Interview with OGM909

Hi OGM909, thanks for having us, first let me ask how are you and how was your year so far?
Hi !!! I’m very fine and my year was great: I made a lot of new productions, started a lot of new projects and I also joined Footworxx booking agency.

For those who don’t know yet, can you give us a little introduction, who is OGM909?
My real name is Carlo and I’ m a producer/composer from Roma (I). “OGM909” is my alias for hardcore music, but I am also involved in many other projects as: “Fail2Comply” (which combines Hardcore and Metal), “Union Drama” that is my electro-alt rock band and “Sound2C” for the composition of movies scores, experimental electronic music and audiovisual projects.

How did you come up with the name OGM909?
The name OGM909 comes out from 2 different stuff: OGM stands for “Organismo Geneticamente Modificato”, that means GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) in Italian. This because of my interest in science, especially biotech, and astrophysics . 909 instead, is because I started producing electronic music with a Roland MC-909 and my live set with this machine was very well known in Roma.

When did you come in touch with Hardcore music?
I remember it was around 1999, there was a CD browsing trough my friends. At that time I was more interested in free parties and illegal raves. My favourite D was DJ Promo, I still have his cd “Last Mand Standing”, that was great. Then I discovered Radium and Speedfreak and I really loved it. And still, nowadays, I am in love with what we call ‘Millenium hardcore’, that for me, is the one and only mainstyle. Around 2004 I started producing my own music. Together with my friends we created a formation called “HardCoreUltras”. We organized illegal raves and free parties, but we used to play only hardcore from the start ‘till the end.

Who was your favourite producer back then?
Can’t tell just one, so: Promo, Radium, Speedfreak, Tommyknocker, Tieum, Negative A, Unexist were what I liked most of this music and they influenced a lot my style.

You have a unique style including lots of drums and crazy beats, do you play any instruments? It sounds like you are an experienced drummer?
Hahahahaha !!! Great question ! I’ m not a drummer, but yes, I play an instrument. In fact, my musical trip started playing violin very young, at the age of 6.
But, I really love drums and beats and that’ s why I use it a lot. Also, for example in my band “Union Drama” I program all the drum machines so I really love to make beats.

Every producer has their own style or sound, how would you describe your own style?
Hard for me to tell! I could say now that my style is very mixed. I don’t use same BPM’s, my tracks go from 170 to 230 or more BPM’s. I don’t like boundaries, even between genres, so I use to mix a lot of music in my tracks, like classical, DNB or dubstep, rap. I think my style is more made by structures, tricks and some kind of beats. I love kicks obviously, they must be bouncy and very filtered in every track, I think this is the first thing you can recognise in my style.

Speaking about your producing process, how does it look like? Do you start with the drums for instance?
I usually start with an element, an idea. So this could be a sound, a vocal, a kick or a melody, but also a new technique to do something, a new idea for the structure or something I want to say.

About producing, how does your studio look like? Which hardware and software do you use?
I make my tracks with Ableton, but I mix and master them with Logic. I have the Virus TI for electronic sounds and I use the Integra-7 for the natural sound of orchestras or drums.

You are the owner of the record label Avanti Records, can you tell us something about it? What are the future plans with this record label?
This label was the natural evolution of my HardCoreUltras experience. In 2009 I first pressed also vinyl but now not anymore. We made more than 30 digital releases from 2010 and now the situation is very changed.
It was born to support young new talented artists especially from Roma, but now Avanti Records is a musical lab, it’ s like a collective of artists. We have not a “main genre” we just look for quality music. Now we are: OGM909, A-Kriv, Overtrip, Ergot, SVK and Emergency Fuckerz and we are always looking for new talented producers !

Besides Avanti Records, you are signed at Brutale, how did you come in touch with the guys from Brutale?
Well, I know Jacopo and Samuele from the Sickest Squad since a long time. I think was around 2005 when they came in Roma the first time to play at the street parade on our truck and also to an illegal rave where we loved to bring our sound system.

Recently you released an amazing EP called Perseverance, including three tracks.
One of these tracks, called Blow your Mind, is pushing the tempo up to 1000 BPM! How did you come up with this idea?
I was working on this track for a long time, the idea came out because I was looking for a final track to put in my sets. We can say I was little inspired by the Russian music Kalinka, haha!

Hardcore is a huge music genre in The Netherlands, the last years the scene does change a lot, more events are taking place, and people make the switch from other hard dance music genres towards Hardcore, is the scene also changing in Italy? Can you tell us something about the past and the present?
In Italy the situation is not so good I think. In Roma, there are very few parties. This also because most of the people are now involved in other music as techno, that now is really a fashion here.
The situation gets better going up to the north of Italy but still this music is quite underground.

I would say that in Italy music, in general, is not enough considered, apart from the very big names and you can imagine what this could mean for less known genres as hardcore.

Uptempo is becoming really popular these days, some producers say that most of the tracks are really bad produced. Pushing up the tempo is not a good thing to make music harder, they believe. What is your opinion about the recent changes in Hardcore music? How can we make sure the music will be pure quality?
I usually judge music only by the quality and not by bpm. I like fast stuff, I also make a lot of faster music as 200 or more bpm. I don’t call it uptempo, I still call it hardcore !

Quality for me is very important. I think low-quality music is more related to labels, who don’t select anymore the music they release, because of the low costs of the digital market. Another big problem, in my opinion, is the conflict of interest between big party organizations, artists agencies, and labels. Both this situation made the business more important than the music, and this is not good for the quality !

We’ ll never be sure the music to be pure quality but we can try to do our best, as producer making music, as labels selecting the good music to release, as promoters booking the artists by their music and not by business opportunities and finally as listeners: we can make the real difference educating our ears to really understand the differences between good music and shittily produced music.

In the past, you did work together with Unexist a lot. Your styles seem to match perfectly, how did you guys meet?
We met a long time ago at a party in Florida Disco in Brescia around 2005. Then I booked him a few times when I used to organize parties with my friends. But only in 2015, when he really liked my track feat. A-Kriv “New Popcore” on ISR, we decided to work together.
I learned really a lot from him, he’ s a great friend and a great producer !

We did enjoy YODO and Beat Drop while listening to the Dominator CD, Unexist did play at the main stage in 2015 and at the Hardcore/Industrial stage in 2016. When can we see you at a grand event like this, it seems like your collabs and music is very popular and played often?
Hopefully soon… I’ m working on a lot of new releases, improving quality and focusing ideas behind my music. I also joined Footworxx as agency so I hope the results will come soon !

Where would you like to play sometimes?
Well, besides big parties like Dominator, or MOH, my big dream is to play in the U.S. one day !!!

After your recent EP, is there anything crazy coming up in a short amount of time?
Yes, for sure. I’ m working on lot of stuff, for most still top secret hehe hehe !! But I can tell you I have a two tracks EP in collaboration with Sirio, that is also my big friend. Still not have a date for the release, but will be around October I hope and it will be a nuclear release. Also very soon a new release by FAil2Comply 😉

Final Question: Do you have anything left to share or tell your fans?
Stay tuned because this year will be full of music, I’ m working really hard in the studio so new bombs are ready to be dropped. And always remember: NOBODY LIKES US, WE DONT CARE !!