Le Castle Vania is living the EDM dream as a globe-trotting DJ, chart topping producer, record label head-man and event-promoter extraordinaire. Not many people in the increasingly populated world of house-music, have built a resume’ comparable with LCV in just one of these industries, let alone, do it in all of them. For his first project under the now iconic name Le Castle Vania, the DJ formerly known as “Lies In Disguise” remixed Snowden’s single “Black Eyes” and the track received heavy support from the blogs and in the clubs. Needless to say, he hasn’t looked back, releasing countless remixes and original tracks, all while touring non stop through every continent except of course, Antarctica. Now he is in charge of his own indie label, Always Never Records which possesses a BANGIN’ roster of top notch remixers. Always Never just dropped a brand new release, featuring a gauntlet of remixes for Rrrump’s – Chubby Decker, including one from Le Castle Vania himself and label mates, Street Lurkin (listen below). The entire Chubby Decker EP is currently available on Beatport and iTunes for purchase. Bangerz Only!! caught up with Le Castle Vania amidst the chaos of a California tour. We had to find out more about his legendary FUCK YESS party in Atlanta, what he has in the works as far as producing and not to mention finding out just how he juggles his demanding schedule as an EDM mogul!! For more information about all that is LCV and Always Never Records be sure to visit lecastlevania.com and alwaysnever.com and don’t forget twitter! @LeCastleVania and @ALWAYSNEVERrecs
Rrrump – Chubby Decker (Le Castle Vania Remix + Street Lurkin Remix) *Preview* by Le Castle Vania
Let’s get right to it. You have a batch of remixes on the way that will be released through your label Always Never Records. Should we expect that signature “in your face” Rock-Electro sound that you’re famous for??
Yes i have quite i few really aggressive bangers coming soon but you know i also always like to mix it up so i have some cool more disco vibes coming as well.
Always Never Records has some serious talent on the roster. What can we expect from Always Never in 2011 and how in the world do you balance running a label on top of your touring and production schedules?
Well it has been difficult to run the label and manage to write music and tour my own projects… for now Always Never is a small indie label and we are not really trying to be anything bigger than that… i just see it as a cool fun way for me to help get out music that i like and think is good. That said i do really believe that we have an awesome roster full of talented producers and remixers and it’s only gonna get better as we continue to grow! this year we already have some truly awesome releases dropping starting with the Rrrump – Chubby Decker release featuring remixes from myself, J.Rabbit, Gooseflesh, Paparazzi, and Street Lurkin due out Feb 1st 2011
For all the “up and coming” producers reading this interview and dreaming about getting signed one day, what’s your best piece of advice for them to get noticed in a genre that is currently pretty saturated. What are some qualities that you look for in an artist that would lead to you signing them to Always Never Records?
Two main things other than the obvious good song writing. 1. exceptional engineering. The tracks have to hit right and sound good on a club system to catch my attention. 2. Good branding is always helpful and a big part of the success of the artist.
What does your production setup consist of? Any hardware synths? What are your go to vst’s for instruments and fx? What’s your DAW of choice?
Without giving too much away i will say that i use Logic as my main DAW and that i am sponsored by companies like Native Instruments, Fab Filter, Sugar Bites, and D16 obviously because i love their programs. I have quite a bit of outboard gear but my go to piece is my Avalon preamp.
A lot of people might not know this, but you got your start spinning Drum n’ Bass. Is that a genre that could possibly influence your production in the future?
Yeah for sure, i have always referenced that sound in some ways and have always used the tricks i learned when i was doing drum n bass waaaay back in the day.
FUCK YES is a party you started in your hometown of Atlanta, GA that has put electronic music on the map, in a city known for hip-hop. How has the scene in the ATL evolved since you started FUCK YES?
Well i think our event really impacted ATL in a big way and really help to kick start the whole scene and movement in our city… it really goes to show you that a handful of people really can do huge thing for music in their cities… more people should get active in getting good music out to the world!
For the past year or so, there have been some rumblings about Bangin’ Electro becoming a dead genre. Obviously we disagree. What’s your take?
Dude what the fuck ever. first of all good songs are good songs… nothing is ever gonna stop that from being true. Second i think there are more people than ever coming out to events and getting stoked on these sounds… when ever something starts to get big or popular of course there are gonna be weak ass haters but at the end of the day artist like myself and Bloody Beetroots are playing sold out shows all over the globe and there is even cool crossover stuff happening with some of the dubstep kids like Skrillex which is all heavy banging music. i think the only reason people hate on heavy or bangin electro is because it became such a flooded genre every little crappy bedroom producer wanted to be a part of that sounds so in turn it just got to a point where there were so many really bad poorly produced songs coming out just trying to be heavy and distorted but those songs lacked the good song writing and engineering that it take to make a great club banger… how ever when a good producer comes out and drops a great well produced banging track and unleashes it on a crowd through a massive sound system and you see that crowd explode into a riot…. well you can’t really argue with that or call it “a dead genre” here are a few prime examples on video – http://lecastlevania.com/media/live-videos/ (i have a new one coming in the next week or two featuring footage from my recent Socal Tour!)
Lightning Round:
What’s Le Castle Vania’s drink of choice? Bombay Sapphire Gin and Juice
Favorite place to eat? Fox Brothers BBQ in ATL.& Umami Bruger in LA
Must have item in the Green Room? I have everything i need!