HCBXCast Vol 74 - Interview With Don Distorted

 

For Volume 74 we get Don Distorted on the show. The extremely prolific Amsterdam based producer presents a full set of his own tracks (which have passably been mixed by yours truly) for almost two hours of hardcore, terror, speedcore, hard techno... basically anything distorted. Strap in and take your medicine. Noise approaches. I catch up with Don on a few bits and piece ahead of the set.

HCBX: Alright Don, how you doing and where are you based these days?
DD: I am doing very good at the moment. The year is about to end, and if I reflect back on this year — what kind of personal goals I have completed — I should be happy and proud, and that’s how I feel right now. I am located in the capital of Holland, Amsterdam.

HCBX: You’re known for a sound that channels early-90s hardcore and terror — how did you arrive at that style? Was it nostalgia, the sound design, or something else?
DD: As I am 48, I am the generation who witnessed the start of gabber and hardcore. I always stayed true to the early hardcore and early terror from back in these days. Unfortunately the way hardcore and terror evolved is not completely my style. I listened back in the days to compilations like Gabberbox, Gabberdome and Thunderdome over and over, and it’s imprinted in my brain. With that given, I start my tracks thinking about that specific sound.

HCBX: What tracks or artists got you into hardcore techno and the harder music styles?
DD: Well, actually not any specific artist or tracks. It all started with collecting vinyl back in the early 90s of Turn Up The Bass. Those weird sounds I could listen over and over and could not get enough of it. Then you had compilations like Gabberbox and Gabberdome or Hellraider, and I thought back in the days, “I hope one day I can produce my own tracks.”
I do have some favourite producers like Drokz, The Destroyer, Noisekick, The Vizitor, Lenz, The Resonant Squad, Painbringer, Leviathan.

HCBX: You started releasing under Don Distorted fairly recently (in relative Hardcore Techno terms anyway!) — what made you move from listening/collecting into producing your own tracks?
DD: The funny part is actually I always thought that producing was a way league too far for me, as purchasing studio gear is expensive and therefore I never could do it. I don’t mind telling that I once was addicted to drugs and I just loved collecting all tunes — many different styles and labels. I have two massive YouTube channels called Early Hardcore Server 1 with almost 4,894 tracks/mixes and podcasts.

Once I was in recovery after rehab, I needed to do something with all the spare time I got. I loved getting buzzed collecting all kinds of tracks. Once in recovery the glance fell off it. I thought I could not love hardcore and terror anymore sober, but the opposite occurred.

Not knowing what to do with all this spare time but not wanting to leave hardcore… Hardcore has, in my opinion, nothing to do with drugs. I saw a YouTube short of DJ Painbringer making a hardcore track on his mobile phone through an app called Caustic. Wow, so cool. So on my back-dated Google Chrome laptop I downloaded it, and with no knowledge whatsoever how to build a track, I started messing around.

Slowly it took over my life — I wanted to become better and evolve. I started networking with some other labels. After a year knowing a bit of basics about how to structurally build a hardcore track, I dared to download FL Studio, and then the real work started for me.

HCBX: Tell us more about those first tracks.
DD: I can offer you a link to the first release on Rotjecore Records and a link to my first EP. As it all started actually with these tracks, I wanted and was destined to make professional tracks and learn it all myself.
Here are the links:

• ROTJE062 - DON DISTORTED - Distorted Destruction | Rotjecore

• First release ever on Rotjecore: Scratchemus (Lau’s re-mix) | Don Distorted

HCBX: Your releases sit on labels like Rotjecore and Gabbaret — how did those connections come about? Which label relationships have meant the most to you?

DD: My first releases ever are to be found on Rotjecore and Gabbaret. As some of you know I am very active on FB, and once I was in my music app Caustic, I saw a call from Rotjecore for their Christmas Hardcore Compilation. That was, I think, in 2000. Never released anything but dared to send the track to them. They loved it and I was ecstatic — within my first year of producing ever I got a release.

I started networking with the guys behind Rotjecore and Gabbaret. FB helped me to connect. I recommend any starting producers: go network, ask questions, get help. We are all happy to help each other. Those guys helped me a lot and some still do.

Also I loved the tracks of Biodome, so I started chatting with him and he helped me too. They watched me grow. SO THANK YOU GUYS!!

To be honest, this year was the first year — after 5 years of starting producing tracks — that I had my debut release on GGM Digital Records owned by DJ Smurf, and the debut album on the mighty Brutal Force Records. This is a reward after 5 years of hard work, almost daily working on my music, watching tutorials, asking other people for help to come this far.

HCBX: Can you walk us through your production setup — DAW, go-to synths/samplers, drum sources, FX chain, monitoring? How much of it is hardware vs digital?
DD: Actually you won’t believe this. My studio is an ACER laptop with Adam Audio speakers and Beyer TD headphones and a Midilink Audiotech III external soundcard — all other stuff is completely digital!

I have some favourite synths like Serum, Sylenth1, Poizone and old school synth Sytrus. I use FabFilter Pro-Q for end-mixing and love the distortion plugin Distructor which gives all your sounds and kicks a massive boost or twist. In every track I use Grossbeat for sampling and side-chaining. The FX Serum 2 series is also awesome. Some other FX chain plugins I use now and then.

HCBX: Your sound often feels like a mash of early terror, hardcore and a speedcore edge. Where do you draw your samples and sounds from?
DD: Actually I create my sounds and melodies through FL Studio’s piano roll connected to one of the above synths. I have a massive 600GB file of samples I can use, split and divided into snares, hats, atmos, drones, vocals, preset kicks (sometimes I make my own kicks through Serum 2), etc.

So I have my selection of sounds ready in my projects, and I just spin the wheels of the library, haha, and see what sounds best to it.

HCBX: When you write, what’s your usual workflow for turning an idea into a finished track?
DD: That depends. Sometimes I start with vocals, and depending on the style of vocals — angry, aggressive, stressed, happy, dramatic, scared — I start to create a track in that atmosphere of style.

I often start a track creating a loop till the end before a break, make the break of a track, and after that I enlarge and add or change the first loop before the break. Sometimes I just start from scratch.

HCBX: You’ve put out both EPs and contributions to compilations — how do you decide whether a tune is an EP track, a comp inclusion, or something you’ll hold for later?
DD: Actually I don’t make any difference, as I want to produce at my best. I think a track should be exactly the same quality as a track for an EP. On a comp I have to represent my artist name in one track, and on an EP you can do the same but have more options. Also depending on the offer they ask me for. Sometimes I make beginnings of tracks that start cool, but I put them aside for later.

HCBX: How do you approach mastering? Do you do your own finishes or work with a mastering engineer, especially to get that old-school punch?
DD: Well, to start with the end-mixing of my track, I do it all with FabFilter Pro-Q and a compressor and the built-in plugin Waveshaper of FL Studio. Once it is all levelled, I use Tonal Balance Control. That old-school punch is a mixture of FX plugins, compressor and FabFilter Pro-Q.

Mastering tracks that come on, for instance, Brutal Force — I won’t do myself. Mastering I hardly do myself as most labels like to do it themselves, but mastering can also be done through FabFilter.

HCBX: There’s a big early hardcore revival in the scene right now — how do you keep your productions from sounding like a straight rehash of the 90s? Where do you try to inject originality?
DD: If I hear producers who produce early hardcore, it’s kinda always the same melody, same structure, and to be honest I got bored of it. I love to combine sounds used in drum and bass tracks or even house tracks.

If you have your own style, you know you stand out of the big crowd. It’s fast, loud, and heavy percussions, snares and hats in fast MIDI patterns. I use my artistic flow and combine all sorts of sounds to make it sound different.

HCBX: Who are the producers or labels right now that you feel are doing interesting things with the sounds you love?
DD: I am busy with a collab with DJ Portos who released many tracks on Brutal Force Records. Of course my focus will be on Brutal Force and GGM as I am licensed contract. Though I do have aspirations for other labels as well. One day I hope to get a release on Gabberhead as well.

I would love a collab with The Vizitor, Resonant Squad or DJ Lenz.

HCBX: Live performance question — do you ever play out live, or have any plans to take Don Distorted to the raves?
DD: To be honest, I WOULD LOVE TO!! But first of all I only can do premade mixes from FL Studio with some copying and pasting sounds between two tracks, so therefore I thank you Andrew for mixing my tracks into this show — awesome work my man.

I have some plans in the future to learn DJ-ing so I can play my tracks at hardcore parties. That would be a dream come true.

HCBX: What’s next — any upcoming releases, collabs, or experiments you can tease for HCBX listeners?
DD: Hell yessssss I have!
I am busy with a debut EP for GGM Digital Records.
My second EP for Brutal Force Records lifts off in 2026 somewhere.
I have two tracks on the upcoming compilation Rawforce 8 — speedcore and terror track.
I might do a second Toxic Sickness mix next year made through FL Studio.
I also plan — but unfortunately I do not have much time — to create a TikTok show or YouTube show and teach newcomers to produce in FL Studio.

HCBX: Finally — anything else you want to get off your chest?
DD: YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS — FCK THE MAINSTREAM, STAY TRUE TO YOURSELF AND DON’T FOLLOW THE SHEEP!
Oh yeah — and the day I start making tracks with uptempo piepkicks, please shoot me then!

Check out Don's show on HCBXCast (Mixed by DJ Asylum) here: HCBXCast 74 - Don Distorted

Resurrecting the Devil - DJ Asylum

Resurrecting the Devil

Every now and then, I go down a bit of a rabbit hole with music — usually some daft idea that ends up eating way too much of my time. This one started with a random memory of a track that’s haunted me since the 90s — a Loftgroover tune that was never properly released. What started as me messing around on the Behringer TD-3 turned into a full-blown attempt to resurrect a lost bit of hardcore history.

The Memory

A couple of years ago, I got myself a top-notch 303 clone — the Behringer TD-3. When I was learning to program it, I messed about with an earworm of an acid bassline from my youth — a long-forgotten track by Loftgroover that was never released.

After the Rezerection (Scotland's premiere raving haunt of the early 90s) Event 2 back in 1994, I bought the tapes of the set recordings, and even though I didn't remember it on the night, Loftgroover played a cracking track at the start of his set called I Am The Devil (it wasn't until much later that I discovered the title - but it makes sense when you hear the track). It was his own track, one he played at a few other raves around that time — then it disappeared (as far as I could tell), and I never heard it played out again.

A year or so later, Lofty released the ScareCore EP on his own Redhead label, which included a version of I Am The Devil called the “Event 2 5AM Remix.” Excitement! Was it finally being released? Seemed like it. Until I got the record home… and it was a completely different remix. Still a good version, but not what I was after.

Reading through hardcore forums at the time, it turned out the original was a dubplate that never got released — I assume the recording was lost. Anyway, back to the TD-3 — I managed to program the bassline from my memory of the Event 2 tape, recorded it into Ableton… and then forgot about it again.

Rediscovery in 2025

Fast forward to 2025. I recently changed laptops when old faithful died, and transferred all my old files (which was a bit of a chore) to the new one. I’ve got a habit of starting tracks and never finishing them — I’m into triple digits with unfinished projects — and thought, “New laptop, new me.” Maybe it was time to organise and start finishing (paradoxically) some tracks.

After identifying about eight that were just called “Untitled,” I stumbled across the acid bassline from Devil.

Sometime between recording the acid and the file clear-up (I may need to work on chronology — this story has more time jumps than Quantum Leap), I’d acquired the Lofty tape from Event 2 again (along with a few others from the same night) and acquired a 4 track mixer with tape deck.

Finding that file was one of those lightbulb moments. Now, I’m not a great music producer or musician, but I’ve got a bit of persistence in my arsenal (well, when I’m interested in something… I understand that’s a contradiction given the 100+ unfinished tracks, but when something gets into my head, I’m fairly unshakeable). Possibly some undiagnosed nonsense going on in my brain that keeps my stupid ideas running to completion (oo-er).

So my thinking was: since I can’t buy or borrow this track — and I even went as far as messaging Lofty to ask if he had any tapes with it on — why don’t I try to rebuild it from scratch? Off to Ableton we go!

Rebuilding the Track

The biggest problem (other than my production naivety) was that the tape was about 30 years old, shite quality, had MC XXX and (MC Ribbz for a bit) trying to spit bars over the top (I reckon the BPM was a bit higher than he was used to), and the track itself was mixed in with Rave A Graphixx’s There Is No Other (the good mix!). So… where to start?

The kick, from what I could make out, was a muffled, thumpy 909 with a little distortion, some basic snares and hi-hats — and the claps. I always liked how Loftgroover did claps: echoey, reverby claps that sounded like they were heralding the apocalypse. I managed to get the drum structure fairly easily. We’re off to a great start.

Now, the acid line. When I tried to shoehorn it into the drum track, it didn’t sound good — a bit too clean. I clearly wasn’t twirling my knobs enough when I recorded it all those years ago. TD-3 time again. This time I added a bit more distortion, vigorously twiddled the cutoff, and I think I got the melody closer to the original.

Sampling and Sound Design

The intro — “BRRRR BRRRR… Hi, is this the police?” The MC who came on before XXX talked right over the top of it, but I managed to sample one clean telephone noise — and that’s all I needed.

The female vocal I couldn’t sample because of the MC, but the ScareCore EP had the same sample. Got the record out — job done. The “What? This is Six… Six… Six…” wasn’t on the ScareCore record, but “I Am The Devil” was. So I had to clean up the tape recording and put some distortion on it.

The finished product sounds okay-ish — but it really does sound like I’ve sampled a thirty-year-old, minging mix tape. Tinny and hissy… but complete.

The easiest part — and the bit I’m happiest about — is the telephone riff, which I sampled from the intro and loaded into Ableton’s Simpler to create the melody. A straightforward bit to recreate from the tape and definitely the part that caused the least stress.

From the easiest to the hardest: toward the end of the track, when Rave A Graphixx is getting mixed in (and if you know Loftgroover’s mixing, he cuts between tracks pretty rapidly), it made it hard to properly hear the low, squelchy, evil synthy section.

I had no clue how to recreate it — or what it was made on (possibly a 303 through some pitch shifting wizardry). This is probably the section I’ll get the most criticism for (if anyone actually listens), but aside from the TD-3, I’m shite when it comes to synth sounds.

So, I tried mapping out the MIDI pattern, then loaded up every virtual instrument I could find until I got something vaguely similar. Then I added whatever effects got it closer.

Alright, I’ll level with you — it sounds nowt like the original, and it doesn’t sound like it was made in the 90s. But you can only piss with the prick you’ve got. So that’s what I stuck with.

Finishing Up

Once I had all the parts, I mixed it, remixed it, and over the course of a couple of months, tinkered with it more than I should have. But eventually, I decided enough was enough — time to stop messing about and draw a line under it.

Overall, it was a vaguely enjoyable process, then a crap process, then an okay process, and finally a relief when I decided to stop working on it. Not sure I’ll take on something like this again, but this was one of the only tracks I completely fell in love with but couldn’t obtain. I’ve always been able to get my hands on almost any track I’ve wanted over the years in some way, shape, or form — I’m a bit obsessive (one day I might write my memoirs about hunting down certain tracks for years).

I’d like to say I’m happy with the end product… but I’ve always been my own fiercest critic. Still — fuck it. It’s out there.

DJ Asylum

You can listen to the poorly produced cover version here: Loftgroover - I Am The Devil (DJ Asylum Remake)

HCBXCast Vol 72 - Interview With DJ LSA

Making his debut on HCBXCast, DJ LSA steps up with a thunderous mix that fuses a number of different styles but is essentially industrial as fuck hardcore. An unmistakable underground edge that defines his sound. Ahead of the set, I catch up with LSA to pick his brains about his origins, his bloody excellent momentum in hardcore, and ermmm..... pegging. 

HCBX: Alright Pascal! Thanks for agreeing to answer a few questions, and for the debut set on HCBXCast. How’s life treating you these days, and what’s been keeping you busy?

LSA: It's going well! Has been quiet for a while now, but there are finally some gigs coming up again and the next record of my label has gone into production too, so that's all great. Also working out a new hardware live setup, so that I can do that at gigs too! 

HCBX: The set is an absolute cracker of Industrial hardcore. Tell me about how you pulled it together. Did you plan it out, or just hit record and go for it?

LSA: Thank you!! I just approached it the same way as I do for gigs. I always start by thinking about the vibe I want to convey, and then start picking out records that fit this. I do not play every weekend, and I really do want to give people the best I have, so my sets are pretty much always mostly planned ahead. I always want to put various styles in one mix, so I always also need to pick out "in-between" tracks, so that I can smoothly transition styles without it being too abrupt or obvious. 

HCBX: What tracks or artists got you into this type or music initially. Do you have any favourite tracks from the early days?

LSA: When I started out as LSA I mostly just played Early Hardcore / Gabber - my favourite track from that time that pops into my mind is "Omar Santana - Wizard Of Oh". Other than that, it was mostly the Ruffneck and Cenobite people that inspired me.

For the (French) HardKore stuff I do now, I remember listening to Laurent Ho's mix on MCM. I heard it around the same time as I started as LSA. It was so different from all the other 90's Hardcore I heard at that point, and I did not fully understand it yet, but it did set a clear path for me that I would follow years later. All the tracks from that mix have become favorites of mine, but hearing that first (pitched up) track "Difficult Child - Big Bang" still gives me goosebumps. 

HCBX: You’ve shared that as early as the age of 9 or 10, you were tinkering with hardcore in FL Studio under the alias “DJ Biohazard” — how did that happen? What got you into hardcore (and producing) at such an early age?

LSA: As long as I can remember I've always been into Hardcore, even before I actually knew what it was. I remember being very young, laying in bed way too early and not sleeping yet. I heard all the cars drive by, and sometimes I would hear these bass sounds with a high BPM coming from the cars' subs and I *LOVED* that. There was also a yearly festival around in my hometown when I was like 5 years old, which was loudly audible in our house. My parents hated it, I loved it. I later on discovered what it actually was, and have always been a Hardcore Head since. At that time though I mostly listened to mainstream (now millennium) and a bit of terror/speedcore.

I remember tinkering around with a shitty music maker program even before being 9/10, that was very limiting and you just put in premade loops or something. Don't remember a whole lot of it, but TBH I think it was a fun thing to play around with as a kid. After that, my dad arranged a copy of FL Studio for me and my brother with a Hardcore Sample pack. The stuff I made back then was absolute dogshit, but somehow the idea of being a Hardcore producer never left me.

HCBX: You eventually landed on “LSA” as a name — what's it stand for?

LSA: I hate the origin of my name, haha, and I've avoided this question for a long time now. When I started as LSA I was very much into that Psychedelic Hardcore stuff (think Ruffneck/Cenobite), and I was fully set on trying to make that style. I was also watching a lot of documentaries about drugs, just out of interest. DJ LSD seemed a bit too obvious, so I went with something close. LSA is like a similar but natural alternative to LSD that you can legally get in Smart Shops. Why I thought this was a good idea, I have no clue. People that know me well know that I've never used drugs and have no interest in it, and I've also moved on from the Psychedelic style of Hardcore. So, I don't really identify with the name anymore.

Since a few years it has been given a different meaning though, and not even by myself. It started out by Pardonax writing my name out as L.S.A. as if it were an abbreviation on his Sedation flyers.

I'm always tired late at parties (probably since I don't use dope, haha) and I've been caught asleep a few times. Because of that, Pardonax made up a meaning for the abbreviation. "Lethargic Sucker Audio" - a self-referencing nickname where I'm the Lethargic Sucker ;)

I've stuck with that since.

HCBX: You mention that for a long time you were almost isolated in the scene — you didn’t know other producers, organizers — and that made it hard to hammer out your sound. What kept you going?

LSA: Haha, that's the thing, I had actually kind of quit. At the start, I was too young to even go to parties so I did not meet people that way. I did try to get my style of Hardcore active again in my hometown (but it was not very successful). When I was finally old enough to go to a few parties, I did meet some people, but not really a lot of DJs and Producers.

I had a specific vision of the sound I wanted to make, but I did not know how. And at that time, there were of course no tutorials online on how to make authentic 90's psychedelic Hardcore, haha. Knowing no other producers as well, it was all up to me to figure it out. In the end, I got pretty close to the sound I wanted, but to keep up with coming up with new stuff was hard and frustrating. In 2015 I released the last LSA track of that period. I do have a millenium style track that I made early 2016, but I never released it.

I did continue DJing locally for a while after that, mostly at the youth center (where pretty much only I liked this stuff, haha), but that also got pretty boring. Also for the DJing side I never really dove into discovering more Hardcore (and especially did not have something like Soulseek to get vinyl rips), so I ended up playing the same tracks for too long and getting bored of DJing altogether. 100% my own fault. I played my last local party in the summer of 2017 (which was a pretty cool outdoor festival stage I organized with DJ Lunatic).

HCBX: Since then, your network has expanded, collaborations have grown, your label Aphotik Assault is active. What’s different now, for you, from then? And how is running a label?

LSA: Due to a certain person (which we'll talk about later on) I got back into the scene and met a ton of new people (and artists!). Talking with all these artists, working together and seeing how they do their thing has given me so much techniques and inspiration to work with. 

Also, I started DJing with vinyl. With this I was able to find a ton of (obscure) material to play, which really gave me my love for DJing back.

About running the label, it feels weird. It all started out to just get our group's tracks on vinyl to play ourselves during sets. But now that we started doing publicly available releases, it's clear that there is a demand for our sound. I'm pretty introverted and my network is pretty small, so it just feels surreal to hear the label's tracks being played by other DJs.

HCBX: In 2016 you played your first gig outside of your hometown. Can you tell us how it came about, and what are your memories?

LSA: My brother and I occasionally did some design work for Early Gabbers, a Facebook Group that also sometimes organized parties. So, because they knew me, they booked me at one point. I felt really proud, but I was so incredibly stressed for weeks leading up to it. The gig went pretty shit because my self-taught DJing techniques absolutely sucked, so I was pretty unhappy afterwards. That, combined with the stress, really wanted to make me quit, and eventually I did. When I started again, I still had some issues where gigs gave me a ton of stress, but luckily that's all gone now.

HCBX: You've spoken about how in 2018, Pardonax reached out to you about your older tracks, reigniting your drive to produce and DJ. How was that? Did you get straight back into it?

LSA: It was pretty cool to get that message, asking if I still produced. I just silently went away at one point and didn't think people even still knew me. He kept on 'annoying' me, slowly getting my interest back. It actually took a while. I had all these 'rules' in my head about what my tracks should sound like, still stuck in what I originally wanted to do but couldn't. I also had this thing in my head that people expected a specific style of me as LSA.

That made it pretty difficult to get started again and motivation was still not that high. Eventually near the end of 2019 he started dragging me to parties, which caused me to meet some cool people (like I said before) which helped, but I still had these 'rules' in my head. To get rid of that, I started making some extreme stuff as HEADCRAP, just to get some more experience producing again, which greatly helped my productions as LSA. Now those rules are all gone and I just make whatever I want, hehe.

About DJing, pretty funny how that started again. I had been looking for years for a track I heard somewhere. Of course, Pardonax was able to ID that instantly and also sent me a seller on Discogs along with some cool and obscure stuff he was selling. I bought the records, and when I played them on my turntable (that wasn't meant for DJing) I just started screwing around with the record. That caused this "you know what..... this is kinda fun" moment, after which I bought legit turntables and started collecting vinyl. Thanks Pardonax, my wallet will never recover from this.

HCBX: I reached out to Pardonax to let him know you were coming to the show... he had a couple of questions for you. 1) Why is Pardonax a better producer than LSA. 2) Do you like to be pegged (not sure if he was offering...) - But seriously he wanted to know how you feel you are progressing and what your proudest moment has been in music?

LSA: Amazing.

1) I mean, I kind of have to agree. Just the way he does not give a fuck is inspiring. I should do that more often.

2) I will neither confirm or deny... But any goth baddies HMU.

3) I'm just always looking for new records and new techniques for producing, so I feel like I've been non-stop moving forwards for years. Especially in recent years my productions have gotten closer to the sound I also love to play in my DJ sets, which I'm really proud of. My proudest moment is hard to say. I've been proud of everything that I was able to do these last few years, from playing at the small private Sedation parties to playing for a full area on Madness XL, and now the release on Epiteth too.. So much to be proud of :)

HCBX: How do you approach your collaborations (like My Computer with Pardonax for example) — how do you approach working with someone else? Is it splitting stems, bouncing ideas off each other, or other ways?

LSA: Completely depends! For My Computer, Pardonax had already started the track and brought it into my studio, where we finished it together. Another time, we made a track where he just gave me 6 minutes of percussion, where I added some elements on top of.

Other times, with other producers, we just visited each other's studios and just started working from scratch, where we each just took turns adding stuff to the track.

HCBX: You are definitely gaining some serious momentum in hardcore techno. Do you have any highlights or memories you want to share from playing or getting involved in the scene?

LSA: I mean, the whole of 2024 was a big insane highlight. Aphotik Assault started getting real traction, I got booked in Italy and Germany and just had the most amount of gigs I've ever had before. I'm so insanely grateful for everything that happened.

HCBX: What's your gear setup like, both for DJing and producing? Have you stuck with FL Studio, or have you moved on?

LSA: For DJing I have these shitty Reloop RP4000mk2's. They work fine, but I cannot even properly put Tonar Banana needles on it because they keep on skipping (heard this issue from others with similar Reloops as well). As a mixer (and for the occasional time I have to spin digitally) I use an XDJ-RX. Since Pioneer's phono conversion absolutely suuuuuucks I had to get some external preamps.

Before that I used an A&H Xone:23, absolutely loved that thing.

For speakers I use Presonus Eris Studio 5's, not much to say about those, they sound pretty good.

For producing, most of the stuff I do is in FL Studio. Funnily enough, I built a sick hybrid studio last year. I never really used all the hardware I got though since it did not fit my workflow, which was a waste. Nowadays I mostly work with (self-made) samples, chopping them up a ton and adding FX beyond recognition. 

I changed the hardware setup to mostly be focused on playing live, which I want to start doing again. Still got some of the stuff from my old studio, so now I have a Launchpad X, Launchcontrol, Eurorack modular, Behringer 2600, Behringer RD-9, Behringer TD-3, Mackie 32:8, a nice pair of Focal 65 Evo monitors, and a bunch of random effect pedals.

HCBX: Under your alias HEADCRAP, you go with more extreme music and speedcore. How do you get yourself into the two different aliases? Are you in different moods?

LSA: Mood never really has anything to do with it, haha. I can be really happy and make a dark and depressing track, or feel really shit and make something happy. It's just all about the inspiration I have at the moment I start making something.

HCBX: In 2024, HEADCRAP, played hardware live for the first time. How did that go in comparison to your usual performance style?

LSA: Yeah, that was sick. Pretty different from DJing. Spent months making sounds specifically to play live. Not sure if I'll do it again as Headcrap, but I did learn a ton from it and will apply those learnings on my new LSA live setup that I'm working on.

HCBX: As mentioned earlier, congratulations are in order for getting an LSA track onto the latest Epiteth record alongside some legendary producers - how did you get involved in this?

LSA: Thanks! This also still feels so surreal. I was working on a track that was meant for AA's 4th record, but then I saw that Hô posted on Instagram asking for demos for Epiteth. Normally, I don't approach labels to send demos, but for this I could not resist. If they would not accept it, it would've been released on vinyl either way. To my surprise, it was accepted and the response I've gotten from it was truly amazing. I'm incredibly thankful!

HCBX: Who are you listening to and who is inspiring you now in the hardcore techno scene?

LSA:  Of course always the other AA guys (Pardonax, Arvid, Biscanna/Smoker/Ganjaz etc) inspire me a ton and make some of the best music in the scene IMO. There are so many more names to mention, but I won't for now. Don't want people to feel left out in case I forget a name ;) just check my reposts tab on Soundcloud to see what I really support, haha.

HCBX: You’re involved in a videogame project with your brother and design artwork as well. Must be different from producing hardcore tracks! Tell us about your other projects and what keeps you so creative?

LSA: I can just not sit still, haha. My mind is always going a hundred miles per hour, and I keep getting ideas for stuff I want to make. I won't say much about the game here, since I'm not here to promote that. But I can say that it's a very cute and wholesome adventure game (completely opposing my music style, haha) and the development is going well (albeit a bit slow since I have so much other stuff to work on). Every week I just focus on a different creative hobby to spend my time on. For now, it's mostly making music, making that game, making artwork for the scene (flyers and records), a bit of WH40K mini painting and some analog photography.  

HCBX: What’s next for LSA / HEADCRAP — any other new releases, projects or gigs on the way?

LSA: I'll keep on going so there's always stuff coming! I will focus a bit less on producing for the coming time to focus on my new live setup. Got a backlog of unreleased or nearly finished material though, so tracks won't stop coming out. Gigs are finally coming in again after some months of silence. End of November I'm doing a sick b2b with Biscanna at the Zinloos Geluid release party. Also some more stuff coming up that has not been announced yet, so check my Insta for that :)

HCBX: Finally, anything else you want to get off your chest?

LSA: Yeah sure! You can't pretend you're 'different' from others if you're dancing in a sold out filled to the brim arena to your shitty hyper-commercial music. Stay small, stay humble, and go listen to some horrible noises. Cheers.

DJ LSA's set goes live here on Saturday 15th November here: HCBXCast Vol 72 - DJ LSA

Aphotik Assault is on Bandcamp here: Aphotik Assault

Follow DJ LSA on SoundCloud: LSA SoundCloud

THROWBACK - HCBXCast Vol 2 - Doe Doe

THROWBACK  

HCBXCast Vol 2 – Doe Doe - 6th November  2021  

Doe Doe appeared on HCBXCast 2.  I remember back in 2021 (gulp) that I wanted to start a regular mix show with guest DJs and Producers, a bit live banter on the old YouTube, but I had no idea what I was doing.  So, I flung together a mix of my own for Volume 1 as DJ Asylum. Went OK, but I can't profess to ever being a big draw! I'd recently figured out how to do posts on YouTube, so I thought I'd put the feelers out for some talent and lo and behold Doe Doe got in touch with a flippin’ excellent set.  So it’s thanks to Doe Doe and the early DJs that reached out that HCBXCast is still going 4 and a bit years later!  Here’s what I said at the time.... 

“Volume 2 of HCBXcast welcomes Doe Doe for an hour of 90's and 00's punishing speedcore. This one promises to blow your socks off with top notch track selection and mixing skills to match. The stateside DJ rose to prominence through the period play a shed load of parties across Europe.... the comeback is on!” 

Download the set for FREE here: HCBXCast Vol 2 - Doe Doe | HCBX 

Set list: 

01 - 00:00:00 - I:gor - Are You Afraid Of Them - STRIKE7004 
02 - 00:03:25 - Tempest - Nothing! - SUBVT012 
03 - 00:06:55 - Hedonist - Lardcore - UHF#6 / ROPEBF01 
04 - 00:09:35 - Rage Reset - Lost - RR03 / ROPERR01 
05 - 00:12:45 - Static Tremor - mt 3.2 - HDF002 
06 - 00:17:25 - Max Death - Lop-Sided Freak - TUFF003 
07 - 00:20:50 - Animal Intelligence - Einstein - SUBVT011 
08 - 00:25:10 - Nukom - Raise Your Hands - BL007 
09 - 00:28:10 - Syndicate - Hypnotise - JR 000110 
10 - 00:31:55 - Tempest - Livin' In Shit - SUBVT011 
11 - 00:36:25 - Traffik - Point Break - STATIK001 
12 - 00:40:00 - Rigamortis - Pillface - GGM RAW01 
13 - 00:43:50 - Heretik - Cambodia - GENOTYPE01 
14 - 00:48:35 - Sunjammer - Back in the Days - HCCB04 
15 - 00:51:43 - Akira - Unrepentant Deadbeat 
16 - 00:54:10 - Bastard - Kamikaze Check - SUBVT012 

SoundCloud Link: https://soundcloud.com/djasylumhc/hcbxcast-vol-2-doe-doe-6th-november-2021

YouTube Link to set: https://youtu.be/Oo_PyE8MFgE