Learn more about DJ and Sound Engineer Dustin Crain and find out how he fell in love with dance music in this week’s ID Spotlight!
Name: Dustin Crain
Rave Name: None
Age: 28
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Occupation: Sound Engineer
Facebook: Dustin Crain
Instagram: @carbon_street
What was your first electronic music event?
Electric Daisy Carnival Los Angeles, Summer, 2010. EDC Los Angeles was absolutely life and mind changing. I realized the beautiful culture it and other raves like it would spread, as well as an obsession with bass-driven club music.
During the event, I spent my time meeting characters from all over Southern California, as well as advancing acquaintances into stronger friendships. There were real connections. Especially with the music. The 4 on the floor kick drum pattern made is all one. I was blessed to explore the drum & bass stage as well, a dark foreshadowing into my future musical endeavors.
What/who influenced you to attend your first event?
I had just completed my first year of college. After moving nine hours north to Chico, California, to attend a state university, my hometown of Huntington Beach felt like a new arena. I no longer felt awkward around people, and I immersed myself into the party scene down here (thanks to Chico State’s ruthless party scene, I was “experienced”).
In May, my crew and I felt compelled to purchase EDC tickets, we had heard about raves before in high school but they were too underground for us to attend. I was a trance lover as well in high school; I used to play guitar solos over Armin Van Buuren’s Imagine album, along with a number of Balearic Trance compositions. We all had a love for electronic dance music, but we had not, until then, been given an opportunity to truly experience it.
What is one moment from an event that was special and why?
The last three years have been a huge change for everyone, including myself, and the underground rave scene. Camping “transformational” festivals have risen in popularity. The underground scene has split into two sects; House & Techno, and Dubstep/Riddim/Drum&Bass/Experimental Bass Music; with a smaller sect, comprised of all kinds of bands ranging from psychedelic rock to eclectic progressive jazz to ska & reggae.
Our generation was the big room electro and progressive house bubble. Those of us still hanging on to dance music have sought weekend refuge within the beachside taverns, and renegade desert parties, with the occasional attending of a massive Rave or Trans-Festival.
It was at a desert party in the Mojave, this past New Year’s Eve, that I met a girl who had a poor self-talking issue. Though no one would know it, she had learned that she had almost been aborted. Why she chose to open up to me, a stranger, about this dark parallel timeline, I will never know.
She told me she wondered, at times, if she would have been aborted as a baby, how much of the world would have been better off without her existence. Then I stopped her and said, “I would not be standing here having this conversation with you, and for that, I am forever grateful.” Those simple words made her (and I) realize that even such a small act of interacting with a stranger could provide us with the strength to keep moving.
What is your favorite festival or event?
Symbiosis Gathering, the amount of art on display at this festival was breath-taking. All of my favorite styles of music in one place, as well as the company of the most profound souls I’ve ever known to date, will keep me coming back.
What is your favorite electronic song and why?
Tiësto ft. BT – “Love Comes Again” (Bart Claessen Remix), Above & Beyond played this at EDC 2010. It’s a Trance masterpiece. It encapsulates both the driving energy of the original Rave Trance music and the beauty of Vocal Trance.
I spent five years in Chico while in college. I made that nine-hour drive, from Huntington Beach to Chico, and back again, at least 25 times. Every time listening to Above & Beyond’s set, and sometimes catching that glorious reprise, sung by BT, and orchestrated by Bart Claessen, while the sun is setting over the golden hills.
Who are your favorite artists?
Aside from the aforementioned artists above; and excluding those whom I may forget; the favorites are: Sonny Moore, Zimbu, Asteroids & Earthquakes, Namu, Tipper, Stosu, Bd Hbt, Ivy Lab, Gaslamp Killer, Flying Lotus, Desert Dwellers, Alan Fitzpatrick, Sopik, AnGy KoRe, Dark Skyline, Sasha Romaniuk, deadmau5, Nora En Pure, Showtek, Ummet Ozcan, Barclay Crenshaw, Daniel Portman
What are your favorite genres?
Emo/Screamo (Nostalgia), Metal (and all of its subgenres), Dark & Progressive Techno, Experimental Bass Music, Reggae, Downtempo, Romantic Era Piano Music
What do you feel your “Identity” is in the electronic music community?
I am the guy who always finds the sweet spot on a dance floor (where the bass resonates the most), and invites strangers to experience it. I am the guy who shows up alone to a show but attracts the attention of strangers. I move freely and love to dance, but prefer a less crowded dance floor. I always tip. I love my collection of one of a kind snapbacks (courtesy of Light Sound Dimension), and my pet Ball Python named Turbo who accompanies me to smaller festivals.
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