Passion Of The Dubstep

25 May 2012 | 10:16 am | Andy Snelling

"He who’s name shalt not be mentioned – starts with S, ends with X, only because everyone else hates and we don’t want to be left off the hater wagon," is JesusDied4Dubstep's Craig Alexander's response when asked who he'd like to nail to a cross.

Firstly, what bought about this particularly sacrilegious brand? Is dubstep a dirty, dirty sin?
Actually it strongly lacks a deeper meaning and has no blasphemous connotations. Myself and one of the other founders were trying to conjure up a name and eventually a friendly argument manifested itself in which I said “You're just slightly altering my suggestions”, he responded: “Your mother alters my suggestions.” To which I said, “Your mother died for dubstep”, which naturally led to “JESUSDIED4DUBSTEP”. We both cracked up laughing and went with that.

Dubstep has had plenty of mainstream success in recent times, do you think it will stand the test of time?
We will keep up to date with the genre as it evolves and we strongly believe unlike certain genres in the past it will withstand the test of time given its diversity and ever-growing fan base. JD4D will advance the genre provided it continues at the level of quality we like to provide to our family.

Will the label be focusing on strictly dubstep acts?
Our main focus is dubstep, given it is how we started and forms part of our name. That said, once we have established our presence on the major online charts we will have releases in all other EDM genres.

You've accumulated some 55,000 YouTube subscribers and 35,000 Facebook likes over two years, what would you put that success down to?
Grinding, then grinding a bit more, just before we sleep we fit in a little more grinding then wake up during the night to further grind. In all seriousness we started when there was little available guidance and made sure we did everything properly, even at the cost of others advancing to ensure the long term stability of JD4D.

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Do you think it's representative of the support out there for the genre or something more?
JD4D has never, ever, diverged from its initial goal in helping the best underrated artists achieve deserved recognition. We have made thousands of friends across the world as part of the movement and always focused heavily on interaction with the supporters, it's what's separated JD4D from all other promotional channels and why we refer to our fan base as family, as they are exactly that.

How will the new label operate?
The focus of the label is to further our means in supporting the artists by being able to provide them monetary gains for their efforts and allow greater exposure for both themselves and JD4D. The best part is the huge amount of support from other major labels and YouTube promotional channels such as Monstercat Media (200,000 subscribers).

The label's first release has been with Perth producer Killafoe, what attracted you to this release?
It's… Killafoe – man's a beast yo! Seriously his production stature is superior and given we're a Perth run label there is no one more appropriate than both a local boy and a close friend.

Which dubstep artist would you have nailed to the cross?
He who's name shalt not be mentioned – starts with S, ends with X, only because everyone else hates and we don't want to be left off the hater wagon.

Does Australia have what it takes to represent and advance the genre internationally?
Yes, we have full intentions as an Australian-run label to heavily promote the best of the Aussies! Let's not forget names like Pendulum/Knife Party, Shockone, Filth Collins, Kito and more. Some of the scenes best have come from Australia and names like Killafoe, J.Nitrous, F3tch and Get More will be the next world-recognised producers.

JesusDied4Dubstep launch their label at Shape Friday 1 June