BASSNECTAR

Basshead

Lorin Ashton is at the root of one of the best bass music projects thrashing the dance music scene – Bassnectar. The American DJ and producer has “never been a mass marketed artist”, nor has he “been relevant in the mainstream” but he has a gigantic and dedicated fan bass and is certainly delivering the goods. ANNABEL MACLEAN chats with the friendly long-haired lad ahead of his Boiler Stage set at Big Day Out.

Bassnectar makes you want to head thrash, dance and lose your shit – but more importantly, in a friendly and communal manner. Bassnectar fans are happy, generally considerate and so excited to witness the mayhem which comes with a Bassnectar live show. It’s wild, nothing like you’ve seen before and filled with raw energy – a complete auditory adventure that holds no limits. It’s something which the man behind the project – Lorin Ashton – has been mastering since the age of 12 when he started making music and is not about to stop.

An ambitious lad, Ashton does, however, thrive on those spontaneous moments in life which makes all he does worthwhile. One only needs to check out his Facebook page to see his love for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, well, more so the motivational one-liners which the movie has to offer. “It is the quote that I wanted to share more than the movie - ‘life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it’,” he says, having just arrived in New Zealand, talking about the clip from the film which sits on his Facebook wall. “That’s the ethos around my resolutions for this year, enjoying all the curveballs in life because it goes by really fast.
“My main resolution is to constantly give thanks for my life: every moment, even the weird moments and challenging moments. It is all a big piece of a priceless puzzle.” But, as for making sure the first 100 year old person was in attendance at his Nashville 2011/12 New Year’s Eve all ages gig (a proposal posted on his website ahead of the show), Ashton can’t confirm that the goal was reached. “It was off the fucking hook,” he says of the gig. “We sold out over 10,000 tickets six weeks in advance of the show. It was like a giant bowl of humans surrounding each other and the energy was electric! As for any bass grandpas - I was too busy to check (laughs).”
As for 2012’s productions and tours, Ashton’s got a pretty big year ahead. After releasing Divergent Spectrum last year and more recently a remix album of the record featuring the likes of The Glitch Mob and Aoki on remix duties, Ashton says he’s currently sitting on “hundreds of unfinished projects”. “I just put the finishing touches on the next Bassnectar EP entitled Vava Voom due out [in] spring 2012,” he says. “It has some reinterpretations of older songs (a 10 year birthday remix of Laughter Crescendo which I wrote in 2002) and a brand new song featuring Lupe Fiasco.”
Ashton is headed for Miami and then Brazil after playing Big Day Out here before kicking off the Vava Voom Spring Tour. “Ultra Music [Festival, Miami] basically kicks off three and a half months of straight touring into the summer,” he says. “We will be on the road without a break until June, then after two weeks off we will tour straight through to November, like last year. It is kind of bizarre how fucking rigorous, yet familiar this process is.”
But, it’s a familiar process which attracts serious fans and one which Ashton himself loves. “The weird part is that it has become so natural and seamless, that I am almost more comfortable during the moment of a show than anywhere else,” he says of his hardcore touring schedule. “I remember when I was walking out on stage [at Red Rocks] and looking up the mountain at 10,000 people staring down, all screaming wildly, and I thought to myself how strange it was that I wasn’t nervous. I have a great team and we exist to co-create the most intense experiences possible. So it is less about one experience sticking out and more about all of them combining into a steady creative flow.”
Unlike the uninformed person who edited his Wikipedia page, Ashton says Red Rocks 2011 wasn’t a disaster, however, he doesn’t deny the Wiki rumour that he declared online he was going to bring his own speakers to the concert ahead of the gig and was consequently fined after the gig for doing so. “Wikipedia is a great idea but it’s never a reliable source of correct information,” he says. “We had an amazing show at Red Rocks last year; it sold out almost instantly and was one of the highlights of the year without a hitch. Colorado is a very special place.”
As for his set at Big Day Out this weekend, punters can expect to hear Bassnectar originals, the man himself remixing other artists and vice versa. “I started making music when I was 12 years old and was in death metal bands all through high school,” he says. “Part of the appeal of exploring electronic music was the ability to do everything myself but after a while doing that, I missed the resonance of being in a band. Now, I prefer collaborations to anything else, even if it is just swapping songs or remixes. I love remixing anything and I am constantly remixing myself anyways.
“I am just so fucking excited to bring my sound to this legendary festival. Last time we were in Perth, [we played] a tiny little room packed to the gills with a frenzy of people. I am so excited to return and I love all the stories I have heard of the Boiler Room so I am just going to go absolutely buck wild and play my favourite music!”