Funkadelphia: "Let's start out with some general info-

where are you from, and where are you living now?"

Skyla: "I grew up in the country on a dirt road with no neighbors in the middle of Michigan. I know... so sad. I've been living in the Los Angeles areas for quite a few years now, and I don't plan on ever leaving."

 

Spled: "Los Angeles, born and raised. I've never left."

 

 

Funkadelphia: "How long and you been producing and deejaying for?"

Skyla: "I've been producing rock and roll most of my life. I started getting serious with electronic music while I was touring and needing something to do with all the down time. I found it kept me out of trouble. Well...most of the time. The last couple years, I've been diving more into the deejay world."

 

Spled: "Since I've been a young lad of the age of thirteen, and I've been deejaying for about four years."

 

 

Funkadelphia: "What other projects were you a part of before-

Skyla, I know you had the project Killingbird?"

Skyla: "I've been in bands ever starting in high school. When I moved to L.A., I started a band, whch was more electronic and industrial. That's when I started producing electronic music, but never released anything 'til these last couple years. I was in Killingbird for a few years, which was a straight up hard rock band. Later, I joined Scum of the Earth playing guitar, which is fronted by Rob Zombie guitar player, Riggs. I toured with them for year, and shortly after, I formed another rock band, ModelSaint. Then Blackburned was born."

 

 

Funkadelphia: "So aside from electronic production, what instruments do you play?"

Skyla: "My main instrument is guitar. I've released a couple solo albums where I did a majority of the live instrumentation (guitar, bass, piano, vocals). I learned to read music at an early age and played multiple brass instruments as well."

 

Spled: "Well I started off as a singer/guitarist, and later down the road I started playing drums and bass."

 

 

Funkadelphia: "Coming up in the bass music scene, what artists-

producers or deejays- would you say have inspired you?"

Skyla: "Well what got me started in the electronic scene was hearing Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie for the first time and other band that mixed rock and metal with electronic. Now I'm listening and taking in what a lot of the current producers are doing, whether it be dubstep, electro, or drum and bass. I usually switch up genres or sub-genres to take me out of my norm to trigger inspiration."

 

Spled: "Hanging out with Sonny Moore, aka Skrillex, inspired me. He took all genres of music and transformed them into hard bass beats and really inspired me to transform what I love, which is metal and hardcore and turn it into a new evolution of music."

 

 

Funkadelphia: "Other than just other artists, has anything else in particular had an impact on your music; or, do you feel there have been any other particular inspirations to your and your music career?"

Skyla: "I think me relocating from the woods in mid-Michigan to Los Angeles years ago made an impact on my music, not only in advancing my career in music, but also, inspiration. Sometimes a big change is what some people need."

 

 

Funkadelphia: "Do you have a particular genre or BPM speed you like to work with?"

Skyla: "You know, for me, it's always been about experimenting and trying new things. Sometimes I'll start with a specific BPM and a song idea in mind, but it doesn't always work. So, I'm always changing it up."

 

Spled: "I  love making dubstep and EDM at 140 or 130 BPM."

 

 

Funkadelphia: "What equipment and software do you use when producing?"

Skyla: "I've been using Cubase for years. I've messed with Ableton a bit, but I keep going back to Cubase since I'm so familiar with it. Ler's see... the Native Instruments Komplete bundle keeps me happy a lot of the time. I have too many VST's to list that I use. Each week I have a new [favorite], and I always keep an eye out for something new."

 

Spled: "I use Ableton Live for producing and lots of plug-ins, such as Massive, Amplitube, Wobble, and I use a lot of the Sugar Bytes stuff, like Turnado."

 

 

 

Funkadelphia: "How about while performing- what equipment?"

Skyla: "We were using Ableton for a while, but now we just recently switched to using just CDJ's. We prefer the Pioneer 2000's and DJM900."

 

 

Funkadelphia: "You 'Drop Bass Not Bombs' album came out not too long ago- do you have any other big releases in the works at the moment you can tell us about?"

Skyla: "A version of 'Drop Bass Not Bombs' was released digitially a bit ago, but that's now unavailable. The new album will feature more tracks and will be released digitally February 26th and March 12th for the physical CD."

 

 

Funkadelphia: "Do you have any funny or just generally good stories from the road?"

Skyla: "Always! Something is always bound to happen. Anywhere from people falling asleep on train tracks- or should I say, passiong out- to being left and forgot about at truck stops. Also, there are some stories that we could tell that would have to be censored. Always fun though!"

 

 

Funkadelphia: "Have you gone on tour with any artists

that you had a particularly fun time playing with?"

Skyla: "Last summer we had the honor of touring with industrial legends Ministry. We brought our guitars out for that tour and did some heavier sets. Amazing time! Last week we flew back from Atlanta, where we partied hard with DJ Bl3nd, which was awesome."

 

 

 

Funkadelphia: "So is this show with Savant your first gig here in Philadelphia?"

Skyla: "Yes, this will be the first time Blackburner will be in Philly. We've heard nothing but great things from our other deejay friends about that area. We are more than ready to tear up the place."

 

 

Funkadelphia: "Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?"

Skyla: "Blackburner has more surprises in store for our listeners and for our live performances. We have plans for extensive touring, and we will see everyone in their town soon! Check us out at blackburner.org, or Facebook us at facebook.com/blackburner.org, and follow us on twitter to stay up to date at @blkburner- and individually, @skylatalon and @xxspledxx.