“I think it was that wish I made when I lost that eyelash in ‘09,” Hooks says, when asked what the catalyst was for their phenomenal run. “Dropping out of school, quitting my job and putting everything I had into it,” DC adds.
The boys might love a joke, but music is one thing they take very seriously. Formerly producing as the hip hop influenced Mass Productions, the boys did an about-turn and launched Zeds Dead in 2009, a dubstep hybrid that Kissy Sellout has called “the future of genres…Flipping genius.”
While DC and Hooks don’t believe there was any catalyst for the genre jump and name change in 2009, a gig did change their perception of what dubstep could be.
“I remember when I saw Stenchman play a show, and it was the first time I realised that dubstep could be party music,” DC says. “He had the place going crazy! Before then I thought it was more just to chill and burn one to.”
Zeds Dead played their first live set at The Social in Toronto on June 11, 2009. In September 2010, they launched a weekly party called Bassmentality – alongside The Killabits – which is renowned for hosting top international talents such as Nero, Skrillex, Borgore and Plastician as well as weekly performances from Zeds Dead and The Killabits. Despite an increasingly hectic touring schedule, the boys still have time to involve themselves with the popular club night.
“We just played our party for the first time in maybe half a year and it was amazing! That rowdy atmosphere hasn’t changed at all,” Hooks says. “I Love Bassmentality, it will always feel like home for me,” adds DC. “It is hard to stay really involved with the party while on the road but we always have an eye on it in some way or another.”
In November 2010, Kissy Sellout’s taste-making label, San City High, released the duo’s first official single, Rudeboy, which included vocals from Omar LinX, a Toronto-based rapper who has worked on several of Zeds Dead’s releases and has been working on an EP with the duo. Zeds Dead have been working simultaneously on Adrenaline, a heavily dubstep-oriented EP, as well as a free mixtape and EP featuring Omar.
“Yeah, Omar’s family. We’ve all been making music together for years,” says Hooks. “I’m really excited about the work we’re doing together right now,” says DC. “We’ve been in the studio pretty much 24/7 since we got back from our last tour and I think it will really show in the material we release over the next few months.”
The guys don’t seem to have problems balancing their status as producers with the demands of touring. The Graveyard Tour, which launched September 2011, boasted over 70 dates throughout Canada and the US.
“Making music for us is not an option but a necessity. We’ll find a way wherever we are, be it on a plane, hotel, whatever,” comments Hooks. “I fiend for it like a crack pipe.” DC is quick to agree.
Their first Australian tour as Zeds Dead is impending, and the lads are excited for the visit. “I’m looking forward to the shows and the weather,” says Hooks. “The 24 hour flight there, not so much.” He also comments that the worst thing about touring is the travel and the lack of sleep, but that the euphoric felling of losing himself on stage is incomparable. Punters should prepare themselves for some crazy, bassy, sweaty fun.
“One time I told the tech guy I needed a power bar or I couldn’t play (for plugging in my computer) and ten minutes later he came running in with a bag of power bars from the grocery store (the food kind),” Hooks laughs.
“[Another time] two guys got into a brawl in front the DJ booth, pulled out the audio cables and got tossed out of the club with the cables wrapped around their arms,” he says.
When asked where they would like Zeds Dead to be this time next year, it’s clear that these guys aren’t the types to stagnate.
“I would like to see us do a cool film score like Drive,” says Hooks.
“Yeah, “agrees DC. “I definitely see us producing music for all types of people and projects. Whether it is an awesome singer or a video game, I’m down for whatever.”
BY REUBEN ADAMS
