Thousands of miles separate the concrete jungle from the sweltering west coast heat. Gathered under the high noon of the Las Vegas summer sun, delegates from all over the globe gathered to celebrate hard music as one. Representatives spanning many time zones, countries and genres delivered performances proving that the heart and soul of hardcore is alive in a powerful way. The diversity from style to style and coast to coast did not seem to interrupt the core message that hardcore has captured hearts around the globe. Disciples left their souls on the dance floor of American Gabberfest in the sizzling Las Vegas summer heat—under one love and one very blistering sun.
Despite the sizzling conditions the diverse assemblage delivered heart-stopping sets across the board. Day one included declarations from Australian representatives, DJ Phoenix, Epidemic, and Rohdan. American Gabber Legend Rob Gee also addressed the congress that afternoon on the outdoor main stage, followed by delegates from New York including the Pied Piper of Hard Core, How Hard. Outstanding performances from the Hard Data DJ Team of Deadly Buda, Lostboy and Mindcontroller, CAP, Arcid, Cik, KORE, Inspektor Gadget, Delusion, and so many others to rounded out scorching day one. It was also a proud experience to be invited to represent with some New York City Rawstyle!
Official Timetable American Gabberfest 2017: Congress of the Kickdrum
Day two also proved to be an intense declaration of hard bass including addresses from Flapjack, Acid Enema, System Malfunction, En3rgy, Seppuku, Nekrokick, and Drencrom—among many other dedicated artists.
Aside from the awesome performances, it was an amazing gathering of old school and new school— meeting of the minds from so many different styles, and walks of life. New friends and old friends intermingling and sharing their passions and talents was a testament to the music, empowering us to think, connect, share, and learn. This year’s American Gabberfest not only left all the hardcore warriors with memories of an amazing weekend, but was an amazing manifestation of our music as a unified heart beating at a very fast tempo.
Please rise! The Congress of the Kickdrum is now in session! As this year’s Gabberfest Anthem proudly announced, it was a full-on convention of misfits, dreamers and instigators drawn to a single flashpoint of action: rocking hardcore for 2 days straight under the unforgiving Las Vegas June sun. Temperatures of over 111 degrees bathed this year’s dedicated attendees at what is becoming America’s default meet-up of the harder styles.
We woke up Saturday morning after spending the previous night at EDC. Not only were we tired and sore from dancing all night in the heat, but we were hungry! We elected to start the day off at the Belagio buffet to fuel up and pre-game with their bottomless cocktails! After a solid hour of eating and drinking as much as we could, it was time to head to the fest.Walking up the the Hard Hat Lounge where the event is held, you can hear the warlike assault of the baselines from several blocks away.
The Hard Data DJ Team
Foreign dignitaries this year were Phoenix, Epidemic and Rohdan from Australia. The HARD DATA was well represented this year as “the official” HARD DATA Team of Lostboy, Mindcontroller and Deadly Buda turned the heat up outside and inside on both stages Saturday.
In addition, American hardcore legend Rob GEE headlined the event, bringing his twenty-plus years of gabber expertise to the table to inspire young and old alike. His set spanned from old classics, like “Army of Hardcore” to his newer material like the recently new and improved version of “Hard Sweetcore.” GEE was an integral part of the very first Gabberfest, and it was great to see him return to give the gabbers a kick drum to live on.
The White Ape overseeing the festivities
Frequent contributors to the magazine rocked the line-up as well, as Flap Jack, M27 and Seppuku each rocked fierce vinyl sets, Vigor rocked rawstyle, CAP devastated the tour bus stage with all his own tracks, Arcid coordinated the Techno Belligerent stage and The White Ape presided over the entirety of the festivities.
But, that’s just the list of usual suspects, a who’s who of hardcore from around the country was there too. Not one bad set the entire weekend. It was thick from beginning to end! Eni, Energy Alleul, Metal Jesus, Inspektor Gadjet, Gabber Twinz, How Hard, Lauren Valentine, Symtek and System Malfunction kept brought the energy to the crowd even in the unforgiving heat.
By Sunday morning it was clear that the heat was taking it’s toll on the crowd’s energy, but with the Hardcore blasting everyone gave it their all and I have spoken with had a blast! (At one point during the event it got so loud the speakers at the inside stage!) It was 100% on this year, nothing can beat the energy you get when you combine hardcore and a crowds of dedicated fans. That being said, important changes could be in the works for next years Gabberfest, and rumors of its move to a different time of year was a “hot” topic of conversation. At over 100 degrees each day, Gabberfest has been more like an endurance test sometimes, than an actual good-time rave. The waterguns, tents, mister and pools help, but eventually one must migrate to the air-conditioning or risk passing out. In addition, the event falls on EDC weekend which seems to prevent some people from coming, as the hotel ticket prices in Vegas can be particularly expensive, and it seems that many Gabberfest attendees do not attend EDC. So, part of the congress this year was openly debating a radical shift in time for the event. What do you think? What would be the best time of year for Gabberfest, and why? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section!
It was once again that time of year to head into the desert for America’s largest rave, and most importantly for The Hard Data crew, the largest hard dance lineup of the year in one place. EDC 2017 seemed this year to be “by ravers, for ravers.” Though the attendance this year was not as big as last year’s, it frankly was just the right amount of people to have a really good time for all the money that one might spend going to EDC. The line-ups on all the stages were solid and one was constantly confronted with the dilemma of “who do I want to see more?” as there were great acts constantly. The Basscon lineup, however, was stacked with some of the largest names in the hard dance business and featured something for everyone. Euphoric DJs like Wasted Penguinz and Da Tweekaz, to legendary names like Isaac, Brannan Heart and D-Block & S-Te-Fan, to rawstyle pioneers like Radical Redemption and Gunz For Hire. Plus! Hardcore every night by masters Angerfist, Mad Dog and AniMe, and Miss K8!
DAY 1, June 16, 2017 A.D.
EDC – Basscon Wasteland 2017
This EDC may have been the hottest one on record, with temperatures remaining in the 90 degrees plus range even at the blackest of night. Fortunately, there was no shortage of free, filtered water to take the edge off the heat. We knew we would spend the majority of our weekend at Basscon, but being that there is so many things to see and do at EDC we agreed that we would explore the rest of the fest that weekend as well. Walking into the festival on Friday night, however, our excitement overshadowed the extreme heat and we were untroubled as we made our way through the grounds to get our first peek at the Basscon Wasteland stage. We were immediately greeted with the pulsing vibrations of Hardstyle basslines hitting our bodies and it was as though the speakers surrounded us and the music enveloped our bodies. The stage was set to resemble ancient Egyptian ruins, and its centerpiece featured a massive scarab beetle or an Egyptian-bird of some sort that generated all sort of hieroglyphs, but it was in the “Wasteland.” Like, somehow in the dystopian future there is a resurgence of Ancient Egypt. The stage stood over the crowd with its wings outstretched and was packed with pyrotechnics, lasers and LED screens flashing colorful lightshows at the audience.
Upon our arrival, TNT (aka Technoboy ‘N’ Tuneboy) had just wrapped up their set of their signature Italian hardstyle, complete with anthemic melodies and reverse-bass basslines, and it was then Atmozfears’ timeslot. While we have had the chance to see Atmozfears in the past, this weekend we wanted to make sure to make his set a priority. Atmozfears’ music career has been on the fast lane in recent years and so it was no surprise that his set delivered a diverse and entertaining mix of some of hardstyle’s biggest tracks including Noisecontrollers new track Spirit of Hardstyle and his iconic track with Code Black, Accelerate. Towards the end of his set, it was time for a water refill and explore other parts of the festival before D-Block and S-Te-Fan came on.
EDC 2017 Main stage – Kinetic Field
We elected to check out Astrix at the Dreamstate’s Quantum Valley stage for some psytrance. Trance has a history with Hardstyle music and it was fun to experience a different perspective of the ravers and to groove to their music. We then circled back through Kinetic Field and gawked at the incredible mainstage, featuring a goddess with her arms outstretched and two giant owls on either side of her. It was incredible to see the amazing artistry and meaning Insomniac had put into this concept and it translated well.
Quantum Valley blasted out the sick lasers all weekend.
We then made our way back to the Basscon stage and Atmozfears wrapped up his set and it was time for D-Block and S-Te-Fan. Brandon’s bud from Boston, Matt had never seen D-Block and S-Te-Fan and he was very excited, and for good reason… that set was packed with incredible tracks from beginning to end! One of their favorite tracks (that was unfortunately was absent from their set, however) was Sound of the Thunder. Hopefully we will get the chance to hear them play it at a future show. In addition, it was during their set, that the main firework show enveloped the festival grounds. The fireworks and the classic tracks D-Block and S-Te-Fan were playing reminded us of the reason we fell in love with Hardstyle in the first place. As D-Block and S-Te-Fan finished their set we agreed that it was time for more water and to explore more of the festival before coming back to Basscon for the end of Code Black, and of course then… Angerfist!
Darkness descends on the Wasteland as Angerfist takes the stage.
We made our way through the thick crowd getting down to Zomboy at Basspod. Then, decided to check out the harder side of techno at the Neon Garden, where we caught Nicole Moudaber b2b with Chris Liebing, since recently Brandon has been getting into techno to supplement his hardcore addiction. While their set was not quite as hard as schrantz, the dark techno sound was a nice change of pace from what we are used to hearing. After that short break we made it back to Basscon in time to watch the end of Code Black’s set, and then it was time for Angerfist! It was at the moment the hardcore started that we saw something INCREDIBLE happen – the crowd poured into the Basscon stage.
Angerfist – EDC 2017
It was packed from shoulder to shoulder for hardcore! In classic Angerfist fashion, he started the crowd up with chant and repeat “when I say ANGER you say FIST…” and from there, the surprises kept coming. Miss K8 joined Angerfist on stage briefly as they played Masters of Hardcore and Dominator anthems. Then, unexpectedly, MC Villain got on the mic and reminded everyone that we were witnessing the number one hardcore DJ in the world. EDC night 1 closed with an explosion of adrenaline and at the end of Angerfist’s set we headed back to our hotel to recharge our batteries for the day we had ahead of us.
DAY 2, June 17, 2017 A.D.
It was buffets like this that put us into digestion shock, finally getting some well needed sleep.
Saturday we woke up with a hunger that needed tamed. Matt and Brandon elected to meet with their friend Miguel at the hotel buffet and fuel our bodies for the day ahead. From the buffet we left to Gabberfest, a hardcore festival off the strip that is held every year during EDC weekend. DJ Deadly Buda, Mindcontroller and Lost Boy were scheduled to play at Gabberfest as The Hard Data DJ team, so we went to rock out in the 100+ degree weather. Then, we made our way back to the hotel to get ready for EDC night 2.
Our ride fell through for Day 2, so we began weighing our options between the Park and Ride, or taking an Uber as we walked back into the hotel to get changed. It was at this time that an EDC miracle happened for us.
If you’re Uber doesn’t look like this, don’t take it!
We were walking through the hotel lobby and we bumped into a young couple who were dressed in war paint and rave gear, they were clearly on their way to EDC as well. After a short conversation with them we mentioned our predicament and they didn’t even hesitate to offer us a ride with them. Our ride with Caesar and Sarah was pleasant and it reminded me what raving is all about: taking care of one another, a core principle that tends to get lost in today’s scene. It was nice to meet and bond with likeminded individuals and we will forever be grateful to their generosity.
We thanked our new friends and walked into Night 2 of EDC. We made it to the Basscon stage just in time to catch Italian rebel, Zatox, throw down some bangers, along with his friend and MC Dave Revan before it was time for the legend, DJ Isaac, to take the stage. As I enjoyed the show, Matt and I met up with some other friends of ours in the crowd, Dan and Sandy, and we came came up with a game-plan on how to explore some other parts of the festival. We had all seen Isaac and Frontliner multiple times and decided that we would go to Cosmic Meadow to check out Porter Robinson, and come back to Basscon for the end of Frontliner’s set before Gunz For Hire. As we walked towards Cosmic Meadow the crowd got thick with people, it was clear that Porter Robinson was “the place to be” and we decided to head to the top of the bleachers for his set.
Cosmic Meadow – EDC 2017
From the front of the stage, to the top of the bleachers thousands of people had gathered for the amazing production of anime-themed and static Technicolor visuals of the stage, and Porter’s melodic electro pop house music. It reminded us of the size of the crowds I’ve experienced at European festivals and it made us wonder if there would ever be a following like this for hardstyle and hardcore, or if the music we loved would remain so separated from the mainstream to ever be accessable to the American audience.
Was this the new security at EDC this year? No! It was a traveling glitch music car!
We wrapped up our rest break and made our way back to Basscon for the end of Frontliner’s set before it was time for DJ Ran-D and Adaro’s live act, Gunz For Hire where they unleashed their new performance on the crowd – codename: Armed and Dangerous. Their set included several classic Gunz For Hire tracks like Kings of the Underground, Executioner Style, No Mercy, and Bolivia, and even treated us to some new music like Welcome to Deathrow and Pussy Lover. Gunz For Hire closed out their set and the onslaught of rawstyle continued with Radical Redemption. Radical’s set was probably my favorite Hardstyle set of the weekend, featuring rough rawstyle and he even ended his set with a blistering hardcore section to a manic crowd, including his track with Destructive Tendencies – Bring us Some. By the end of Radical’s set we were ready for another break and decided to check out Oliver Heldens at Circuit Grounds, the last stage we hadn’t been to yet for the weekend.
Circuit Grounds – EDC 2017
We sat off to the side of the stage and even laid back to rest, along with a dozen or so other tired ravers. EDC has had its share of casualties from the extreme heat over the years and it was reassuring to see security and Ground Control personnel come up to us to make sure that we were ok, and even offered us bottles of water. With as many people that were there it proved to me that they genuinely do their best to make sure everyone has a good time while trying to keep everyone there safe.
EDC 2017’s Chill-Out area
We left our rest area and made our way back to Basscon through the chill-out area by all the vendors. We made it back in time to catch the end of Toneshifterz before closing out night 2 with Dj Mad Dog b2b with DJ AniMe. Their set showcased their unique Hardcore Italia sound and featured some of their signature tracks including Dog Fight and Cracks – the crowd was loving it! After discussing with amongst ourselves we came to the conclusion that Basscon Area has the hottest babes at EDC hands down. Our friend Matt even went as far as to say that some of those ladies could out-hakken himself and even the dexterous and limber writing crew at THD. We left the festival at sunrise and made our way back to the hotel to rest up for Day 2 of Gabberfest and Night 3 of EDC.
DAY 3, June 18, 2017 A.D.
Sunday afternoon we spend another day in the 100+ degree weather at Gabberfest and decided to hit the buffet again to fuel up. Apparently, we hit the buffet a little too hard and fell deep into a food-coma in the hotel room. By the time we woke up it was time to head to EDC and we got there around midnight where it was a toasty 90 degrees. We arrived at the Basscon stage to see the end of Noisecontrollers’ set and just in time for Da Tweekaz with MC D on the mic. Their unique style of goofy melodies was refreshing and even saw Villain in the crowd enjoying himself. During their set, Da Tweekaz even gave a special preview of their new happy-hardcore-influenced “Tweekacore” sound, which they would play at Defqon 1 the following weekend.
The last hurrah for the Basspod? Bassrush Massive was off the hook this year.
Following Da Tweekaz, it was time to a break and grab a cocktail. As we picked up our spiked Electric Lemonade we decided to watch Basscon from a different perspective headed to the chillout area to watch Brennan Heart’s set livestreamed on the LED TV screens. Brennan Heart had the crowd bumping non-stop, and it was only from the perspective of overhead cameras that we could truly appreciate as a whole the bouncing crowd from end to end of the area. While watching we made conversation with others who gathered by the LED TV screen and met a man, Steve, who had traveled all the way from Scotland. We have visited EDC many times before so it was refreshing to get the perspective of someone who had travel internationally. While we talked we “somehow” got on the subject of hardcore. Apparently, there is a big hardcore scene in Scotland. One of Brandon’s pals, Bass Destruction, plays hardcore in Scotland and Steve said he had been to some of the Twisted Darkside parties he had played at! Apparently, it’s a very a small world and I made a mental note that I would have to visit sometime and party with them both.
Deadly Buda shows off the mega-Kandi Ryan Payne PLURRED him in the middle of the Wasteland arena. We made Buda promise to keep it on “stun” all weekend.
We said our farewells to Steve and made our way back to Basscon for Wildstylez and MC Villain. Wildstylez’s set was loaded with a lot of classic tracks and it was a trip down Hardstyle-memory-lane all over again. Lastly, Villain reminded us that Wildstylez was half of Project One (Headhunterz and Wildstylez) and it gave me hope that one day we would be able to witness Project one for ourselves here in the US. After we made some noise “for the very, very, very last time”, (as urged by Villain) for Wildstylez, we closed out the weekend with the goddess of hardcore herself, Miss K8, who showed no mercy. Her track selection proved to be particularly brutal for a crowd of people who had been raving for 3 days straight in the desert heat. This did not stop anyone from making the most of their final moments of the festival and we witnessed the people dancing themselves to exhaustion at sunrise in 95 degree heat!
More scenes from the Wasteland. EDC Basscon 2017
Our weekend consisted of exploring the amazing sights and sounds of the festival, and while we spent most of our time at the Basscon stage, of course, the weekend was nothing short of incredible! The lineup consisted of some of the biggest names in the business and there was more hardcore at EDC this year than any of recent memory, the faithful being treated to Angerfist, Miss K8, Mad Dog and AniMe. Insomniac’s continued dedication to grow the Basscon scene is leading to higher quality production and larger crowds that ever before, and we look forward to what the future has in store for us!
By Brandon “CabZ” Caballero, Joel “Deadly Buda” Bevacqua, Alvaro “Seppuku” Manjarrez, and Matt “Matty Muscles” from Mass.
By Brandon “CabZ” Caballero Follow me on Twitter @BrandonCabZ
This year marked the 20-year anniversary of the Electric Daisy Carnival as Insomniac set out for their biggest event of the year in Las Vegas, NV. This was the 4th year that Insomniac’s hard dance label, Basscon would host a stage at EDC. Thus far, we have been treated to stages of the Gas Mask Man (that has now become synonymous with Basscon), a giant One Eyed Monster, last year an apocalyptic New York scene and this years stage was promised to be an Apocalyptic San Francisco. The stage displayed a Golden Gate Bridge surrounded with shipping containers and graffiti and wrecked cars, and was being attacked by a giant crab! The stage was equipped with fireworks, pyrotechnics, 50ft flames lights, lasers and even its own go-go dancers. A stacked lineup of worldclass Djs promised this year’s Basscon as one to be remembered.
Another exciting first for Basscon was the Basscon Anthem by TNT – “Wasteland”. I recently spoke with TNT at Project Z and asked for their comment on making the anthem, they told me “We have seen the US Hardstyle scene grow-up in the USA and get bigger and bigger over these past few years. We felt like it was finally time to give you an anthem of your own!” For years American fans of hard dance who follow overseas events have wanted an anthem to hype up their weekend. For those who are not familiar, an anthem is exactly what it sounds like- it is the theme that sets the spirit for the entire weekend ahead and rallies everyone together and builds excitement for the show! “Wasteland” perfectly captures this spirit with lyrics such as “Crawling on the barren soil underneath the blackened sun, we are the children of the desert, we rule this wasteland.”
As I walked through the gates at the entrance I immediately heard the baseline bouncing from Basscon. Kutski was opening up the weekend for hardstyle lovers and kept to his motto of Keeping the Rave Alive; he had sparked the party spirit of all the ravers who had assembled far and wide to be at that Basscon stage just to be apart of a weekend packed with their favorite hard dance artists.
Other notable performances on Night 1 include Leiel, Audiofreq, who is an absolute madman bursting with unstoppable energy every set I’ve seen him play, Adrenalize , some freestyle fun with LNY TNZ, the legendary Technoboy, EDC first-timer Code Black, , Isaac, the UK hardcore DJ’s Darren Styles and Gammer who played individual sets as well as a special b2b set, and the night ended with Ran-D, who dropped the RAW on EDC from his first track, raising a big middle finger to everyone else saying “F#CK EDM”, to his last at sunrise. Honorable mention to Padaro, DJ Adaro’s father, who was partying at the front of the stage with the rest of the crowd!
Night 2 – After attending Gabberfest all day it was right back to EDC on nothing more than a few hours of sleep, but I remained optimistic due to the stacked lineup for the day. Night 2 started off with US Hardstyle DJ Mekanikal, followed Max Enforcer, Stephanie, Bioweapon (the duo of Code black and Audiofreq), Da Tweekaz and a special set where Brennan Heart showcased many new tracks from his new album I Am Hardstyle, and he even brought Jonathan Mendelsohn out on stage to sing a few tracks live! Following Brennan Heart’s performance, all music stopped at the Basscon stage and the crowd was treated to the “Basscon Experience”, a 10min firework show ending with the Basscon anthem and TNT starting their set. Following TNT was the beginning of the RAW Hardstyle for the night; Gunz 4 Hire (Ran-D and Adaro) came out and treated EDC to a particularly brutal set showcasing music and even video clips for their No Mercy Tour. Digital Punk took the stage next, and almost had to open a can of whoopass on someone who thought it would be a good idea to climb the stage and mess with the CDJ’s during his set before finally being removed by security (watch over your friends people!). Night 2 closed down with the haunter or the dark himself, DJ Adaro.
Night 3 – you can look around and definitely tell the heat, partying and lack of sleep is beginning to take it’s toll on the crowd… BUT, they don’t call it Wasteland for nothing! Basscon kicked off with a bang with a special b2b set from Canadian Duo Crisis Era and US DJ Darksiderz. Next followed a block of euphoric Hardstyle with Sylence, Audiotricz, Wasted Penguinz. Next, D-Block & S-te-Fan, Coone and Tuneboy, entertained the crowd and prepared them for the final push of the weekend. Lady Faith took to the stage next and differed from her normal style to instead play many more RAW tracks into her set, even showcasing some Notorious 2 tracks, to prepare everyone for Radical Redemption. The army of the Radical was strong throughout the audience, and Radical himself rewarded them by playing many of the tunes that brought him to notoriety, including Brutal 5.0 and Spell of Sin. As Radical left the stage he addressed the crowd to “get ready for the #1 hardcore act in the world” and DJ Angerfist took the stage! Now, I will say, there is a high expectation for the last DJ of the weekend at the end of 3 days, but Angerfist sparked energy in the people partying and the crowd was exploding with energy that was a truly remarkable achievement at the sunrise set. The hardcore reinvigorated the crowd like nothing I could have expected, people were shuffling, hakken and there were moshpits everywhere. This was a crowd was here for hardcore and they were loving every minute of it! Angerfist’s set built faster throughout and showcased many of his popular songs, and he even included some frenchcore, and ended clocking in at over 200bpm!
When it comes to Basscon Wasteland at EDC Las Vegas, it was a success in every aspect, and a great way to spend “20 years under the electric sky”. Whether you like euphoric, freestyle, hardcore, mainstream, RAW, UK hardcore, there was something to make you happy. With the new generation of ravers now receiving more exposure to hard dance than ever had before at American festivals, it is my hope that Basscon will inspire a new wave of American hard dance artists. This is good for growth of the scene and I hope Insomniac gives them the chance to play their events one day. I also hope Insomniac continues to grow and diversify their Basscon label, and hope for a standalone Basscon event in the future, maybe even including multiple stages so the euphoric fans, RAW, freestyle and hardcore fans can have a stage of their own. The hard dance scene in the US has limitless opportunity and can be anything we make it to be. I hope for many more events with an anthem, laser and firework show to mirror the European endshows, but most importantly, all of us should take pride in the collective being we become when we can come together for a common mentality to go hard!
D-Ceptor is one of the biggest names to represent Germany in the world of hardcore, and now, by the grace of the White Ape, he will be visiting and performing in America for the first time at GABBERFEST: America’s Hardest, day one of the festival! This is one of the most crucial interviews for the event as D-Ceptor offers some very interesting insight into the realm of hardcore and into the American scene itself. Hang on tight and enjoy the ride!
Dustin Leinesser aka D-Ceptor will be headlining this year’s edition of America’s hardest, GABBERFEST!
Will this be your first time in America? First time playing, if you have already visited?
This will be the first time visiting America for me, and so of course the first time playing there as well!
How did you get your start in hardcore music?
I started listening to hardcore music when I entered high school in 1998 through some friends who were already into it. This music style was new to me and from that moment on I was hooked by the sound. When I was 15 I visited my first hardcore event in a Belgian club. While listening and watching carefully how the artists performed, I knew that I wanted to become a DJ someday. I started practicing the art of mixing with vinyls and kept improving my skills on the turntables. A few years later, after sending many demo tapes to event promoters, my first gig was arranged in 2006 and my journey began.
What’s the hard dance scene like in Germany?
The Dutch hard dance scene has a lot of influence in Germany. Especially in west Germany where the scene is focused, because it is closer to the Dutch border. It is confusing to me that there are many hardcore artists in Germany (maybe the biggest scene after The Netherlands) but no big label, leading agency or international famous headliner. The Dutch and also the Italians are ahead to the Germans. I would even see Spain as the European country having now better prospects and talents as we have. Same story with large events. We have two big promoters here for hardcore festivals: I-Motion and A.L.E.X. events but I-Motion is cooperating with Dutch promoter Art of Dance bringing big pure hardcore concepts like Syndicate or brand new EXODUS to Germany. If you take a look on these line ups, you will see a lot of Dutch and Italian names and ask yourself: “Wtf!? This is a hardcore event in Germany, so where the hell are all those German artists?” So what I miss in this country are good producers. We have many internationally known artists for uptempo/terror/speedcore/industrial but just a few names who bring good quality in main style hardcore. For example Thorax is Germany’s new hope and biggest talent around here. His productions are brilliant and high quality, that’s why he got signed by MostWantedDJ agency (Masters of Hardcore) as the only German standing for HARDCORE. So all in all we have a huge hardcore scene here which is very enthusiastic with many crazy party animals who want to attend club parties and big events but what we miss are professional artists/producers and with it a professional agency and music label.
What do you think about the current state of harder styles in America?
I see many legendary names from the US who had their career highlight in the 90s-00s like Rob Gee, DJ Delirium, Lenny Dee with Industrial Strength or Omar Santana with H2OH Records. These artists were not very present from 2005 – 2015 in the scene from an European/German point of view but it’s nice to see that for example Rob Gee and now also Lenny Dee celebrating successful comebacks! But I miss one or maybe two generations of new American hardcore artists. In the current state of harder styles in America I see a lot of potential for young artists. Go and use the current EDM-hype for infecting more people with your style of hard electronic dance music! Don’t make the same mistake as we did, move your ass to the studio and produce the music that you love. This is really my main advice to every artist who wants to maintain in the scene for long time and above national borders. Am I wrong with this evaluation about the American scene? Come and correct me over a beer at Gabberfest!
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 opinion it is pretty hard to convey a profound message in hardcore music. In other music genres it is much easier because you can express it in many words. Of course you can also choose your vocals very well in your productions or pick an MC for recording your own lyrics but techno music in general is
D-Ceptor will be visiting the US for the first time and can’t wait to get a taste of the American lifestyle!
about kick drums, beats and synths. My music is dance music so people want to go mad on it, it’s not that important to communicate a certain message, but a feeling. When I produce music I think of what I would like to hear when I am in a club or a big festival. Am I in a mood of a straight punchy stomper tracks, working with drive and rhythm, or do I want to dive into nice spheres, with an epic melody that makes me raise my hands up in the air? For me it’s not important to say that I love science, don’t believe in god, or wanna fuck the system, the main message is always the same: You are hardcore, so you are a rebel.
Do you have anything special planned for the event?
I hope to present some new unreleased tracks at Gabberfest and of course I will bring some gifts to my American supporters.
Will you be attending EDC this year as well?
If I can spontaneously get a hold of a ticket for a day, yes!
Which artists are you most looking forward to seeing?
Angerfist and Rob Gee of course! Full hardcore support! But also Knife Party, Pendulum, and Zedd would be interesting to me. The rest… I am really not a big fan of EDM and hardstyle. It bores me over time and I can also see many of these DJs in Europe. It is more interesting to me seeing the party people there and feeling the vibes this event transports, hopefully.
How did you land the Gabberfest gig?
Well, that is a question a lot of people around here have asked too. The answer is simple: I still send demos worldwide! Back in the days these were my mix tapes and nowadays my new releases. So I got in contact with some American artists and later on to the promoter of Gabberfest and we arranged everything. That’s it!
Anything that you’re looking forward to most on your trip (that’s not music related)?
Everything! I’ll be staying for 3 weeks in your country, arriving in Los Angeles, heading over to Vegas for Gabberfest, and going further to San Francisco! USA represents the western lifestyle; the life I live here. American economy, technology, movies, music, lifestyle, almost everything from your country influences the way of living and the society here in Germany. I am curious to make my own experiences and my own opinion about the US because I just know it from TV, internet and pictures. I am looking forward to my long road trips, to people I will meet, to beautiful nature and culture I can see. I am interested in the huge cities, skyscrapers, national parks, landscapes, the desert, the sea. A taste of how America feels is what I want!
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?
The gig at Gabberfest was the trigger for me to participate in Rob Gee’s remix contest. There is no final decision made yet but I hope to present my remix to you guys soon, doesn’t matter if I win or not. However I will play this one for sure in Vegas. Besides that I am working on new solo projects and also collaborations with my friends Quitara and Tritone are planned in the future.
