I am DJ Axefield and I like to break rules. First two broken in one sentence, never start with I and always write in the third person. I’m a X’d Up creation of Bas Bijleveld, adding a third person to this already confusing reality will only make things worse, so I refuse.
I started DJ-ing in the mid 90s at camping sites during the holidays cause I liked messing with equipment. That never really stopped, some call me a nerd in denial but I deny that of course. I was pretty much raised without any culture whatsoever, when I hit puberty I didn’t know anything else than the main pop hits. While searching I had periods of Pop, Hard Rock, Mellow House, Classical Music, Gabber and Hip Hop. When the 90s came to a close I became even more diverse and really started to combine just about anything.
I could never really identify with the fixation on DJ-ing in one particular style and was glad to see that this started to fade in the 00s. When I started working in the audiovisual industry and later television and film I learned even more about music and sound in general. It’s Quentin Tarantino’s use of music as a character in his films that inspired me to really dig into music history and lyrics. That has lead me to be Soundtrack Adviser on a few small documentary and film projects and the aspiration to expand this in the future.
If I absolutely have to describe my style as a DJ in a word I would say Eclectic, because that means playing just about anything. But if I have to use a term that’s more ‘understood’ I would say Electro, which will piss off many, which I enjoy so fine. My performances usually have a base of Electro, House, Techno, Breakbeat, Trance, Big Beat, Synth-Pop and Acid. I use many modern songs both popular and obscure and combine this with the old stuff and often remixes off it. You may at times recognize Bob Marley, The Beatles, Elvis, The Doors, Iggy Pop, Johnny Cash or Nina Simone, just to name a few classics. There are also often unexpected inserts of Jazz, Soul, Latin or Rock. The bottom line is that it must shake your ass. People like summaries of influences so here a few in random order: The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, Moloko, Moby, The Prodigy, Daft Punk, Justice, Groove Armada, Adam Freeland, Mr. Oizo, Jamie Lidell, Simian Mobile Disco, Basement Jaxx, Faithless, Masters At Work, Jamiroquai and Soulwax. So basically I prefer artists that do different things, give awesome performances and are extremely unique.
After reading this all I hope you now understand why my motto is: “Mixing the soul of the music,” and I call my performances X’d Up!
Tags: Bio Dj Axefield XdUp
