Tag Archives: MC Mike Redman

Posted by Joel Bevacqua on Sunday, February 14, 2016

Like opera in a construction zone, hardcore techno and hardstyle sang through the city of San Francisco last night, to the utter delight of the Bay Areas’s harder styles faithful. Fittingly, in my dutiful jaunt through the fabled city, I came upon a man doing just that, singing opera in a construction zone. I believe his name is Robert Grant. Coincidentally, in quite operatic fashion, a group of crazy Italians would help strengthen a growing Bay Area harder styles scene. DJ Vortex, Super Marco May, The Melodyst, Amnesys, Placid K and DJ Mad Dog represented the boot-shaped country and fittingly kicked the Bay Area into overdrive. They were joined by the up-and-coming Tonegenerator, legends Scott Brown, Rob Gee, The Prophet, and adroitly MC’ed by Mike Redman.

My review unfortunately is somewhat incomplete though, I must confess. Because of a scheduling foul-up at the airport, and weather delays out of Edmonton, Canada that afternoon, I would not arrive to the Regency Ballroom until almost 11:30 last night. Approximately 7 hours was spent by yours truly yesterday and night en route to San Francisco.

Finally my flight arrived in San Fran to witness DJ Mad Dog
Posted by Joel Bevacqua on Sunday, February 14, 2016

Nonetheless, I caught the tail end of The Prophet, who as expected, rocked the crowd to an appreciative hardstyle fan-base. He was followed by DJ Mad Dog, who continued his path of North American destruction, making the crowd go bonkers. Placid K followed with his signature classic hardcore style. The Melodyst picked up after that with their new school sound and the exclamation mark was put on the end of the night by Rob Gee.

Frankly all the sets I heard were just as banging in San Francisco as in Edmonton the night before. What was interesting though was the San Francisco crowd itself. San Francisco in previous decades had a robust punk rock and industrial scene, producing legendary bands like the Dead Kennedys. So, that underlying spirit in the Bay Area has always existed, and it was just a matter of time until some aspect of it surfaced again. What I saw was a spark of a new scene developing. That perfect moment when everyone in the crowd gets to know each other. It was pretty cool seeing the crowd go for it to music that was mostly new to them. Many people came for the bigger names, but were exposed to new things they liked, and got to meet like-minded individuals in the process.

It would unfair to call it the “birth” of a scene when crews like Spaz and 5lowershop have been doing underground hardcore parties for decades now. But, there was a whole new wave of ravers and party-goers getting their first taste of rocking out to a wide spectrum of the harder styles! Next stop: Los Angeles.

Articles, Reviews

Field Report: Edmonton: Trauma Live’s Harder Styles Tour 2016 .

February 13, 2016 DJ Deadly Buda

The Harder Styles Tour kicked off with a banging kickdrum last night when DJ Vortex opened up the tour his sage-like lessons in hardstyle. The unlikely locale of this seminal outburst was frigid Edmonton, Alberta, best known in these parts as the home of the Oilers and the legendary Wayne Gretsky. I’m still smarting from the night the Oilers sneaked out of the Pittsburgh Civic Arena with a win as Mario Lemieux and Gretzky battled it out on the ice. I suppressed my prejudices though and found a lot to like in Edmonton. Most notably the crowd liked it hard, and so it was a pleasure to be in the midst of mutual transaction of hard beats and appreciative crowd.

Edmonton gets Trauma, and loved it. — Edmonton got Trauma, and loved it.

Despite strong ticket sales, the venue wasn’t particularly crowded, as the frigid and windy -11 degree Celsius weather kept only the most maniacal home safe in their blankies. MC Mike Redman kept the crowd psyched the entire night, straddling that perfect MC balance between chiming in at the right time and not getting’ all walky-talky. After Vortex MC Redman introduced Super Marco May. You might’ve read his interview on the THD site, and he lived up to the hype it suggested, representing Italian hardstyle in splendid fashion.

You might have thought you were in Little Italy until Scott Brown jumped on the decks and cranked up the happy. Happy hardcore that is. He even played one of my old faves, “Now is the Time.” After which he took a well-deserved rest and read the latest issue of The Hard Data, rumor has it. Amnesys jumped on stage next and played a little of everything. He started kinda slow, playing Alien T’s Hammer of the Devil, and then picked up the pace with some of his soon-to-be classics, Shockwave and Embrace the Ultimate. In the middle of it all, he even threw in some dub-step sounding tracks which was a nice change of pace.

One of the best sets of the night was next, The Prophet. Easily the crowd favorite that night, the Scanntraxx CEO busted out a surprisingly hard-as-nails hardstyle set. I wouldn’t really call it rawstyle, it was just straight banging hardstyle. I like the fact that he played “Here We Go” because of the awesome hoover in its break and its old school sound. I still think the track was inspired by Edge of Motion, but I didn’t get the chance to grill The Prophet about it, dear readers, as he was busy interacting with his fans most of the night.

Mad Dog took to the decks next, and he made it clear that 150 BPM was “not his Tempo,” because he promptly busted out his floor crushing epic, “Not My Tempo.” It doesn’t get much clearer than that, and the BPM’s instantly skyrocketed to the delight of the hardcore faithful (you can read the Mad Dog Interview in the latest issue of THD).

The hardcore onslaught continued as Placid K, not to be out-hoovered, laid down one of the thickest hoover sounds of the night at the beginning of his set. After all these years, lets face it, there’s nothing like a huge freakinig hoover sound on a banging system to get the blood flowing to all the capillaries. The rest of his set was his signature old school hip hop samples tightly woven with that classic Italian hardcore drive, which set the stage for the new breed of hardcore heroes, The Melodyst.

They sprang out the gate with their new track “New Dawn” and when the kick came in, it sounded wicked sick. Whatever special sauce they are adding to their 909’s, I want to know because it immediately drove the crowd into a state of frenzy.

At this point, you are probably thinking, “ok, what could they possibly do next to top the night off?” Well, the icing on the cake was our own made-in-the-USA Rob Gee, who went absolutely ape behind the decks. Just when you thought you couldn’t dance no more, the Gee-Man set a fire under everyone’s you-know-whats. If there was one drop of sweat left in that crowd, Rob made sure to squeeze it out with an energetic and inspiring performance befitting the first night of the Trauma Harder Styles Tour 2016. Next up, on to the Golden State in the U.S. of A.

Articles, Events, Interviews

MC Mike Redman Interview on the Trauma Harder Styles Tour 2016

February 12, 2016 Brandon Caballero

What inspired your stage name?
This is actually my real name. I adopted my mother’s last name which is Redman.
I use this when I’m hosting events. My alias Deformer that I use as a DJ and producer came from the various styles of music that I combine to get the dark and heavy sound that I like. Influences of Hardcore, Metal, Hip-hop, Soundtrack, Breakcore you name it. As long as it fits the Deformer concept, I’ll integrate it.

Were you a DJ first, or a producer?
I was a producer first. Experimenting with tape-loops, messing with Atari and Akai samplers. Mostly at other peoples places, because, believe it or not, only few people had a computer back when I started. I always bought records to sample sounds from, but started djing later on. Now my Deformer sets consist of 100% own productions.

How did you get into the scene?
Paul Elstak spotted me in the eary nineties. My first Hardcore gig was at the iconic Rotterdam based Energiehal. These events are memorable. Not only because there were always 10.000 hardcore fans loosing it at these parties, but also because the sound was new and still in a very experimental phase. It’s a shame that they eventually took the venue down.

What was the first record you ever purchased?
Wow, that was way back.. I’m not sure which came first but I got ‘Hey You!’ from The Rock Steady Crew from an uncle, which made a big impact. ‘Pass the Dutchie’ (Musical Youth) and the first Iron Maiden album were my first records. Later it really got out of hand and I now have a collection of a few thousand records of various genres…

Who was your biggest inspiration in the early part of your career?
That’s a very difficult question. I got bits of anything and anyone I’ve heard and seen I guess. Mostly unknowingly. But everything inspires. Sometimes the most un-inspirational artist can generate ideas. When it comes to House music definitely Holy Noise, Joey Beltram, Marc Acardipane and many others.

Would you describe your first DJ gig?
My first DJ gig was pretty scary I gotta admit. The biggest concern was to not let the needle skip. But luckily the first gig was a great success which got me a residency at the club the same night!

What was your favorite party you’ve ever played? Why?
There are multiple. I’ve had many wild gigs in The Netherlands, but later on the gigs abroad seem to stick more, because you never know what to expect and not only is the gig special, so is the environment and the people that you meet. It’s always exciting to explore new territory and other cultures.

What was the funniest moment during any of your performances?
I have to dig deep for that one. There were many, many funny moments. Also some really bizarre moments that sometimes turn into funny moments when you look back at them..

What important changes have you witnessed from the time you got into the scene, until now?
People are talking bpm’s more than music sometimes. There are also more genres than DJ’s that play them. But it all got far more professional than it ever was I think. I mean, the events are smooth and there are more jobs in this industry now than one could ever imagine.

Did you ever think you would be touring the United States? What do you think the Trauma Tour will be like?
I’ve only been doing stuff on the East Coast, so thank you Trauma for getting me some vitamin D. I’m having high expectations. I can’t wait to have a good time with everyone.

What made you want to start producing Hardcore music?
Well, the Deformer stuff is mostly filed under Breakcore, but Hardcore to me was always a challenge and it still is. Most outsiders that are not necessarily fans of the genre will mostly leave the studio with much respect when they see what effort goes into making the music.

What is your favorite track that you have produced?
That’s a hard one. ‘The Possessor’, ‘Slasher’, ‘Freaqks’ and ‘Gamecore’ are somewhere in there, but I’m still working on my favorite track…

What advice would you give to up and coming Hardcore producers?
Keep breaking down barriers!

Have any of the other artists on the Trauma tour ever inspired your work?
Definitely. The line-up is incredible and most of them have come a long way.

What are your top 3 favorite tracks of all time?

I can’t name a top three. This varies each day and with each mood-swing…

What was your favorite track of 2015 (that wasn’t your own)?
Omg, give me some time for this one..

Are there any exciting projects or gigs coming up you want our readers to know about?
Yeah, there is a release in the pipeline with The DJ Producer, Predator, N-Vitral and others. I’m currently also writing new lyrics for various artists, and check out my latest project Voodoom. This is a collaboration with Bong-Ra. Madness…

What artists would you like to collaborate with that you haven’t already?
I like to work with artists that dare to step out of their comfort zone and are passionate about their craft. The collaboration with Public Enemy was a dream come true as well as Chino XL. It was amazing to have collaborated with legendary filmstudio Full Moon Features. Working with Paul Elstak is always great. Rotterdam Terror Corps and maybe even a Metal band..

If there’s anything we haven’t asked, what else would you like to say to the readers of The Hard Data?
Don’t party by genre, have fun as much as you can and never stop exploring! The time is now, party on!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Redman