DFRNT (aka Alex Cowles) is a 26 year old Scottish producer and DJ working out of Edinburgh. He produces music, runs the Echodub label and collective, is editor for Modus magazine, and writes the SittingOvation blog. With debut album “Metafiction” released in late 2009 on On The Edge records, DFRNT has seen support from many of the worlds’ top dubstep producers and DJs, from heavier hitters like N-Type, Baobinga and Headhunter, to deeper selectors such as Synkro, Scuba or dub-techno don Quantec.

In November 2009, he was asked to put together a mix for Mary Anne Hobbs’ legendary BBC Radio 1 show, and since that airplay, he has scheduled releases on a number of labels including On The Edge, Futurism Recordings, the tentracks initiative and his own imprint Echodub.
He visits the US this spring with east coast dates including March 7th in Baltimore, Maryland; March 9th Burlington, Vermont; and May 15th in Orlando, Florida.

What inspired you to start producing music and what are some of your influences?

Well I played various instruments as a child, and then got heavily in to computers and computer arts – so I guess it was a natural progression. That said, I remember toying with Fruity Loops when I was younger and hating it – I could never get it to do anything, so I got in to production through doing mashups and unofficial remixes a few years ago – with a bit of success in that, I slowly started doing more and more of my own stuff, so that I didn’t have to use other people’s tracks – and then my production sort of came out of that. So I used to use Acid to produce, but have since made the jump to Ableton Live.

Influences to begin with were people doing well in the mashups scene, but once I discovered dubstep, I was looking to all the big players for inspiration. By the time I got in to it, the likes of Skream and Benga were producing some great stuff, and artists like Scuba were doing something different which I really appreciated. Outside of the dubstep sounds I’ve always been a fan of Sasha and Hybrid with their progressive electronic sound, and then I listen to just about anything else to be honest. If there’s elements I like, I’ll try and take that to use in my own stuff. There are a great deal of new producers doing soem great stuff too – so that’s always interesting to tap for inspiration.

What is one of your best ‘music moments’ (ie concert/show you attended, gig you dj’d)?

You know what – I still think one of my favourite shows attended, was the first time I was Orbital. It was my first proper gig, and my friend had scored tickets to go and see them in Edinburgh, I just remember being astonished by the music, the volume, the show and the atmopsphere. Since then only a few gigs have come close. I enjoyed seeing James Brown live before he passed away, and also when I made the trip down to London for the last dubstep night at The End – that was pretty good!

What led to the mix on Mary Ann’s show? Also your new cd and accompanying vinyls with associated remixes by such heavy hitters as Scuba and italTek?

I had been sending MAH the odd track here and there when they were finished, and I was aware that she’d picked up the album and played a track from it on her show. After sending her a track about 3 or 4 weeks beofre the show, she got back in touch the next day and asked if I’d like to do a mix for her. As well as making my day – it was a real honour to have her ask me personally. As for the remixes on the album and vinyl – well it was just a case of emailing them or speaking to them online really. I was given a budget by the label, and I approached the producers who had inspired me to make the tracks on the album. It was really nice to see the tracks go full-circle too – Those artists who had influenced the tracks in the first place, were then taking them and re-interpreting them in their own way. I guess I got lucky!

What inspires you, musically or otherwise? do you have other hobbies outside of music that inform your productions?

I’m inspired mostly by mood. My own mood, when I sit down to make a track. There’s little else that comes in to it when I sit and really get my head in to a track. Because music is a release for me – I need to “feel” something before I can really produce a track. More often than not that makes the result very emotional, and often quite personal – but I tend to find that can work very well for a track.

I find it harder to be inspired by something that I don’t feel – or something I don’t experience. Obviously lots of things have small influence over my tracks and sound – but nothing more than the way I feel the moment I’m producing. The other thing it does is make tracks quite hard to finish, since I really need to get in to the same mindframe as I was when I started the track, otherwise it can take a pretty wild change in direction.

Checkout more of DFRNT’s music here:
http://soundcloud.com/dfrnt
http://dfrnt.co.uk
http://echodub.co.uk