[Click HERE for the free Downlink 2012 DJ Mix]

 Wheres home?

Kelowna, BC in Canada

 What kind of music did you grow up listening to, and do you think it influences you in production today?

I grew up listening to classic rock and 90′s alternative/grunge mostly.

Where would you  say your musical journey began?

Well initially I wasn’t into electronic music, I was more of a metal head rocker kinda guy. So I bought a guitar and spent a few years playing that shit, though I never really got good at it.

What was the name of your very first tune you ever finished?

The first tune I ever finished was a weird drum n bass song called  “Harold the Horny Toad”. I don’t even know if I have the file anymore for it, but that’s probably a good thing. It was horrible. The first dubstep tune I wrote is called Awoken. It never got released but its pretty dope. I’m thinking of revisiting it and fixing it up a bit now that I’m a better producer.

 

  When not traveling what is a normal day for downlink?

Wake up, play Words with Friends or Chess with Friends on my Ipad for a bit while laying bed. Then I actually get out of bed and watch some TV while I cook/eat breakfast. Then I will sit down and do the email thing. Then I either work on music or work on sounds or hang out with my girlfriend. At night I usually hang out in the studio and work on music, or play video games.

In mind with traveling where have you not been that you would love to go? Playing shows or just to go?

I love travelling and there are a ton of places I would love to go. South America, Southeast Asia (I’m going to Thailand / Cambodia for all of February 2012 tho!), Japan, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, lots of places in Europe actually. Shit man the list goes on and on and on. I will never be satisfied. hahahaha.

 Any major collaborations in the works that you can talk about?

I’m always working on dope tunes with Excision & Datsik.

 Your talking to somebody in the airport and you mention that you produce music and they ask well what kind? You respond well it’s electronic dance music called dubstep. They respond ” OH !! ive heard of them!! i love that band”!!…  Has anything similar happened to you ? how do you respond?

A similar situation just occurred in Austin Texas at the airport. It’s funny seeing this question only a few hours after that incident. LOL. It’s not usually “I love that band” but its a general fakery of their knowledge about dubstep. They probably couldn’t name one artist other than maybe Skrillex. I usually just respond by giving them my telling them to go to http://www.downlinkmusic.com  and they can check out my stuff.

on a more serious note being one of the biggest names in dubstep to break through as we could say  in the “beginning”,  what is your opinion on the current state of this genre?  

Dubstep has changed a lot since the early days. I don’t follow the deeper side of the genre that much so I can’t really comment on how that aspect has evolved, but as far as the heavy stuff goes, its definitely a little different than the stuff we were first putting out. I’m absolutely stunned at the amount of skrillexy sounding stuff that is being produced nowadays. It’s honestly a bit too much I think. Everyone is hopping on the squelchy, growly bandwagon and the sound is getting rinsed hard at all the live shows. That’s fine though I guess because it will soon be passe and people will have moved on to other sounds.

  What is your opinion on giving away free music to download in comparison to holding on to it and releasing exclusively ?

I think its important to give stuff away for free but I also think you need to hold on to some of your material so you have exclusives for your live sets. As far as selling music vs releasing for free, no matter what you do, once something is up for sale its going to be on the download sites. There’s nothing you can do to stop it. That being said there are still some people who pay for tunes and support the artists. It’s always good for an artist to have their tunes chart well. It in turn creates more hype and more bookings.

Pretty standard question we ask all artist that sit down with us but , if you could change shoes with anybody for one day living, dead ANYBODY who would it be ?

Batman

To close it out anything you’d like to include ?

Check out my brand new 2012 DJ Mix!!! You can see the track-listing and find a link to the download at www.downlinkmusic.com .

Check out a preview of the mix below !!!

For the full mix download visit: www.downlinkmusic.com

If you are in the Los Angeles area make sure to check out Downlink at Funktion Wednesdays !

 January 25th 2012
Downlink, J Majik
Support from Sky
http://on.fb.me/sKp5jk
Tickets: http://bit.ly/ux8Rd2

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Interview: Kevin Maddox | Photos: Steven Pahel