QULT interviewt Activator over zijn subground sound

Tijdens QULT #2, 5 mei aanstaande in de WesterUnie, zal Activator zijn subground sound ten gehore brengen. QULT stelde Activator wat vragen over zijn nieuwe sound. Luister hier een subground set terwijl je het interview leest:



How would you define the subground sound for someone who has never heard it before?
subground is a mix of any kind of electronic music which consists of a sub bass on beat mixing influences from multiple electronic dance genres characterized by a tempo around 130-135 bpm. You can post it on Wikipedia now!

How do you feel about multiple genres music on a one stage party (QULT)?
I wish it can be a new format for the club scene in the world because electronic dance music is everywhere, the whole globe goes 'tunz tunz tunz' and I personally like the idea of following a music path which explores multiple music genres in one night.

Why did you start the subground label?
At the end of 2010 I had a meeting with a few Italian hard dance DJs about a new concept of hard dance music beside hardstyle because we all thought that the whole scene was pretty flat and needed an alternative. Basically the idea was going back to our roots combining an old flavored beat with a new refreshing sound. We tried to make something but the result was too old-fashioned. After that we went on with our individual DJ careers but I personally wanted to give myself another try. I wanted to create something that could match the hard dance scene but also the electro scene so slower bpm 130-135 but aggressive sound, less melody breaks but more tension and crescendo parts, less groovy and repetitive loops but energetic and uplifting build ups, less predictable and more unexpected surprise climax. But all ingredients needed to be well defined by a sub bass on beat, that had to be the common element of that first experiment. The result was the track 'Darron' which is included in the first subground label released one year later in 2011.

I presented subground in Italy in February 2011 during a hardstyle night (stupid but brave) with a humble success. I played in that way a few other times in Italy but I needed a big international party to reach the mass. I sent one hour of subground to Q-dance explaining the whole concept around that and they supported it fully, giving me the chance to present subground at Defqon1. I started the label immediately but I didn't want to change my artist name because I thought that only keeping Activator I would have get the right attention by the scene. In the near future I will keep hardstyle and subground distinct.

Where do you plan to take your sound next?
I have big plans for this new creature, I would like to build a scene around it so we can see a subground stage in the future. I'm already receiving a lot of demos and I can hear the influences of my sound also in other hard dance producer's tracks so something will happen for sure.

What can the visitors of QULT expect from your set?
I'm actually working on a new track that I'll play at QULT for the first time. It's going to be a subground showcase in a club outside Italy so definitely a night to remember!

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Tot zaterdag 5 mei, WesterUnie, QULT!