This French master of extreme music is no stranger for anyone that likes heavy pounding music. And during this edition of We Cause Violence, he will do a special set, just for you extremeheads! So enough reasons to get to know him better and have a chat with the one and only Striker.
Striker discovered the hardcore sound at the end of the 90s, when he lived in France's capital city of Paris. Even while he was still a teenager at the time, he immediately fell in love with the violence and energy coming from this music. "I had a lot of hardcore CDs at the time", Striker says. "Especially Dutch compilation CDs and CDs from the French label Epileptik. The album that really brought me into this world was Neurophonie by Micropoint. This was a musical slap in the face at the time!"
Striker started around twenty years ago with his so-called artist project. At first, he played at smaller parties that were mostly free, but because he met the right people at the right time, he was able to end up at some of the biggest festivals in especially the Netherlands. "Just like everyone else nowadays, I offered my music on the internet. But meeting with guys like Drokz and Noisekick really changed a lot for me. Because of them and their support in my development as an artist, I was able to achieve my spot at these big events. It was a great honor and I can't thank them enough for this." However, in his home country it's more difficult to play. "Parties specialized in these kinds of music are very rare or even non-existing in France. That's because the terror scene is not very large here. Most of my listeners are in the Netherlands or Germany, but I'm surprised to hear people from all around the world listen to my music, even while it is in limited communities."
Musical evolution
In the meantime, Striker released over 140 tracks, dozens of EPs and even three albums, dedicated to terror. But he recently announced that he wants to make more speedcore productions. What’s the reason for that? "I like to evolve and take my music to the next level. I know that moving to speedcore probably makes me lose a part of my audience, but it doesn't matter to me. I go where my desire and inspiration take me to try new technical novelties to the genre." At the moment, because of other projects outside of his music career, he is not able to make a lot of new things for now. However, he did spoiled that he is preparing some secret projects for the end of this year, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of his first EP release, so stay tuned!
Déjà vu
After Terrordrang Agency was disbanded, Striker joined Speedcore Italia. For him, this was a logical choice to "stay in the harder scenes with the family of enthusiasts". This is also one of the reasons he played in the Mikroport Club a few times already, and even in different areas. "It's true that Mikroport Club has a special atmosphere, especially in the (in)famous tunnel", Striker continues. "The sound is powerful and the vibe really fits the extreme styles of music." Striker also played last year, during the first edition of We Cause Violence. "I was supposed to end the Survival stage in the big area upstairs, but due to circumstances beyond our control, we had to move to the third area underneath the tunnel. When I arrived in the area, nobody was there. But after a few minutes when I was playing, the room was filled up and everybody wanted to complete the last set of the night."
During the upcoming edition of We Cause Violence, Striker returns to the Speedcore Italia area in the tunnel, where he will do a live speedcore set. This evening is going to be really important for him: "My organization (Speedcore Italia, red.) allows me to play my speedcore tracks, that will make the speakers spit. The speedcore community is small, but strong and passionate. You can feel this with the vibe in the tunnel. But at the Survival side it’s the same thing. Alex is really impassioned and he loves what he does, and that is always showing. I have always been received very well here."
Any last words, Striker? "If you want to let off steam as a sort of outlet to violent and dark electronic music, come to We Cause Violence. You will get served really well! So let's fucking go for industrial, terror and speedcore vibes!"
Catch Striker and the rest of the line-up during We Cause Violence II – Butterfly Effect, Saturday the 11th of May 2024. Still no tickets? Get them here! And in the meantime, get already in the hype mode by listening to his warm-up mix for the event below.