
Drum & bass producer Dstar has been making dubstep for a while now under the Down Jones alias and he's just released his a dubstep album and is about to launch p5, a new dubstep label. We quizzed him on this and also what's happening with his drum & bass label Gasm too, check it out...
Please introduce yourself...
Drewstar, aka Dstar aka Down Jones aka Joust Williams aka Drue Blood. I'm currently running the D&B label Gasm Recordings, prepping to launch the Dubstep label p5 Records and, of course, continuing to put out as much music I can under whatever alter ego comes out in the lab!
Why are you setting up the p5 label?
Couple cats in my crew and beyond are making the sickest original sound in dubstep. It's already being caned by the greats, so we decided to do it right. We're building our catalog while we get the releases ready to hit the world with consistent, quality releases to land us right on the map.
Basically, keeping it in-house, branding our own sound and maintaining our ever-growing fan base with exclusive tunes for sale, for free, mixes, videos, and other merch available directly through p5records.com.
Why is it called p5?
Kind of a play on what people would assume it is: "Philly5" (for the original first five brains who developed this label). Truth is it's actually based on the "purple 5 conspiracy". Theorists have claimed that when America changed their money and the 'purple' five dollar bills came out it was a sign that we're moving toward the "Amero", hence a step closer to the 2012 prophecies.
Down Jones, my dubstep alter ego, gets the name from our facade of an economy (following the news referral to our Dow Jones stock market as the 'Down Jones') and so it makes sense.... that when taking over the world we're going to collect our billions in Purple 5's... silly style. That's what I love about dubstep culture, it's do what the fuck you want, this is what I'm giving , it's the shit, take it or leave it.
Who is involved with running it?
P5 is the brainchild of ENDBOSS, Beastmode and myself, Down Jones. We've recently joined forces with American Rebel and MC Khalief Khadafi but the overall planning of each release, artwork, remix material, etc. is done as a collaboration of each artist's personal input.
What's the ethos behind the label?
Warrior tribe ethos. Each of us has our own unique sounds which ultimately combine our ruff 'n' rugged backgrounds with hints of purple, glitch, depth and grime...
Who else will release on the label besides yourself?
The bad mon taking names in the production world right now is my long time friend ENDBOSS who has an album, an EP, and several singles already set forth exclusively for p5. We've promoted several such as Big Trouble and Sour Patch which were just some warm-ups. His name is already being dropped in forums around the globe next to greats like Skream and Datsik.
Beastmode is DnB o.g. Mason's moniker as well, who has already peppered the market with his tunes and sick series of p5 tracks. We have gigantic remixes under our belts that will draw the hype needed upon the label launch to in turn allow us to hit the ground running and stay dead-on with our attention-gripping release schedule. Not to mention the collabs with MCs Armanni Reign, Sharpness, & Diggadee as well as production collab with Atlantic Connection!
Got any p5 singles you can tell us about?
Fook yeah! Available in the fall is Down Jones' Torn Apart, which will feature a massive remix from the mighty Mt. Eden. Also landing gargantuan reviews was Endboss' Big Trouble, only to be followed by his Broka remix for Saints and Sinners. Beastmode's latest monster is the remix of Forever Young that's featured on his latest p5 mix "Beast from the East".
Can you tell us more about your new album on Foul Play...
Yeah, Dumb It Down is my raw outlet at 140, with different flavors here and there. I was able to come through and collab with some of my best friends and the world's finest such as Armanni Reign, ENDBOSS, Mad Cobra, 6blocc, Hulk, Prolific, Project Midnight, the wicked vocalist Apollo, and even Zardonic on post mastering.
Tell us about The Adversary Series release on Gasm...
Back on the map with this first set of our long awaited releases.... this six song series has serious richness from the likes of Noah D, Mason, the Mental Sharp boys, Perpetuum, Chino, along with rude vibes from DJunya & Neglect. Adversary Vol. 3 The Cracken has just come out. The hype around this is to launch our store hosting this series, and as much of our archive as we have access to for all your digging purposes an all the requests we've had! We've revamped the gasmrecordings.com music section to be a convenient store of exclusives and free tunes before they will be available on iTunes, Juno, etc.
Anything else you're doing you want to tell us about?
I'm touring the UK and Europe this fall so I'll be reaching out... contact Robyn Chaos: [email protected]!
Also, If u haven't copped the Dstar & Mason remix of Ultralight next to R.A.W.'s, you are missing out! Available on supacrucial.com, and stay tuned on Gasm for remixes from Dylan, Gremlinz, Mutt, and a debut from our 15-year-old prodigy Psylock.
Yeasayer o.n.e.(DOWN JONES & ENDBOSS rmx) by ENDBOSS
BABY (Down Jones RMX) by dstar
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