PsoGnar, aka Dustin J. Burk is our most recent producer to sit down with RaverRafting for an exclusive interview. Burk, a Florida native, recently unleashed his new track “Bedrock” on Firepower records with French producers Extra Terra. In our interview, Burk opens the door to give us some insight on what is was like to work with Extra Terra on this collaboration (listen below). We also get into Burk’s roots in the dubstep scene as he sheds light on his musical influences that brought him into producing.
Burk is not only a producer, but also a vocalist and composer who compiles a new story in his every poroduction. Without further ado, this is our exclusive interview with PsoGnar.
Let’s start out by getting to learn more about your new track with Extra Terra, “Bedrock”, what was it like creating a track with two French producers?
Psgonar: After my track with Spag Heddy on Never Say Die Vol. 5 got a great response from the Cyberverse, I decided to stray from my usual singing style again to have another go at this hard/aggressive style of rapping. I’ve been a big fan of Extra Terra’s sound for a while now and getting to release a track with them on Firepower is pretty surreal. I’ve already seen my friend Chime drop this track in his live sets and people go absolutely psycho!
What originally got you into the dubstep scene in your hometown of Fort Lauderdale?
Psgonar: Back in 2011 I was in my second year of university in Jacksonville, FL, I had already been DJing several Hip Hop/Top 40 nights every week. I regularly scoured the internet for cool remixes of popular songs that I knew would go off in the club. One night I discovered Skrillex’s remix to Black Eyed Peas “Rock That Body” and I was like holy s**t what the hell is this music?!?! It sounded light years ahead of everything else I had been hearing at the time and I was instantly hooked on Skrillex’s unique sound. Then after playing his tracks live for the first time at a college pool party, I felt a special connection to this new sound.
Speaking of Skrillex, you’ve previously said that he is one of your inspirations for producing, if you had to pick your favorite Skrillex track, which would it be?
Psgonar: I think “Right In” is the best Dubstep track of all time, but there’s so many classics from him. It’s also really cool that he’s started to go back to his roots with his old band “From First To Last”. I’m excited to see where he goes with his upcoming releases. Long live the Skrill!
You’ve released loads of tracks with UK dubstep producer, Teminite, how did your relationship with him begin?
Psgonar: Good ol’ Sam! Very talented bloke. In 2012 I came across the blog article with a headline like “15 Year-Old Producer Blesses us With Amazing Bass Track!” After a listen I was blown away by how jamming and cool his tracks were. Ended up sending him the vocals for my track “Army of Jah” and he turned around a remix in like 24 hours, and again I’m like “What planet is this kid from?!?” Cause it takes me months to make a track sometimes. We’ve currently released 5 originals together and one more is almost done! After working with him for like 6 years online, we finally got to hangout in person in England for a week. Had an absolute blast doing all kinds of shenanigans in Leeds and London.
Do you have any current collaborations in the works that you can give us some insight on?
Psgonar: Yes! We’ve got Teminite x Chime x PsoGnar teaming up for what I think is going to be one of the best Drumstep songs to date. It’s the last installment of Teminite’s new Uprising album and should be coming out in fall of 2018. Then I’ve got a solo track that I’m extremely excited about that’s in the mastering stage. This one hits very close to home as it’s wholly inspired from my breakup with my long term girlfriend. There’s also two collaborations that I have to keep secret for now because they’re still in early stages of production, all I can say is that I’m really stoked how my vocals sound on them.
Last question, but one that has been itching at me, where does the name PsoGnar come from?
Psgonar: Like a lot of my songs, my name has a double meaning. It’s pronounced the same as “Sonar”, which basically means to see with your ears by envisioning the space around you via sound pulses. From the beginning I wanted my music to embody this concept as I try to create worlds sonically and lyrically so that my listeners can immerse themselves in each story I tell. The second meaning comes from a shortened version of the phrase “That’s so gnarly”. For those that didn’t grow up in a beach town and have no idea what gnarly means, a quick urban dictionary lookup will tell you, “Gnarly is when you’ve gone beyond radical, beyond extreme, it’s balls out danger, & or perfection, & or skill or all of that combined”. From the beginning I’ve always wanted my music to have the epicness, over-the-top, shocking impact that can only be described as So Gnar, or PsoGnar.
RaverRafting would like to thank Dustin for taking the time to sit down with us. You can connect with his social media pages below and be sure to stay tuned for more news on PsoGnar.
Connect with PsoGnar:
https://www.facebook.com/PsoGnar/
https://twitter.com/psognar
https://www.instagram.com/psognar
https://soundcloud.com/psognar
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