Please tell our readers who you are and what you do?
My name is Tyler, I am a Drum & Bass Artist producer/dj under the name of DFly (short for dragonfly). Born and raised in the (216) Cleveland, Ohio but I currently reside in South Carolina. I'm currently 30 years of age, but started mixing when I was just 13 years old. At around the year 2005 I started dabbling in production, only to develop it much further. I have now been producing original for about 11 years. In that time I was the original founding member of the drum & bass duo, LIMINAL. There is a pretty decent release history under that name. Everything till the Scientia release with NC17 is my work, including on track on Formation feat ma low called Heartbeat. In 2015 I ended my side of the project and backed out of the group due to many conflicts between my music partner and I at the time. In 2016 I launched my solo production project DFly. Since then I have been added to the Schedule One Recordings roster as an artist, and engineer. I not only do the merchandising and design, I also take care of mixing and mastering for the label as well.
How would you describe your influences and how have they changed over the years? Do you feel that changing tastes over years as artistic growth? ?
Initially when I was first exposed to electronic music, it was mostly Progressive Trance, Techno, Big Beat, etc. It took me years to find drum&bass. My first exposure to electronic music initially was The Crystal Method. Absolutely entranced by those sounds, I saw the movie Groove, and that was it. My love for the underground was solidified. A couple years pass and I purchased a copy of Aphrodites self titled album, Moving Shadow's 01.2 mixed by Rob Playford (Timecode and CEO of Moving Shadow) and last but not least, a copy of The 6th Session by Dieselboy. In the early to mid 2000's I played some gigs and moved on as an artist. As I grew I really took a liking to liquid and dance floor styles of drum&bass. Now in 2015 I have an affinity towards very sound design heavily influenced sounds as well as halftime/ psy glitch type stuff. Which Ironically there isn't a whole lot of in drum&bass. As far as new artists go I do spend some time diggin on soundcloud, but mostly through word of mouth and suggestions from respected peers. DnB is a pretty tight community, so the quality of music in order to be passed along typically has to be top notch. The standards for dnb are set high to maintain quality, so you may run into good tunes, but the mixes need lots of work, which leads to not taking on an artist.
What´s new right now?
Right now I have some tunes I'm working on for a solo album. This album may be released on Schedule One Recordings, but there is potential for a new label to being created and that the album may go on that. As far as current releases, I have a few tracks on Schedule One Recordings, Noisy Drums, Flex UK, and have an up n coming release on a Summer Formation Records compilation with veteran artist PISH POSH.
As for the future, for whatever reason I am not being booked currently, but am always taking gigs. I would like to soon be using the STEM track players and be DJING stems soon. Other than that, you can catch me playing on CDJ's or Turntables (depending on the promoters preference for the event.)
Also as an artist I considering myself very spiritually and almost visionary centered. For all those psy kids, and the psychonauts that enjoy drumnbass, be sure to check out my sounds.. I draw so much of my music from the deep trips, and will soon be going on an ayahuasca journey to find even more of myself as an artist… Be sure to stay tuned…
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What was the biggest mistake you made when you started making music and what would be the number one tip you could give to a newcomer musician?
Drama. Don't get involved with scene drama. Stay out of it, Stay positive, help people, and make great music.
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How do you get gigs? Can you share any tips?
I'm not really getting any myself, but id suggest getting an agent. Without an agent or local promoter support, Good fucking luck.
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What has been your biggest challenge right now? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?
Time. Time is so crucial to being able to do this. Whether you want to do this professionally or as a hobby, its only fun if you're good. And to get good takes a lot of time. Right now with a full day job, its extremely hard to find the necessary time to compete.
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How do you promote yourself? Do you have any specific promotion tips for other musicians?
As of right now to me, the only way of promoting that seems viable is paid advertising. Otherwise there's just too much noise on social platforms.
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We meet again in one year. What has changed?
I have no idea. But I'd like to have my online mixing and mastering service up and running, as well as some gigs, a solo album, and new label merch out. I also would like to get a couple ayahuasca ceremonies under my belt and dive deep into my personal artistry to press some boundaries in drumnbass.
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http://www.facebook.com/dflymzk
http://www.facebook.com/dflymzk
Tweets by DFLYMZK
http://www.facebook.com/tyler.dflymzk
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Enter your questions to the artist in the facebook comment section below.
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