The Rising Of Epidemix: Fresh Sounds From Germany

Thanks very much for joining me and huge congratulations on the RAM Houseparty set you played. It was UNBELIEVABLE! I had no idea what I was tuning in for and then all of a sudden it was like BOOM! It was crazy. There was so much love being shown for you in that set. It was amazing. The first question I have then is how did that come about?

That was actually very interesting. I’d heard about RAM Records before but I wasn’t really that big into them, obviously I’m into EDM and drum and bass. I got sent a DM on Instagram who sent me this post from RAM where they said you can apply for the chance to get a set in the livestream. I recorded a set and sent it to them and the immediately responded. It was an hour I think, and yeah, they said you’re in, they enjoyed the set and that’s basically the whole story!

 

Wow! It really was an amazing set. What’s happened since then? Has there been any follow up? Have you spoken with the team at RAM? Has anyone else reached out to you?

I have spoken with the team at RAM and maybe if it works I’ll do another session on the upcoming streams, but the response has been amazing. I’ve got so many new followers on Instagram and Facebook. I’ve had so many messages from people saying they enjoyed the set, which is really heartwarming and motivates me to keep pushing, but yeah, just so many really great and kind people messaging me and congratulating me on the set. 

 

That’s what we really love about this community. People really share and show their love and appreciation for someone who deserves it. Are you signed to a label at the moment?

I’m not at the moment. I’m currently releasing music on my own. I’m thinking about reaching out to some labels, but the thing that’s interesting is I do not really come from the drum and bass scene. I’m a dubstep producer and dj. So if I had the chance to sign for, lets say, RAM Records, I’d have to speak with them about what I would be able to make, as I’m still mainly a dubstep producer and dj. I really enjoy making and mixing drum and bass but I would want the label to still allow me to make, release and play dubstep. A lot of labels are, of course, solely focused on drum and bass so I’m not sure if any of them would be the right one for me.

 

I’m sure that whatever label you may decide to work with would allow you to continue following your creative path, especially in the fields of music we are speaking about. So, how did you get into mixing drum and bass, creating dubstep, what’s been your musical journey?

So I started playing the piano at the age of 4 and I did this for about 12 years, so that’s where I got all my music theory from. Then I think I was about 8 or 9 when I got the Magix Music Maker, I started out making some loops and trying things, just stacking loops on top of each other. At that time I was listening to a lot of German Techno, like Kraftwek and Scooter. That was my first time listening to electronic music and then I think a friend showed me Bangarang by Skrillex and that was the moment I knew this was my calling. I really liked this music and I started listening to more Skrillex, Excision, Virtual Riot. Actually Virtual Riot is like my main influence.

Then at the age of 12 I got FL Studio and started getting really into the music production. At first it was just music production, not really djing. The djiing came, I think, 5 or 6 years ago. So I started that later than I started producing music. Djing is one of my main passions, I do this every day. I have my rig set up right here where I do live streams on my Instagram and stuff, just to train basically. 

 

Cool, it’s awesome to see such dedication. You’re from Cologne. What’s the scene like where you are? You get the impression that Techno is the dominant force in Germany.

The scene here is huge. There’s a club here, you probably know it, it’s called Bootshaus, and there’s a monthly dubstep and drum and bass shows there, called Blacklist. It’s always sold out. It’s always packed in this club. And the crowd is just amazing, I mean the community is amazing. It’s just a really big family basically. All my dearest friends I’ve met at the Bootshaus events. I think the Techno scene is big, but not really in Cologne. I haven’t heard of that many clubs or events going on here. Dubstep is definitely bigger than Techno here.

 

You say you’ve been djing for 5 or 6 years now. You’ve been getting more gigs,  winning dj competitions, getting more recognition and playing larger venues which is super exciting. So, when you’re playing and you really want to get the crowd going, what’s your go-to banger? What makes every one lose it?

Ok, so I think in the realm of dubstep, it’s a track by Marauder, or as he was named before, Mastadon. It’s his remix of What The Fuck? By Herobust. It’s a tune that everybody knows, it was so big at Rampage, it was so big at Bootshaus. It’s a tune that you know everybody’s going to headbang. Thinking of drum and bass, obviously Tour (by Macky G). I mean, at this point it’s just a meme to play it. It’s like a trigger to throw in my set, a sort of musical joke and because I know everybody will sing along. I really like jumpup, so all of the jumpup tunes have a lot of energy, so anything along those lines really.

 

You obviously work really, really hard on your djing. For someone who has only been doing it for 5 or 6 years, you sound like you’ve been doing it for 10-15 years. Your set wasn’t out of place with any of the other signed artists over the 12 hour set. Having said that, what aspect of your djing and music production would you like to improve on?

Umm, I think for djing I’ve just started really really learning to mix in key so learning how to mix more melodic stuff. When you come from the dubstep scene, I play heavy dubstep and riddim, there is a melodic interest sometimes, yes, but the drop is always just one note, it keeps on going it’s just bass sound so it really doesn’t matter if you mix in key. But in the drum and bass scene, especially for more melodic drum and bass you have to mix in key, otherwise it sounds like shit. So that’s something I’m trying to learn and get better at. 

For the RAM set, I spent about half an hour just looking at the order of the tracks so they all mix in key. So that’s something I’m trying to improve, being able to mix in key on the fly so I know in my head which track flows with which one best.

 

It’s actually really refreshing to hear a dj and a producer to talk about that sort of stuff. The music theory goes unnoticed by new producers or dj’s and often they don’t think about how it goes together musically. So, it’s great to hear that you are really working on the sonic side of things. What would you say your motivation is to play and create music?

Actually, I’ve recently thought about this. I’ve always had the mindset of making music and djing because I like making music. Now that I’ve been getting more recognition and playing bigger shows. I recently won a dj competition and after that there was a massive increase in bookings for me. That has motivated me a lot. In terms of music production, this has always been my passion. I always came home from school, sat on my pc, forgot the homework and made music because that’s what I had in my head all day. That’s still my mindset.

I’m producing a lot of different stuff lately. I’ve just finished an album that is completely non dubstep and it has one liquidy drum and bass tune. It’s all with my singing, as I really like singing too, so it’s a passion project I made. I’m trying to make music in different genres and experiment; having an open mindset and not focusing on one genre specifically. 

 

That’s interesting. Sometimes it can feel like producers and dj’s accidentally pigeonhole themselves through the music they produce. It’s nice to see you’re happy going across different genres and experimenting. What irritates you most about the dubstep and drum and bass scene?

Oh that is a great question! I think what irritates me most is that a lot of people are stuck with this kind of mindset we’ve just discussed. That just because a dj or producer had a phase or sound, this is what they have to make from now until the end and they can’t change. I heard that from a lot of people when they talk about other artists. They’ll say, ‘oh I don’t like the stuff he is making now. Please just make the stuff you did earlier.’ This is just such a toxic mindset because artists make music for themselves and if they listen to public opinion they don’t give themselves the chance to evolve. 

 

Can we talk a little bit more about your music production? Music production is both a beautiful and terrifying thing. Creativity is an elusive beast and getting it moving and creating something that sounds ‘good’ can be a challenge. What’s your creative process?

Most of the time I get motivation when I’m not at my computer. It’ll happen when I’m in the car or the bus. It usually happens when I listen to music I really like and I think maybe I could make something that sounds a bit like this because there was a certain sound that I liked, or it’s the structure of the track I like. So most of my tracks are inspired by other tracks obviously I change it into my style so it’s not a rip off, but most of my tracks are inspired by some specific tune I have listened to. That’s not always the case though. Sometimes I fiddle around in FL Studio and maybe do a sound design session. If I’m not feeling making a structured song then I’ll mess around in FL Studio and Serum and just make some dope bass, then bounce it out to audio. Then I have a huge folder of sounds that I can use to mix and match so that when inspiration does strike I can just drag and drop what works.

 

Who would you most like to work with?

Obviously Virtual Riot, he’s my favourite producer of all time! But Marauder because of his heavy sound. Code: Pandorum, who has a very heavy sound in the dubstep scene. He’s from Germany so maybe there’s a little chance that we could work together! These are some of the biggest influences in my sound, so I’d love to work with them. 

 

You seem to have created a nice base within your sound and production. We don’t know if you’ve spoken to many industry heads, but has anyone given you really great advice?

The greatest advice I got in terms of music production and releasing wasn’t given to me directly. It was a post I saw from Must Die! Where he’d made some rules for music production and one of his rules was do not get feedback from others. It amazed me because it really clicked with and made sense to me. Just make the music that you love because you are the one creating it. Don’t create music for others. I mean, you should send your music to people to get their reaction. Don’t not get feedback at all. Just on the creative side, you shouldn’t get feedback. On the technical side, sure. You always make mistakes that are mistakes. There are ‘mistakes’ in music production and there are mistakes in music production where it doesn’t work in a club because there are certain frequencies that clash with each other. That’s an aspect you can get feedback on. In terms of creativity, just don’t get any feedback on that because it changes your style and that’s not what you want. It should be your own style, you should do what you like and it shouldn’t be conflicted by other people telling you what to do. 

 

That’s some pretty sound advice actually! Music is a very personal thing and it can be difficult to manage criticism at a creative level. Now that we are all in Covid-19 lockdown, How are you dealing with things? What’s your routine?

I was studying at uni before all this, and I decided to quit and do something else a couple of weeks before. I’m now at home and am able to focus on music completely now. I get up in the morning, eat breakfast, go to my computer and make music. That’s basically what I do every day, all week, 24/7.

 

A blessing in disguise!

It’s funny, I just started getting into this phase of making music that isn’t electronic. Then Corona started and within 2 weeks, I’d written 10 tracks for the album I’m releasing. Now I’m free to make any sound I want and music I like. I have enough time tp create and produce anything I like.

 

Awesome. Where is that going to be distributed?

I use a service called Root Note. Which is a free service to release your music on all the major platforms. So it will come out on all of them!

 

It’s great that you are self releasing. A lot of artists don’t feel they have the confidence to do this, nor would they think that they would be able to get the exposure to sell their music without a label behind them. So, what’s next for you?

So, I think the next step for me will be to focus more on my drum and bass production. This set opened up a whole new world for me. A new following and people who want to know more about me. Most of them are hardcore drum and bass fans. I want to spread my wings and broaden my horizons and produce more music in that genre. First I’ll actually have to learn how to make drum and bass though! It’s really interesting to me as it’s something new to learn in my DAW, where you know everything about the plugins and the dubstep sound. I can make high-quality dubstep sounds easily, but I have to learn drum and bass from the ground up. SO that’s something I will be focusing on now. 

Obviously release the album I made, which is completely different. I’m really stoked to see how the people react to that. I’ll try to get more sets online and at larger events to keep my following growing.

 

What sort of labels are there in Germany that cater to dubstep and drum and bass?

That’s a hard question. In Germany people mostly listen to the American or U.K. labels as far as I’m aware. There are some minor record labels I know of here, one is called God Mode. It releases dubstep. The other one I think is called Klash Records, they release dubstep, trap and also drum and bass. I’m pretty sure I’m forgetting some major labels though! 

 

If you want to watch the outstanding RAM Houseparty set again, it’s here in all its glory below!