Novem Life, Yo!

We sat down with veteran Chicago Dubstep DJ Phaded. He tells Novem about spearheading the Dubfix crew, his weekly radio show, and what it was like playing Dubstep in Chicago before most people ever heard of the style. Phaded also discusses his exclusive Novem mix tape, which includes new Dubstep remixes of the Wu-Tang Clan.

How did you get into DJing?

I’ve been listening to hip-hop since the early ‘80s, man. I don’t mean to date myself, but it’s been awhile. I kind of broke off with it since I got into the Dubstep scene lately. I’ve been into music all across the board. Jazz, funk, soul, groove classical, rock. Good music is good music when it boils down to it.

But I don’t know, I first got into making beats for a little while, inspired by a lot of the underground hip-hop production going on late ‘90s, early 2000s. I think it was a natural progression to start DJing this kind of stuff, especially back home [in Columbia, Mo.]. Underground hip-hop wasn’t on the forefront of people’s minds. It was a way for me to get some of that music out.

When did you start making the transition from producing to mixing and DJing?

You could look at it as a three-stage thing. I was doing a lot of underground hip-hop DJing back home. I did a regular night back in my hometown. When I first moved up to Chicago, I stopped DJing altogether and was doing all production for two or three years, until I got introduced to Dubstep. Just imagine being at ground zero of a genre that’s a cross between hip-hop, drum and bass, dub reggae. It’s more accessible than drum and bass is, a little more dance-friendly, a little more creative than your average techno tune.

We’re talking being on ground zero, when you’ve barely heard of Dubstep in the U.S. And I heard it for the first time, and it was like the music I’ve always been waiting to hear.

What year was this?

Late 2006, early 2007.

You mentioned you’ve been really busy the last couple weeks. What have you been working on?

It’s not so much my own personal projects that have been keeping me tied up, it’s just been gigging. I’ve been out a lot. I do a lot of promotion too. We throw the Dubfix shows. You’ll find us behind nights over at Smart Bar, over at Café Lura and Kinetic Playground. But mainly at Smart Bar. We’re trying to keep the high profile events over there. It’s steadily been gaining a lot of momentum.

The Dubfix thing has been going on since May of 2008. It’s absolutely blowing up. We had a show that was almost 400 people, which for Chicago Dubstep is where you want to be.

How often do you play at Smart Bar?

I’m about a monthly resident now. As far as Chicago goes, you’ll find me playing around [the city] two to three times a month.

Do you play in other cities too?

It’s been a really great year. I played in Austin. That might have been the highlight. It was unreal. They were about 150 people over capacity. It was over Labor Day weekend. It was a rowdy time. I also did St. Louis, Lincoln, Cincinnati, Cleveland. Mostly in the Midwest area. But it’s been good getting out.

Who else do you play with on the Dubfix nights?

We’ve got a crew of about six to 10 DJs. We’ve got Richie August and Nameloc. A lot of really fantastic DJs, and a lot of them are big up-and-coming producers as well. It’s been a pleasure doing this, getting some of these guys out of the woodwork so they get an avenue to show their work.

Tell me a little about your special Novem mix.

I’m really excited for [the Novem] guys giving me the opportunity to do it. I’m definitely going to be giving a little bit of hip-hop flavor on that. Kind of brings things full circle for me. It’s going to be a Dubstep mix with a lot of hip-hop influenced tracks. But a couple [tracks] in particular that I want to pick out. You know Wu-Tang Clan. They just did a complete project of Dubstep remixes to Wu-Tang vocals. It’s called Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture, Vol. 2: Enter the Dubstep. It [came] out on November 10. This is huge for both Dubstep and hip-hop. It’s going to be available on all major online retailers. They promo’d a couple of tracks to me, which will be on the mix.

I read something about a radio show that you do called the Dented Sessions.

It’s on Dubstep.fm. It’s something we do every Sunday. 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. I’ve done it for about two years now. It’s gained a fantastic momentum. We showcase a lot of the Chicago guys here. Sometimes we get the opportunity to have the artists that we bring in for some of our [live] shows. They’ll play on the Dented Sessions. It gets a good 400 to 500 listeners. For Dubstep radio, you can’t beat it. I was there when that station was like 20 people. To watch it grow from then till now has been a great ride.

Is it live?

Yeah, man. It’s got a little chat room. I think that’s the best part, the interactive nature of it. There’s the chat room, they make requests, they ask for IDs on tunes.

Where’d you get your DJ name?

It was actually an online video game handle. I just ported it over to my DJ name.

What video game?

SubSpace. It’s a little cultish following. I don’t know if anybody knows about it. To be honest with you, one of the biggest things I did was stop playing video games when getting into music. There was a certain point where I thought, “I’m killing all this time, blowing up spaceships.”

How do you decide what music to use in your sets?

When you’re DJing out, half of it is your selection and knowing what kind of crowd you’re going to be dealing with. If you have some idea of what crowd you’re be playing for ahead of time, all the better. Sometimes you’ve got to feel it out on the fly.

For example, the Novem guys booked me not too long ago for their Hot Wax night. I played a Dubstep set, but it was very hip-hop influenced just because I knew that was their background. There have been times when I’ve known the crowd would be a little more techno-oriented, so I might play some Dubstep that has some more techno in it.

That’s the fuckin’ beauty of it. Dubstep borrows from so many different genres that it doesn’t take much for people to fall in love with the music.

Who influenced you?

From the start, Mary Anne Hobbs was the one that brought me into the music to begin with. BBC Radio 1 out of London, as far as introducing me to the sound. How much more of an influence could you be?

As far as mixing, Joe Nice has been someone who I’ve looked as his mixing style as very unique. He’s very influential to the scene, and he’s looked at as one of the ambassadors to the scene. As far as producers, there are so many brilliant guys out there right now. DZ, Rusko. There are tons of guys who are just killing it.

Do you DJ full time or have another gig to pay the bills?

I sell Web space servers. I’m an IT guy when I don’t have my DJ cape on. I’ve been doing IT stuff for as long as I can remember. I got a computer thrown in my lap when I was really young, so I’ve always been pretty good with them.

Is there anything else that people would like to know about you?

There are a few things I’d like to put out there. To keep on top of the Dubfix events, we’ve got a Web site, Dubfix.com. You’ll find out about all the Chicago-related events. If people are looking for information specific to me, there’s Phaded.org.

I do a lot of these shows in conjunction with Chris Widman from AbstractScience.net. They’ve got a fantastic radio show on WLUW on Thursdays. And they throw events in Chicago. Very diverse sound, you’ll hear everything from drum-and-bass to country.

Anything else?

As far as upcoming events, we got something Nov. 12 at Smart Bar, and December 4 at Smart Bar. December 4 in particular is going to be huge. It will be Friday night with Rusko, who is one of the top U.K. DJs.

By Chris Danzig

TO DOWNLOAD MIDWEST BEST VOL.1: PHADED CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW

TRACKLIST