One of bass music’s finest, Sugarpill, has been on a constant journey — from playing top 40 tunes in Florida clubs and sweating balls while working in a warehouse to, now, absolutely murdering massive crowds with original firepower. A man who compares his music with the likes of a mongoose is surely on the right path to bass stardom. This glitch-fueled Headtron juggernaut—armed with bass cannons few have seen—will make your booty shake and eyes quake. And get this! He’s coming down to sunny San Diego on Oct. 29th for what is about to be one of the most Earth-shaking fiascos of the year.
Fortunately, I was able to catch up with the busy producer and discuss forthcoming releases, past experiences, and his insight into the music world. You’ll see that he’s a really down-to-earth and mild-mannered fellow but when he steps onto the stage, he undergoes some sort of Decepticon-like transformation. So y’all need to hide your kids, hide yo wife, and hide your husband cause he’s murkin’ everybody out here!
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TheMixster.com: Although I wasn’t at this year’s Coachella, your set still looked pretty damn amazing. Was the experience of playing at Coachella pivotal as an artist on the up and up or was it just another day in the life of Sugarpill?
Sugarpill: I would say that it was definitely a really important show. There’s a lot of people and a lot of energy when you get all those people together. It was particularly special because I had a lot of my friends on stage with me for that one. For some of the other bigger sets that I’ve played, that hasn’t necessarily been the case just because of the way the stages were set up and who was allowed to be there. There was definitely a lot of energy on stage.
TheMixster.com: Was it particularly different from your Burning Man experience? How would you compare the two?
Sugarpill: Well, at Burning Man people are all over the place and I never really know who I’m going to see at what particular set. But at Coachella, everybody that I knew there stayed close to the DO LAB stage and I just ended up seeing a lot of people concentrated at the same stage.
TheMixster.com: How did you end up starting working with the DO LAB?
Sugarpill: I guess friends of friends mostly. Just kinda within the same social circle in life.
TheMixster.com: In the past, you’ve collaborated with fellow bass music producers Stephan Jacobs and ChrisB. What initially drew you guys together and how have you all influenced each other’s growth?
Sugarpill: Stephan asked me to do a remix for him, about a year and a half ago. And I guess we got together in the studio because I had some trouble mixing some of it down. So I headed up to his studio and hung out with him for a little while. There was definitely a good energy between him and I in the studio and it just turned into us creating stuff. We shared some tips and tricks and stuff like that and turned it into a song.
Same kinda thing with ChrisB. I think the 3 of us, just like Gladkill and a couple other artists, have this song club thing where you share new stuff you’re working on. There’s people who can be critical and you don’t have to take offense to it. So it’s kinda what we have going and it’s really nice to be able to work off what each other is doing as you go through the process.
TheMixster.com: Do you feel like you need to vibe well with fellow producers out of the studio to be productive while in the studio?
Sugarpill: Sometimes. I think the collaboration is a really interesting thing. It’s kind of more moment to moment sometimes. Sometimes you’ll be vibing really well in the studio and maybe not outside of the studio. I mean, these are like my closest friends so there’s definitely all sorts of actual stuff that goes on between us that’s not, you know, music related. I think it plays into the vibe and how it comes out altogether.
TheMixster.com: I think it’s really cool that the proceeds from your most recent track, Trouble Blind, went to charity. And this wasn’t your first time on the Bass From Above mixtape. Why do you think it’s important to take this donation-based approach instead of simply giving away or selling the track?
Sugarpill: I think it has its place amongst just giving stuff away and also selling some of the stuff. I try and stay balanced on hitting all of those different angles. For Bass From Above Vol. 1, we raised about $1000 for the Japan Earthquake Disaster and for this one [Vol. 2]—I don’t have the exact numbers—but I believe it earned that much in the first couple of days. So it’s just really cool to be able to give back in a way that feels good with the track that didn’t really have a place on anything else. A lot of times, the compilation stuff just kinda goes off into the wayside and you never really hear about it again but with the Bass From Above you know it’s going with something that’s pretty awesome.
TheMixster.com: Yeah I think it’s a great thing that SubSynthesis is doing. Anyways, you weren’t always Sugarpill. So Evan, what was the worst job you had before starting your production career?
Sugarpill: Umm, worst job. I dunno, I worked at Starbucks for a week. That was pretty bad. Not for any other reason than they get you so hooked on coffee during your shift that on your days off you go in there and have way more coffee than you’d normally want. Before I moved out here, I used to work in a warehouse—a shipping department—with no air conditioning all summer in Florida. It was pretty rough sometimes.
TheMixster.com: What was the turning point in your life when your music career took priority over everything else?
Sugarpill: Music has always been a pretty important part of the things I do. I played in all kinds of different bands and a couple of different instruments. I played bass orchestrally. My passion for music has been around for a long time but I think moving out to CA from living in Florida really made it a lot more viable focus; where I was actually interested in what I was doing, as opposed to playing some things in Florida that were not exactly what I wanted to be doing. But out here, people just really embrace what they hear. It’s pretty exciting and I definitely have a lot more drive off of that kind of feedback.
TheMixster.com: So, your music is special in the sense that you fuse bass with glitch without losing your sense of melody. Has living in LA influenced your direction of sound?
Sugarpill: Definitely. Those were elements that I was trying to go for prior to moving out here, but I didn’t really have the embracive people at the time, like I do here in LA. It’s nice to have the positive feedback that you get from people when you’re doing those things that you want to bring together. It’s just a really powerful way to keep moving forward and to keep doing those things.
TheMixster.com: So where are you from originally? How long have you been living in LA?
Sugarpill: I lived in Florida for 14 years before I moved out here, and I’ve lived in LA for 2 ½ years now.
TheMixster.com: So was it around the time that you moved to LA, when your music career started taking off?
Sugarpill: Yeah. Prior to that, I wasn’t really that interested in putting out original music. Because living in Florida, as far as DJ stuff goes, I was doing a lot better getting booked by playing top 40 things and all sorts of other music to get a gig. But once I got out here, it’s a place where people actually wanted to hear the original stuff more than the jams that everyone else has. I didn’t really share a lot of the original stuff with people prior to coming out here.
TheMixster.com: A question that we ask all of our bass music artists: Is there another way to describe the term “Bro-step” because we hate that term?
Sugarpill: I don’t really like the term either. I don’t like the sweeping generalized terms. I think a lot of people still call it dubstep and I don’t really hear the dub influences in a lot of that music anymore. I don’t think you have to call it bro-step, you kinda know what’s happening when it’s happening, I guess.
TheMixster.com: How do you personally refer to it?
Sugarpill: When it’s like beat on your chest and chainsaw sound I definitely call it bro-step. There’s a lot more to it than that. I don’t necessarily not like that sound either. I don’t like any sound that just happens consistently over and over again for 4 hours. I’m more interested in hearing someone change it up. I definitely flipped back into some stuff that I was playing before, that I guess would be called bro-step now. It’s like that heavier in your face, kind of mediated “end of the world” sound going on there. And it’s cool, definitely. I liked it but I like to change it up too. I don’t like the term Lovestep just as much. Both those terms are not super cool for me.
TheMixster.com: If your music was a type of animal, what type would it be? And Why?
Sugarpill: Oh wow. Maybe like a mongoose combined with a wedding because it kinda gets crazy and then sometimes falls off a cliff.
TheMixster.com: I don’t think I could have put it any better haha.
Sugarpill: Haha
TheMixster.com: If you could collaborate with any 3 artists on the planet, who would they be? And why?
Sugarpill: That’s pretty tough. I’m not sure I would feel comfortable collaborating with my heroes really. I mean there are people that I’d really like to meet. I’m really into fusion jazz sometimes. I’d really like to meet Bill Bruford, who plays drums for ‘King Crimson’ and ‘Yes.’ I’m just really interested into doing poly-rhythmic drum stuff. I’d also really like to meet Tom Jenkins from Squarepusher.
TheMixster.com: In all honesty, what do you expect from the “More Champagne” collaboration between ChrisB. and Gladkill?
Sugarpill: Haha! Umm, I dunno… I’ve experienced More Champagne, so I think they are going to be continuing to do what they do. We’ve convinced them to put a lot of bottles of free champagne on their riders. So, the possibilities are endless there if you’re thinking sexy party.
TheMixster.com: Yeah. Like Steve Aoki style, right? I’m excited to see what those two do.
Sugarpill: Yeah. I think it’s going to be pretty awesome. I mean, I have a lot of fun with it and I think a lot of people do. At Burning Man, they had some pretty epic sets that people were just going crazy for. They’re very excited about it.
TheMixster.com: The style of those two mesh together really well.
Sugarpill: Definitely.
TheMixster.com: Do you have an EP coming out soon?
Sugarpill: I have a lot of new tracks. I haven’t scheduled an EP coming out soon probably because on the next one I’m thinking about releasing a bunch of tracks for free around Christmas. That’s kind of what my plan is right now. I just released one on Simplify Records and I have a tune coming out on the Acid Crunk Compilation from Muti Records and another tune coming out on Muti’s end of the year compilation. The Headtron crew is putting out a compilation that will be out in early January, as well. I think I’ll release a mini-EP with some free tunes, probably as a Christmas present.
TheMixster.com: What direction do you plan on taking your sound on those forthcoming tracks?
Sugarpill: Definitely, I’ve been getting a little more of that melodic pitch thing going on. Some of the bass sounds that I’ve been making have been going for a little more figure and delay-oriented, so it’s either like you’re in space or you’re being squished underwater. So there’s a bunch of newer sounds.
TheMixster.com: If a tourist asked you, what places in LA would you tell them to check out? Or where do you like to spend your free time outside of the studio?
Sugarpill: (Laughs) I spend a lot of time in the studio. I don’t know. When people ask me what to do in LA, it depends on what’s going on that week. Everything is so all over the place with what’s happening week to week. There are some weekends here, as far as going out and doing stuff, where I feel like it’s just like any other city where people are working on stuff. I really like Two Boots Pizza. That place is pretty awesome, in Echo Park.
TheMixster.com: Ok Evan. It was good talking with you. We are looking forward to seeing you down in San Diego at the Kava Lounge on Oct. 29th. I think it’s going to be one hell of a show.
Sugarpill: I’m pretty excited. I’ve got a lot of new stuff to bring down and try out on y’all!
Catch Evan aka SUGARPILL and the SUBversive SD crew at Kava Lounge this Saturday October 29th.
SUBversive Presents: SUGARPILL (LA) at Kava Lounge | October 29th, 2011
2812 Kettner Blvd, San Diego 92101
21+
Buy Presale tickets Here.
Keep up with Sugarpill here!!
www.sugarpillmusic.com
Sugarpill Facebook fan page
Sugarpill on Twitter
Sugarpill on Soundcloud
By: Saro
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