Have been living in Phoenix, Arizona for the last 25 years. These days, the music scene is either super-big EDM festivals or club shows, with the occasional rave.
Cik at Ground Zero 2010How did you come up with your DJ Name?
I used to have a big habit of describing something cool as “sick. There was already a company called Sik Graphics, so I changed the spelling.
What animal best personifies your music and why?
A Liger. Because you’re just jealous I sit at home and talk to babes on the Internet all day.
What are you trying to convey with your music?
About nine out of 10 times, it’s a reaction to life or situations in life. Could be a message I’m trying to get across, could be a straight-up obscure jab at someone. I am trying to communicate my feelings without being verbal.
Can you describe the feeling you get when you’re on stage?
I zone out and get lost in the music.
What moment do you cherish the most so far in your career as a DJ/artist or musician?
Cik
Playing Ground Zero 2010 after Ruffneck and Enzyme X, and before Delta-9. I was this kid from AZ that most haven’t heard of, but I rose to the occasion and played one of the best sets in my career. I was even paid an extra bonus in payment because I did so well.
What was the first song or album that you remember listening too?
I met Lenny Dee about 24 years ago on a flight from Pittsburgh to Milwaukee. We were going to play at Drop Bass Network’s “Genesis” party. I told Lenny it was the first time I’d ever been flown to play at a rave, and I remember him telling me, “And you know the best thing about it? After that, it never stops.” Decades later, I’ve chalked that up as yet another example of Lenny’s ability to glimpse into the future. I’m still flying to play raves in Milwaukee, and we’re all celebrating a quarter century of Industrial Strength Record’s commitment to hard electronic dance music.
The funny thing about it though, is that to me, it still feels like a beginning. When Lenny started Industrial Strength back in 1991, it was ahead of its time, and even today, with the release of this 64 track monster compilation, ISR is still introducing the world to new talent at a frenetic clip. “No Tears For The Dead” pretty much sums up the last 25 years because there hasn’t been time to even pause for much reflection as maximal effort has always been needed to push forward and simply survive.
So, other labels would generally repackage their “hits” after 25 years, but the closest we get to that here is the latest and greatest darlings of the hardcore techno world re-mixing classic tunes. For example, The Sickest Squad remixed “Extreme Terror” and Outside Agency got to remix “Fucking Hostile.”
I’m reminded of a conversation I butted into at the 1994 Winter Music Conference. I overheard a few people remarking about Lenny and his label, marveling about how he could release such hard music. I told them that Lenny was ahead of his time and that one day they would understand what he did… that almost everyone else at the conference was recycling the same stuff and Lenny was a visionary. And you know, my feeling about that hasn’t changed two and a half decades later, and this compilation just pushes the vision and sound even further into the future.
The compilation is available from the following online retailers:
For those of us bound to the sound of the hard electronic, there is still no time for tears. There is still so much work to be done for the future. There might be a few great, shiny compilations of repackaged hits cobbled together by the big festivals this year, but I doubt if any of them will match the intensity and cohesive vision of Industrial Strength Record’s No Tears for the Dead.
The compilation is available from the following online retailers:
This is one of our American artists that hardly needs an introduction. This man has covered ground from the west coast stretching as far as the heart of Gabber home country (Holland), has produced and collaborated alongside some of the biggest names in the industry, and is responsible for the uprising of the Arizona Hardcore Junkies, a local collective of producer/DJs that helped put Arizona on the map as one of THE best states for hardcore techno music. Boys and girls, representing Arizona at this year’s Gabberfest (June 18th-19th, EDC Weekend), please welcome the granddaddy of them all, this is: CIK!
CIK at Nocturnal Wonderland, 2004. Hardcore getting bigger!
How did you decide on your stage name?
Back in the day I had this bad habit as saying “that’s sick” to describe something that was really cool. In those days there was SIK graphics company here in Phoenix, and I believe a SIC company so I trapped it out (Yeah, trappin’ in the 90’s) and I replaced the first letter of the name to make it cooler.
How did you start producing/DJ’ing?
I started DJ’ing because my mentor and sensei, Spitfire, asked me if I wanted to buy his record collection and I did. I then lived with a guy who had Numark TTX tables and I learned how to beat-match. I never dreamed I’d be sitting here 20 years later, looking back on what has been accomplished. I started producing late, as the shift in being a performer became more of a need for learning music production. I am enjoying the journey and have had some really amazing experiences because of it.
How did you get interested in the harder styles?
I went to my second show ever and saw DJ Tact at an event called Lotus (R.I.P Fuzzy Chris) at the Icehouse in Phoenix. The energy of his music and his stage presence honestly made me say, what in the hell is this fast crazy energetic music!? Thanks to Tact, I’ve been hooked on hardcore since 1996.
What changes have you noticed in your local rave/hard dance scene since you started?
Oh man, I have noticed a lot of changes in the local, regional and national scene over the years. There’s a new school wave of hard dance promoters that have the passion and drive to be successful, so we will see what the future holds. Much love to anyone pushing hard dance.
What do you think about the current state of harder styles in America?
Satronica, the White Ape, CIK at Dominator 2015.
I think that if everyone took a step back and said, if we want this music to progress put “personal differences” aside and try to co-exist, it may progress. You may hate the person truthfully, not everyone’s going to get along, but shit we live in a country that is 50 times the size of Holland and are still stuck arguing on Facebook and threatening others over dumb shit. I hope one day we all can stop the dumb stuff and get back to what’s important…the music and the preservation of said music. I also think that support for US artists, old and new, needs to happen. You have legends in your front yard! Lenny Dee, Delta9, Delirium, Satronica, Rob Gee, Fiend and The Horrorist are all legends. There’s probably a dozen people I am missing, but shit all these named have definitely contributed a lot to hard music. Not to mention all of the new skool hardstyle/rawstyle guys who have been doing good shit! #Murica
What are you trying to convey through your music? Are there any themes or ideas that are important to you?
To be honest, most work to date has been reflecting back on certain periods of my life. But, like CAP says I can’t do anymore tracks about “naysayers”. So, my sampling has gotten very deep. Nothing to communicate, more just about learning and progressing and still developing my sound.
Do you have anything special planned for Gabberfest?
I currently have 5 tracks that are unreleased, I will probably play a few of those. Might even drop some #trumptempo.
Anything coming up in the near future for CIK? For Arizona?
AZHCXX: Celebrating 20 years of Arizona Hardcore. September, 9th, 2016
We have this show coming up on 09-09-2016, the AZHC 20 Year anniversary. It would not have been possible without members (current and past) for helping build the brand. Though some are no longer part of the crew, I still would like to thank them for their personal contributions to the Arizona Hardcore Junkies. Most importantly, thank you to all our fans, family and friends for their support they’ve given, through thick and thin. AZHC XX – Celebrating 20 Years of Hardcore is going to be a great night with a stacked lineup!
I am very happy to say that this interview is going to reveal a hidden gem for you all! One of the busiest minds in the American hardcore scene, with a most impressive Discogs page, an education from the Conservatory for Recording Arts & Sciences at the top of his class and a father of not one, but two [expecting] hellions. On the surface, Mr. Stephen Caparella looks like any ‘ol bronie to most, but deep down, this man is THE unsung hero of American hardcore and is deserving of your utmost respect and attention.
CAP, representing Arizona at Gabberfest 2016! I mean, just look how beautiful he is.
CAP, industrial hardcore producer from Mesa, Arizona!
Affiliations:Arizona Hardcore Junkies, Industrial Strength Records, Important Corestyle, Hard Kryptic Records, Dark Like Hell Records, Six Feet Underground Records, No Sleep Till Bedtime
How did you decide on your stage name?
It’s my nickname from football. We had tape on our helmets with our last name and my last name is pretty long so they shortened it to CAP. Football was pretty much my life from about 10 to 20 years old.
How did you start producing/DJ’ing?
I started learning to DJ when I was 16 but my rigorous football, training, and school schedule kept me from fully pursuing it. It wasn’t until I stopped playing football that I decided to pick up DJ’ing again. I had the basic skills down but working with the [Arizona Hardcore] Junkies helped refine me as a DJ. Soon after learning the basic skills [of DJing], I figured producing was the next logical step. Why play everybody else’s tracks when you can make your own? I’ve been producing on and off since 2006 and right now is happily one of my more “on” times.
How did you get interested in the harder styles?
Ah, the glorious “how did you get into it” question. I HATED hardcore at first. I thought it was noisy garbage. I even watched CIK vs. KORE and Omar Santana at a show in ’03 or ’04 and walked away thinking “how does anybody dance to this?” Irony and hypocrisy is my middle name, always has been, always will be. Fast forward not that far to 2005 when I was in college. It was the first time I had high speed internet. It was a big deal. I could download tracks and mixes in a fraction of the time than when I was at home. I made a commitment to myself to listen to all forms of EDM and yes, even hardcore. At the time, I had one of those old brick iPods with plenty of space so I loaded it up with everything I downloaded. I forced myself to listen to hardcore and one of the first sets I listened to was CIK’s Nocturnal Wonderland 2004 mix. I listened to it again, and again, and again, and again. Something about it just caught my ear. I was into UK hard house at the time and this was a step above; harder, faster, louder, more intense. It grew on me after a while and pretty soon I was hooked: I was listening to mixes before practice to get amped up, and downloading and searching for more and more hardcore mixes. After that it was the hardcore record habit that cost me a pretty penny then the producing bug. The love has been catching steam ever since.
What changes have you noticed in your local rave/hard dance scene since you started?
There’s been phases of the scene. When I first started, pretty much every show was illegal and underground. It was special if a show was actually licensed and bonded. Our illegal warehouse hookup disappeared so the nature of shows changed; more desert parties and more legal venues. I was out of the scene a while after that; work, more school, moved away for about a year. While I was gone, parties got bigger and eventually the EDM divide happened. I came back to a scene that had legal, small budget “underground” parties and large budget “EDM” events. It’s nice now to see more than one “hard” crew supporting the harder styles, despite it being more hardstyle, rawstyle, etc. focused.
What do you think about the current state of harder styles in America?
I have no idea where it truly stands, I can only assess it from my vantage point. From where I see it, SFX going under was a big blow because the huge shows under its umbrella hosted hardstyle. The good news is guys who have the main stage at current events are playing hardstyle in their sets, so there’s growth there. American hardstyle producers seem to be doing better than in the past but hardcore producer wise it seems to be down from where it once was. The good thing is hardcore has plenty of hype show wise and DJ wise. Aside from all that, I’m a big supporter of the idea that the US needs to cultivate and support its own artists to really grow into a new era that rivals the EU.
CAP putting in that work for hardcore techno
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?
My themes change from track to track. It’s as hard to pin down as asking a horror author to describe all their work in a single statement. Yeah, the genre is horror but every novel tells a different story. Most, if not all, my work is hardcore but each track has its own feel or style. There really isn’t any singular theme to my whole discography – although I probably need to do that with an alias – and every track pretty much speaks for itself. A lot of times I don’t even start with a theme. I just make a kick that I like and try to choose a direction from there. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s also a good amount of times I start out with a theme, typically a theme related to something that’s caught my attention lately. Recently, it’s been random stuff like movie trailers and video games. Inspiration is everywhere, you just have to let it in.
Do you have anything special planned for the event (b2b set, all vinyl, live PA, guest performers/dancers etc)? Original productions?
Well, it wouldn’t be special if I told you ahead of time! But… let’s say tons of new tracks for this year’s Gabberfest, and like every set I do, it’s 95-100% original production.
I have to ask before we part, are we potentially going to see the “return of the mask” this year?
Nah, that’s pretty much retired for a couple reasons, so you probably won’t see it this year. I initially did it as a mega-industrial gimmick but I have garbage vision so the combo of the mask and no glasses made it tough to DJ. Add to that, just about every hardcore act out there today has some kind of stupid gimmick whether it be vests, helmets, masks, fake blood, you name it. It’s not unique if everybody does it. Aside from that, I would rather have the stuff that matters – the music – be the driving force for people to remember me or have the desire to come see me.
Is there anything you want to say that we haven’t asked you about yet? Do you have any upcoming projects or tours to promote, or anything special or shout outs you want to say?
Don’t forget to support your locals! Thanks to the Hard Data for having me. Thanks to the Great American White Ape for continuing to put together Gabberfest year after year. Thanks to anybody who’s ever supported me on social media or bought one of my tracks. Thanks to the other producers out there for raising the bar as well as being down to earth enough to talk shop. Thanks to CIK and KORE for being my good friends, mentors, support, and colleagues for over 10 years. Last but not least: thanks to my wife for putting up with putting up with my noise as well as my persistent requests, demands, and deals for studio time.
CAP at Gabberfest 2015 (and was voted “best set of the day” by the Hard Data in issue #2).
As my plane touched down on the sun-baked earth of Phoenix, Arizona, a sigh of relief and relaxation overcame my body and mind. Much like a sun-worshipping retiree, I was looking forward to a relaxing night of music and friendship in the warm cleave of the desert.
SRB and Meccano Twins at Trauma Harder Styles Tour 2016, Mesa, AZ
The phone rang. It was Kari. “Hey man, can you rent a van for us? My flight got messed up.” In the world of hardcore EDM, at least in America, you have to wear lots of hats: DJ, publisher, producer, promoter… and so adding chauffeur to the list was now second nature, “Sure.”
Then, look what entered the modest suburban minivan I procured: MC Rtiser! ”How the heck did this guy get through TSA Screening?” I think to myself. I then spend the majority of the night transporting van-loads of ridiculously talented Dutch and Italians, to and from the event, running on stage to snap pictures and get a good listen so I could report to the THD faithful.
Meccano Twins and Ruffian at Trauma Harder Styles Tour 2016
As Kari languished in LAX stand-by, Brandon SDK made sure the party went off without a hitch. Which is good, as fans were driving from all over the Southwest, particularly SoCal, to see the leg 2 version of the Trauma line-up. It was another sure-fire killer this time with Ruffian as Master of Ceremonies: Rotterdam Terror Corps, Digital Punk, Buzz Fuzz, Partyraiser, SRB, Tommyknocker, Mrotek, Arktus, CIK, Dr. Peacock, Rob Gee and Meccano Twins lit the place on fire, as if the desert needed to get any hotter than it already was.
Tommyknocker drops the bomb on Arizona on the Trauma Harder Styles Tour 2016.
Posted by Joel Bevacqua on Saturday, February 20, 2016
Mrotek and Arktus turned on the rawstyle to get the surprisingly large crowd for the first set pumped up. CIK laid down the Arizona law, showcasing that state’s great hardcore producers. They have a tough, complex sound that we have written of before in The HARD DATA (check out our interview in issue 2). Next Buzz Fuzz delivered the classic Rotterdam gabber sound to the growing crowd. SRB went off with a heavy speedcore set, explaining to me that he figured he could get away with playing it at the beginning or at the end of the night, so he ramped up the beats-per-minute to 300 and asked the terror-loving crowd if they “Had a Friend in Jesus” with his last track of the night.
Then came the first ever USA appearance of Meccano Twins. It was incredible! Tough brutal hardcore rocked the crowd and led up to Tommyknocker who fittingly “knocked it out of the park” as he laid down one Traxtorm hit after the next. Luckily, I even got a chance to interview Tommy later in show (stay tuned for that in the next issue).
Dr. Peacock in Arizona, ruffling some feathers on Trauma Harder Styles Tour 2016.
Posted by Joel Bevacqua on Saturday, February 20, 2016
The most popular set of the night was Digital Punk, laying down the thick Unleashed rawstyle sound to the new breed of ravers. Then came Dr. Peacock.
Digital Punk in his first ever USA appearance on the Trauma Harder Styles Tour 2016 in Arizona.
Posted by Joel Bevacqua on Saturday, February 20, 2016
I must say you should treat yourself and hear this guy live if you can. He played a wonderful, innovative hardcore live-PA that incorporates musical influences from all over the globe. Just in case you weren’t tired enough, Partyraiser stepped to the decks and resumed the all-out kick-drum assault, paving the way for Rotterdam Terror Corps.
Rotterdam Terror Corps says hello to Arizona.
Posted by Joel Bevacqua on Saturday, February 20, 2016
Honestly, I only caught the beginning of their set because I then had to go on an extended hotel run with the previously playing artists. So, I can only say the crowd seemed into it at the beginning and RTC honestly did sound scary as hell. It was one of those moments where you think, “modern existence is so completely messed up, that Rotterdam Terror Corps makes 100% logical sense.” I mean, think about it, that is kinda scary. Hopefully tonight in Denver I can give a more thorough review of RTC. Last but certainly not least was Rob Gee, the only artist on every stop of the tour. Of course he was great, and the crowd loved him. Read the past couple reviews for a more thorough description and video if you aren’t familiar with the Gee Man yet.
Partyrasier at Trauma Harder Styles Tour 2016
The only downer of the night was Alien T didn’t play. I was looking forward to hearing him play “Hammer of the Devil.” Apparently there was some screw up or miscommunication, and he didn’t come to the states. Hopefully that isn’t a permanent problem because I think the American audience would love his sound. I guess we should stay tuned for more info on that. All in all though as you can see, hear and read, it was a great night for hardcore and hardstyle in Arizona.
I just touched down in Denver where I am finishing this piece. As word gets out about the tour, each stop seems to get bigger and bigger. Apparently there is a lot of buzz in Denver for tonight so we shall see! Until the next time…
The rhythm is life and death!
DJ Deadly Buda
Dedicated to the harder sound of electronic dance music.
