June 5, 2009
Posted by Ryan Graves
DubFX: Doing Things Differently With Passion Creates A Market And Opportunity
This post is very different from any I’ve ever written here on TDIA. I should first say that I am by no means any kind of authority on new or trending music. I don’t claim to be someone who is good at finding music before most others. For that check out @melillo and Say.No.Radio. It’s just not my bag. However, today I do want to feature a budding artist with ridiculous talent and the nuts to develop a new genre of music from that talent. The man is passionate like crazy and his days of recognition and popularity are definitely ahead of him.
Allow me to introduce Ben Stanford Eduard Seiler, or his artist name DubFX for those who have never heard of him. He operates with only 2 instruments, his vocals and a piece of equipment called a loop station. Essentially, DubFX lays down each piece of his music individually all created by his voice, then with the loop station he plays each portion back over the others to create a one man collaboration of beat boxing, bass tunes, and vocals that will blow you away. Have a listen…the video above is probably my favorite of DubFX’s tracks called ‘Soothe Your Pain’.
Explanation of Loop Stations & DubFX
Creating a Market, Not Competing In One
I’m sure Stanford has been inspired by other artists but his music is completely original. Loop stations are not brand new machines but his integration of beat boxing (making a beat with your voice), and inserting vocal high tones and sounds, and singing/rapping the way he does creates a completely new sound that simply cannot be classified. He was not setting out to be the best in a defined genre of music, DubFX set out to dominate a genre by creating a completely new one. He’s not trying to compete with traditional hip-hop, rock, or really any other established genre and because of this he is establishing quite a name by developing a organically driven following.
Building A Tribe
DubFX’s primary performance medium, based on what you’ll see from these videos, is the random shows, to random crowds, on random streets. If you search his name on Google, DubFX will return his site along with tons of comments about his music on beatbox forums and underground music sites from the US, Australia, and across Europe. He’s created his tribe of followers who are passionate and loyal to his creations.
Seriously one of the most musically talented beatboxers ive ever heard…totally sick video, seriously!!
- Sparticus from the humanbeatbox.com forums
Dude please, this is the kind of music i could listen to all day! id pay 50 dollars for this damn cd!
i cant stop listening to this dude, the vibe gives me chills- BeAt-BuNcHiEs from the humanbeatbox.com forums
There is clear passion from a small group of fans and followers that is growing radically and working for DubFX to spread the word on his music. He’s leading a tribe.
Killer Content
Not only is DubFX’s music amazing, he’s done a great thing in hiring Ben Dowden, a talented film maker, to create powerful video content to spread the word. Many of his videos on Ben’s Youtube channel are relatively amateur, but if you follow DubFX.net you can see that there has been an increase in the quality of production (like the second video on this post) and it pays! In time this content will improve and it will spread virally through blog posts like this one and word of mouth.
Your Passion & Tribe
Just like Stanford became DubFX by creating music that sounded right to him and not just listening to what others thought would work, you too should do exactly what it is that makes you most excited and gets you fired up. Even if you don’t see a “monetization strategy” for that passion, shoot for it and by doing what you love you’ll find a way to stay successful.
Not everyone knows exactly what it is that makes them tick. It’s hard to figure out. Actively work to identify that passion.
DubFX said these words to a crowd of over 100 in Kiev, Ukraine that truly sum up his love and passion for the music he creates.
I’m more of a pagan than a religious man I kind of believe in everything as a god in itself, you know the trees are a god, the sun is a god, the moon is a god, even though we’re all created by vibration. That’s the other thing I believe. Vibration is the one thing that we’re all made of, the whole universe is vibration. And the purest form of vibration is music in my opinion, light and vibration. So, like music is my messiah, you get me?
