Calm Before The Storm

Figure, aka Josh Gard, is emerging as the next US dubstep superstar. But the DJ/producer couldn't come from an unlikelier place – Evansville, Indiana. What's more, he's still based there. “It's really calm,” Gard reveals. “There's not too much of a music scene. I didn't really have the Internet growing up, so I have no clue how I got into what I got into – being that where I grew up has nothing to do with any of this [dance music]. Barely any shows happened or anything. It's more of a really small city, just with a local punk scene – that's all that was ever there. Well, actually, [laughs] we got rated the most obese city in America twice!”

The (lanky) Gard was originally into hip hop before discovering the big beat of The Prodigy, their music also sample-heavy. He'd end up championing a harder “electro-house” (or “bassline wobble house,” as he once dubbed it in a blog interview). But then Gard was exposed to dubstep – and it was “love”. “I heard hip hop stuff in all the dubstep – it reminded me of hip hop beats. I just felt like it pulled me more than electro-house did, 'cause it reminded me of what my roots were – just like heavy beats and stuff.” The Beatport fave, who has his own label in Doom Music, has issued buzzworthy singles, among them Dominate, and the hot Monsters Of Drumstep comps. In January he commenced an album project, laying down 25 to 30 tracks. Yet Gard now feels they'd better suit EPs, the recordings not fitting together as an LP. “I kinda like the idea of installments or chapter, like a comic book,” he ponders. The DJ adds, “I will do an album – I just didn't feel like right now would be an album time.” Gard recently uploaded another popular track, The Brink.

The horror movie 'nerd' hopes to eventually score films – and video games. “I download more soundtracks for movies than I do, say, electronic albums. It just interests me, 'cause that's the real sound engineering… I mean, you can put a drum loop behind a collection of synths, but to score something is a whole other world.”

Skrillex largely introduced dubstep to the US mainstream, and though Gard, pioneering drumstep (a hybrid of jungle and dubstep), has a distinct (filthier!) style, he admires the Californian phenom for his humility. “You would think, going that far, it would get to you a little bit – [but] he always has a huge smile on his face, he's always really positive.”

Gard has contemplated leaving Evansville. He does enjoy “big cities”. “I think about it a lot – me and my girlfriend actually were considering moving to Nashville or something like that.” The Big Apple has its appeal, too. “If I lived in New York, it'd be great 'cause I could ride my bike everywhere. Here, it's separated by highways. Basically, you have to have a car here – there's, like, two buses in the entire city. I can't ride my bike, only for exercise.” However, Gard gets his taste of the Big Smoke when travelling, and he appreciates returning to the River City's “calm”.

At any rate, Gard is amped about his first Australian tour as a late – and exciting – addition to Creamfields. For one, he'll finally hang out with his 'online' Melbourne buddy Nick Thayer. What can we expect? “I try to play mostly my own music – three fourths of it is normally my own music. I just constantly switch it up. I don't like to stay in one 'genre' for too long. I like to switch BPMs and keep the energy, not just steady, but constantly changing. So it's just a really energetic – like right-to-left – show the whole time. I have a great time when I DJ, so I think that reflects back on the crowd. I really play music for people. I think it translates back to the audience, and it just turns into a fun dance party.”