Dubstep DJ and producer Datsik would sleep for 15 hours a night if allowed. This is not surprising considering the blazing pace he moves at while awake.
Troy Beetles, who performs under the alias Datsik, started Firepower Records early this year. The 24-year-old released his debut album “Vitamin D” on Dim Mak Records in April. The DJ is a third of the way through a 10-week nationwide tour, which will bring him to the Varsity Theatre tonight.
Beetles was likely the kid in class incessantly tapping his foot or fidgeting with a pencil — always doing something. He said his compulsion toward activity has made life on tour an ideal fit.
“The best part is constantly staying busy. It’s cool to always have something to do,” Beetles said. “I’ll get home from tour and just be pacing in my house, bored.”
The Canada native said traveling for his performances clicked when he changed his mode of transportation from airplanes to tour buses. He said “the whole weekend warrior thing” of flying to and from events was taxing, but it did provide ample time to think.
It was on one such plane ride that Beetles conceived the idea for his Firepower Tour’s psychedelic DJ booth, the vortex.
“It’s basically a big funnel tilted toward the crowd with the bottom cut out,” he said. “It has 3-D projectors in the front and back that make me look like I’m floating in the middle.”
Beetles and company are looking to complement their visuals with an equally impressive sound to provide a full-body experience. The show will exploit the devastating power of a 50,000-watt audio system, one Beetles warns is not for those with sensitive hearing.
“We have a crazy sound system. It’s almost overkill at some venues,” he said.
Though Beetles will be using amps to push out his sound, fans may be better equipped to consume his music with a spoon or straw.
“My sound is a combination of thrilling, robots, hip-hop and a strawberry milkshake all mixed together in a blender, and you have to try to drink that,” Beetles laughed. “Does that make sense?”
It does for avid fans of the auditory mix master. Beetles has made a name for himself blending genres and arranging unconventional pairings. He cites his collaboration with Korn frontman Jonathan Davis as one of his favorites.
“Collaborations keep things interesting. You have to find this balance of talent,” Beetles said.
The DJ grew up under the influence of hip-hop heavyweights like the Wu-Tang Clan and said his dream collaboration would involve members of the East Coast Collective. Beetles said he is open to different avenues for his music and loves new trends.
“Some people get mad at fads that come and go and the hipsters that follow them,” Beetles said. “As a producer, I like to apply the new style or fad into my music and come up with something totally original.”
Beetles has been on the EDM, Electric Dance Music, scene since its infancy in 2007. He said dubstep started out sounding “very minimal, dark and wompy.” Then in 2010 and 2011 he witnessed it become louder and crazier.
“We’ve been going through this phase where everyone is trying to make Skrillex sounds,” Beetles said.
He postulated that the tides of dubstep are changing once again, and a more minimal styling is bringing things full circle to where the genre began.
“I can even get away with playing older hip-hop stuff, and it fits with the mood now,” Beetles said.
With his fingers on the pulse of the evolving genre, the producer is using his record label to invest in rising stars.
“We have a bunch of really awesome young talent, and these young kids are the future of the genre,” Beetles said.
Labelmates Delta Heavy, Terravita, Bare Noize and others will augment Beetles’ performance tonight, where fans can expect a taste of what the DJ has in store for his next album.
Doors open at 8 p.m., and the show begins an hour later. Tickets are $17.
