. From then on I was obsessed!
Tell us a little bit about the hardstyle scene in Arizona. How has it been as far as opportunity for you to grow as an artist? The AZ scene has always had a really solid Hard Dance presence thanks to the Arizona Hardcore Junkies. Between them, SDK, and BPM Boost, there is a nice stream of hard dance parties here. All of the shows that helped me develop as a DJ were pretty much all either SDK shows or random desert parties; and yes, we have parties in the desert here 😛 But I have to say, BY FAR the biggest thing in Arizona that has helped me grow has been my krew: Paul (MC Heretik), Logan (Arctus/Sythys), and Jack (The Wicked). We all constantly push each other to get better, finish tracks, bounce ideas off each other, or just meet up and spin some tracks over some brews. Having a solid support system of people you trust completely does so incredibly much; it’s hard to describe all of the benefits from something like that.
How has the evolution of hardstyle influenced you as an artist, and particularly, how did you decide to produce rawstyle? I’ve always been into extreme and aggressive music. Maybe that’s why Hardstyle didn’t totally grab me until I heard Samara, which has a classic ‘Dark Hardstyle’ melody. Back then there wasn’t really “raw” Hardstyle, just edgier stuff. Artists like Chris One, Zany & The Beholder, The R3belz, they were huge for me. Then E-force hit the scene and I was sold on exactly what I wanted to do. But then things evolve and new artists push the boundaries of what is possible. Rawstyle is one of the fastest changing genres in the world in my opinion, so there is always something new to push it a little further. That idea is what keeps me up at night as an artist. It’s a very exciting time!
Lots of US artists booked for this edition for Basscon Wasteland, what is it like getting booked and receiving that kind of recognition as an artist? It’s really awesome to see so much U.S. talent on the biggest Hardstyle lineup he states have ever seen. I think this is a great sign for our country’s Hardstyle scene and the way we show up to the rest of the world as well. As far as recognition goes, I have never really cared much about getting recognized. I’m just stoked to rock the fuck out of that stage and blast some heavy shit! It’s going to be a fucking party!!!
Speaking of recognition, you were just signed to DirtyWorkz DWX Anarchy– that has to be a HUGE step for your career as an artist!
Mrotek signed to DWX Anarchy
I am INSANELY honored to be with DWX; it’s super humbling to be representing U.S.Raw on the #1 label of 2016. I’ve been a huge fan of the artists on Anarchy for years now. Working with some of my Hardstyle heros has been unreal. The ‘family’ vibe of Dirty Workz really makes it feel like my home. I love everything about the label, it’s a dream come true really!
Some things that stand out in my mind are your collabs with Digital Mindz and Riiho, and winning the Sub Sonik remix contest with To Hell (Mrotek and Deimos). Anything else you’ve accomplished that you’re super proud of, or any big goals on the horizon? The colab with Unresolved as also a fun one ☺ Things I’m proud of, hmm, I guess just the state of where things are at for me. Seeing my tracks being played at all of the big festivals never stops exciting me; all of the support from huge artists in unreal. Every track I finish is a new thing I’m proud of. I have this personal deal with myself that every track I finish has to be better than the last, and so far I feel like I’ve kept that deal with myself. I love how ‘Substance Abuse’ turned out, and the new track I’ve finished since then I am even happier with. Working this way makes writing new tracks REALLY exciting and fun.
What other big things can we look forward to from you in the future? More massive tracks and colabs; all dark and heavy AF of course! Definitely plan on pushing the fusion of metal and rawstyle as far as it can go. I have some exciting bookings lined up that will be announced soon as well. I’m working hard to bring you more tracks, new colabs, playing more shows, possibly doing a European tour later this year, and eventually moving to either The Netherland or Belgium would be the next huge goal. But that one is a few years away still 😛
Anything else you’d like to tell the readers of The Hard Data? To the readers of Hard Data – you are the ones who make this genre go. Without you, there would be no parties, no artists, and no music. Your dedication is what makes this all possible. Keep spreading the music; our country has the potential to be a Hard Dance power house of the world, and the only way that will happen is if more crazy fucks like you storm the country and burn the place to the ground. Thanks for your dedication and I’ll see you at Wasteland!
Mrotek’s sound is already making waves in the international Hardstyle scene, having received support from the likes of MC Villain, Regain, Riiho, Caine, and many more. Expect a lot more from Mrotek in the near future, as this powerful musician shows no signs of relenting in 2017. Catch him at Basscon Wasteland onApril 29, 2017.
