Tag Archives: Lady Faith

April 28-29 marked the return of Basscon: Wasteland to Southern California. Hard dance enthusiasts had traveled from far and wide for this show; I personally knew people coming from as far as New York, New Jersey and Arizona.
Tales of the ancient ruins being uncovered to reveal a hard dance paradise had spread and all were out to claim their part of this treasure. My caravan and I began our journey through the deserts of San Bernardino in search of any signs of civilized life, and in our search we encountered a surge of ravers who were ready to party. I began my weekend sitting down with the esteemed hard dance aficionado, The Qollector. The Qollector is an archaeologist of hard dance artifacts dating as far back as the 20th century and it truly was remarkable seeing some of these curios and artifacts up close! He had booklets, flyers, CDs and more from In Qoltrol, HardBass, Qlimax, Defqon 1, and Decibel just to name a few. Check out our interview here

The next stop along our route to the Wasteland took a bizarre twist as we met with America’s Only Hardcore Terror DJ Team: Extreme Team. These poor lads must have spent too much time in the hot sun which had apparently impaired their cognitive function. They appeared incoherent and I knew it was my duty as a fellow raver to take them back to my hotel room and provide them nourishment by way of more vodka. We talked about some of their inspirations as artist, about some of their upcoming releases, and about their show at the Hardroadz after party: Arcadia The Promise Land. We have documented the encounter with Extreme Team on Facebook live that can be viewed here. As you may be able to tell, they were beyond our help and we had to release them back into the desert to fend for themselves.

We took a moment to fuel our bodies with refreshments and food before the show and then it was time to go. Our chief navigator from Uber had received coordinates of where Wasteland could be found and he arrived at our basecamp to take us there! Upon our arrival inside the festival it was clear that we were not alone, thousands of hard dance fans had descended upon Wasteland and were ready to party! The landscape consisted of one outdoor oasis with a two stages and refreshments, and large ancient temple of massive pyramids, golden sphinxes, hundreds of lasers, confetti, CO2 cannons and even glistening disco balls… it was spectacular to behold this treasure with my own eyes! The gods themselves took to the main stage and descended down upon the ravers with a relentless pounding of hardstyle and hardcore beats!

Night 1 moments that stood out to me were seeing the crowd’s reaction to Audiofreq playing Sandstorm (Sub Sonik Remix), LNY TNZ playing Paul Elstak’s hardcore remix
of Ravelord and, of course, the return of Wildstylez to California after nearly 3 years! Wildstylez’s set consisted of tracks such as Project 1 – Luminosity, which was played at Qlimax for the first time with none other than the infamous Headhunterz. He also returned to the classic tracks he is known for including What It’s Like, Numbers, and Year of Summer.

I decided to get some refreshments and walked past the outdoor stage where I watched Zany end his set with Lose My Mind. Following Zany, DJ Stephanie took to the stage. While talking to some friends, I was listening to Stephanie in the background and she immediately caught my attention in an unexpected way. She started playing one of my favorite hardcore tracks, Let’s Get It On by Art of Fighters and Endymion. I knew I needed to make it to the front of the crowd during this track as she continued to play hardcore until the end of her set! Stephanie earned the title of most unexpected stand out set of the night. I finished Basscon Night 1 with Angerfist at the mainstage. A few of the tracks he dropped were Why So Serious by Tha Playah, Fist in your Face, Just Like Me, and Raise and Revolt.

After exploring Basscon Wasteland, we made our way to the Hardroadz: Arcadia The Promise Land after party to see the Extreme Team perform. Their set began with exclusive solo set by Tim Shopp and was immediately followed by typical Extreme Team madness! The small but passionate crowd was loving the terror. By the end of their set it was time to venture back to basecamp to let our bodies recover before Day 2.

Day 2 began with a buffet of food to fuel our injured bodies, followed by a trip to the hotel’s jacuzzi to massage our sore muscles. We then prepared our caravan to go to the show once more. Unfortunately, 2 of our fellow party goers succumbed to Wasteland’s wrath and were left behind to pray to the porcelain gods in the hotel room. RIP

We walked into the
Wasteland to find Toneshifterz finishing up his set, followed by Ran-D who awakened the ancient gods with his wicked rawstyle! His set expertly blended his own tracks, as well as Gunz for Hire tracks including No Guts No Glory, FCK EDM, Firestarter, Plata o Plomo, Zombie, Executioner Style, and No Mercy. He brought so much energy to his set and the crowd loved it!

Following Ran-D was the highly anticipated and long awaited return of Italian master Zatox, who was joined on stage with his friend and MC Dave Revan! Zatox’s set included his top hits including Back To The Oldschool, Back In The Days, Rumble In The Jungle, Warning, Fight The Resistance, Eat Sleep Rave Repeat, God Complex, Kalavela Shot Me Down, and Zombivilization.

At the outdoor stage, I caught the end of Ruthless dropping a awesome freestyle set. His track selection ranged from tek to euphoric, to raw hardstyle and even some hardcore. Some of the tracks he played included Wolfpack, Reawakening, The Project and Lost In Paradise. At one point, he even had the entire crowd chanting Gaan met die Bannan (with a little help from myself and the Extreme Team to get it going 😜). At the main stage, DJ Isaac was keeping the good vibes going. Isaac played the crowd with Last Night Ever, Till The Sky Falls Down, but then unexpectedly Ruthless jumped onto Isaac’s set and played Gaan Met Die Bannan again!

The final hardstyle act for Night 2 at the main stage was the legendary Noisecontrollers who didn’t fail to impress! He dropped Get Loose, World Of Madness, Rocked Up, Defqon 1 2016 anthem Dragonblood, Down Down, Solar, and Source Code Of Creation. To close his set, he played D-Block & S-Te-Fan – Fuck the Noisecontrollers to prep the crowd for some hardcore. With the crowd now warmed up to some higher bpms, the final set of the weekend ended in mayhem with hardcore goddess Miss K8 who went harder than Basscon has ever seen before. Highlights from her set include Raiders of Rampage, Metropolis of Massacre and Radium Rockin Fire.

This expedition into the dessert to experience Basscon: Wasteland was unforgettable. It was remarkable to see how large of a crowd showed up for a weekend of hard dance, how many people traveled from out of state to participate, and how much energy and enthusiasm all the ravers brought to the show! I sincerely hope Basscon will continue to pursue bigger and bigger shows and I look forward to them with great anticipation. Up next for Basscon, catch them at the Basscon Pool Party EDC weekend at the Stratosphere, at the Basscon Wasteland stage at EDC Las Vegas, and at the highly anticipated second edition of Project Z!

Articles, Events, Reviews

Meanwhile in Qanada – Blackout Festival AB

January 26, 2017 Leti Lopez 2 Comments

It was a very exciting weekend in Alberta for the Hardstyle family! The return of Blackout festival by Boodang shocked fans with a star studded lineup, performing in two cities back to back. Union hall in Edmonton and Flames Central in Calgary dressed up in all black (and a little orange) to welcome some truly legendary names and celebrate the harder styles.

Friday night at Union Hall started off showcasing some local talent, with Pandamonium warming up the decks for what was gonna be one of the most heated nights I can remember. First headliner hitting the stage was Lady Faith. The sexy Hardstyle diva herself delivered a high energy hour full of bangers, setting the tone for what was coming up. I couldn’t help but fan girl a little bit, she’s much more gorgeous in person, and such a sweetheart!

When Audiofreq took the stage, I was expecting to hear a lot of tracks from his new album, Audiology. And THANK SAM he didn’t disappoint. His set was loaded with classics and new beats, featuring a lot of his new tracks and closing his performance with Audio God (my personal favourite from his album). It was an earth-shattering brutal hardcore banger that left me wired up and soooooooo ready for the final act of that night.

Celebrating 15 years of being True Hardstyle Legends, Tuneboy and Technoboy, “TNT” were ready to bring the house down. And DID THEY EVER! Listening to their repertoire makes you realize how much these men have contributed-and still do, to the rich history of our scene. The crowd couldn’t stop singing along to every track, and the energy continued to build up throughout the show. Nobody wanted to go home! I had the privilege of standing behind them through their set, and got to appreciate their old school style of mixing with CDs. No pre recorded bullshit for the kings of Hardstyle! Watching them flip through their folders looking for the next track was so fun and exciting. The way they feed of each other’s energy on stage, joking around and kicking each other’s butt between songs, shows how unique and timeless their friendship and partnership is. May they continue to bless us with their talent and banging beats for as long as they shall live, PLEASE!

After the night was done, all four of the headliners were happy to stay and meet fans, take a million pictures and sign a million flags. Always with a big smile and showing appreciation for everyone that was there to celebrate them. Which, as a fan, always means the world to me. So once again THANK YOU for taking the time to show us how much we mean to you.

A Hardstyle fan once said, if you’re not hurting the next day, you didn’t go hard enough. But we couldn’t afford the luxury of a recovery day, because we had to be up for the drive to Calgary for the biggest show of the year. Another triple headliner, this time Atmozfears, Brennan Heart, and Coone. That’s any Hardstyle lovers wet dream right there, and it was happening Saturday night at Flames Central; or as Brennan Heart called it “The theatre of Hardstyle”

Brennan Heart, hardstyle, iamhardstyle — Photo Credit – Brennan Heart’s Facebook

It was my first time at that venue, so I was very impressed when I saw the size of it, and being a sold out show, it was expected to get rowdy. With Atmozfears euphoric style, it wasn’t long until we were all sweating, bearing huge smiles on our faces. Even though he played for an hour and ten minutes, it felt like five minutes to me. Maybe because I was so excited to finally see him again, time flies when you’re having fun. And that we did!

The highlight of the night, for me, was Brennan Heart. The IAMHARDSTYLE king never lets me down. Absolutely incredible set, all our favourite sing alongs, new music, collabs with everyone, different styles, and incredible energy. The man knows how to make the crowd lose their shit every five minutes, and he’s not afraid to do it. I will for ever front row every one of his shows anytime he’s here, because no one delivers a high energy experience more than he does.

hardstyle, iamhardstyle, brennan heart, Flames Central, Qanada — Brennan Heart at Flames Central – Photo Credit: Shane Moseley

Just when you thought you couldn’t keep going any harder, Coone came out, celebrating Ten years with Dirty Workz, and utterly destroyed Flames. The crowd went insane track after track. I saw a few people crying when he told us he wanted to play us a song about his daughter, and everyone was singing along to Faye. It was a very emotional end to a weekend every Hardstyle fan in Alberta will remember for ever.

Coone at Flames Central – Photo Credit Josh Murray photography

The drive home back to Edmonton was pretty quiet, and two days later we’re still hurting. Couldn’t be happier to say, we gave this weekend our all and we can’t wait to do it again.

Leti Lopez.

Articles, Interviews

MC Sik-Wit-It: The Interview

April 26, 2016 Daybreaker

MC Sik-Wit-It is shaping up to become the future voice of American hardstyle. Having already done songs with international sensations Nightfall, Coone, The Pitcher, Mekanikal and Drone, being an MC isn’t just about the voice, it’s about the message that they can convey to us that we may not be able to convey ourselves. Sik-With-It was brought in to Vegas for the Apocalypto show and I had the honor of sitting down with him briefly before he had to rush on stage to work his magic during Frontliner’s set.

It’s great that we’re able to bring out so many hard artists in general for the American scene, but rarely do we get to actually focus on the MCs themselves. What brought you into MCing? What made you decide that this is your thing?

I used to work on hip hop a lot of my teenage years into my twenties. When I moved back out [to Los Angeles], I didn’t really know anybody to work on music with, so I dropped it for a little bit. My friends, Bass Breakers, they’re local to L.A. introduced me to hardstyle. I started doing it more and more and started to come up with vocals and stuff and they just put me on. After we parted our ways, I got in contact with The Pitcher. From there, it’s just been a gradual, if not a swift, build.

MC-Sik-Wit-It right before his performance at Apocalypto.

What makes an MC significant? What role are you playing in the hard dance scene?

At the risk of sounding corny, I like speaking to people. I’m a person with words. I feel that other people, whether sometimes when you’re drunk and you’re trying to tell your friend how much you love a song or how much you love an artist, you just can’t find the words. I feel like I try in my best way to find the words that people are trying to say, especially with the song I did with Coone. I wrote that when I first started listening to hardstyle because it gave me a feeling that no other music had. I was absolutely in love with hip hop. I heard hardstyle and once it got to my heart, it never left. It’s been a solid rock ever since. I really think that me doing what I can do, I can help others feel the same way or be able to express themselves in the same way.

How did you get your stage name?

I got it after my first time trying to glove! Afterwards the guy said, “That was sick with it.”, and it stuck. It was later that I adapted better spelling for it.

What is the best experience, what is the best show rather, that you have participated in so far?

The first two Apocalypto shows, and also Nocturnal because it was a huge crowd, and I had a huge amount of interaction. I love performing with Lady Faith. She’s such an amazing person, DJ, artist, everything. The first Apocalypto I performed with her [Lady Faith], The Pitcher, and Darksiderz. The second one was Adrenalize and Tuneboy. Me and Adrenalize did a sit down. It was my first sit down I’ve ever done as an MC. It went off without a hitch. It was so much fun. I’m actually glad to be performing here as well with Ravealation Black. It makes me feel so welcome. It is such a cool feeling to actually have a place where I know I can go back to and perform.

What do you feel is going on in the American scene right now that’s prevalent? Why are we significant in terms of the hard dance scene? What are the biggest things that you see in our scene right now that actually makes us recognizable, that makes us significant in the hard dance scene?

I think it’s the hunger and the drive, for the most part. Some artists, they do still have that European flavor, but they also bring a new flavor. There’s a lot of trap, there’s a lot of dubstep, house, hard house, what not. A lot of them incorporate that in it, whether it is the BPM or the sounds. We’re giving, in my opinion a brand new flavor to it all. It may not be acceptable to the world, but it’s our own for sure; we’re not trying to copy it, we’re trying to embrace it.

Being involved in the European scene and the American scene respectively, how do you feel that the American hard dance scene needs to progress themselves in order to become anywhere close to our counterparts? What are the differences that you see that needs to be taken care of for us to progress further in our scene?

Well, just like a good friend of mine, Leo Corson just said in an interview recently; he finally said something that I think literally everybody in America’s wanted to say, and it’s that we need to stop fighting and being little bitches about everything. I’ve wanted to say it for a long time and I’ve been known to be a shit talker myself. I try to hold back in certain situations so people don’t get easily offended, which everybody in the world is at this time. We all just need to actually be friends. You don’t even have to be friends. You just need to be cordial enough to understand that somebody enjoys something just as much as you do. It may not be the same type of something, but it’s still the same something. I’m guilty myself. I’ve talked plenty of shit throughout the past, even when I wasn’t making music. Being guilty of it, I finally see it as I get older. We need to stop complaining. To me, this is why other countries look at us like we’re spoiled little kids. Especially in California where I’m from, we get everything but we still cry and bitch about what we get. Supporting U.S. acts at this point is what’s more important. I do support foreign, but we need to support local acts just as much.

What’s next for MC Sik-Wit-It? Do you have any upcoming collaborations?

TNT did a little preview video with Zatox and the iPod, when he fell on his face (laughs), that’s the next track of mine coming out with them and Dave Revan.

Is there anything you want to say in your own words to the fans/readers?

Thank you so so much for all the love and support you all have given me. Hardstyle fans are such dedicated and energetic people and I can’t imagine anything that even comes close to performing for all of you. I’m where I’m at, not only because of the artists that have given me the chance, but also because of all of you. I’m forever grateful for every one of you. And be on the lookout for some huge collaborations and Sik-Wit-It merchandise in the not so distant future!

Articles, Daybreaker, Events

Utah Finally Gets Lucky: A Field Report from the Beehive State

March 22, 2016 Daybreaker 3 Comments

When word started to spread over social media about Utah’s upcoming annual St. Patrick’s themed rave ‘Get Lucky’, the hype surrounding the event was insurmountable. Utah’s sole proprietor of electronic music, V2 Presents, had started to announce the lineup in phases. It wasn’t long after the announcement of the Disciple Tour members Barely Alive, Dodge & Fuski, and Astronaut did the company announce the arrival of Lady Faith and the Italian legend himself TECHNOBOY! At that moment, it was decided instantaneously that I would be attending this gold and green massive for the first time ever.

Inside the Tent O’ Gold [Harder Stage] at V2 Presents #GetLuckySLC 2016. Photos: @ballenmedia

Immediately upon entering the The Great Saltair I had to admit that the production of this show was much higher than any other rave of V2‘s in recent memory; also, I discovered as I was rummaging hastily through the crowd that Utah finally had a rave that was actually worth the trip for out-of-state ravers! Finally, I managed to arrive at the Tent O’ Gold (the harder stage) where I remained for the rest of the night, naturally. First on, the ‘Disciple Tour’: a beautiful blend of Drum & Bass by Dodge & Fuski, Trap and two-step by the humble Astronaut and an appearance by the experimental bass music duo Barely Alive which drastically helped cushion the blow of a high priced ticket. These guys kept their sets seamless between each other that you couldn’t even tell who was on next until you looked up and noticed a different face! True heavyweight champs in their respective genres. Then suddenly, the entire atmosphere shifted, and I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing:

Technoboy appeared at midnight to a tightly packed and maniac crowd (who surprisingly remained throughout the entire two hours of Hardstyle)! As he played through all the popular main stage bangers, he also played some more aggressive tracks at the end of his set (however there was no appearance of his Qlimax 2008 anthem ‘Next Dimensional World’, but that was only a minor disappointment) and that aggression was absorbed and distributed outward by the crowd as some mosh pits were opened and people were being launched into the air. But now, it was time to make way for the “Queen Bitch of the Universe”, LADY FAITH! This stunning woman kept that same amount of energy and aggression going throughout the last hour ending on a Rawstyle note; if only I was able to remember her last track! Unfortunately, due to the time change at the 2:00 am hour, the venue had to quickly close up as it was now in violation of our local laws (shows/events may not continue past two in the morning) and due to the force out by venue security, I was unable to get an interview with either one of the stars shortly after Lady Faith’s set.

At the end of the night, however, it was empowering and reassuring to see the impact of Hardstyle on the local crowd. Utah clearly has the intense desire and passion for the harder styles and by some stroke of luck (or the right people in the right ears) V2 managed to pull through for all us (finally!). We can only hope that they were there to witness the certain impact of their workings and that this event will prompt them to bring out even more Hard acts to the Great Salt Lake.

All photos courtesy of: @ballenmedia

Articles, Reviews

Field Report 8: BASSCON WASTELAND DAY 1

March 5, 2016 DJ Deadly Buda 1 Comment

Word of Hardstyle’s imminent demise was brutally thumped to the ground and drowned in the Pacific last night as 4000+ squeezed into Los Angeles’ Hollywood Palladium for day 1 of Basscon’s Wasteland. A battery of lasers that would make Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Forces proud, combined with a sound system louder than Thor’s hammer lit up Sunset Boulevard and screamed the news.

The night started with Max Enforcer. As some of you may know, Max Enforcer is Evil Activities’ Hardstyle alias, so it’s no wonder that his set in particular was heavy hitting right off the bat, even if he played, and we guiltily sung along to, “Lost in Paradise.”

Audiotricz followed this up by maintaining the euphoria with all of their biggest tracks that are known to tug at the heartstrings, including the implementation of the very popular “Release” by Atmozfears, a track that even the raw kids can’t ignore.

D-Block & S-Te-Fan at Basscon Wasteland 2016

D-Block & S-Te-Fan was a particular highlight of the night because they were playing a lot of their older tracks which might feature their best sound design (Sound of the Thunder, Music Made Addict etc.). Opening with their track “Higher” set the mood for one the most emotional sets that could be remembered in recent memory.

Isaac got the crowd in a frenzy, veering from euphoric to raw in a perfect balance. He started out his set with some crazy Zelda samples that sounded absolutely insane on the massive Basscon sound system. Every track that followed seemed to be instilled in the minds of the crowd. Then, he even brought out every promoter’s best friend, Leo Corson, to grab the mic and remind the Southern California faithful why we love all bitches!

We took a little break and sauntered out to the smoking area where we even spotted controversial man-of-the-hour Kari Lambou holding court on the smoking patio! And not far away, Fresh Entertainment’s Sherief Zakher was showing off his new tattoos to DJ Mindcontroller and his posse.

We also spotted Kriss Erickson of Lucky Rabbit Photography who came down from NorCal to witness the spectacle. West coast party regular Giovanny Garcia made his requisite appearance (even though he was spotted at the last minute). He literally has been spotted at every Hard Dance show on the west coast! And of course Las Vegas true-believer Matthew Levin deserves a mention because no one has the amount of dedication to this scene that this man does and he is THE man that everyone looks forward to seeing when they attend harder events. Our photographer Marvelous Mike Ortiz was making the rounds snapping most of the flix you see on this page. Watch out for some of his upcoming video productions by-the-way!

Finally rested, we witnessed possibly the best set of the night: Audiofreq and Code Black’s reunion of Bioweapon. They played a lot of tracks from what is considered by many to be the golden era of hardstyle (2008-2010). They had a perfect blend of old and new, and they also incorporated some raw tracks. Finally getting to hear E-Force’s “Seven” in a live setting was a defining moment for our man DJ Daybreaker who could be seen bopping in the crowd. Even more evidence of this, there was a moment were these two really got the crowd bouncing off the walls when they dropped a slowed-down Hardcore track, DJ Mad Dog & Tommyknocker’s DJ Tool 1.

The night culminated with the reveal of who exactly were the “Notorious Two.” It is Lady Faith and the Pitcher’s new raw-oriented project. The response from the crowd at their tougher sounding tracks was strong and evidence that the SoCal hardstyle junkies are currently looking for more aggressive tracks, and that seemed pretty evident the entire night.

Night two is on the horizon and if the crowd wanted it hard, they are gonna get it. After witnessing Digital Punk in his USA debut on the Trauma Tour, the thought of him crushing on the Basscon system has us giddy like school girls riding unicorns. So get yourself sorted tonight and get ready!

While you’re out tonight, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of The HARD DATA as you exit the Palladium! We, along with faithful Utah hardstyle trooper Jesse Murdock will be at the ready to pass them to you! To those that don’t know, The HARD DATA is the only physical magazine in America dedicated to the harder styles of EDM. Not only is it great to read on the ride home, but when you want to remember this time, do you really think you’re going to peruse your saved web browser bookmarks from like 10 phones forward in time… or break out a shoe box hidden in your closet full of kandi, flyers, accessories, and The Hard Data? ‘Nuff said! Until next time, this is Deadly Buda and Daybreaker reminding you: The rhythm is life and death!

The HARD DATA

Tag Archives: Lady Faith

Basscon: Wasteland – Event Review

Meanwhile in Qanada – Blackout Festival AB

MC Sik-Wit-It: The Interview

Utah Finally Gets Lucky: A Field Report from the Beehive State

Field Report 8: BASSCON WASTELAND DAY 1

Dedicated to the harder sound of electronic dance music.