Living along the plains of the mid-west, The Counter-Terrorist, surprisingly, hasn’t had the struggle of locating the harder genres of electronic music, nor breaking into his local scene with said genres like many westerners (of the US) had imagined when you hear that he’s coming from the state of Wisconsin. Seeing CT live already, I know what kind of a acidic treat we are getting having this name on the line up for GABBERFEST (June 18-19th, Las Vegas, Nevada) and now you all get to discover what is essentially the man “protecting the ears of ravers from the terrors of radio garbage”!
How did you decide on your stage name?
I was originally going by a different name but I wasn’t super big on it, so I did some thinking about my roots in the rave scene, love of comics, and then my history of playing Counter-Strike 1.6 back in the late 90’s and early 00’s with my old foreign exchange student came to mind. It’s a bit of a mouthful, certainly, but it’s my identity. Protecting the ears of ravers from the terrors of radio garbage.
How did you start producing/DJ’ing?
In 2010 I met my best friend who introduced me to controllerism and helped me learn the basics of mixing; I’d wanted to learn how to DJ since I was a kid but my family knew nothing about it and didn’t know anyone who could teach me (their concept of DJs is strictly the guy who plays at weddings or on the radio). Since 2010 I’ve used a couple programs and controllers and then moved onto CDJs due to preference.
How did you get interested in the harder styles?
My first experience with harder genres happened in the late 90’s when we had a foreign exchange student from Germany live with us. He brought over a bunch of music with him but the stuff I got hooked on was the acid trance/hard acid/hard trance. My dad liked it too so he downloaded a bunch of stuff like the Tunnel Trance Force mixes and then he came across some old US hard house that I just went NUTS over. After the turn of the century, while I was in high school, I got introduced to early hardstyle (the reverse bass and gated kicks stuff) then found old gabber/industrial hardcore music while browsing online and it continued to progress from there.
What changes have you noticed in your local rave/hard dance scene since you started?
Well as far as the scene I hail from, hardcore isn’t dead (HARDCORE WILL NEVER DIE!) but it’s not nearly as big as it once was. Which is a shame to me because we have lots of great hardcore DJs. We got Elekid, Idiom, Delta 9, Dan Efex, Softcore, and so many more. But hardcore isn’t as welcome or desired in today’s world as it was before. Which is why I moved to the west coast where the hardcore scene is thriving for the most part. Nustyle, euphoric hardstyle, rawstyle, and UK hardcore seem to be picking up momentum in Minnesota from what I’ve seen and heard.
What do you think about the current state of harder styles in America?
I think that the hard genres in general seem to be regaining popularity to varying degrees. Primarily hardstyle, but gabber, happy hardcore, and UK hardcore appear to be converting new fans as well. The other sub-genres of hard music are a bit under-represented so it’s difficult for certain sounds to get heard. As far as the more abrasive hardcore sounds, frenchcore and terrorcore look to be gaining momentum since it was demanded by fans at Trauma: Oldschool for the Headstrong till it was played. Uptempo hardcore seems to be trending in the US gabber scene as well. Overall, I’m cautiously optimistic about the future of hard music in the US because the genres are definitely not for everyone, however we seem to be making some progress as far as creating new fans. We just really need more support for our local artists.
Will you be attending both EDC & GABBERFEST this year?
Just GABBERFEST. EDC is too much thriller, not enough chiller (laughs)!
How do you feel about Insomniac’s support of the hard dance community? Even with the Basscon stage, do you feel that it’s enough?
Even with the Basscon stage, EDC does not do enough to represent the hard dance community. It’s primarily geared towards hardstyle despite a couple UK Hardcore DJs and one or two regular “mainstyle” hardcore DJs which, don’t get me wrong, is a step in the right direction but it doesn’t give a in-depth look at the diversity in the hard music scene as a whole.
What are you trying to convey through your music? Are there any themes or ideas that are important to you?
As far as themes when I spin hardcore, it’s generally mind-bending stuff. My gabber sets either conjure up nightmares and things of a dark and twisted nature or it’s some straight gangster shit. When I spin US/UK hard house, my sound is hard-hitting and ghetto. My acid sets are designed around nostalgia but super groovy (SO many “Blood Rave” remixes). You wind up with a pretty eccentric style when you’re raised in Drop Bass Network territory.
Do you have anything special planned for Gabberfest?
Well I’m under the impression that I’m gonna be doing a b2b set so it’s difficult to say what I’ll end up playing, honestly. But it will likely be either frenchcore, hardtek, and terrorcore in a b2b set or gabber, frenchcore, hardtek, and terrorcore if I’m playing solo. Start Hard, Finish Harder. Amirite?
What’s the next operation for the Counter-Terrorist? Any last words/rites?
Since moving out here to the west coast at the beginning of the last quarter of 2014, I’ve had a lot of opportunities to work with some incredible artists and crews both big name and local. There are too many people to thank individually, but I really appreciate all the help and love I’ve gotten from my West Coast and Midwest families. I love you all and I can’t wait to do even more incredible things with you guys. Gabberfest and Northkore are gonna be super rad, you won’t want to miss either if you’re a fan of hard music!
Be prepared for the Counter-Terrorist’s next operation by following him on his social media!