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Datsik Interview
Monday 18th February 2013 | Osh
We had a chat with the Canadian dubstep DJ and producer who has been taking the scene by storm. This guy has been having a crazy ass time on tour with Steve Aoki, and his own ‘Reloaded’ tour as well as releasing a new EP ‘Cold Blooded’ on his independent label Firepower Records.
Firstly where did the name Datsik come from?
I used to play a lot of video games and it was kind of my gamer tag on X Box… and from there I didn’t really know what to use as a name for my tracks so under artist I just put ‘Datsik’. I kept making music and I started giving it out for free and at that point I just kind of realized that was my name… it just kind of stuck. I actually considered changing it at one point but my friend convinced me not to, so I didn’t!
How did you find the response from the Vitamin D album?
It did really well, I got a really positive response and it was great. It led to a whole tour with Steve Aoki, which was very fun and very crazy… it was a great experience. I think the whole process of putting out an album and learning what goes into it in terms of promotion and press and all that kind of stuff, it gave me an insight into how I should be running my label. I think Dim Mak did a great job so it’s cool to be able to use some of their tactics, and translate it on to all the stuff coming out on my own label.
Your from Canada, what was life like for you growing up. Did you have a musical background?
I’ve never had a musical background, I’ve always been more into the technical side of things. As I’m getting more technical I’m trying to flex my skills on the keyboard so I’m getting better and better, but I still feel like I should be taking piano lessons at some point.
You toured with Steve Aoki on his Dead Meat tour. How was that for you?
It was good - Steve is a crazy dude. Every night was super fun, crazy stage diving and dumping champagne on everyone, all that kind of stuff. You would think that people wouldn’t really like that, you know if I was standing in the crowd and someone dumped a bottle of champagne on me and threw a cake in my face I probably wouldn’t be very happy but you would be surprised. We did over 50 shows and every single night the kids just loved it. It got to the point where Steve was just like dumping rice and noodles… and salad and all kinds of stuff and the kids just loved it! So that goes to show I don’t really know much.
You have just finished up your 'Reloaded' tour across the US, how did it all go for you, any crazy moments?
The Reloaded tour was awesome! It was basically an extension of the Firepower tour. We hit a bunch of cities that we were unable to hit on the first round because of radius clauses from festivals and all that kind of stuff. We ended up doing around 15-20 shows and basically 95% of the shows sold out. I think the craziest moment for me was showing up in New York City and being in Time Square, we were playing at a venue there call The Best Buy Theatre, and the show had sold out a couple weeks in advance. Arriving and seeing ‘Datsik’ on a massive billboard with my face on it and then BOOM - ‘sold out’… seeing that in Time Square was a pretty crazy moment for me, it was really inspiring. At that point we’d already booked another show in New York because that show sold out so far in advance, and then that sold out, so two back-to-back sold out shows was really exciting for me.
You run your own label - Firepower Records. How did that come about and how important is it to releasing your own records through this?
I’ve always wanted to start a label, the timing wasn’t always right but it is now. I didn’t put out any of my own music until the 10th release, and on the 10th release we dropped the EP and it did really well. It hit number one i-Tunes dance charts in The States and Canada, so we were super happy about that. We didn’t know how well it was going to do because the whole nature of the EP is really dark, so to see it hit number 1 was really crazy. I didn’t think that dark music was going to be able to cut through, so it was really cool. Then from that, the momentum has just been crazy! Getting all these submissions from these kids is great… and now I’m really going to just try to monopolize the really dark dubstep scene I guess.
Is there any new music you are into at the moment or we should be keeping an eye out for?
I’m a big hip-hop head, there’s this one dude his names Snak The Ripper and he’s from Vancouver – I listen to his music all the time. He makes really good hip-hop and I’m really stoked on all his stuff, so he’s one of them. Another person you should look out for is GRiZ. I think GRiZ fits in the Bassnector, Pretty Lights category… he’s more like trip-hop but not; more jazzy, soulful hip-hop, but with an electronic kind of twist. I brought him on the Reloaded tour and while he’s playing sometimes he’ll whip out a Saxophone and play it over the top of what he’s doing. Its so wicked and smooth what he’s doing, I think this is going to be a really big year for him.
If you were invisible for the day what trouble would you get up to?
I wouldn’t do anything bad, maybe, except rob bank.
Will you be coming to London next?
There was talk of me coming over in April, but I’m not sure, so as soon as I know I’ll be sure to let everyone else know!
What big plans have you got for 2013?
It’s going to be all about Firepower - the label. I have another EP coming, it’s part two of the Cold Blooded EP, and it’s going to be called Hot Tempered. That will be dropping right before my next massive tour, and I think that tour will span over the course of three – four months and should be good so I’m really excited. 2013 has already been great, we’ve heard lots of new music come out and I think it’s going to be a crazy year for the label!
For more information check out:
www.datsik.ca
www.facebook.com/djdatsik
Words by Tab Taylor @tiptoptab
