BT Brings His Live Set Back to LA and Rocks Electric Daisy Carnival 2010
While there was certainly no lack of superstar DJ heavyweights like Kaskade, Deadmau5, Above & Beyond and three-time reigning worldwide DJ favorite Armin Van Buuren at this year’s Electric Daisy Carnival, almost all of those aforementioned acts would cite the work of BT as a main influence. After the release of his latest album These Hopeful Machines earlier this year, the legendary producer has been itching to take his new songs on the road and couldn’t have been more excited to help close out the first night of North America’s largest dance music festival.
“It’s a hybrid thing tonight,” BT shared about his set just a few hours before he was to close out the Circuit Grounds stage. “We’ve got live drums and we’re sort of warming up for our full live tour this fall.”
“It’s gonna be a mixture of classic material, new stuff and just a real smorgasbord from many eras of my work, mixed with some things that I’m currently playing and listening to .”
While not quite the full live band that will embarking with him on his US and Australian tour layer this year, the presence of the live drums coupled with BT’s sophisticated and seamlessly mixed Laptop Symphony setup still made for something special. Unlike a lot of DJs, watching BT on stage is highly energetic stuff, which always helps in properly amping up the crowd.
“I played in punk bands in high school and stuff, so I come at this from a very performance-driven vantage point,” he explained of his on-stage fist-pumping antics. “A lot of people that make amazing records, they keep their eyes in the studio but for me I was breaking shit in bands.”
I really love getting out there because that’s like the reward. You’re there in the studio for months, or rather years for me, working on material. Then to go out and connect the dots of something that you are so passionate about with an audience and for there to be that reciprocity is sensational.
He found an eager audience that already knew the words to his latest dance floor anthems like “The Emergency” and “A Million Stars.” For those that were new to the BT experience, the massive spectacle of the festival proved the perfect place to feature his new material.
“The most exciting thing is playing in an environment where you know there’s the potential for a lot of conversions,” he said. “When you see people react to the material that they haven’t heard before, that’s the best feeling.”
Taking in the grandeur of Electric Daisy Carnival, BT was a admittedly awestruck but was also excited to see so many fresh faces coming out and getting in to electronic music like never before.
“Something like this is really exciting and it’s amazing to watch dance music culture growing at the exponential rate that it’s growing at in this country,” he said. “I think the real tipping point has been electro-house music infiltrating the hip-hop community and now suddenly everyone is interested in dance music.”
BT’s fans will be especially interested to know that when the producer launches his full-scale live assault in the US, he’s also got a special edition of These Hopeful Machines planned to coincide with the tour.
“We’re doing a repackage of These Hopeful Machines and it’s literally going to be four CDs and come in a coffee table box as a piece of art,” he revealed. “It’s coming out when the tour happens and there will be seventy remixes and re-interpretations of the songs and I literally hand-picked every one. From artists like Armin Van Buuren to Hamock and then some of these guys that are A-list remixers and bands.”
"There are a lot of tracks that I wrote for this album that I never completely finished and there will be some demos and some works in progress too. We’re even talking about doing something interesting - a book of my Tweets with some Twit pictures too."
While a book of someone’s Tweets may not sound like a compelling read, one need only to check out the overflowing amount of positivity and overwhelming gratitude that BT shares with his fans on a daily basis to see why such a project would make perfect sense, especially for his core fans.
I have such an interesting audience. A large part of them are artists. They’re visual, animator-types, and I feel this incredible sense of responsibility to provide some inspiration for them.
After the final notes of “The Emergency” had echoed through the night, those that decided to take the ride with BT had been treated to ample inspiration from one of the best. But ever the perfectionist, this condensed set is only the beginning for this rejuvenated artist as the rest of 2010 promises even bigger things for BT. But whether it’s the ensuing tour, a special edition of his latest album or an upcoming vocal collaboration with the world’s number one DJ, Armin Van Buuren, no matter what project BT decides to put his signature stamp on, the results will always be timeless, no matter how long they may take.
“I like to create something that’s both evocative for the audience but leaves people feeling that one degree different then when they came in. Most of all, I want people to leave feeling uplifted. That’s it. That’s why I do this.”
Surf: www.btmusic.com
Follow: twitter.com/bt
Photos By: Smash LeFunk
BT your music is truly deep and inspiring. most music usually doesnt vibrate throughout our eardrums and fill our heads with sound but your music does. it takes you on incredible journeys, and lets you look at a whole new walk of life. Listen im a musician myself, a prodigy like you. i may not have the equipment to really perfect the depth of sound i wish to express, but i try. do you have any tips for some whose trying to make their name in the world of music like you did?
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