Saturday January 21 was Basscon’s return to the Belasco theater in Los Angeles. The show was a 15yr celebration of Italian heavyweight duo TNT aka Technoboy ‘N’ Tuneboy, with support from opening act Crime Family, rising America hardstyle artist Mekanikal, and the energetic Audiofreq. The night promised a flashback into some of the classic tracks that brought TNT to such notoriety, as well as a selection of the current top tracks on the dance floors. There was another prospect for the night, the hybridization of psytrance and hardstyle. The internet had been buzzing about this combination of the two styles lately, and Mekanikal, Audiofreq and TNT all promised to play their take on “psystyle” that night! Psystyle- you heard it here first!
My friends and I arrived at the show and grabbed a drink around the beginning of Mekanikal’s set. I looked around and noticed something different about the crowd- it was a very young, enthusiastic crowd who were already getting wild!
“This is her first show, we can’t wait for TNT!” I heard someone talking to their friends say. It reminded me of the enthusiasm I felt when it was raving was new to me too. The reverse bass from Mekanikal’s set echoed through the Belasco, and I expected the night would be full of it. He played his new track with Reactor and MC Sik-Wit-It, Hardstyle Made Me Do It, and we even heard his new psystyle track PSYchedelica.
Following Mekanikal’s set was the versatile Audiofreq. Audiofreq is well known for the energy he brings while performing, but he is also well know for pushing beyond the boundaries of what has been done before and creating new and exciting sounds. His set included bangers Screwdriver, Warcry, and Sandstorm Sub Sonik remix. He also gave a subtle nod to his Australian roots with tracks like You Got the Love and Dragonblood (Defqon.1 Australia 2016 Anthem) and even showed us his take on psystyle with a TBA track.
15yrs of TNT was a memorable night filled with classic hardstyle tracks that brought the genre into the spotlight where it is today, and it may have given us a glimpse of what the future has in store. Up next, Basscon returns to the Belasco on February 24 for Atmosfears LA stop of his North America GVTE tour, featuring Atmosfears, Code Black and a Tuneboy Classics set. Get your tickets here.
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!
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!
MC Sik-Wit-It and Lady Faith
Dedicated to the harder sound of electronic dance music.
