Soltan is also our Guest DJ for Firepower’s Lock and Load Mix Series. We know you guys have been waiting eagerly for this one. So read up on the life of Soltan and like, share, and repost his mix below!

For bass music to survive, artists need to constantly innovate with sound design. Your EP Jadugar seems to do just that! How do you keep your sound fresh and innovative in a musical landscape that is often content to recycle and rehash old sounds and ideas? 

Well I simply get bored when I stay safe and use the same kinds of sounds over and over again so I’m always looking to innovate and change things up. I also put a lot of my time into sound design, and I’m not so concerned with what I THINK people what to hear. It’s more about what gets me excited because your fans can feel it when you really put your 100% into your music. The last thing is growing up around a mix of Middle Eastern sounds from countries like Iran, Afghanistan, and Turkey and also India has been a huge influence on my sound.

What are some of the toughest challenges you face as a producer in Iran that other producers may take for granted?

A huge hardship for me has been that I’m physically isolated and also the lack of opportunity here for pursuing music production. There really isn’t a bass scene in Iran let alone dance clubs. I’ve never been to a bass show or “rave” so everything that I’ve been influenced by in the bass world is through the internet. It’s crazy seeing these people play your music on tour and at festivals and not knowing what that experience is like you know? I hope that someday I can have this “physical connection” with other music lovers like me. 

What is the bass music or EDM scene like in Iran right now? 

As I mentioned, there isn’t really a bass scene and dance culture in general is not exactly looked favorably upon. That’s not to say at all that there aren’t people here who enjoy dance music because there are… they just can’t be too about it.

If you were to host a party, and you were the chef, what would you serve and why? 

Koobideh, which is a kind of kabob. Along with some rice, tadiq, and gojeh (tomato)  

What is the most important thing in life? 

 The most important for me is the safety and happiness of my family. After that, I would say doing what I love and putting my all into my music. 

This is your third release with Firepower Records. How has your music evolved since the first release?

I’m always working to get better and better. I have a lot of love for my first release on Firepower, I worked super hard for months to make sure it was up to quality. However, I’d definitely say I have a lot more variety now in my releases. It’s easy to get stuck in one sound for a while, but I think you have to step out of the box every once in a while to grab people’s attention.

What do you feel has been your greatest key to success?

Always working hard and believing in yourself is the key; they don’t want us to be successful, so you know all of us here at Firepower are successful for them. But in all seriousness, if you just work your ass off at something and stay humble while believing yourself you will achieve your goals eventually.

There are a lot of people capitalizing on how popular festivals and EDM has gotten. You can see it with things like that Zac Efron movie; it wasn’t made by people that are passionate about music, it was made to try to make a quick buck on current trends. I’m not saying it isn’t good for EDM to be popular, but a lot of negatives come with it. It attracts people that show up to concerts because it’s the “thing to do” rather than for the actual music or artists. But like with all things, it will subside eventually and I think we will see the rise of the underground vibe again.

Whats your biggest pet peeve?

Disrespectful people annoy me the most. I’m a pretty chill guy and never have confrontations, but I can’t stand when someone treats others like less than themselves. That’s just something I won’t stand around and watch ever

If you weren’t DJing and producing, what job would you enjoy doing? 

Maybe a movie actor, I think that would be fun. Having fun is important in a job; no one wants to be stuck doing something they hate. I  also want to get into movie and video game scoring someday. Or maybe being a rapper if I liked hearing my own voice more haha.

Each artist will answer 5 questions to best of their ability. Sometimes the questions will require an in-depth answer, and sometimes not. The artists do not know the questions ahead of time, so the answers might be a bit crazy. Hopefully, we’ll all get to know something about the Firepower Artists as we put their asses in Firepower Hotseat.

First up: Spag Heddy

Your EP, Gypsi Thug, is a melting pot of European Culture, from your name, Spag Heddy, to your self described love of pasta, to the title of the EP and the sound of the title track. How did you decide in the direction of this EP?

This EP contains both my classic and new sounds and arrangements. It’s the same ol’ cheesy Spag Heddy, but well-armed.

What are your top 5 pastas in descending order. 

1. Spaghetti 2. Conchiglie  3. Macaroni 4. Fusilli 5. Penne

If you could make a very special Spaghetti dinner for two famous people, living or dead, who would they be and why?

Scarlett Johansson because much wow and Jesus Christ because eternal spaghetti. 

When we think Dutch dance music, usually we think of the “Van Clan” (Van Dyke, Van Doorn, Van Reil, etc) and Big Room Progressive house. Does Bass music get overshadowed in the Netherlands? 

Big room and techno are definitely overshadowing bass music in NL. But there is a really solid underground bass music scene too, where D&B has always been the biggest and steadiest force. Not weird if you see we’ve got legends like Noisia and Black Sun Empire up our sleeves.

What are your top 3 guilty pleasure songs?

1. Darude – Sandstorm 2. Zebrahead – Postcards From Hell 3. Paul Potts – Nessun Dorma

Firepower Records will release Spag Heddy’s Scorching new EP Gypsi Thug on August 7th. Don’t Sleep on this!