Awar3wolf. Carrying The Howl From AZ to UT.
Let's Share This Monsoon Season News!
Please welcome Awar3wolf to the storm!
Q1: Welcome to the storm! Not sure if rain suits the fur too well, but welcome nonetheless!
We are pumped to finally get to chat. So, take us back to the beginning days of ‘Awar3pup’ to whom you are today; Awar3wolf? Where did the monstrous moniker and idea come from?
A1: So you would think being from Arizona it wouldn’t suit the fur too well along with the blazing sun, but this carnivorous canine actually prefers the rain and dark gray skies. I just wanna say again thank you for having me!
So I grew up around music, my stepfather has always been a musician and was in a couple local bands when i was growing up, I think that’s where a lot of my passion for music came from its always been a big part of my life. I’m very eclectic with my music taste but I would have to say my musical roots reside in metal, reggae and classic rock, but growing up with two metal heads for parents metal was the dominating avenue for sure. On top of that my mom has always been a huge horror movie buff and I come from a very open minded household, was never forced to go to church, and was never sheltered so I got introduced to horror movies pretty early on, my favorites being Bram Stoker’s Dracula, An American Werewolf in London, and An American Werewolf in Paris. Not exactly kids movies. I’ve always had a very strong connection to wolves since I can remember, always been my favorite animal, fun fact I have a wolf eye tattooed on my right wrist. also, I really think me not being sheltered kind of lead to the name in a way. I’ve always been pretty aware of myself and especially my surroundings, you have to be growing up hunting and hiking around the rough terrain of Arizona which I’ve done since i was roughly 7 or so. Over the years I’ve gotten compliments from all types of people about how aware I am of my surroundings and of others around me. So last year I was living in central Phoenix and that was when I really started down this journey, and once i realized that I was at least semi good at DJing I was like, “well time for a handle” the great thing was there were no other ideas before AWAR3WOLF. Where I actually got the idea is semi lame, i’m sure others have seen the meme of the “different types of werewolves” one of which being “Awarewolf” in Buddhist robes meditating. For the record I’m not a Buddhist, but I have been a practicing witch for the last 8 or so years, not at all the same thing but both paths focus quite a bit on self and outer awareness. I had seen the meme years back but then just a few days after I decided I wanted a handle I saw it again on my feed and it just immediately clicked, so I searched SoundCloud and Spotify to make sure it wasn’t taken, the only other guy is a rapper that spells his AWAREWLF and hasn’t released anything in three years, so with that AWAR3WOLF was born. 3 has always been one of my favorite numbers, it also stands for the third eye, and the multiple laws of three, there’s actually quite a few but I’ll mention 2, “what you put forth into the universe, comes back to thee times three” and in nature, 3 weeks without food, 3 days without water, 3 hours exposure to the elements, and 3 min without oxygen can and often result in death.
Q2: Who can you say was easily the most influential artist or musician growing up? How did this person(s) affect you in regards to where you are today?
A2: Hmm well, that’s a loaded question simply for the fact I pull influence from a lot of different artists. As a child, it was a lot of metal as I said but specifically Metallica, Pantera, Slipknot, and System of a Down. Bob Marley has always soothed my soul since I was a young kid. About 4th/5th grade I got really into Linkin Park in fact, Hybrid Theory was the first CD I owned. About that time I also got really into The Gorillaz and green day, then sometime in 5th grade I took up an interest in rap. My biggest influence from that time would have to be Biggie Smalls, the way he rhymed and told stories is just flawless, and me being a storyteller myself I really connected to his music. From there on I grew into a little rap phase that lasted from about 7th grade to the beginning of high school. Another big influence of mine from that time is Immortal Technique, I’ve always been pretty anti-government and very rebellious and just the griminess of his flow and lyrics really spoke to me at the time, also one of the only rappers I’ve ever had to tell me to read which I feel is worthy to note, this was also the time I was introduced to hardstyle specifically Showtek and Basshunter, hardstyle has remained a little love of mine over time. High School is where I came out of that phase and started to become very open with music, I started listening to a lot of reggae and ska, discovered punk music, discovered death metal and deathcore which I would have to say after dubstep and bass house are my favorite genres, and it was also at this time, about 14, that I was introduced to dubstep. I was actually just thinking the other day about this, out of the 4 dubstep artists I first started listening to, one is now deceased, R.I.P. Cookie Monsta, one is a huge creep trying to make a comeback right now, and the other two own their own record labels now, shoutout Zeds Dead and Excision. I would have to say out of those four Zeds Dead and their label would be a big influence of mine for sure, there was time I took like a 2-year hiatus from listening to dubstep, and Zeds Dead is fully responsible for pulling me back into it. When it comes to my dark and heavy influence though, at least from the times of my teen years, deathcore is 100% responsible. My biggest influences and favorite bands from that time are Suicide Silence before Mitch Lucker passed away, RIP, Whitechapel, Chelsea Grin, As Blood Runs Black, and I Declare War. The first songs I practiced my screaming to was Fairy Fay by Whitechapel, and unanswered by Suicide Silence, both Phil Bozeman and Mitch being two of my biggest influences from that time, fun fact I can scream and growl pretty damn good. Throughout the years I’ve tried to get involved with music, I’ve always liked singing but never took classes or got into the choir. In elementary school, I played saxophone for a year, and later in high school, I tried to learn guitar but just couldn’t get it so I gave up on music as a hobby for a time. then when I was 18 I and a couple of friends started a little garage death metal band called to infiltrate the masses that I did the vocals for, We never even played a show but writing songs and practice was a lot of fun. After that, I didn’t have any intention of really doing music again, especially as more than a hobby until the very beginning of 2018 when I decided I wanted to learn how to DJ and then later started learning music production. Nowadays my biggest influences would have to be Svdden Death, Marauda, Midnight Tyrannosaurus, Stuca, YDG, and a newly discovered influence, PROSECUTE. Also because I do mix house and plan on making my own bass house I think it’s worth mentioning that the entire Night Bass label would be my biggest influence in the realm of house music. So when it comes to the music I wanna make, the darkness and heaviness, the atmospheric vibes I also want to create, a great many of the artists mentioned are very influential to who I want to be as an artist. I wanna make a little bit of everything you know? I never wanna limit myself to one genre, while my main focus will probably be heavier dubstep, my hope in the future is to be recognized simply as a bass artist.
Q3: Let’s breakdown Doom & Destruction. What sort of mental space, and creative process did you call upon for this banger of a mix?
A3: So last year when I was living in Phoenix as I said above, I was going to a lot of shows and that momentum helped build my own. I originally started putting together this mix then but didn’t have a way to properly mix it or record it at the time, another fun fact I’ve only actually been mixing on a deck since February. For a whole year I mixed on a laptop using the mouse as the cross-fader, it was rough but it was all I had and instead of focusing on getting a deck and learning to DJ, I was focused on being a single adult in the big city for the first time in my life. So fast forward to 2020 and I moved to Utah to be with the lovely and talented CRYZTL who some of you may know from a previous Monsoon Season guest mix/interview. And ever since I’ve learned a tremendous amount in a short amount of time. So COVID hit, and I had my first mix “This is Human Music” out by then, I’m still mad I didn’t use Monxx‘s track human music in that one. Anyways after COVID, I put out a couple more including a house mix, and found my notes for doom and destruction and had an idea for themed mixes, themed meaning the names of tracks or lyrics, or even simply sounds in 80-90% of the tracks are related to the title aka theme. I definitely called upon my metal roots for this track, and with all of the civil unrest and COVID and the way I was feeling at the time about the state of things, I felt it was a good time to drop it. Doom & Destruction is definitely one of my favorite mixes I’ve done and the first of my “themed” mixes, I have a 2nd one out now that I dropped in September called “IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE” if you want some more Halloween vibes definitely go give it a listen it’s extra spooky. And thanks for the banger compliment! I definitely made this mix with the intention of causing some possible chiropractor visits.
Q4: You’re well-seasoned in the AZ and UT music culture. Expand on your involvement and their respective scenes in comparison to UT. Which state does what best?
A4: The first out of state festival I went to was Das Energi 2018 and that was my introduction to the Utah scene, and how I met my girlfriend actually. I didn’t really get involved in my home scene until 2017 when I went to the last Dirty Disco which was such an amazing night, that night is what really got me fully immersed into the culture, I had been listening to EDM long before I went to my first desert rave, and the last Dirty Disco in my opinion was a beautiful blend of the desert scene and festival scene, one gigantic stage, lots of fire, and festival worthy visuals and killer artists, Squnto, Dubloadz, Code Black, just to name a few. Every year since my addiction to heavy bass and the grimy yet simultaneously loving vibes of this culture has grown and grown. In 2019 alone I went to 5 out of 6 full moon festivals that were thrown that year, a festival I feel is worth mentioning because it’s all local artists, 5 stages one being a live music stage one being a silent -disco. On top of that I went to 6 other shows and two festivals in state, so I was getting to know a lot of people, one of the biggest things I have noticed is in Arizona scene artists are very very friendly with one another on top of being super friendly to fans. even artists that make complete the opposite bass or dance music, they all help each other and build each other up as much as possible. As where here in Utah it seems to be a little more competitive. I think it’s worth noting as well that unfortunately due to COVID I haven’t got to experience as much of the Utah scene this year living out here as much as I would have liked to. I’ve been to Das Energi out here as I said, I’ve seen ATLiens, Yookie and two local artists Meeko and another artist who’s name I’m totally blanking right now at the complex last December, I went to the futuristic thriller tour that BTSM put on at the saltair right before Covid, and then I was lucky enough to attend Roll ‘n Rave this past September. One thing that I think Utah could definitely do better on is harm reduction, back in Arizona we have the Relentless Rangers group which is a group of amazing wonderful people that basically go around a festival and keep an eye on the attendees, as we all know there are people that party a little too hard in this scene and can get sick or get a little out of it mentally, so the relentless rangers is a safe space for anyone in nee. The relentless rangers are trained in CPR and other medical procedures to help Ensure comfort and safety for everyone at relentless beats festivals. They even walk around with spray bottles and fans making sure people that are going hard stay cool and don’t overheat, I’m lucky enough to know a few of them personally. I strongly believe that harm reduction and safety is extremely important and should be exercised in every state’s scene to prevent not only harm but deaths. I’m hoping things go back to normal the start of this next year so that I can experience a lot more of the Utah scene, one thing that has happened up here that didn’t happen back home was, when I was back home I wasn’t anywhere close to where I am now as a DJ, up here I’ve been lucky enough to meet some very genuine awesome artists that I look forward to working with and doing awesome things with in the future, and I hope as my journey continues I’m able to connect with and collab with artists I know back home, I’ve only been on this journey for two years, I’ve got a very long way to go but, momentum is building, great things are coming.
Q5: Your spookySEASON Guest Mix dropped just in time for Halloween. What did you do to prepare for this?
A5: So for anyone that’s listened to any of my past mixes or that will in the future, they pretty much all have spooky vibes somewhere in them, its just kind of always been part of my aesthetic, the dark, creepy, macab, and horror stuff, in other words, I wear a lot of black. For this mix, I really wanted to show who I am as a DJ and how versatile I can get with my genre and bpm selection, but I made sure to include some creepy and spooky vibes throughout, this mix is going to make you not only want to head-bang but dance and dare I say, shuffle your ass off.
Q6: Who is your collaborative scope? Who are you trying to get a track together with?
A6: I and my girlfriend CRYZTL will definitely be starting to work on something together very soon! we also have started a little collective with our friend Neon_Drip, would love to collab with her as well, and then also I would love to and think that I and my friends GVMBIT and Broken Inglish could create some filth together!!
Q7: What can expect for the rest of 2020? What about in the unwritten 2021?
A7: So I’ve put out quite a bit of content on my SoundCloud this year, all being mixes or live sessions, so with this mix dropping here on Monsoon Season, it will be my last bit of content to drop for the year. However what you can expect is me continuing to learn everything I can, buckle down on the two tracks I have in the works, and finishing them for hopefully a release at the beginning of 2021. My original goal for this year was to have a track out by December 31st, which is still doable but I don’t wanna make any promises to myself or others right now. This has been a really tough year for all of us and it set me back personally quite a bit. I’ve had to step away from a few things for a period of time for my mental health. I strongly believe a healthy mind comes before anything else, especially if you want to be successful in general, but also specifically in this industry.
Q8: Who do you see killing it these days? Give them a shout-out below!
A8: First of all my girlfriend CRYZTL’s SoundCloud has blown up, she released a mash-up that’s gotten almost 9,000 plays in I believe a month and she’s been putting so much hard work into her track, proud of you baby! Secondly, big shout out to our friend Neon_Drip, if it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be where I’m at now with my DJing skills, thank you so much for just being an awesome girl! Definitely go check out her SoundCloud as well. My friend Broken Inglish has been straight killing it lately working on tons of stuff for the future, dropping his first sets of merch, and he’s a steady Twitch streamer for gaming and production tutorials, definitely check him out he’s super talented and I’ve learned a lot from his streams as well. and last but certainly not least I wanna give a big shout out to the Pax Machina team in Arizona, they do what you guys here at Monsoon Season do but for the local Arizona scene specifically! Also wanna give a huge shout-out to Triggabyte, this dude slays and is easily one of my favorite underground artists, many of you may know of him, he’s originally from the Colorado scene but has been in Arizona and thrived out there in my killer home scene if you don’t know of him definitely get acquainted! And then I wanna shout out 2Soon! This guy is a beast and just recently celebrated his birthday and has been recently featured on Pax Machina Spooky Season, definitely go check him out, word around the desert is he’s got new music coming soon! Then real quick I just want to shout out to my home scene and my rave fam, the Arizona scene itself and my friends, you have literally inspired me so much and continue to do so, I can’t wait until things go back to normal and I can visit home and go back to Full Moon Festival and take my whole fam with me, love you guys!
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