Na een paar interviews met artiesten van andere stijlen, is het weer tijd voor een Hardcore-interview! Deze keer met de label-eigenaar van Signal Flow: David Flores, beter bekend als Broken Rules. Ook deze is in het Engels.

1. Tell us, how did it all start for you?

I got into electronic music back in 1992. I would hear tapes from my older brother and his friends, and I wondered what this sound was. Sure enough it was techno, house and hardcore, but not the stuff I was used to listening to on the radio. Back then I was a little  kid but I still listened to rap, but once I heard this type of music I was hooked and I would borrow as many tapes as I possibly could (and sometimes never returning them, haha) and just listen to the music on my walkman. Then around 1996 is when I started Djing, I played a lot of Chicago house and techno back then. I started to play Hardcore around 1998. as well and then started producing in 2000. From there on it just started growing for me.

2. Why, of all EDM styles, did you ‘choose’ Industrial hardcore?

Industrial hardcore wasn´t my first choice, when I first got into producing music it was mostly techno. As my tastes changed I chose industrial hardcore because of my love of techno and fusing these 2 genres together for me seemed natural, as you can hear it in a lot of my productions today. The music for me is and was different which caught my ear.

3. For the ones who haven´t seen you yet, how would you define your sound and your live performance?

I would descibe my sound as hardcore techno these days, not so much “industrial”, but people would say otherwise. I hate putting my sound into one genre, but if it has to be “industrial” so be it. I like to mix techno, hard techno, industrial and even old chicago house loops together into my live sets. I also wouldn´t call my sets so much “live” as I play other peoples music aswell, but I guess when you´re using a laptop and controllers live on stage they consider it “live”. But I say it´s just a live/dj hybrid set.

4. How do you experience the hardcorescene in the USA, if we may call it a scene??

Well here in L.A. there is a hardcore scene, at least I guess you would call it that. We have raves every weekend and I´m aware that there are hardcore rooms at those parties. There are also a handful of promoters that do hardcore parties, but they´re nothing compared to Holland and most of the time it´s still a mix of different but harder genres. The mainstream sound is what´s popular here like most places. Lately I´ve been seeing more big acts from Holland come out which is good I guess, but for the mainstream side. There´s not many promoters pushing the industrial/underground sound. I hope to start doing my own parties sometime. I´ve actually been planning something in the background: a Signal Flow event in L.A. which will be small and underground. I want to bring good industrial/hardcore acts that we rarely get to see here in L.A. but I don´t want to give more details than that at the moment

5. No migration plans to holland, as many other harder styles DJ’s did?

I´ve actually thought about it but honestly: I love L.A. All my friends are here, my family, mexican food, great beer and weather, it will be hard to leave! So at the moment no plans to leave.

6. Why don´t we often see you in collaborations? If so, who would you like to work with?

I´ll only do collabs, if an artist will ask me, but then sometimes it depends on our schedules. In the past I´ve only done collabs with Fiend, Tymon, and Lenny Dee, maybe there will be more in the future. I would love to work with N-Vitral & Dep Affect as their sound closely fits what I´m into.

7. As we can hear in your livesets, you tend to use a lot of elements from different tracks and blend them into one. Could we see this as your trademark?

Yeah like I was saying about my live/dj sets I like to use all sort of genres. I like taking loops and mashing them together with other tracks, and making my own remixes on the fly, it´s fun to do and when you use a recognizable sample, the crowd gets more into it. Maybe it is my trademark, but I don´t think I´m the only guy doing it.

8. You mix digitally. Do you still come across controverses or hardships because you´re not the usual vinyl DJ?

I always see peolpe online criticizing DJs because they´re not using vinyl and to be honest I´m over it. People love to talk shit online behind their computers, it´s always been that way. I don´t care if a DJ uses vinyl or digital, as long as he can rock a show it´s cool, just don´t be fake about it. When I play a show and I see people dancing to my set, I don´t think they´re worried about me not playing vinyl. I personally like to use technology to my advantage, and mixing with Ableton Live or Traktor, it lets me be in full control of what I want to do and I can be as creative as I want. I still collect vinyl these days, I don´t buy new records, but I like to go to shops and dig through old stuff and find those gems that I could never find back in the day.

9. Are you getting tired of travelling? Wouldn´t it just be easier to choose a style that could give you more bookings closer to home?

Well if the scene in LA was like it is in Europe that would be a major plus, but I like going to Europe and checking out different places when I can. I´m not always flying to Holland every weekend, but I´ve been going every year for the last 5 years so I can´t complain

10. You also run your own label “Signal Flow”. What does the label stand for, and what can we expect from it in the future?

I started Signal Flow to showcase my own productions and styles that I like. I don´t want it to be just a hardcore or industrial label, I want to release all sorts of styles that I´m into. I didn´t start the label to get big or to be a top label, I just wanted a medium where I can release whatever I want. So don´t expect all industrial hardcore; my taste changes and so will the label. Who knows, maybe down the line it will turn into a deep house label, haha.

11. In January this year, you started your own monthly Signal Flow Podcast, with mixes from you and guest-DJs. How did you come to the idea? And what are your thoughts of it after the first three ones?

I came to the idea because I´m subscribed to some podcasts and none of them showcased any hardcore or industrial music. Or at least the style that I´m into. So coming from the idea of my label Signal Flow which is to put out music that I´m into, I decided to start the podcast. So far the response has been very well and I hope to get a lot more mixes from the DJs I´ve asked. I will be doing my own mixes of course but there will also be mixes from special guests and not only in the hardcore genre, so you can expect a lot of different styles and just cool music.

12. To what other kinds of music do you listen in your spare time? Can that also be heared in your own stuff?

I´m a techno head, techno was my first love and I listen to it every day (more than hardcore, haha) so if you know my tracks you can hear a lot of techno influence. I also like to listen to all sorts of styles like Drum n Bass, Dubstep, House, Jazz, Punk, Industrial, old Electro (not Electro House!), Classic Rock, Oldschool Hip Hop, underground Hip Hop, and so on….I´ll listen to almost anything, just not so much pop music and happy hardcore, hehe.

13. What is your favourite record-label at this moment?

To be honest I don´t have a favourite label at the moment, a lot of the music I find is from so many different labels it´s hard to just narrow it down to a single one. Plus I´m also playing a lot of older tracks again, because lately there just hasn´t been a whole lot of releases that I like. Is that bad?

14. There have been many discussions about the future of Hardcore. What are your personal thoughts? And where do you see yourself in for example 10 years?

This is a tough one….I look at hardcore the past 10 years and I hear the changes it has gone through, productions have gotten better, more complex (because of technology) different styles emerged and I guess in the future that will just keep happening. We will see different genres, productions will sound different, new artists will emerge, and I hope the more underground styles will be more respected aswell. As for myself in 10 years, I will still be producing and hopefully travelling the world playing my music, be it hardcore, techno or whatever, I just want to do what I love to do.

15. Are you a hardware or software producer, or both? And what kind of equipment do you use?

I´m mostly a software producer, with a couple of hardware synths and compressors. I produce mostly all my tracks in FL Studio (sometimes Cubase or Ableton) and I use that along my Roland Jp8080 and Alpha Juno-2 synths, and sometimes use my Focusrite and TC Electronic compressors for adding some character to a particular sound. But for vsts and what not I use a lot of Native Instruments software (Kore2, Maschine, Massive, FM8, Reaktor, etc.) and I have a UAD-1 dsp card which have awesome plugins. I also use Waves, T-Racks, PSP, D16, Audio Damage and so many others.

16. As an artist who has performed arounf the world, have you experienced any differences between crowds?

Well most of my world experience has been Europe and I´ve noticed the difference in crowds between countries. Holland of course has the biggest crowds but not everyone is dancing….maybe it´s because of my music I dunno, but France, Belgium and Germany seem to have a smaller more intimate crowd which usually makes for more exciting parties that´s not all just a big show. The bigger parties like Defqon, Qbase, Thunderdome, etc are definitely fun parties and they put on spectacular shows, but a lot of times I find myself having more fun at the smaller more intimate parties.

17. Anything else you wish to add?

Thank you for the interview! I hope it was insightful for everyone! Be on the look out for more Signal Flow podcasts, Signal Flow releases and Broken Rules music! As well as more sample packs in the near future! You can also  find me on Facebook, Soundcloud, Myspace (anyone uses Myspace anymore?? haha) and my sites of course.

www.signal-flow.com www.broken-rules.com

PEACE!!

Door: Jussi Ripson & Guido de Beer