Gigantor Takes a Moment to Talk All Things Evol Intent

Gigantor of Evot Intent swung by to chat about the potential reunion of the trio, the current state of the world, and the evolution of Evolcast.

Let It Roll Puerto Rico featured a wide range of artists, from legends to newcomers alike. One act I was delighted to see on the lineup was Evol Intent, a group that I’ve been following since practically their inception. A trio comprised of Gigantor, Knick, and The Enemy, the group mainly features Gigantor touring behind the decks, and let me tell you, he did not disappoint.

Founded in 2000, Evol Intent is a drum and bass group that has always been ahead of its time. Touted as pioneers of hardstep and neurofunk, they’ve never shied away from experimenting within music. The ubiquitous sawtooth synths, distorted basslines, and ominous atmosphere; the group’s punk rock background filters through everything they create.

The aughts were landmark years for Evol Intent, especially 2008, when they released their monumental LP, Era of Diversion. Visionaries in drum and bass, this album launched the group to the forefront of the genre. Their use of politically charged themes and vocal samples, plus their exploration of hardstep, neurofunk, and experimental sounds, showcased their willingness to push musical boundaries.

Gigantor took a moment to chat with me after his explosive set at Let it Roll, and again after we returned stateside. We spoke with him about the potential of a trio reunion, the current state of the world, and the evolution of Evolcast. Read on for the full conversation!

Stream Evol Intent – Era of Diversion on Spotify

You had the Control Room at Let It Roll jumping throughout your set. Was this your first time playing in Puerto Rico? How about playing for Let It Roll?

This was the first time I’ve played for Let It Roll, as far as I know, but I’ve played several times in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is always an awesome gig, and as far as scenes go in the USA, Puerto Rico has been consistently solid over the years. It’s one of the few places that seems immune to the ebbs and flows of drum and bass in most US cities.

I know that each of you, Evol Intent members, is busy with your side projects now: you with Computer Club, Ashley/The Enemy as Treasure Fingers, and Nick/Knick as Bro Safari. The biggest question on everyone’s minds is: will we ever see the three of you together again, performing as Evol Intent?

We’re absolutely interested in a reunion gig, or maybe even a tour. Everyone in the group has been on board with the idea, but we haven’t really had the right opportunity come along just yet. Most important to us is that we’d like to make it something special; we hope to do some remixing and reinterpretations of our back catalogue and other classics. I’ve played with AJ at a few shows and Nick occasionally, but the last time all three of us were on stage together was at Avalon years ago in Los Angeles, maybe in 2011 or 2012!

As far as my old alias goes, I had sunset the ‘Computer Club’ project, doing more music under my solo alias as Gigantor, but I haven’t ruled out bringing Computer Club back. I enjoyed seeing the “Indie Sleaze” movement happen. It seems to have really rekindled the vibe of the electro- blog-house era. It’s been fun to see that sound come back and reach new listeners!

I noticed the last episode of the Evolcast, #20, came out in January of 2025. What’s the status of it now, and what plans are there for it in the coming year?

I am very overdue for a new episode. The Evolcast is still something I have planned to keep up with. It’s a lot of fun, but I arguably put a bit too much time into each episode, right down to the audio mastering!

I believe you’re the leading DJ who tours under the name Evol Intent, though I did see Treasure Fingers perform under the moniker in Brooklyn with Reid Speed about two years ago. What is the usual Evol Intent lineup when it comes to DJing? How do you decide who plays what show?

Yes, I do the majority of the Evol Intent touring. In recent years, though, I didn’t spend as much timeon the road, as I was focusing on teaching at Icon Collective until the school’s closure in May 2025. There has been a bit of confusion around Evol Intent, as most people assume the group is just me. Yes, I have been doing most of the touring, etc., but Knick and AJ are still involved. Speaking of Knick, he’s been on the road with Kill Safari gigs lately with fellow friend Kill The Noise. If you get a chance, go catch a set! AJ (Treasure Fingers) also does a fair bit of the Kill Safari artwork and visual aesthetic. Check it out!

Your landmark album, Era of Diversion, is approaching its 20th anniversary. The album is still as revolutionary now as it was then. Do you guys have anything special planned for it? How do you feel the political themes hold up today?

Unfortunately, as Americans, the themes and political angst with the concepts around Era of Diversion are not just relevant, but even worse than the era we originally wrote the record in. George W. Bush’s administration is adorably quaint compared to the atrocities we’re witnessing the second Trump term commit on a daily basis.

As a timestamp for these responses, the Tangerine Caligula and his ghouls are flooding the zone with diversions: Fighting with US military Leadership over invading a NATO ally (Greenland/Denmark), then plotting to invade Iran, bullying the outgoing Federal Reserve chair, kidnapping and murdering people in the streets via badge-less masked I.C.E. goons, and invading Venezuela “for the oil.” It’s really an effort to distract from the Epstein files. Now it feels like they dropped more Epstein files to distract from the highly justified anger over the most recent execution on the streets of Minneapolis (Alex Pretti).

I don’t want to contemplate what would be more peak “Era of Diversion.” It’s divide and conquer on top of diversion after diversion, hard to imagine it getting worse. I hope, as a country and culture, we survive this and come back to our collective senses if you check in with me againin 20 years.

Otherwise, for a 20th-anniversary edition, we don’t have much planned yet, but I feel like it might be a good time to get some remixes out there.

Photo Credit to: Oh Snap Kid

While on the island, we talked about AI and its effects on writing and in music. Daniel Bedingfield of “Gotta Get Through This” fame said he created a new DnB album using AI, calling it better than anything he’d made in 20 years. How does this make you feel, and how do you think this affects, or will affect, the future of the genre and music in general?

There was a lot of chatter about AI and music while I was in Puerto Rico! A good friend of mine has written off creating music the traditional way with the tools AI provides, at one point humming a riff into his phone and having it generate a whole song while we were waiting in the hotel lobby. While the AI gave us schlocky EDM, it made an intro, drop, breakdown, and counterpoint melodies and ideas, all the while seemingly having evolved past the artifacting that has become the telltale plague of AI-generated audio. The tools are definitely getting better. However, I do think that for the formerly ghost-produced, influencer-musician types, they will simply text-prompt AI to generate “too perfect,” soulless slop to shove up on Spotify in an effort to keep their money churn going.

The most impressive uses of AI have been when you can take something like stems and manipulate them further on your own. I think we’re seeing the same effect visual artists have seen with AI: you let the people who’ve developed skills for the medium further push it to great heights.

Personally, I recently took my old band’s LP from 2001-ish, stem-separated the audio from the CD files, fixed up the drums in Superior Drummer 3, and gave the rest of the audio a new mixdown. It was nice to give the record new life, and this couldn’t be done without stem splitting, which is technically an AI technology.

I still also think there is a lot of life in doing things ‘the old way.’ We still have photographers, filmmakers, guitarists, vocalists, animators, etc. Just because AI can do it doesn’t mean you can’t get a lot out of the action of creating art. There’s a joy in the process of creating! The feeling you get after writing a great riff that has you buzzing, I can’t imagine a prompt-generated song doing that.

One of my all-time favorite moments at Let It Roll was watching someone tell you that Dillinja rinsed a ton of old school Evol Intent, and you got almost giddy, asking, “Wow, he knows who we are?” It’s crazy for me, as a fan, to see a legend like you get a bit star-struck. What was that moment like?

I still doubt he was actually playing our old tunes because I didn’t hear it haha! Still, I cannot stress enough the influence Dillinja has had on our music. He’s an absolute legend. Any newer dnb fans reading this, go check out his music!

Now, according to your Instagram, you call yourself an amateur pet photographer. Can we see you shift gears into another side project?

Hah, I need to update that, but it was a reference to the fact that my feed was almost all cat and dog pics ages ago. My story is still occasionally like this, but you’ll probably see our dog Akira more often!

And lastly, do you have anything special coming down the pipeline for 2026?

Got a few things in the works, hoping to get some more tunes and a new Evolcast or two out there!

Other stuff in the works includes setting up a Patreon for tutorials, samples, and maybe some tunes. I miss educating in the wake of Icon Collective’s closure. Speaking of stuff for the producers, we have more from Sonic Armory in the works as well.

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