Packing fresh bass and epic drops, the Digital Assassins Tour will be bigger and more distinctive than previous tours in the ever-evolving world of dubstep. “We basically have a crazy lights package that we added so the stage is a lot bigger now, taking up a lot more space and it’s just a lot more immersive than the last shows,” Troy Beetles aka Datsik explains.
Some people would say the dubstep scene has left the limelight but the young producer says that contrary to popular belief, the scene is very much alive and well.
“This is my 6th or 7th bus tour now and each time it gets a little bit bigger and better and I think it’s continuing to grow,” adding that, “It’s also taking different forms, like dubstep kind of morphed into trap, hybrid, EDM stuff.”
Where Datsik may have only had a specific fan base coming to his shows a year ago there is a noticeable new mixture of fans that reflects the melting pot of the EDM world. “One weekend you could have had Zedd and myself playing and people a year ago might have just picked the Zedd show or the Datsik show but now it’s like they’re the same fan, showing that all the EDM is kind of crossing over into each other,” he said.
With all the extensive touring some may think that it would take away from time to produce but a four hour train ride can make all the difference. While on a tour in Europe that was all it took to rid a bad case of writers’ block and influence new ideas for some dope new tracks.
“I was looking out the window and looking at all the crazy scenery going by and it totally just inspired me and at that moment I just basically opened up my laptop and started writing music while just chilling and looking outside.”
The key to Datsik’s success is sticking to making music for himself in his own true style instead of following the trends just to get a larger fan base. “I’m trying to make music for myself and see myself stoked and in doing that and sharing that with the world, it allows me to be happy and creative as an artist.” He is currently switching up his sets and working with new ideas so as not to be strapped to one genre while keeping it unique. “My sets these days I obviously play a lot of dub step but I’m slowly crossing into the hip-hop realm and in doing so it feels fresh and new and innovative and all of a sudden I have all these new ideas,” he said.
Equipment failures are always buzz kill and seem to be happening quite regularly lately. At last year’s Ultra Music Festival the humid Miami heat almost cut off Datsik halfway through his set on the main stage. After a half hour of direct sunlight during the hottest part of the day things almost took a turn for the worse after his laptop started making noises. “I hear it crackling and I’m like holy fuck, I’m freaking out and fortunately I had a gig-stick in my pocket so as soon I started hearing it crackle I did a fade-out and jumped on the mic.” Pretty shitty situation while your set is also being broadcast live on the radio and in everybody’s car. “I immediately plugged in the gig-stick, I was like, ‘ok remember what you used to know,’ playing on normal turntables whatever,” he said. After dropping some old school tracks he got on the mic at the end of the set thanking everyone for sticking around. “It’s 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you deal with it,” he said. Seamless deck control proved Dj prowess on one of the biggest global stages. Though many travelers have made the switch to computer Djing, it’s always nice to have that backup classic setup: two turntables and a microphone.
Be sure to check out the new LP Let It Burn and hit up the Digital Assassins Tour website for more info and upcoming tour dates.
www.digitalassassinstour.com/
www.firepowerrecords.com/let-it-burn/
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