Welcome at Tanzgemeinschaft. Please introduce yourself.
Hello all, my name is FEED THE STRAY. I am from Wisconsin (the land of beer and cheese, as we are commonly known for), in the United States of America. Man, my music journey goes way back, to when I was 13 or 14 years old – it’s beginning to get a little blurry. My whole musical journey probably began when I was younger though, as I have always been extremely obsessed with it.
My main interest prior to electronic music was in middle school as a little scene/emo kid with his headphones on, listening to deathcore and screamo music. It wasn’t until one dull evening when I was browsing YouTube that I stumbled across a little video that would change my life forever. That video was titled “Dubstep Santa”. It was this funny music video of a Dubstep track that was Christmas-themed. Despite the comedic nature of this video, I was utterly blown away by this otherworldly sound – I was instantly hooked and immediately needed to find more.
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With a quick stroke of the keyboard, my most common word typed on my computer from there on out was “Dubstep”. It wasn’t too long after discovering amazing tracks back in 2010, that my curiosity lead me to finding other genres within the electronic music realm.
Deadmau5 and Skrillex were my bread and butter. I had to have all of their releases, merch, anything I could get my hands on, with what little money a 14-year-old with no job could afford. A couple of months later a major epiphany hit me – one that would shape the very person I am today, now at 27 years old. If electronic music is mainly done on the computer, and I have a computer, what stops me from making music?
Making a quick Google Search introduced me to the addicting world of music production, plugins, samples, and DAWs. I pirated my first copy of FL Studios (I’m so sorry! I was young and dumb!) and when I got my first job at 15/16 the first thing I purchased was a legal license for the software.
From then on, the rest is history, as they say.
How would you describe your sound and style?
This is a tricky question for me, as I have never been hyper-fixated on just a singular sound. My sound and brand have grown with me. At first, I started out imitating tracks by Deadmau5, Avicii, W&W, Martin Garrix, and all those other mainstage acts (no hate). I was also super into Dubstep production as well, and that was the style I cultivated for the better part of a decade, which ultimately lead me to hang out in that scene and getting my first gigs in that community. As I grew older, my tastes matured as I started branching out into deeper sounds where I rediscovered my love for house music, especially progressive house, as well as techno, namely hypnotic, raw, and melodic. This is where I currently am, however, I still consider myself quite multi-genre as I still release the occasional dubstep track, when the mood strikes, or jungle/dnb tracks here or there. I also quite enjoy being able to get experimental with my music – creating something that I haven’t heard before or try to fuse multiple genres together (one of my favourite attempts was combining the sounds of Flume and the genre Phonk together).
What triggers the idea for you to begin a new project?
It can be anything: a road trip, a concert, or a soundtrack from a movie. I don’t know how to explain it, but when inspiration hits, I feel it in my stomach that drives me like my nicotine addiction.
Do you have a recent release to showcase? Tell us all about it and something about the process behind it.
Currently, I do not have many super-fresh releases, as I have been playing a decent amount of gigs this spring and summer. I am always working on new music and probably have five or so tracks which are ready for release. Yet I just have not gotten around to the actual pre-release prep stage. With that being said, there may be a few goodies coming shortly. After all that, I will say that the EP I released this year, “redacted”, was a jolly good time creating. This was a raw-hypnotic techno album where I hand-crafted every sound. From the drums to the synths, everything was designed from the ground-up, by yours truly. This was never something I had attempted before and was really proud of the results, along with the responses!
What other releases have you planned for this year that you can tell us about? Like when and on which label?
Just Tanzgemeinschaft. 😉 However, I do have plans to reach out to other labels in the near future.
When searching for a label, what is it that you are looking for? What do you expect from a record label?
The biggest sell for a label would have to be integrity, passion, and honesty. For me to consider a label they would have to possess similar outlooks on music as me. It is for the people. It is what makes us uniquely human (well, there are a bunch of wild shits that make us uniquely human, but you get what I am saying lol). Of course, we all have our grinds and it is nice to make extra money from something you’re passionate about, but if that’s all this is, then I would be looking elsewhere. It has to be more about the culture, rather than the dollar sign. Culture and community always have to come first. That’s what the entire rave community is built on.
Which characteristics of other artists do you find annoying? Which encourages you to move on?
Ego/elitist attitudes. My God, it is insufferable. Seriously, quit acting like a prophet because you DJ or play an instrument. It is an admirable trait, but please stop acting like you’re some kind of deity that requires the gospel to be written about you. The thing that keeps me going is pretty much sheer passion. A desire to be better every day. To create something that gives me goosebumps, that I want to listen to on repeat for months. I want to create my perfect song, as impossible of a task as that is.
Who are your musical or audio heroes and why?
Definitely Deadmau5. The man is super versatile. Many people may think of him as just an old house head, but he has a lot of unique hip-hop, dubstep, trance, etc. tracks. And they are all so unique and incredibly produced.
And when it comes to your field of producing, are there any particular ideas or pioneers that you go back to frequently? Who influences your thinking about the work you do?
I try to incorporate every little lesson I have picked up along the way. There isn’t any one idea that I fall back on every time. Every track requires its own flavour, you know? The approaches vary quite a bit, especially when it comes to making multiple genres. My favourite thing about it would be the cross-utilizing techniques I picked up from one genre and applying it to another.
Thank you.
