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Molek FMInterview: Doshy
Meet Doshy, a German dubstep producer and DJ who’s been at it for over 10 years. He recently visited Malaysia to rock out at Laundry bar. We caught up with him to get the lowdown on what he’s up to, his musical inspiration and what exactly is post dubstep.
So Doshy, tell us about yourself and what brings your to Malaysia?
Hi I’m Doshy. I’m from Berlin and I’m all about colours. heart, fun and passion. This guy (points to a friend) Mike, from Antidote Shanghai, is what brings me to Asia. Last year I was invited by the German and French embassy to Myanmar and I while I was here I wanted to add some gigs and Mike brought me over and after that he wanted to do a bit tour the year after. I released some music this year so we set up this tour.
How has the tour been so far?
It’s so awesome. Every place has its own specialty. I’m really happy because I’ve been making the crowds happy, making myself happy. It’s been great so far.
You said you were in Myanmar a year ago. What were you doing there?
I was invited by the German and French embassy for a cultural abroad exchange art festival. So I taught young Burmese people who were interested in electronic music about how to use software and hardware and show them how to produce their own music. We worked together with the best producers from Burma and set up a huge festival. We performed in front of 500 people from all ages and they were all sitting in chairs. So it was a big big area with people all sitting down.
You’ve been producing music since 1999, so how did you get started?
Since I was born, I loved music. My mother always had a lot of vinyls and when I went to my grandparents house, I didn’t take toys, I took vinyls from my mother to play at my grandmothers house. I remember when I was 14, I borrowed a mixer from a friend. I couldn’t even mix but I was making mixes. When I was 17 I heard some different music and I was like wow, I want to do that, that’s my life. Since then I’ve been very serious about it and do it at least 40 hours a week.
What type of music were you making in the early days?
Well I started out with proper Detroit. I was always looking for new sounds. I really like synthesizers, then I went over to the dark side. Then I started with breakcore cause at the time it was the sickest stuff I ever heard. Then I got into garage and grime. Then when Code 9 and hypedub came out, it was like, woah that’s it.
What’s post dubstep?
I didn’t invent the name. The paper gave it to me. I love dubstep, I’m not so into real dubstep. I really like colours, dubstep is really dubby and cold, I like lots of sounds and melodies and I jumped on that idea and it’s all about 130 bpm whereas dubstep is 140 bpm, I didn’t really want to do that wobble thing, I wanted to do my own stuff and that kind of thing. Then people called it post dubstep and so now I guess I make post dubstep.
So you started post dubstep?
No, not really, I mean I get inspired by it. My man is hyperdub and all about Rusty, Jaimie Vex’d, Zombie, Starkey. All those dudes invented it for me. They took dubstep up another level and it inspired me so much that I jumped on that idea and created my own music.
You say the inspiration for your music is to “Try and make future-art, not retro-art, today’s retro-art is in a way wrong because these art were a view into the future at their time. Take the influences and form it into new ideas.” So if I understand this correctly, what your saying is that artists should not use past music to influence what they do today.
I meant that like lots of bands try to do something like grunge, which is brilliant, but its more of a hobby and cover bands should do it. But Nirvana didn’t copy anyone, they did something new. When people go back to do retro, its more hobby. I try to build up on the past and try to go forward and make new music with it.
In your opinion who’s leading the way in the future of music?
Starkey is my man. I always have the biggest problem, like which tunes I should play, I could always play 6 of his in one set but you can only play 1 or 2. Rusty for sure, Stagga, they try to do something new with dubstep not just original wobble tunes.
Whats the dubstep scene like in Berlin?
There’s all types of music in Berlin and every kind of music has a scene. So you can do crazy shit there. I would say its not proper dubstep, we make up our own night called Sirius which is more about the wonky and colourful stuff. It’s good, you can go out any night and there’s always something good going on.
You just put out an EP and you locked yourself in your house for 6 months over winter to produce it?
Almost, I’m a daddy now, so I’m really focused on my daughter and my music. I’ve been partying since I was 17 and I love to go out but I decided I needed to work proper. So I tried to find the hours to sit down and work. I quit going out and sat at home and did my music.
Do you think that they best way to make music and get inspired is to isolate yourself?
I don’t know what it is. Everyone should find their own way. I’m really serious and focused and I like to take time and plan out what I want to do and write it down before I start and visualize my ideas and find the right sound. There are so many sounds, you can go through a synthesizer and find sounds and do a tune with with it, even though you never wanted to. I wrote about 300 songs and was a little bit lost. After breakcore it was hard for me because it wasn’t what I wanted to do. It’s so cool that I met Jaimie Vex’d and he told me a lot about how to sit down and plan out an album. I really like that.
How has the response been to your EP, Scatter?
Really awesome. Really great feedback. Most of the tunes I wrote them all in 2009, so it was like they were already out for awhile and they still get good feedback. People are just discovering it now, but it sounds almost old to me, but I’ve been getting good feedback and I’m really happy. I don’t bring all my tunes out, I’m really serious about working on something and then deciding if I want to show it to people.
What equipment do you use?
I’m a real old school DJ, so I grew up with vinyls and I always wanted to scratch. But the scene changed so heavily with digital and with the laptop as the future and at the time it didn’t make sense. I never wanted to be that old guy who says “well in my time…” so I sat down to learn the new equipment. I remember when I bought my first mp3 and DJ’d my first CD, it was like oh I did it, and then I went on it.
My set up now is Abelton. Its a DJ set with live support on it. So its set up with kickdrums and snares and effects and background sounds cause I love the mess in the background. That’s pretty much it. I DJ 10% of my own stuff, 40% of my labels and 50% of what inspires me.
Do you prefer vinyl or cd?
I would love to have to the money to press all the stuff I DJ on vinyl because the last few years all the stuff i want to play comes out on vinyl 1 year later. Now I feel really happy with my set, but I know that’s the thing that’s not going to grow up. The whole digital and live set scene is how we say (in German) in the shoes of children. I’m always looking for ways to build it up. I’m looking forward to playing some DJ sets with vinyl, that’s for sure.
So what’s next for after this tour?
Definitely I started working on my LP. I’ve already finished one tune. I didn’t know it would be the star tune of my LP. But in Asia, we’ve had lots of time of the beach and a lot of time to write my ideas down and see it in front of me and be like ok that’s gonna be my new LP and I’m gonna write it in the next 6 months.
So your new LP was inspired by Asian beaches?
Uhhh I would not really say that. I would say that the new LP is inspired by Italian horror movies and bad rnb.
Find out all about Doshy at his myspace. You can check out snaps from the night here in our Gallery.