FFWD Weekly
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| MUSIC DMC competition When Astro, Cereo, Melo-D, Pump and Skinz combine their powers they become Voltus 5. No, they're not Transformers (or Power Rangers), they're DJs. Dangerous on their own (as witnessed by the damage done at last years DMC competition), together they are an even more frightful force to contend with. In fact, if it wasn't for last year's DMC, they wouldn't have even come together. The problem was busy schedules, but with being on a road trip with each other to the finals in Montreal gave them the time. "Yeah, it actually brought us together," says Melo-D. "We always wanted to get together, but it's just that we don't have time to do it," agrees Pump. "It started on the trip." So, from their humble beginnings in a hotel room near the home of the Habs, Voltus 5 started their plot to take over the world turntablist style. Not that it's easy. They are trying to do it from Calgary, y'know, and this town is not exactly a hotbed of underground hip hop activity. Just ask Melo. He'll tell you. "There's not a lot of things happening in Calgary, and if there is something, we pretty much have to do it ourselves," he says matter-of-factly. "Every DJ show that's happened is because of us. We put it on. Either we're performing or we've promoted the show." As far as these guys are concerned, there are only two main obstacles in their quest for dominance on the decks: time ("With having people who are working, we don't really have the time to get together," says Cereo) and people's tastes. Folks in this town are used to seeing either a band or scratch DJs battling. With Voltus 5 they get to see both and neither, really. Naturally, that challenges most people. "People see us when we're doing a performance, for example the Hieroglyphics thing, and they get into it for a bit and stuff, but I think what grabs them still is the competition. When there's two people competing, that's what gets them going and not so much just watching us play," explains Astro. "It'd be cool, though, if instead of people coming out just for competitions, they'd come out (to see us) like people go out to see a band. But I don't see that happening anytime soon because they're still caught up in the competition edge of it." And to make things even tougher, they have to battle among themselves when they write their music. If you think egos clash often enough in a regular band, try one with five drummers, five vocalists, five horn players, five guitarists, shit, five of almost damn near anything that makes a noise and was ever put on wax. "It's a very stressful process 'cuz we have a lot of different points of view and we argue a lot just like any band," says Astro. "It takes a long period of time to make a song." "It gets crazy!" agrees Melo-D. Luckily, there is a method to their madness and if you happened to catch the Hieroglyphics show put on a couple of weeks ago, you were lucky enough to be among the first in Calgary to see them together. If not, you won't at the DMC competition at the Republik on Friday. At that one, each man will be in full battle mode, ready to take on the other eight contestants with their six minutes of merciless mixer mayhem. This is war, with the winner going to Toronto to compete in the Canadian finals and a chance to make it to the world's final in Paris. But it seems that their real goal is bringing turntablism to Calgary, and that's what their focus is. "Right now, it's kinda so-so," says Melo. "It's fully developing, though. We're putting in our time. We're putting in our effort to make it happen." |