D-Lerium & Faze
Follow The Beats : BreakBeat Energy’s Monthly EDM Newsletter – March 2009
D-Lerium & Faze – DNF Music
Watch the exclusive interview:
D-Lerium & Faze at Digital Invasion in Washington, DC! BreakBeat Energy exclusive interview produced by VJ Mason.
As a kickoff of BreakBeat Energy’s first newsletter, it seemed only appropriate to feature DNF—a favorite in the breakbeat scene. These guys killed it at Digital Invasion in February, throwing down self-produced tracks and giving DC fresh beats. Forming DNF in 2005, Dustin (aka D-Lerium) and Justin (aka Faze) have no doubt put breakbeat back on the minds of music lovers all over the USA. 2007 proved to be the turning point as the duo performed all across the U.S. and made appearances at some of the biggest festivals in the Southeast. With no signs of slowing down, DNF continues to be a driving force in the breakbeat movement.
D-Lerium & Faze
BreakBeat Energy: Let’s start from the beginning of DJ D-Lerium and DJ Faze – I’d love to hear how you guys individually hit the EDM scene.
Justin: I got involved probably back in 1996, I worked as a busboy at a restaurant in Daytona Beach. Some of the older staff decided it would be fun to take me out to Orlando and we went to a club called Edge where Icey was playing – it was the first time that I heard breakbeat music. Instantly fell in love with it, instantly had to go buy turntables and records. I got my first DJ spot at a place called Soul Rays in Daytona Beach Florida, back in 1997-1998 – its been going since then.
Dustin: I was about 15 at Vera Beach, same deal- a bunch of friends wanted to take me out to a club. We ended up going to Outer Limits, snuck in…they pushed me right past security. Snuck right in, walked right up and started watching the dj the whole night. And then went back the next week, snuck in again…met the DJ and within about two months I was opening the main room. Right when people were walking in, he let me play and practice. That was about 1997, and I’ve been playing ever since.
BreakBeat Energy: Tell me the story behind your first time on a set of decks…(laughing)
Justin: Oh god.
Dustin: Definitely not smooth sailing.
Justin: I can remember vividly – I went to a friend of mine’s house and practiced my set. Had my records lined up in order and I remember it was the Funk Phenomenon remix record was my first record. I think I played a K5 record after that. I was very nervous – a little bit of a mess, but it was a good time. You know…you never lose that first-time nervousness. I definitely remember clearly practicing all day long for that first time. There was probably 4 people in the front room but I didn’t care. It was good.
Dustin: Outer Limits was my first gig, I was about sixteen and yeah – I was a mess. There was probably six people walking in – I wanted to do this more than anything and yeah it was fun. But definitely nervous since it was my first time and it was a big club.
BreakBeat Energy: When did you hit the decks and say “okay, I can probably go nationwide with this.” When did you know that you had “something”?
Justin: If we’re even saying that’s happening…I don’t know, I guess just recently – its happening right now. Justin and I met in 2005 at a fluke meeting, we were playing at our friends party. I guess I never really took it too seriously until I teamed up with him. I remember our first real show together was at Firestone with Shiraz. Our first road trip was to New Orleans. Last year we played Ultra, playing there again this year down in Miami. We had the fortunate opportunity to go over to Europe over in England and Spain. So kind of like now – its actually real.
Dustin: I played since I was fifteen, sixteen, seventeen. I was pushing CDs right out of the back of my car, everywhere I went. I played for free, opened everywhere. At the time I was getting good gigs, then I took a few years off. But until Dustin and I actually linked up in 2005, my gear was just sitting there and I wasn’t really producing anything. Then we came together, got into the studio and we put out a record the next month. And for the first two years, we’ put out a record every month after that.
BreakBeat Energy: Have you noticed any trends in the breakbeat scene?
Justin: The trends seem to be kind of all over the place. A couple of years ago it went towards the new school tear out…now there’s a lot of edits. I think now the big thing is a lot of house and electro remixes, edits for crowds. There’s no disputing that house and trance is still worldwide. So from a production angle for crowds, you want to play something familiar. From an original standpoint, listen to music on Beatport today – its all over the spectrum. There’s a difference between djing your own music and djing just music that you buy – its cool to have your own stuff.
BreakBeat Energy: It’s definitely awesome to stay away from trends and do your own thing, be unique.
Justin: We’ve taken some hits, we’re funky florida break DJ’s…and as much as that got snapped around the scene, we stuck with it. We’re still breakers. Under the DNF name, we do all mutli-genre stuff but we still love a good funky break with a good vocal so that will never change.
Dustin: Yeah we wanted to keep our original core – Delirium and Faze – keep our original sound. That’s why we branched to do the DNF thing so we can expand there.
BreakBeat Energy: Let’s talk about the EDM scene as a whole…it was underground, turned mainstream, and now its out of the spotlight and perhaps even going back underground. Having toured the nation…where do you see it going?
Justin: As you get older, its hard to differentiate between underground – we’re not underground ourselves. I think right now, being involved in the club industry, I don’t remember the last time that dance music as a broad interpretation was as accepted in a club as it is right now. Couple years ago, you had all the Timberland all the Fergie – all that stuff was coming out. Now you go into a club and everything is so cross-genre. You’ll hear house, you’ll hear hip-hop, top 40 dance. You’ll hear all that in the same night. I think its a lot easier now to take the music, if you play the crowd right, and slap in a couple of true underground songs. I think right now its hitting its stride again – definitely a lot more accessible, with plenty of internet outlets to access it.
Dustin: When you’re saying that all the different genres are coming together and everything, its cool. Before, if a breaks guy dropped house tune, he’d get a hard time. Or a house guy dropped breaks tune, same with indie dance …now we can play anything. From our DNF sets, we go from indie to breaks to house. At the end of my sets, I used to play drum and bass. It doesn’t matter – that’s the cool part.
BreakBeat Energy: Just to give you some perspective: the drum and bass scene, the breaks scene, electro and funky scene in DC – its not really mainstream, we have to fight hard to get our parties out there. And usually its catering to the party kids because the people that love trance and house are the ones that stick with the Fergies and all that. So that’s where I’m coming from. Do you see drum and bass and the other genres having issues, struggling in the scene?
Justin: It seems, having been traveling, that its definitely a region and city-by-city thing. In Orlando, for instance, you’ll be in a top VIP drinking bottle venue and they’ll be playing house or breakbeat. It has hit the mainstream. Orlando, central Florida is being flooded with incredible shows in a good way. To be honest, they still do some of the old school club shows and they pull, it depends on where you’re at and what you’re into. I love a good underground house party, rave party but I also enjoy a good venue in Miami with a really attractive crowd, proper dressed. Its all over the place, depends on where you’re at.
BreakBeat Energy: Do you have a favorite city that you’ve played out at that you’d go back in a heartbeat?
Dustin: Surprisingly enough, one of our funnest gigs was in Nebraska. We had a blast.
Justin: Lincoln, Nebraska…I have to say that was an amazing, amazing time. A foot of snow, freezing out…didn’t think of anything, it was just hardcore start to finish. Everyone was out for the music. Amazing show, for sure.
Dustin: We play a lot of good cities but that was definitely one that really surprisingly stood out for us. Kansas city was really cool too.
BreakBeat Energy: You two are playing at Digital Invasion’s one year anniversary tonight – we are very excited and thank you for taking a few minutes to chat with us!
