Alderox. Laying It Down With Heavy-Bass In Columbus, Ohio.
Let's Share This Monsoon Season News!
Michael Anderson, who goes by the alias of Alderox coming in hot from Columbus, Ohio. Sharply breaking necks and turning heads, this guys music is a full-on audio assault. The Midwest has a diamond in their possession and it looks to be getting brighter and more detailed as it becomes clearer. The future can safely say it’s taken care of.
Please welcome Alderox to the ever-growing storm!
Q1: Welcome! Where did the Alderox project come from? Take us back to the beginning in regards to decision to make music, and down to the name!
A1: Thank you for having me, it’s an honor!! The name Alderox actually was the name I chose when I re-branded myself a couple months ago, originally I was under the name “Maytrix” since 2014 and I will go more in depth with that.
It all started when I was a junior in high school during 2013, I had already been listening to a lot of EDM that was popular, mainly progressive house and big room house along with some trap artists and at the time I really didn’t know what I was going to do in the future after high school. I was raised in music, I come from a line of singers and musicians but a music career never really struck my interest because I was an athlete. However that all changed one day when I came across a student playing with virtual DJ on his MacBook, I had a rush of curiosity come over me and I instantly wanted to know more! After a couple months of playing with DJing apps on my phone and virtual dj on my PC, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to become an EDM dj and eventually make my own music, and that’s where the Alderox name was born! It was just a combination of letters that to me sounded cool so I just went with it! I would spend some days in my computer graphics class working on creating melodies in the FL Studio piano roll and I would familiarize myself with FL Studio, so when I would get home I would have learned something new, I even made my own logo in a digital imaging class I was taking! After high school I enrolled in online classes at an EDM school called Dubspot, where I was taught the fundamentals of DJing up to advanced DJing by DJ Shiftee & DJ Endo. I also took a course called Music Foundations, which was all kinds of music theory and how to produce a track from the ground up, and those classes I think really gave me the edge I needed to get where I am today!
I got to a point where I felt like the name Alderox didn’t have much meaning to it, and I changed my name to Maytrix because with my last name being Anderson, there were a lot of people who would refer to me as “Mr. Anderson”, I thought that was funny so I went with that name for about 6 years while I was playing shows and working my way from the ground up in the local scene, all the way to sharing the stage with many big name artists like Skism, Black Tiger Sex Machine, Svdden Death and Funtcase just to name a few.
Recently I re-branded myself back to Alderox, because there were other artists with the same name and brand so I needed to switch to a name that only I have, and now I’m just picking up where I left off with the Maytrix project and I’m super excited to see what the future will bring!
Q2: Who has been the biggest inspiration in your musical journey thus far?
A2: For this question I can actually mention a couple people;
a) Tronmusic: Tyler Harris a.k.a “Tronmusic” was the first local DJ in Columbus that I met. I met him through my brother being friends with him and also because we worked in the same restaurant together. He had a different style of music but he was a big influence to me because he taught me about DJing before I took the Dubspot classes and before I ever played at a house party or a show in a venue.
b) Martin Garrix: I can mention him because at the time and also before I started music, I would listen to his music a lot and I would watch his live DJ sets all the time. I thought it was fascinating how a guy two weeks older than me could be playing on main stages at 18 years old, and I think that alone was very inspiring for me and motivated me to really commit to music and make it a reality, because I knew then with enough dedication and hard work I can make it happen for myself.
c) Skism: This one is a little different than the others because Skism didn’t really inspire me to be a music producer, but rather the best DJ that I can be. Since I saw Skism for the first time and opened for him I’ve been very impressed with how he delivers his live DJ sets, the amount of preparation and detail that goes into how he mixes, and then how he delivers it is just crazy to me. I have been inspired by him for years to not only be the best performer that I can be, but the best mixer that I can be, mashing up 2-4 tracks at once and doubling tracks to create an even crazier drop to get the crowd hype. To me, there’s no dubstep DJ out there that can spin better than Skism, to me he’s always gonna take the crown, and I’ve always been inspired by how advanced he is on the decks and how he delivers his live sets.
d) Excision: Excision is probably my biggest inspiration but I couldn’t go without mentioning the other artists. Excision changed my life in a nutshell, completely reshaped my taste in electronic music and inspired me to become a bass-music artist. I started listening to Excision around 2011 but never got to see him live until 2013 on his executioner tour, and that’s when everything changed. Excision inspired me to be the artist that I still am today, and to create the music I still want to create for years to come. Who he is as a person is also very inspiring, he’s probably one of the most genuine and down to earth artists out there, and what he does for the scene and for the people is unparalleled in my opinion.
Q3: What has been your utmost favorite track to make and why?
A3: My original track, “Beware” was my favorite track to produce. This was my favorite because when I was in the process of producing it, I knew at the same time that this was going to be my very first original dubstep track. A couple years prior to making this track I would produce instrumentals, nothing really too complicated and I also spent those years just learning how to produce and learning how to navigate FL Studio, with this track however I knew it was going to be my first dubstep release, and the first step to getting closer to finding my signature sound. It was just very exciting to me to know that I was currently working on what would be my first original dubstep track, and I think that’s why Beware has been my favorite track to produce thus far!
Q4: What do you have in store for the rest of this year 2020 and or into 2021?
A4: Original music!! I have spent most of 2020 sitting in front of FL Studio working on my sound design and the overall quality of my tracks, and I’ll soon have another original dubstep track finished very soon! I hope to have 2-3 more releases before the end of the year and in 2021 I hope to have my first EP put together! In 2021 I’m hoping to have my first label release as well, I’ve had interest in Bassweight Records, Interval Audio, Prime Audio, The Riddim Network, Torment Audio, DirtySnatcha Recordings, and Subsidia Records more recently! It is also a long term goal of mine to release music on Never Say Die Records and also Disciple Records, and I’m gonna keep working on music until I’m able to do that!
Q5: Who are you trying to collaborate with in the near future? What can you tell us?
A5: One artist in particular that I’m really wanting to collaborate with is “BBX” also based out of Columbus, Ohio! BBX shares the same love for dubstep as I do, we’ve worked closely for years but we’ve never gotten around to producing a track together, so you can expect a collaboration with BBX very soon!
Another artist I’d love to collaborate with is another one based out of Columbus, and he goes by the name of “Jonomatic.” Another artist I’ve worked with for several years but haven’t gotten around to producing a track with, but a collaboration you can also expect very soon! He produces a different genre than I do, so it will be interesting to work with an artist with a different sound than I to make a cool hybrid track!
Q6: Who do you see killing it these days? Give them some love and a shout-out below!
A6: There are so many talented artists that I can name off, and so many of them deserve the most recognition as possible and I’ll try to name as many as I can!
BBX, Jonomatic, Sadboii, Fanaticism, Trenches, Vice Versa, Jozef, Fahy-Z, Kiko, David Vance, Stanktnk, Tanner Roop, and Rvbbish are all killing it in the Midwest, definitely go check all of them out!
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