Where you from?
-- Was born and Raised in Santa Cruz, California but moved to beautiful Lake Tahoe CA when i was a teenager.
Who are your influences?
-- Well I started out in a different realm of music. When I was up and coming I listened to way more rock and metal influenced bands like Tool, the Deftones, Pantera and Rage Against the Machine. When I was a teenager everyone wanted to be in a rock band and be Nirvana or the Smashing Pumpkins. Its so different now but I guess to some degree I always had an affinity for electronic music but never really saw myself involved with it or creating it.
How did you start getting into music?
--The drums really found me because I honestly have no recollection of learning to play. There's pictures and stuff of me playing when I'm like 5 just absolutely ROCKIN out and still making the same goofy faces i make when I play now haha. and it wasn't the type of thing where my parents forced it on me because... obviously what parent really wants their kid beating the shit out of a drum set for hours on end. It's more like "here little johnny, go strum a guitar" but not in my case. So by the time I was in high school I was already pretty comfortable behind the kit and being that I went to a relatively small school the drummers were in short supply so everybody just asked me to jam or be in their band. Although now i listen back to some of the recordings in horror.
Tell us about your experience drumming with Infected Mushroom?
-- Playing for Infected was and I'm sure will always be some of the most memorable years in my life. I don't think think I've ever played with a band that was so universally known and more importantly, respected. Even now when it arises in conversation with people from time to time and they ask me what i do or who I play with, when I toss out Infected's name, more times than not, people lose it. Its super funny to see their reaction. But I mean its definitely understandable. Those guys had a hand in shaping and contributing to what electronic music is today. They are so talented and unique and have undoubtedly left a mark on electronic music that no matter what style you like, on some level can appreciate what they do. Not to mention the live shows are unreal!
Tell us about the craziest thing that happened on tour?
-- I don't know if I can talk about the CRAZIEST thing ;) but there's one thing comes to mind that still makes me crack up. In Australia they have the Stereo Sonic festival and me and the boys from Infected played the entire length of the tour which lasted nearly 2 weeks. The owner of the festival is a super fanatical ping pong player (even has the short shorts and head band band... sorry Richie). I, myself and Duv Dev, the singer for infected are also die hard pongers. Now because Richie loved ping pong so much, he made sure to have full on tournament style setups at every stop. I'm talking top of the line tables, balls, paddles. And i don't mean one 1 table, I mean like 6 tables. So before and after our set Duv Dev and I would have some serious battles but the true action would go down usually after every ones set. Keep in mind there's always an open bar for artists, and typically artists like to party so with that said, by the end of the night imagine the biggest names in EDM... Tiesto, Zedd, Krewella, Avicci, Diplo Infected ALL of them... having the most RIDICULOUS drunken stumbling hilarious ping pong battles in modern recorded history. Keeping score correctly in that state was the equivalent of landing a man on mars. I will say this though... I was the champ. I don'tcare what anyone says. The only person that managed to take a game off of me was Tommy Trash's brother who was on the Australian national team, so he forfeits his right to claim amateur status hahahahaha. But those were very good times and I cant wait to go back.
What is your vision for your new solo project "Drums On Acid"?
-- I think whats so cool about the possibilities of DOA is the fact that it's really limitless. Like sometimes I cant even sleep at night cause I'm so excited thinking about a cool idea or something that would make the live show better. I actually watched "the Pixies" perform at Coachella who I think are great, but before their show they did an interview and said "look we are what we are, come to a show and you'll see and hear us, but don't expect a lot of bells and whistles". Now I love them but I totally don't want that to be the case with Drums On Acid. I want complete madness. I want sensory overload. I want you to leave a show and be like "What the fuck just happened"?! So to make that happen there's a lot of components. The first of which is having good music which I work on daily. I am still brand new to producing but with the help of friends and some of the best producers out there helping me along the way, I think I have picked it up very quickly and am going to just keep on getting better. Also the fact that what I'm doing is Live. All my recordings have live drum parts although sometimes chopped up start very organically which i think is cool. Same with the live show. Triggering sounds and loops and also playing live drums over the top of my tracks and remixes. It really is pretty wacky.
When is your next release expected to drop?
-- I'm actually releasing stuff as we speak. This week I released the self titled "Drums On Acid" EP exclusively through EDM.com. But I think at this stage in the game its important to just release as much material as I can. Even some of the shit I listen to I'm like "ohhh boy, that sounds horrendous" I still feel, at least for now its important that it gets out there and makes my presence known.
How would you describe your style?
-- Honestly at this stage I don't really have a style. I kinda just emulate what I like and what I'm into on any given day. If I hear a synth that inspires me I try to figure it out as far as tone and texture and then I'll take it and run with it. But as of now, things just kinda turn out how they turn out. Whether intentional or not. I think I'm kinda like a Blue collar producer in the sense that I find, for me, it just takes a bunch of work. Some guys can just sit down, write hits and make it sound magical in no time flat, for me it takes a while to really hone in on a sound or a structure and then it just kind of unfolds on its own.
Where do you see electronic music in 5 years?
-- Shit that's so hard to say. You always wanna say that a particular genre will NEVER fade away. But really its inevitable to some degree. I bet Motely Crue never thought some dirty grunger in Seattle would make them go from playing huge sold out arenas to forcing them into small bars overnight (yes i read Motely Crue's "the Dirt", highly recommend it haha). Things change, people change, times change. For right now though, it's remarkable how big and mainstream electronic music has gotten. I think it's great and I really hope that doesnt change, but evolves somewhat. By that I mean the live element. Pulling from guys like Infected, Gunslinger, the Maniac Agenda, Excisions new thing "Destroid" etc... I truly feel people are going to see that more and more. They'll also be forced to do that to set themselves apart... and it's way more fun trust me hahaha.
Where can people download your new presets/samples?
1. Go here: https://www.facebook.com/drumsonacid/app_458047674241018
2. LIKE the page
3. BAM! They are all yours!!!
Are you a Maniac?
-- OF COURSE I'm a maniac. And honestly... and I mean this from the bottom of my heart to all my boys in The Maniac Agenda... You guys were instrumental in getting me moving forward in producing. When I first starthde it easy to get up and running initially. When one is first starting out it's overwhelming and there's so much to learn you want to just play and go with it but it's hard if you don't know synthesis and you guys made it really easy to just push a button and have a totally bad ass sound come fuckin ROARING out of the speakers and for that I thank you :)
Download a Free Drums on Acid Tune here:
Free BITCHIN remix with live drums by Drums on Acid:
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