Three examples of how it was to be a Hardcore fan / artist in the 90s and using the Internet when the World Wide Web still seemed a new thing and Facebook and Youtube didn’t exist.
Biophilia
In the 90s, there were not so many ways for artists to connect on the internet. One of these ways were mailing lists; you were added to a list, and then you could send emails to this list, and all other members too, and everyone would get forwarded anyone else’s mails. A quite rudimentary way of communication. One of these lists was the Biophilia list, run by Multipara. Before discogs.com, there were also not so many ways to find a discography of your favorite label online. Multipara catered to that need too. He had a website which listed records on such labels as Fischkopf, Mono Tone, Mille Plateaux… I got into contact with him to ask some questions about Fischkopf and later also supplied information myself, as I was “at the source” in Hamburg where the label was run. Eventually he invited me to the Biophilia list too. This mailing list orignally was intended as a list for people who liked the music of Martin Damm, also known as Speedfreak or Biochip C. and other aliases – hence the name of the list, but it then became more a list for “underground” electronic sounds, including Experimental Hardcore, Early Breakcore and similar outings. Members included Thaddi from the Sonic Subjunkies, Joel from kool.pop / ex-DHR, Andy from Irritant and I think DJ Entox and John from the Somatic Responses, was on there too, as well as many other artists or enthuasists of strange electronic music. As so many artists were on the list, Multipara got the idea to do a compilation with the very artists of this list, and it happened. The styles of this release are very varied and definitely show the varying interests of the members of this mailing list; from Chiptune and Ambient to Detroit type Techno to Breakcore and Speedcore everything is here. My own contribution was the first thing that ever was released by me, Adrenaline Junkie, a 800 BPM Speedcore affair that was 1998 amongst the fastest tracks out there on vinyl. It was really a special time and community, and this double vinyl was a special result out of it and it makes a nice memory to the mailing list, this rather “primitive” form of internet communicaton.
Another trip down memory lane. In the 90s, there was no Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger. If you wanted to chat online, you would likely use Internet Relay Chat, or IRC. IRC was organized in chatroom channels that ran on servers, that then were connected in huge networks. One of these networks was EFnet, and it had a channel called #gabber, run by DJ Skinner of Black Monolith Recordings. We were a dozen and a half users on there, including Acid Enema, Eye-D from The Outside Agency, Maurice from Rotterdam Terminator Source and lots of others (Satronica, Knifehandchop, Interrupt Vector etc.). It was good times, lots of networking happened, and the beginning of Black Monolith Recordings was laid in that chatroom, and it was also how I got into contact with that label when I sent an early demo of “Urban Uprising” to Skinner – the rest is history. Memories!
BMR logo
C8.com and P2
Third trip down memory lane… we talked about chatrooms and mailing lists… but there was no social media to spread infos and sounds about Hardcore and related music in the 1990s. Instead there were websites and the biggest (for this type of music) was c8.com. It hosted PCP, an early incarnation of Bloody Fist, Somatic Responses and much, much more. The site hosted articles of various fanzines, preview music of plenty of releases, contact and background information and artists and more stuff. It was run by Stevvi who also started a mailing list for artists, fans and everyone else to communicate about what he called “dark, sick music”, and it was. While the list thrived for a few years, it ultimately decayed eventually, with lots of “shitposts” and other stuff, a taster of the Internet culture to come. So he set up a secret mailing list called P2, invite-only and only for the Hardcore elite… just kidding, mostly friends and people who had networked, and people around C8 who could hold a meaningful debate. It was host to many a great conversations, exchange of communication and connecting of artists, also some “scene fights” that almost 20 years later we can laugh about, and even some musical projects such as the c8 99 one (making tracks that last only 99 seconds, I think some of the Somatic Responses ones later got released). Artists on P2 were for example Boris Cavage, Noize Creator, and I think DJ Pure and Christoph Fringeli. One of the CD-Rs I sent to Stevvi he advertised on P2 (and put it in the music section of c8.com) and this led to the release of my Kougai split with Cdatakill and my Widerstand album, and other stuff.
Image of the old c8.com website
Nice memories again, of an era when communication was more limited but also more direct and the scene appeared smaller, before today’s version of the Internet.
This Interview was conducted by 3MiloE, and DJ Deadly Buda, and took place at Insomniac’s Escape: Psycho Circus 2017.
3MiloE : So, where are you from and what’s the music like where you’re from?
Coone: Like we basically grew up with EDM in Belgium, where I was born. Ah, I’d say EDM in general, not only an hard style, has been big for ages, you know. Before you guys picked it up, let’s say ten years ago, maybe more. When it got big here, everything was rock, hip-hop, you know, everything above the ground was hip-hop, everything underground was a little EDM, and now it blew up, and now we get the mainstream crowd as well, but I grew up with mainstream Hard style parties, whatever. It always has been big, as far as I’m concerned.
3MiloE: That’s cool.
Deadly Buda: Is, ah, the hard style different in Belgium the Holland?
Coone: Ah…yeah, of course. Let’s say, ah, the Netherlands are more picky, so they are a little bit more spoiled, but if they go off …like the crowd loves it, that means you are really doing a good job. Because Like I said they’re spoiled. In Belgium, guys are a little bit behind, or something like that, behind the when so, they like the little bit more commercial stuff, you need to play more bootlegs and remixes of like more famous tracks, but, ah, I love Belgium, it’s, ah, it’s my hometown, my home country, so I love it, I love the crowd. They are really energetic and enthusiastic every time a play for them, so it’s like, I’m in love with my country.
3MiloE: How did you become a DJ?
Coone: …my older brother was a DJ, so I learned being a DJ because of my brother, you know, he played records in his bedroom, and then he started playing national radio stations, that’s how I rolled into it, you know.
Deadly Buda: Oh, wow!
3MiloE: How did you come up with your DJ name?
Coone : Its, ah, its actually my real name, but it is spelled different. My real name is Koen, so Coen, actually, and I just say like, let me write it different, that’s it. It might be offending to some people, cause it’s like, in some part of Australia, over here, its like, ah, like a bad word. But, fuck it! It is never my intention you know. It’s my name! I’m sorry, my mother gave it to me, come at me if you have a problem!
3MiloE: So what animal best personifies your music?
Coone: An animal?
3MiloE: Yeah
Coone: Oh, wow, that’s…ah…. My music? I’d say, ah, dog.
3MiloE: Ok
Coone: Cause a dog can be sweet, and can be like tough as well. My hard style is, is hard, but it has sweet moments as well. And it also fits cause I love hip-hop as well, and that actually fits hip-hop as well. You know the big pit bull, DMX, (growling noise). So, I think a dog it pretty cool. Cause I’m not going to say a lion, cause that’s too tough, that’s more raw style, you know.
Coone at Escape: Psycho Circus 2017
3MiloE: That’s awesome! So, what are you trying to convey with your music?
Coone: What do I what?
3MiloE: What’s the message you are trying to send people?
Coone: I don’t know man, I fell in love with hard style because of that energy and, like I said the roughness that it has. And I, ah, think there is too much pussy music man. I mean, like, music should have balls, like, for example, rock or gangsta hip-hop, I like that cause it has balls. What am I trying to do? Ah, I think there are parts of the world were hard style is not big, for now, and I’m trying to change that. Cause the feeling I had When I first heard hard style…I cannot be the only one that feels that way. So, I’m sure that a lot of people can relate, and could feel that way that I felt when I first hear hard style.
Deadly Buda: What country would you want to play that you haven’t played yet?
Coone: To Africa, like the continent. I’ve been to, ah…everywhere else, actually, but that is the only place. I would love to play, buts it’s like, EDM in general is, like, really small. But, ah, yeah, not to spoil you guys, but, California is doing great. I like the atmosphere and the vibe that you guys have, ah, same goes for South America, let’s say, Chile for example, Chile is doing great. And then Asia is picking up.
Deadly Buda: Have you played in China?
Coone: Yeah. Two months ago.
Deadly Buda: What was that like?
Coone: Ah, the only rave scene that is big is in Tian Zhen, and the rest is picking up, but really slow. The don’t got social media, so, so it’s hard for them to get in touch with the last hypes or whatever. For me, for my China tour, it went great. I did five shows, four of them were sold out. All the clubs are now big, like thousand plus. But, then again, for the first year I did a tour, something’s gotta give. Just like, eh, everyone. Like … what you get more of over there is bottle service clubs. Like high standard clubs. Like, its not about me, it’s not about the DJ, it’s how big your bottle of Grey Goose is. Its different, like I said, the only rave scene now I think is in (Tian Zen?). And the rest it picking up, a little bit more slow.
The original release came out in July 2014 and was created to show how hardcore music is bigger than borders. German producers Braincrushers and E-RAYzor joined forces with US producer How Hard. An accompanying music video further showed the unified hardcore vibe with clips of hardcore events in Germany, Ukraine, Netherlands, United States, UK, and more!
I virtually sat with duo Braincrushers, which consists of brothers Oliver and David, and Ralf aka E-RAYzor after the dust settled on this explosive release to learn about them, their thoughts, on the project, and more!
Worldwide Movement: Remix Project (HKD078)
When did each of you start to create/produce music? Was hardcore the genre you start with?
BC: We started in 1995 with an old mixer and two turntable with no pitch. The mixer was Oliver’s birthday present, our dad came up with it. He played music as a young man and made his money with it. I think he wanted us to do something and tried to give an initial start. It worked just fine. The electronic music wave just came up here, it was new, cool, but not for everybody. We went crazy on hardcore music from the first second! In 1996, we played our first DJ set on a hardcore party. In the early 2000s we started to make our own music on Fruity Loops, and then Reason. Our first release came out ´07 “Little Asses” on G-Net Records.
E: I started producing hardcore with some friends using Fast Tracker in the middle of the nineties. We first only made fun tracks for ourselves, but one time we invited DJ friend of mine, and we made our first serious track. He pressed that one as a test pressing and played it in Bochum Germany at a big hardcore party. The reaction was positive, and that kept me going!
Were there any early influences on your music in the beginning? What about today?
E: My first CD was The Prodigy’s Experience, and the second was Thunderdome II, so you can say I am hardcore since the beginning! I also listened to all the 90s dancefloor stuff, hip hop like 2 Live Crew and DMX. Also, some rock and metal stuff like Linkin Park. All in all, I have a really wide taste of music. I don`t think in genres. There is good music everywhere, it just needs a drive for me, something special, recognizable.
Braincrushers
How would you each describe your styles of hardcore?
BC: We like hardcore music that goes with the times. The better the hardware and software gets, the better the tunes. We listen to and love the old classics, but when we play parties and work on our music, we want to go with times in our own way.
E: As a DJ, my style in hardcore is very diverse. I play everything from the early rave to happy hardcore, early mainstyle from the 2000s, and all the to the new stuff. Depending on the party, I can play everything from slow to fast, from old to new. As long it gets me and in a good mood I like it. I play a lot of tracks with nice melodies, but also “in ya face” tracks. For me, the mixture makes the party.
E-RAYzor
What are you using in the studio these days? Any stand-out piece of gear or instrument?
BC: Nothing special. A keyboard, Cubase, KRK Rockets and a lot of enthusiasm.
E: I don’t have my own studio today. I prefer more visiting my friends’ studios instead, like the Braincrushers’. We can have fun together, and I’m way more creative there versus working alone.
BC: Special to us is the long history of this project. The first release came out in 2014. We started working on this track months before with Ray when he visited us. We couldn’t find suitable vocals, so we asked Howard if he could record something for us. Bit by bit, session after session, element after element, countless nights with less sleep, hurting necks, and a lot of fun, we finally completed the track. Then came the video that Howard did with all the screaming people with different origins and now, all the remixes from artists around the world. “Worldwide” is not just a cool word for the title, the release was actually made worldwide!
E: In the beginning it was just a fun idea, but then we received Trinitite’s first remix from Sweden and said, “Hey, that is just too good to be not released, so what can we do?” As the title of the EP was Worldwide Movement, we thought about who we can also ask for a remix. The Darkheadz from Switzerland are good friends of mine for over 15 years. They were totally into the project, and sent their remix very quickly. Re-Style I knew from many bookings and parties where we met and I love his style since his first record so it was no question to ask him, too. In the end, I think we really have many different remixes with different styles but all of them have to touch and vibe of the original. For me it is always hard to decide which one I play the next!
BC: Actually, every talented artist with the same enthusiasm is welcome! Main thing is to have fun and at the end of the day: good music!
Who else would you love to see remix one of your tracks?
E: For me one of the best remixers is The Viper, so that would be cool!
BC: Noize Suppressor! He is one of greatest interpreters of hardcore. He is a real artist.
Oliver/Braincrushers
From your work on Hard Kryptic, what would each be your stand out track or release?
BC: “Worldwide Movement”, “STOMP!” and “Crush on You“. Honestly, we can’t make a decision!
E: That`s easy! The original “Worldwide Movement” is the best track I ever made! It still gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it, and even play it at all parties!
Any stand out tracks from HKR besides your own tracks?
E: I love all the Braincrushers releases and the Triax vinyl release, but the most outstanding track for me is the Amnesys Remix of DJ Delirium’s “Blazin’ Out Your Speaker”. This one is an absolute masterpiece in my opinion! It also was the first Hard Kryptic release I heard, so it got me into contact with the label. I pushed my favorite record store in that time to order that record because I heard it and totally fell in love.
Triax – Stronger Than Ever (HKR004)
Besides being producers, you’re also established DJs who have played in many festivals and in different countries, including the United States. What different do you see between playing in the U.S. versus in Europe?
E: I first came to New York in 2010 for Speakerfreakz. I thought I stepped out of a time machine! So many different people with wild costumes, much dedication to the music. I felt like back in the nineties in Europe when the whole rave scene began, and everything seemed to be possible. At all the parties I played in the U.S., there where all different styles of electronic music: house, drum n’ bass, hardstyle, hardcore, and even dubstep. The people were so open-minded to everything I played. I started my set with hardstyle and slowly took them to hardcore, and they loved it! It was unbelievable! I will never forget when I ended my set with the Pussyvibes mash-up of the Braincrushers at over 200 BPM, and the DJ after me started a house set at 130 BPM. In Europe that would be impossible!
Do you have any advice would you give a new DJ or producer?
E: Do it for the love of the music, not because you think it`s cool.
BC: Stick to it, don’t give up. Make it with passion.
What is upcoming for you? Any new releases or remixes in the works?
BC: We always are working on something. Stay anxious! Tracks are in the works. Hopefully another banging release on HKR!
E: Not yet, but hopefully I will find the time to get back in the studio soon to make some serious noise!
3MiloE: Okay so, where are you guys from and what’s the music scene like there?
Andrew: L.A. area born and raised. I’m from around this area, grew up in Laverne. I live near Long Beach now. What about you, Scott?
Scotty: I’m from Florida originally, and I’ve been living in Los Angeles for the past two and half, three years. The scene in both Florida and Los Angeles couldn’t be any different. But they’re definitely both a great ode to electronic dance music. Florida, for example, has Ultra Music Festival in Miami and then, you know, Los Angeles has…where we’re at right now… Escape. So yeah, the scene in Los Angeles is way more underground. It’s thriving right now.
Andrew: I think it’s the best for new artists because many can’t go play shows in other states cause they aren’t getting paid enough to travel. But over here…
Scotty: You can play shows here and build your entire fan base out of Los Angeles. I’ve seen it happen.
3MiloE: So how did you guys come up with your DJ names?
Both: (Laughs)
Andrew: Well, we used to tour and make music as Night Owls together, then we went through a re-brand process from April 1st?
Scotty: Yeah, and we’ve always had this concept of… duality within our brand.
Andrew: And in the fascination with owls and nocturnal life and the occult things. I’ve always been infatuated with those kind of interests. But yeah, a mix between duality and like… our love for owls.
3MiloE: So, obviously the animal that best personifies your music is the owl.
Scotty: Yes.
3MiloE: Why?
Scotty: Essentially, it really comes down to, Free Masonic imagery, as well as the Illuminati symbolism. In the middle of the Redwood Forest is Bohemian Grove, there’s a forty-foot stone owl that they call Malik. (Editor’s note: Moloch.) Malik, as we know, has been around for whatever, so um…
Andrew: From the mythology, Malik isn’t supposed to be an owl, it’s supposed to be a bull.
Scotty: They’re both, so, Malik is an owl but it also, the same… force…has been represented as a bull. So it’s like, the same thing. So I say it’s like a bull, the symbolism is really interesting. And someone snuck into the Bohemian Grove and took hidden camera footage of people sacrificing what seemed to be like a human, or maybe they, if maybe it was, just some sort of a whatever…
Andrew: A mock sacrifice.
Scotty: …to a forty foot stone owl. So this has actually been going on for thousands of years. (Editor’s note: Thousands, eh?)
Andrew: What does that have to do with our music, dude? (Laughs)
Scotty: And, this is where, I think that’s where a lot of power of the brand comes from. Because, that has existed throughout human history for thousands of years. So I think it could thrive in a brand and use it.
Andrew: I like owl’s personifications. They’re really swift creatures that are able to see through the bullshit.
Scotty: And they’re nocturnal.
Andrew: And nocturnal. I’m a nocturnal person. I kind of see our music as swift and sleek. But owls are also very dangerous things. Like, kind of like our drops.
Scotty: Yeah, my bedroom is also full of owls too. I have all these different owls.
3MiloE: That’s great. So what are you trying to convey with your music?
Scotty: Emotion. The goal, yeah? To be able to convey emotion through music. That was a good concise answer.
3MiloE: Alright, next question okay? Can you describe the feeling you get when you’re on stage?
Andrew: Not really, I mean, it’s almost like…
Scotty: …Transferring energy.
Andrew: It’s almost like, when I was playing baseball as a little kid, and I was like, batting. Like, I almost like, blacked out. I don’t know how to explain it, it’s like you black out and you go in…
Andrew: Yeah, blackout…
Andrew: If you’re prepared, you just go. That’s how, that’s how it is for me. I don’t know, I mean, we work well together. We can read each other, off of our energy. We can do things with each other and we’ll do things vise-versa, and I don’t know, it just flows. Like, I just almost blackout. It’s weird. I don’t remember what I do during my set, or after my set (Laughs). I don’t know. And also, every single one of our sets is prepped different. We couldn’t go and do the same set twice. A lot of artists do the same set forever, but we never do that.
Scotty: Yeah that’s very true. Yeah I definitely agree the whole blackout thing definitely does happen. As soon as we go on stage and we press play, everything else is just a blur until we’re off that stage. It’s really… it’s a really interesting feeling. I think as far as being on stage, I feel like there’s this transfer of energy between the person on stage performing and the crowd. So it’s like, the person hypes it up, and their crowd looks at that and is like, “Okay, this person is hyping up. I’m gonna hype! And that’s like this transfer of energies for the crowd’s hyping and, the performer is hyping, so it’s this cycle that goes on and the bigger the crowd the more you can feel it. You can actually feel this.” (Editor’s note: HEADY!)
Andrew: That’s true though, the better response I get from a crowd, usually, the more confident I am with my DJing, too.
Scotty: Yeah, it’s so surprising. The bigger the crowd, the more confident we are because we know that they’ll fucking like what we do. So the more people there, the more heads we can turn.
3MiloE: What moment do you cherish the most so far in your career?
Scotty: Moments like these, when we’re with our friends at these festivals, and able to, you know, run around the entire place like a playground… it’s like a theme park.
Andrew: I think the one I cherish the most was probably our Global Dance set. Because that was our first time playing to a real festival crowd, and I was really nervous before like, “Fuck. It’s my first time having fucking, 5,000 people watching me do what I do.” But I really cherished it. After I got off stage. I was like, “Damn. I really just did that.” That was probably the one I cherish the most. It was the first time, it’s like losing your virginity, you know what I mean?
Scotty: (laughs) Very true.
Andrew: Yeah, that was the one for me.
3MiloE: So what are your major influences?
Scotty: As far as music or as far as…?
3MiloE: Anything.
Andrew: Major influences…
Scotty: His is baseball. If the Dodgers lose, then he can’t make music. If they win, he’s grinding.
All: (Laughs.)
Andrew: Nah, but major influences. Let’s see. Music wise, a lot of the guys doing melodic shit right now, like Illenium, Seven Lions, Zed’s Dead, Nghtmre. People like that. As far as direct music, but I draw a lot of inspiration from like, I used to listen to a lot of heavy metal shit, like screamo post-hardcore shit. I grew up listening to that. I still draw inspiration from that going into, creating chord progressions or something like that, you know what I mean? But yeah, I also draw inspiration from just everyday life, you know what I mean? Like, some days I’ll be in a rut like, I’ll open Ableton and I’ll just stare at it. And I’ll go do something, I’ll go get lunch or something and just get inspired, come back, and get ready to work. I don’t know, but yeah that’s it for me.
Scotty: I think there is a really fine line between what your influences are, and what you’re actually a fan of. I think there’s a lot of artists and music that I’m a fan of, but don’t think actually influence me. And I think at the end of the day we most influence ourselves. We become some sort of anti-influence because we’re our biggest critics you know? We have the most to lose. So in a sense our criticism of ourselves is what really influences us.
3MiloE: That is profound. Yeah, that made my head spin. I like that.
Scotty: So I didn’t get you at the forty foot stone owl that they sacrifice people, to but I got you at influences. (Laughs.)
3MiloE: Yeah, well I mean. I take my influences, and they’re not necessarily the people I listen to.
Scotty: Well, I get influences from movies, I get influences from books, I get influences from stuff that has nothing to do with music. That still influences me. I see comedians, the way comedians come up is so similar to the way DJs come up. A comedian for example starts off at a small club, doesn’t have any pull, is probably performing for free. They have to develop an entire set, test it out with the crowd to see if the set works, like, “Oh, these jokes don’t work, let me scrap it.” DJs are kind of like the same thing. It’s like, “These songs don’t work, let me scrap it.” They develop a set, they start off at this shitty club. They’re not even getting paid, and they end up, you know, being able to pull their own crowd, being able to, go on their own tour with their own headlining tour. So I think kind of stand up comedy and DJing, are both thriving in Los Angeles. I think both of those scenes kind of are so similar. So that influences me too, I could see the way this dude came up, how can I superimpose that to our shit.
3MiloE: Awesome. Where do you see yourselves a year from now?
Andrew: Hopefully doing more of these at a later time (Laughs) But really…
Andrew: We opened the main stage today. We’re kind of getting on the stages where we see ourselves being. But we want to make it more frequent. Maybe outside of California like, other east coast festivals, blah blah blah. Try to get some of these later time slots, bigger crowds, you know what I mean? But we got to start somewhere, definitely blessed to be doing what we’re doing right now, even opening, that was so awesome.
Scotty: Exactly like, I love DJing. It’s so fun to DJ. In a year I would hope to be at a placee where we would be able to make something that we wouldn’t be able to make right now. I would like to be at a place where we’re able to make something we couldn’t make a year ago. Whether its goals or achievements or whether, it’s music. As long as we’re always improving. One year ago we were not able to fucking make this song, or one year ago we weren’t able to fucking pull out, or sell out this venue or something like that. So whatever it is, I hope we’re always progressing, whatever it is, it better be something we weren’t able to do right now, you know what I’m saying?
Mike: When you guys said you opened up the main stage, what was the moment you realized, “‘Wow this is actually happening?”
Scotty: Well, we kind of got booked for these shows months in advance, so we were kind of able to somehow envision and strategize everything out, you know? For example, we’re playing at Countdown, Insomniac’s New Year’s Eve event, and it’s October. So we have three months to prepare for that.
Andrew: Also to answer the question… I don’t even think I’m personally at that point yet, you know what I mean? I’m still struggling every day man. We can be on the stage right now and not there tomorrow. But take everything with a grain of salt. Appreciate everything.
Mike: Whose the brains behind this operation? Like, do you guys have equal parts?
Yeah, it’s equal, definitely like, we’re partners. Business partners, music partners…and I mean it, fucking basic brothers. But there’s no brains. I mean, sometimes he’ll take the head on something, sometimes I will. It’s just how we trust each other. That’s just how it works.
3MiloE: All right, that’s what I like to hear. Okay, my name is Milo.
(Kenth walks away from the interview for a brief moment)
Marcus: Sorry. Just me, the other guy walked away. We’re done here! All right. sorry, sorry. Yes, your name is Milo.
3MiloE: Yes, Milo. I’m a writer and promoter for the Hard Data magazine, and we’d like to ask you some questions.
Marcus: We are always open.
3MiloE: Where are you from, and what’s the music scene like where you’re from?
Marcus: Okay, we’re both from Norway. Born and raised in Oslo, the capital of Norway. The hardstyle scene in Norway is pretty non-existent. There’s one promoter, and he does his best. He makes a party called Hardstyle DNA and we made the anthem in 2010. I think that was the first anthem we ever did. It’s small, but it’s super dedicated, is all I can say.
Kenth: Everybody is super excited, every time we come over. They even talk English to us because they don’t even know we’re from Norway. Every time we’re there, everybody is very humble and they know all the songs. Not that many people, but it’s still growing. Kind of like here, except you’ve got more bands over here.
DeadlyBuda: Wait, how’d you get discovered in Norway? How’d you end up in Holland? What the hell happened?
Kenth: When we started off, we had no connections to Holland, for example, where hardstyle was booming back in 2008. We started off just listening to stuff on YouTube and we were like, “Wow, this is really cool… definitely something that we want to do.” So, we started making music, and we got signed to an Italian label at the beginning of 2007 or 2008…probably in 2008. Then, in the end of 2009, we got contacted from a promoter from Belgium through a website called Party Flock. You guys heard of it?
3MiloE: Yes.
DeadlyBuda: Yeah.
Kenth: It’s a big Dutch website where you can check up on where you can go party, pretty much… a big forum. We got contacted through a promoter from Belgium and he said, “Hey guys, I’ve heard about you already and I want to put you on my label called Dirty Workz, and want to book you for Bassleader, like all the Belgium parties.”
( Coone shows up. and comes in on the interview.)
Coone: Are you doing an interview?
Marcus: Yeah.
Marcus: This is Coone, by the way.
(Marcus graciously interviews the DJ known as Coone)
Coone: No. I did the interview already.
(Coone referring to the interview we had done earlier that night)
Deadly Buda: Is this a new collaboration here?
Kenth: He wants to do it, but we’ll see if…
Marcus: We’ll see if he’s good enough for us.
(Everyone laughs.)
Kenth: Anyway, so we got contacted by this Belgium promoter, and we ended up having a little talk and he came to Norway and we partied for a weekend. Pretty much at the end of the weekend, he told us, “Welcome to Dirty Workz.” And that’s where the whole journey started.
Marcus: I got to say, because Dirty Workz is family. They don’t sign just anybody, they sign people who they think will fit.
Deadly Buda: So, you have to get drunk with them?
Marcus: Not necessarily. (laughs) I think we’re an exclusive for that. But, Dirty Works is a gimmick, it’s a brand. And we all represent the same thing; happiness, family, love, unity… the same as here. Here in America it’s PLUR . In Belgium, Holland we present unity, family, real friends. When we do Dirty Workz nights in Belgium and Holland, we’re all on stage having fun, showing respect and love for each other. That’s what it’s all about.
3MiloE: That is awesome. What animal best personifies your music and why?
Marcus: What animal best personas our music? I would say a bunny. It’s cute, it’s fluffy, but it fornicates like a motherfucker, meaning it spreads like wildfire. And it’s jumping up around like crazy!
Kenth: That’s pretty accurate.
Marcus: Yeah, it is. Yeah, bunny.
Deadly Buda: So, you’re mutual on this? You both said “bunny.”
Kenth: Yeah, I’m pretty cool with that.
3MiloE: That’s great. What are you trying to convey with your music?
Kenth: When we go on stage, all we want to see is happy faces. We want everyone to have a good time. When we sit in the studio, we pretty much brainstorm. How can we make the crowd have a good time? We want to bring as much energy, as much party feeling, as much joy, and fun as we do making the music into the vibe of the party. That’s the best we can describe it.
Deadly Buda: What’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to you when you were mingling in the crowd?
Kenth: I signed a potato.
Marcus: But, we brought the potato. We brought this bag of potatoes.
Joel: In other words, you were signing your own potato.
Kenth: No. I signed an onion too.
Marcus: You didn’t bring the onion.
Kenth: No. I know I signed an onion. Got a lot of those weird penis grabs. (laughs)
Marcus: Penis grabs. I’ve signed a moon. We’re talking like, you know, because I’m balding as well. I admit it. I’ve signed a moon, I’ve signed butts. Weirdest things.
Kenth: Potatoes and the onions.
Marcus: Potatoes and onions. Signing potatoes and onions is not a normal thing.
DeadlyBuda: No, it’s not.
Marcus: But we do it.
DeadlyBuda: What country was that?
Marcus: Australia.
Kenth: And Sydney.
Marcus: The next year, we brought bananas. We ate bananas on stage. It’s actually potassium. We need potassium to stay awake. It’s good.
3MiloE: What moments do you cherish the most in your careers so far as DJs?
Marcus: To be honest, going on stage and playing our songs, and to see people smile happy singing along. We’ve had people cry when they meet us. We’re just some regular guys having fun. We go in the crowd, we get drunk… we party just like the crowd. But, to see the mutual respect, the happiness that we bring. There was a terrorist attack in Norway in 2010? … ’11?
Kenth: ’11.
Marcus: ’11. We wanted to dedicate out set to them. We made a song called “Become”. The whole track is about how the world is evolving and what we’ve become in the world. We play this track in Norway, and a lot of the victims’ friends were in the crowd. They were crying, and I was crying on stage. I will never ever forget that. I had sunglasses on, and they couldn’t see I was crying, but tears were just running down. I couldn’t stop. I’m getting emotional talking about it.
Kenth: I just want to add one thing: what makes this job so precious is when you get messages or you meet fans that they’re in a really rough patch in their life, and they’ve considered ending everything. They say that our music has helped them get through some of their toughest times, and that is so touching. Because we’re just sitting in the studio having fun, making music, and we don’t really realize how big of an impact our music has on certain individuals. And it’s …
Marcus: It’s unreal.
Kenth: It’s unreal, and it’s so heartwarming to hear people like that.
Marcus: To hear that we save lives, we save souls with having fun, and spreading the joyness, the happiness… it’s unreal.
Kenth: Yes.
Marcus: It’s incredible.
3MiloE: Wow. That answer was amazing. So, where do you see yourselves in a year from now?
Kenth: In a year from now, we’re hopefully going to have a little break. We’re going to be chilling on the beaches of Hawaii.
Marcus: But, we won’t because it’s 10 years of Tweekaz. So, we’re actually aiming for a big year next year. I’ll probably be bald because of all the stress. I’ll be bald in Hawaii, okay? Let’s just say that.
Kenth: I guess they want us to be sipping on Mai Thais in Hawaii, hopefully, but that’s not going to be story in the end.
Marcus: Wer’e going to have a luau.
3MiloE: Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Marcus: To the U.S. fans?
Kenth: Sure. Well, the thing is… like Marcus just said. We’re going to be celebrating 10 years of our career next year. So, you better be on the fucking look out for Da Tweekaz because we’re bringing shows, and we’re not talking ordinary shows, we’re talking specific special shows to every single country that we love playing in. So, we’re going to be bringing Tweekacore, and we’re going to be bringing one hell of a fun show, right?
Marcus: And some Jäger.
Kenth: And some Jägermeister. So, be on the look out because Da Tweekaz are not one, we’re not retiring, and we’re not going anywhere.
Marcus: Sometimes I wish we did, but…
Kenth: No, we’re still here, and we’re going to keep on rocking til’ we hit the grave.
Marcus: Yeah. And we’ll do some special contest next year as well. Some special meet and greet, some special giveaways, so be aware.
3MiloE: Can I join?
Marcus: Yeah, of course.
Marcus Nordli with 3MiloE
Kenth: You may.
Dedicated to the harder sound of electronic dance music.
