Category Archives: Interviews

3MiloE’s Escape 2017 Experience!!! Updated Nov. 15, 2017!!!

 

Day one  October 30, 2017. Contemplating in a graveyard because I find myself being featured on the television show called “Now and Then” as I will write down in log my first day recalling escape 2017.

First foremost I would like to thank insomniac for the opportunity to cover this event and interview DJs. It was really the most profound experience I have had yet to date and I will re-iterate by thanking them because they really are the best party thrower’s in the world.My name is 3MiloE and this is my Escape 2017 experience.


Logged October 30th, 2017

The purpose of this project is to really capture the feeling of both the artist and the party goer. I will be updating this project daily posting photos interviews and my personal experience interviewing partygoers as well updating daily as time goes along so you can track my project and the progress of this project from beginning to end . Readers can thoroughly enjoy themselves and go through my story day by day rather than having to wait to finish the entire project. I hope you will re-live my experience, with me as I put it down in this article and capture my own experience throughout this wild weekend which was a esape 2017.

 

9:23 a.m. Tuesday, Halloween, October 31, 2017, my friends back yard,

Please allow me to get sidetracked for a second because the main focus of this work, is to derive meaning from this entire stream of consciousness that I experienced during Escape. Although it’s hard to describe. People think it’s about that music, people think about the drugs, people think it’s about the lights, people think it’s about dressing up. It’s really about what each individual takes away from it.

The first night I spent the night interviewing the DJs but the second night I interviewed the crowd. It was interesting to find out what really makes everything tick. I’ve been part of the crowd before but I have never been behind stage I wanted to ask the artist questions I wanted to know, not necessarily what people wanted to know or the public. I like to call myself a Renaissance man of EDM, I produce, I spin, I promote, I write articles, I go to festivals and, now I interview famous DJs.

Right now it is 9:20 in the morning Halloween October 31, 2017 I have just woken up at my friends house I am having a coffee before he wakes up. I am logging in my daily time thinking about who really is my audience reading this? Should I really bring the hard data? Which I feel to some extent this festival world needs.

I am going to write the story of Escape down in this text, the feelings of the artists, the feelings of myself, feelings of the crowd. With the prime directive of answering this questions, “what did we all take away from this experience.  DJs, medical staff, festival workers, party goers, the producers; all changed in some way by this experience. Did people take home something with them, that had only been discovered at Escape 2017? Do they have the feeling that I have?
The feeling that artists cried when they were on stage, was the feeling that was described by general mission, and party goers and that’s the feeling I got when I was experiencing the story doing the interviews, being in the crowd, but most of all I am wondering what feeling the world or the audience will take away from this text…

Nov 2, 2017

Currently stressed about life. I really have to Now  prioritize, strategize and work the hardest I’ve ever worked in my entire life. I am going to be real with you all . I am a psychology student, in the midst of his first year in my master’s program.

Now let me set the scene…”

I have recently lost my entire hard drive on my computer only a couple weeks before the festival and half way through my first session at school . And that was a Trumatic experience for me. I lost about two years worth of content on my computer including photos and all the music I have produced up until that point and my homework… Songs I had spent hours working on, lost to nothingness, save a few originals on SoundCloud. Here is my November 2nd reflection.

As my mind grows, so does my ambition and curiosity…

I have a lot of work to do, I am really stressed, but I know what I have to do and nothing can stop me from conquering my dragons! I must ride this dragon of psychology and become a master! As well as pursue my passions as an active EDM enthusiast, I feel it is my duty , to push my intellectual capacities and apply them to both my fields of research and study. One being electronic music and the other being psychology. It is my master plan, to blend the two together for my master’s thesis.

Ok Ok! I realized I have just been posting thoughts, so here is some real deal pics to satisfy you guys before I get to the juiciest part of my experience….  THE DJ INTERVIEWS…My associate and I are Dictating the interviews now!!!

Da Tweekaz love TheHardData!  Thanks for reading guys!!!

 

November 3rd 2017,

It is the evening of November 3rd 2017 and I just witnessed a lecture by Fanny Brewster, a renowned psychologist who has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and is a licensed Psychoanalyst. Her lecture was on a female Architype. I feel so connected with women, and that may sound strange coming from a man in 2017… but I truly believe, that women are underrepresented in our society.

Selfie, with Fanny Brewster!

 

I took my mother, as a guest, to this lecture at Pacifica, which is the University I attend for my master’s program in psychology. My time there tonight let me reflect upon how I have been thinking a lot about women lately… and the important role they play in my life. I am reflecting now, upon how important music is to me, and that there are not a lot of females in the industry. For example, I can only name two female headliners at Escape. Rezz, and of course Missk8! I feel that Rezz is channeling female power through anonymity. Rezz captures female form without giving it a physical manifestation of beauty, empowering the ideal of a woman and showing the world that a woman can headline without people acknowledging her physical appearance, the beauty lies underneath the trippy glasses. Thank you Rezz!

Similarly, empowering women is Missk8. Missk8 however, harnesses her power by shocking people with her beauty and applying it to high energy music that expresses emotions like anger and exposes aggression within people. These emotions are not often thought of as beautiful, but when Missk8 blasts her music on stage… you tend to re-evaluate things. Her beauty, and figure, has a shock, or wow factor to it. Because hard style is aggressive and angry in a lot of cases, culturally thought of as negative feelings, misunderstood, misinterpreted or misrepresented feelings, and that is not often thought of as beautiful, but Missk8 embodies the beauty that lies within the music, underneath the surface.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(LATEST UPDATE) November 15, 2017

Affectionately known as my “Office”

I just established my space at Pacifica Graduate Institute. I even tagged it in my social media! I affectionately call it my office. It’s a small room in the library! It’s so perfect and quiet. I recently have been reading this book called, “Addressing Cultural Complexities in Practice Third Edition Assessment Diagnosis, and Therapy, by Pamela A. Hays. I find myself using it as a tool for self-analysis and a way of recognizing biases, within myself, that would potentially prevent me from connecting empathetically with those I seek to form therapeutic relationships with.

The reason I am bringing up this literature… is because, the literature is telling me a lot about my own self-identity. When I go to a massive rave like Escape, I can see every type of person imaginable; even those previously inconceivable.

Everyone’s inhibitions were lowered, acceptance of others was heightened. This lead to a mass exchange of culture, ideas, empathy and feelings! As a result of these socially perceived barriers, that are perceptively stronger outside of a festival setting, were almost demolished, due to the ambiance of the festival. The magnitude and scale of this social exchange goes unparalleled in modern society. It takes years, sometimes lifetimes to tear down the walls of ego and judgement that lie between us and the “other”. At festivals people differ in age, sex, gender, ethnicity, social class, religious beliefs…

A party goer dresses as the pope and Jesus Christ; a strong and symbolic representation of a cultural Archetype,

 

 

economic status, regard for authority, culture, and physical attractiveness. Yet all of us were concentrated in close proximity and feeling some of the most intense feelings that some of us will have had ever experienced in our entire lives.

In life, there is racism, intolerance, prejudice, bias, privilege and misunderstanding. As a psychologist, it is my job to understand these aspects of the human psyche, and therein my own. I must be aware of all these aspects of human life in order to be sensitive and understanding with the people I interact with. And so, with this log I would like to emphasize cultural awareness and sensitivity because we are part of this world. Each culture contributes its unique sounds, adopted by electronic music. The beats, and timing differ from country to country, culture to culture, and person to person… coming from, and spreading to, all over. There are people from all over the world, representing their unique cultures, as individuals, at these festivals. Be aware that we all need to respect and honor each other. That is the premise of the readings I found in Pamela A. Hays’ book, and the theme of this log is to reflect upon your own culture, relative to everyone else’s culture, and bring about a better perspective than the days before that time of great reflection… Happy travels- 3MiloE

 

I never wore color until after Escape 2017

Interview with Thumpa

Where are you from? What is the music scene like in the area you are from?
I am from Lichfield in the UK. The UK is very influential in all aspects of dance music from drum & bass to house to garage to UK / happy hardcore, gabber and more, we have a deep history of rave music!

 How did you come up with your DJ name?
My friends came up with the name as I ‘stomped my feet behind the decks like the rabbit from Bambi’ when I DJ’ed. 20 years later it is still my DJ name!

What animal best personifies your music and why?
See above haha!

 What are you trying to convey with your music?
I have always enjoyed progressing a set, whatever style I play I always want to end in a different place to where I started, I think it is very important to take the crowd on some kind of journey and open their ears to something different whether it is brand new, classic, underplayed and underappreciated or just something totally different. I like to get faster and harder as the set goes on.

Can you describe the feeling you get when you’re on stage?
I have never been interested in being ‘on stage’, I just love DJ’ing and the excitement of DJ’ing comes from sharing the music and finding a dancefloor that loves the music as much as me, I do not make music and do not care about a DJ logo or photoshoots or any of that stuff, just give me decks and a crowd and a set longer than 60 minutes! I am old skool, I just love mixing and seeing a crowd go crazy.

What moment do you cherish the most so far in your career as a DJ/artist?
Playing at Westfest (the UK’s biggest indoor party) was pretty special, seeing thousands of people in the crowd. I have been lucky enough to play in USA, Japan, Canada and all over Europe but Japan was pretty cool, people coming up to me with CDs from my label and asking me to sign them was insane!

What was the first song or album that you remember listening to?
I remember it clearly, I was in my bedroom in 1996 and DJ Vibes played at a big festival here in the UK called Tribal Gathering, BBC Radio One broadcasted his set and he played ‘My Little Fantasy’ by 4 Tune Fairytales, it was a huge moment for me as I had never heard that kind of sound before. 21 years later I still love it!

What are your major influences?
I do not make music but as a DJ I have been heavily influenced by Brisk, Vibes, Sharkey, Slipmatt, The DJ Producer, HMS, Scorpio, Kenny Ken, Nicky Blackmarket. My favourite artists and labels are Ruffneck, Chosen Few, Coolman Records, Tellurian & Cenobite, The Destroyer, Hellfish & Deathchant, Noisekick, Drokz, Akira, Catscan, DJ Promo and Predator.

Where do you see yoursrlf in a year from now?
Hopefully playing at something big in Holland, now I have played there a few times I just want to play there every week!

djthumpa@hotmail.com
www.facebook.com/thedjthumpa
www.soundcloud.com/rebuild_music

Interview With Manic!

Where are you from? What is the music scene like, in the area where you are from?

I am from the east of the Netherlands. While the Dutch hardcore scene is very big, the area where I live is mostly rural. I like to live there, as I love nature and peace, but for my music the audience usually isn’t really big. Luckily, I get booked for gigs in the west of the Netherlands regularly

How did you come up with your DJ Name?

I wanted a name that kind of sounded like my real name, but not exactly. So that’s when I came up with Manic. It doesn’t really mean something, although in English I guess it means like you lose your mind or something, but this absolutely doesn’t have anything to do with me 😉 It just sounds nice I think.

What animal best personifies your music and why?

This is a hard question. It has to be some kind of mystical, obscure animal. I think a cobra would do the job. It is mystical and elegant, although deadly venomous. It can also dance hypnotically on the music.

What are you trying to convey with your music?  

-That is really different for each track. Usually I just like to try to create an atmosphere in a track that alters your mind, bringing you in some kind of hypnose. Like you get lost in the music, in the melody, the drums etc. Like you are traveling through another dimension and nothing around you is important anymore.

Can you describe the feeling you get when you’re on stage?

When there is a big crowd and everyone is dancing on a new track I just finished, I get goosebumps all over my body. I also get this feeling a lot when I am part of the crowd myself, but then it is purely induced by the music and the performance. When I perform myself, it is induced by the energy of the crowd. I love that feeling.

What moment do you cherish the most so far in your career as a DJ/artist or musician?

The moment I got contracted by my favorite record label: Cenobite Records.

What was the first song or album that you remember listening to?

– I think it was an Elvis record of the old vinyl collection of my mom. Can’t remember exactly which one it was, but I loved Elvis when I was about 7 years old.

What are your major influences?

When I started making hardcore techno, I listened a lot to trancecore/psycore/artcore style, like releases on Cenobite (obviously), Ruffneck, KNOR, H2OH, Mokum, etc. Later on I discovered goa/psytrance and acid techno and some harder derivatives. I think these are my major influences. I think my music is evolving all the time, and I think (and hope) it always will

Where do you see yourself a year from now?

I really have no idea. Things got a bit on the back burner for a while because I was busy with my study, but after releasing my second full album, this time together with my Slovakian partner in crime Csabi, I went full on producing again and bought a lot of new gear. I am also learning a lot of new sound design techniques, and I’m experimenting with performing live, also with various kinds of music styles, so I really don’t know where this all will bring me in a year. We will see I guess. One thing is for sure, I am not standing still 😉.

-Manic

 

Interview with DJ DBA

Where are you from? What is the music scene like, in the area where you are from?

I am Duane Borra and i was born in Haarlem. Nowadays i live in Ijmuiden.
The music in my region is wide spread with all sorts of styles.

How did you come up with your DJ Name? 

Well my full name is Duane Borra, so DBA was not so hard to come up with. Originally it’s dB(A) but that’s hard to search or find around the web.

What animal best personifies your music and why?

A T-Rex? I don’t know.. Just think there funny haha

 What are you trying to convey with your music?

Just banging tracks🤘🏻

Can you describe the feeling you get when you’re on stage?

The feeling on stage i think is still one of the best there is!

What moment do you cherish the most so far in your career as a DJ/artist or musician?

The time i was on stage at the mainstage of Pandemonium and Decade.

What was the first song or album that you remember listening too?

That’s pretty far back in time, i think it was Juggernaut – Ruffneck rules on the television, and some of the Party Animals.

What are your major influences?

My friend Martijn was one of the influences of dj ing, together with him we also preform as Dj team The Greasemonkeys. The other one is the feeling from the music and mixing it all together.

 Where do you see yourself a year from now?

I will see what the future will bring!

 

 

Leviathan Interview

 

Where are you from? What is the music scene like, in the area where you are from?

I’m from Amsterdam ,many concerts in all styles of music you can find here.
We have a few Hardcore events every month and we have quite a lot of Festivals in the neighborhood also Thunderdome has it’s headquarters in Amsterdam
Sometimes we have underground squat parties but also with Amsterdam Dance Event (HDE) Hardcore will be represented

How did you come up with your DJ Name?

I did use a lot of different project names
Tellurian i got out of the English dictionary and it means “Earthling” it just spoke to me
Leviathan i got from the movie Hellraiser , it fitted just perfect because we where official label partner with “ISP Hellraiser Ultimate Hardcore Dance Events ”

3.What animal best personifies your music and why?
Probably a black Dragon , our hardcore style is mostly dark & mystical, but i do like to make a pussy track some times in other genre’s

What are you trying to convey with your music?

I like all kinds of music and styles but the concept of Cenobite is dark hardcore / psycore, we do love to have a message in there some times and the goal is to make every song sounding original

Can you describe the feeling you get when you’re on stage?

Well , before the performance nervous most of the time , the experience of the whole night is also depending on how good the crowd reacted on my set , i love it when i reach that zone and everything comes together and seems to work

What moment do you cherish the most so far in your career as a DJ/artist or musician?

That’s a tough one, I had so many amazing experiences over the years ,made thousands of friends worldwide
Getting good reactions on my music inspires me a lot.
I still think it’s amazing what music can do with people and the connection to memories & feelings ,
Getting respect from the crowd is one thing but getting it from other music producers feels even better
I also love being in the crowd and to see the dance floor explode if the dj’s plays your tune it’s like priceless
It just feels like I’m blessed and i feel honored to be part of it .

What was the first song or album that you remember listening too?

Kurtis Blow – The Breaks ,    and A lot of funk tapes from my brothers in laws
Hardcore-wise Thunderdome 1 , it’s still my favorite from the series , and the Multi Groove raves in the early 90’ties were inspiring

What are your major influences?

I was always loved disco, funk & soul
Computer game music had big influence and that’s how i discovered kraftwork
Hip Hop Funk , R&B and later Hip-House ,Chicago House  & Acid House , I love Drum Breaks and almost anything with a funky beat
I think everything you listen to can be a an influence conscious or unconscious.
Where do you see yourself a year from now?

Time flies a year is nothing , i got a growing to do list from here till Tokio with stuff i need to do , plus all new ideas like setting up a new label and working on other genre’s video projects and this is besides my work as a graphic & web-designer so i hope to get as much done as possible and i hope that appreciation and support from the scene will continue .
Your likes & shares, comments, support on the dance-floor , promoting the music , the artists & events
that’s what it’s all about , that’s what keeping the scene motivated and expand
And for that i like to thank you !

PEACE

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Michel

Leviathan
Leviathan

http://cenobiterecords.com/cenobite-dj-artist/leviathan/
https://www.mixcloud.com/CENOBITE_RECORDS/
https://www.youtube.com/user/cenobitexxx
https://soundcloud.com/dj_leviathan
https://www.facebook.com/leviathan.tellurian/
https://twitter.com/DJ_LEVIATHAN