>>DJ Dieselboy (photo courtesy djdieselboy.com) >>

VOX: For starters, why Dieselboy?
Dieselboy: Long story short : used the name 'Diesel' as an old '90-'91 Internet chat nickname and changed it to 'Dieselboy' when people at my school (University of Pittsburgh) started getting me confused with local graffiti artist 'Diesel'.  Why the 'boy'?  I looked extremely young back then, loved 'boyish' things (video games, cartoons, comics, etc) and longwinded kiddy rave names were all the rage.

VOX: Do you see drum and bass finding more of a place in American dance culture?
Dieselboy: I would like to think so.  The music's profile has definitely risen over the past 5 years and we are seeing drum and bass headlining many more events than before. The inherent problem with the music is that it isn't 'simple' by any means - the beats are complicated, the tempo runs high, the sound is typically 'edgy' (especially the harder stuff). It is harder to reach people in the way that house and trance have reached people (slower, melodic, etc). I think that we have made considerable headway into American dance culture however, and from the looks of it that headway will continue to expand.

VOX: Some people think 'American dance culture' is an oxymoron.  Why has it flourished in other places but struggled in America?
Dieselboy: Don't know really...though I am sure it has something to do with our love of rock and roll and lyric-based music.

VOX: How have things changed in the scene over the last 10 years?
Dieselboy: Above and beyond the evolution/diversifying of dance music as a whole we have seen the music reach a much broader audience (look no further than the standard 'dance music as TV commercial soundtrack' phenomenon). The party/event 'scene' has gone through a huge switch over the past 2 years with raves kinda dying out and the club scene filling in the void. Law enforcement and government agencies have tuned in to what was going on in the underground and made it difficult for promoters to throw shows (hence the move to clubs). The core audience for electronic dance music has stayed primarily young. Most people come into the scene for a 2-3 year run and burn out. As the established artists grow older, the average scenester's age hovers in the 17-21 range.

VOX: It's gotten to the point where some state governments are trying to enact anti-raving legislation.  What are your opinions on the issue and do you think 'safe raving' will ever be a reality?
Dieselboy: Well obviously I take issue with legislation (the RAVE act) that threatens to practically eliminate the job I currently have. I can understand the position of the government in the sense that it wants to cut down on drug use and drug dealing, but I think it is vastly ignorant to assume that by preventing dance music events from happening it is going to eliminate these things (it won't). To be honest there is a huge problem with the way this country approaches the drug problem (our 'war on drugs' is a failure in my opinion). Raves are not the source of our nation's drug woes, but politicians feel the need to take 'visual' measures to act like they are doing something. There needs to be more of an effort to work with promoters to help make parties safer and to educate people on the negative effects of drug use. Curbing people's rights to gather together to dance and have fun is nothing short of criminal.

VOX: What made you decide to start HUMAN, your label?
Dieselboy: I felt that I was in a position to help represent the best of stateside drum and bass. I wanted to put a product on the shelf that was an 'essential' purchase - wicked tunes and sharp packaging. My goal for HUMAN is to set it up as a cornerstone for American drum and bass production.

VOX: How do you construct songs?  What's the process like?
Dieselboy: Quite simple really. I dig around for some samples that would like to use (random breaks, sounds from old records, movies, original bits off of synths, etc) and then bring them all up in logic audio. I play around with some breaks and chop them up into a nice 16 bar loop, work in a bass line, experiment and filter through the sounds I have selected and see what fits, and then set about creating a 'skeleton' of the tune (intro, breakdowns, outro). Once I have the skeleton up it is essentially just texturizing everything, passing over it again and again adding little bits until I have a polished tune ready to devastate the dance floor.

VOX: What cities in America do you think have the best dance scenes? Why?
Dieselboy: It changes from year to year. Some cities that used to be hot peaked awhile back and have since cooled down while other cities that never had much of a scene have really picked up and are on fire. Some of my favorite places to play in terms of consistent crowd response and turnout are Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Denver, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Austin and Charlotte.

VOX: How did you get involved in Area:Two?
Dieselboy: Moby requested. I agreed.

VOX: What is your perspective on the festival?
Dieselboy: I think it is an ambitious endeavor and great in the sense that it is going to bring a diverse crowd that will hopefully be open minded to being exposed to other kinds of music. It gives the artists involved the opportunity to expand their music's fan base and generate new interest (and essentially a new audience).

VOX: Who do you listen to these days that inspires you?
Dieselboy: I thrive off of the emotional content of songs by artists such as South, Doves, Badly Drawn Boy, Monster Movie, Southpacific, etc. I also enjoy random stuff like Pharrell William's productions, remixes by DJ Premier, French disco house, James Lavell mix CDs, the list goes on.

VOX: What's coming up for you post-Area:Two?
Dieselboy: Lots and lots of DJing (including potential tours in Europe and South Africa), some remix work and hopefully a little bit of time off!