Mixjunkies Exclusive Interview with Le Castle Vania
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Track ID: D.I.M – Is You (Le Castle Vania Remix)
Filmed and edited solo work by Dominic Cappelletti
Video courtesy of Wastechester
In our continuing efforts to bring you unique EDM content not found anywhere else, we here at
Mixjunkies bring you an exclusive interview with one of our featured artists, Le Castle Vania.We were able to catch up with Le Castle Vania before his February 3rd show at the famed Webster Hall in NYC and he was kind enough to sit down and have a chat with us. Check out what he had to say!
Mixjunkies: So how did you get into the EDM scene?
Le Castle Vania: I can remember when I was younger I started liking darker forms of electronic music like drum and bass. Once when I was 16, I tried to sneak into an Ed Rush and Optical
show in Atlanta with a fake ID that looked nothing like me. It didn’t work and it inspired me to
become a DJ (so I could get into any club).
MJ: Who are some of your influences?
LCV: I really appreciate the work of Daft Punk and Soulwax but I’m influenced by a lot of music outside of EDM, too. I like a lot of rock bands like Refused, Joy Division and Godspeed You! Black Emperor and I’m a big fan of The Mars Volta.
MJ: If we were to turn on your iPod, who would pop up on your play list right now?
LCV: The Blood Orange’s records are pretty cool if you’re looking from some chill-out, laid-back vibes and some guys I’m putting out on my label, Always Never, like Freefire (they do some cool electro stuff) and Split & Jaxta. Actually, my homie Feed Me just sent me his new EP last night which has a lot of cool stuff on it and I’m really proud of Kill the Noise; he’s been doing some really awesome stuff right now.
MJ: Tell us about 2011.
LCV: 2011 was a great year I think, lots of gearing up. I totally re-formed my team of people that I’m working with behind the scenes. I signed with new management, which was a big change but I’m really happy with that decision and where it’s moving us now. I also changed booking agencies; I’m with William Morris now.
I went out and played every stop on the Identity Festival tour and I went on tour with deadmau5
after that. I think I got a lot of exposure from those tours. I also played some good festivals. I
think you guys posted the Escape from Wonderland set.
MJ: Yea, that’s when we first started interacting with you; it was a heck of a find and really a great set.
LCV: Yea, it was kind of interesting because I didn’t even know that show was being recorded. I signed a consent form for it months before but just totally forgot. Then I saw all of the fan’s tweets that you guys had it up and a lot of people seemed to like it, which was really cool.
I also decided to do my first full length album, which I’ve been working on pretty much non-stop since December. I’ve had demos of songs and songs I’ve written over the last four years but this is the first time I’m compiling them all together. I’m really excited about it. I’m doing some really big, original stuff that is going to be unique to me. I think it sounds like nothing that has ever been done before in this world of music.
MJ: Awesome! How do you think it will be different?
LCV: I’ve been working with some cool vocalists from some bands I like and working with a really amazing composer. We’re doing some full string sections and recording live strings as well. The Light and a newer version of Awake (with the added strings section) are going to be on there.
MJ: That’s great.
LCV: Yea, I’m working with Tyler Bates. He composed the entire score for the movies 300, Watchmen, Dawn of the Dead and a few others; he’s done over 60 films. I’m excited for people
to actually hear it.
MJ: With The Light and some of your older stuff like Nobody Gets Out Alive, there is a big diversity in the kind of work you put out. Do you find that diversity is paramount to what you do? Does it help your music evolve as you evolve as an artist?
LCV: I really try not to over think stuff like that. It’s come up before because I’m more known for a more aggressive sound, more of a heavy “in your face” electronic music and obviously that’s not what The Light is.
MJ: No, it’s not.
LCV: For me, being an artist is about being original but also being creative. You’re really not being that creative by doing the same thing every time, so that’s what I felt like writing with that particular song.
Some people who really love me for the aggressive sound might not like a song like The Light. People don’t have to like every song I do, I really don’t care. People are going to like some songs and not going to like others. The remix I did recently for Turn It Down isn’t really an aggressive song either. I feel like both have the nuances of the Le Castle Vania sound so hopefully people can appreciate each song for what it is. There are definitely some bangers on the record, so I haven’t tried to completely step away from that.
I just want to make all kinds of music because I listen to all kinds of music. I think the album will show the whole picture of who I am as a musician and what I like to do. I want it to be a complete body of work that showcases what Le Castle Vania is.
Once I finish, I want to experiment more with different types of music. I don’t know if that will be Le Castle Vania or something else altogether.
MJ: Tell us about your recent move to Los Angeles.
LCV: Atlanta is always going to be home to me, it was where I was born and raised. I love Atlanta; I have it tattooed on my head and I own a house there. I have a studio out in LA and I’m
always there working on stuff. There are a lot of musicians and other people to work with and I
figured if I’m going to be out in LA as much as I am, I might as well be comfortable. So, I got a
spot and now I’m just splitting my time between the two.
MJ: We know that you listen to a lot of different types of music and your music is still very unique to you, but how would you classify it? How would you define your sound?
LCV: Well, I would say it’s Le Castle Vania. If I were to describe the sound to someone, I wouldn’t use a cliché term like “Oh, it’s electro house,” I would just say it’s electronic music that’s heavily influenced by rock sounds. A song like The Light has a lot of disco influence whereas a song like Nobody Gets Out Alive is basically a rock song written with synths. I’d say it kind of depends on the song, but there are flavors of indie, disco and electro.
It’s all good music, just take a minute and listen to it.
MJ: What can we expect to see from you this year, aside from the album release?
LCV: Basically, just world domination.
MJ: Oh, that’s all; just world domination?
LCV: Yea, that’s all I’ve got going on. Really, the main thing is getting my album out, that’s priority number one and my main focus. After it’s out, of course, I have to tour the record so
those are my main goals for right now.
MJ: So what is something fans might not know about you? What’s a little tidbit that you wouldn’t find out if you ran a Google search on Le Castle Vania?
LCV: I’m actually named after Bob Dylan. My dad was a hippy and a huge Bob Dylan fan, so maybe subconsciously it had something to do with my desire to make music.
MJ: What is your favorite color?
LCV: Purple.
MJ: If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
LCV: That’s an easy question for me because I think about it all the time; I would want the ability to stop time. I’m always running around and super busy and sometimes, I think, “Man, if
I had this super power, I could just pause time and take a nap right now.” There’s so much you
could do with it; you could be undefeatable.
I mean, if Superman showed up with all of his superpowers, you could just stop time and go grab some Kryptonite, come back and then just be like, “Oh, what now?”
MJ: If you could speak to any animal, what animal would it be?
LCV: Well, I don’t have a puppy anymore, it was lost in a breakup, but I’m pretty sure that puppy is my spirit animal. So I would probably just talk to Moxy.
MJ: If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
LCV: “Sweet tunes, bro” or maybe “come on in.” At that moment you’d probably be sweating so I think that might be the one thing you want to hear.
MJ: Finally, where does the name Le Castle Vania come from?
LCV: It was just kind of a joke; I didn’t really put a lot of thought into it. I thought it was a cool name, that’s it really. I didn’t think I was going to be doing this as a career or anything, I wasn’t like, “I’m about to launch this DJ thing and it’s going to pop off and this is the sickest name ever.” It was more like “Ok, I did this remix, I need a name to put on it; ok, Le Castle Vania, whatever.” I told myself I’d come up with crazy stories of where it came from and just tell a different story every time I did an interview.
MJ: Oh, ok.
LCV: Well, actually, what really happened was a gang of ninjas killed my entire family. To avenge their deaths, I went to go train at this castle called Le Castle Vania and to remind myself of my oath to kill them I refer to myself as Le Castle Vania.
MJ: We like that answer a lot more. Thanks Dylan.
LCV: Sure thing. Thank you.
So there you have it; direct from the mouth of the artist himself. We want to thank Le Castle Vania for taking the time to sit and chat with us at Mixjunkies before his show and we look forward to his new album, which is set to come out later this year on his label, Always Never.
We’d also like to thank Wastechester for the above video; it bloody rocks!
Tags: 2012, Dubstep, Electro, House, Nightclub, NYC, Techno, USA, Video
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