Over the last few weeks, I’ve been connecting with a lot of different DJ’s across the Northwest. Most recently, I had the privilege of talking to Radikill and learning about his DJ roots in Idaho, as well as the greater region of Spokane.
This debaucherous artist is known for his wild acts on stage, seasoned skills as a performer, wicked dreadlocks, and die-hard fan base. With seven years of stage experience, Radikill has a widely varied skillset encompassing genres such as electro, trap, bass, dubstep, bass house, trance, and just about every sub-genre you could think of.
Radikill has had the experience of performing numerous events and festivals, and an uncountable amount of nondescript private parties across the Northwest. He’s been seen performing on the same setlists as artists like NGHTMRE, Doctor P, Pegboard Nerds, Figure, Aaron Jackson, Herobust, Bear Grillz, Clozee, Psymbionic, Deorro, Riot Ten, and other highly esteemed names.
Below, I’ve compiled Radikill’s story into a short Autobiography. You could say it’s pretty rad.
Listen to Radikill – Herobust Opener Mix
Radikill – An Autobiography of Dirt and Filth
My journey in electronic music started in 2009 when I lived in Moscow, Idaho. I met a DJ named Dave who went by Xodus at the time. He was from Idaho Falls and had a pair of Technics and an incredible hard vinyl collection of trance and drum and bass. Dave and I became friends, and it wasn’t long until he began teaching me how to play the turntables. I remember seeing those tables for the first time and feeling soo excited. I’d already had an interest in listening to electronic groups such as Nine Inch Nails, The Prodigy, and Infected Mushroom, ever since I was a kid. At that point, my interest in electronic music skyrocketed.
At first, the tables were a real challenge for me to get a grasp of. I’d never done anything similar to that in my life. I had no idea how to beat match and was unfamiliar with Dave’s music. But quickly, I became obsessed. After many hours of practice and repetition, I found a knack for mixing vinyl and adopted the name Dreadlok Holmez. Me and Xodus practiced constantly.
By the end of the year we began playing house parties together at my dad’s place, outside Moscow, under the name ‘Worldz Againzt Uz Muzic Productionz, or WAUMP.’ This was about the same time as the big dubstep boom in 2010, and we decided to join the movement and switch to digital vinyl. Together, we bought a Serato interface and downloaded Serato Scratch.
At the beginning of 2011, me and Xodus had our first Spokane house party in a suburb called Mead. I’ll never forget what went down that night. The party was packed and completely out of control. We had about 600 people on the property, most of them inside the house. At one point in the night, I remember looking up at the crowd in living room where I was playing, and not seeing a square foot of space anywhere. Then it started getting real wild in the crowd about halfway through my set. There was this one guy, a heavy set dude, who started jumping to the music hard. Suddenly we all heard a big cracking sound, and looked around for the cause. The guy literally smashed a hole halfway through the living room floor. I was stunned, but kept playing.
Shortly after that, a police helicopter showed up and dropped a spotlight on us. I thought they were going to raid us for sure. Next, cops rolled up in cars and told us over the mic that we needed to re-park our cars. Evidently, we were parked too far up and were blocking off the neighbors exits. We all re-parked our cars and ended up partying on that whole night, without any arrests. Probably, they just didn’t want us all on the road, driving.
Evidently, me and Xodus had begun to make a name for ourselves in Spokane. we were contacted soon after the party, and ended up getting our first booking at a venue called The Hop. That night was also quite memorable. We were in charge of the third stage, which was in the attic. We didn’t have much stage equipment at the time, only speakers and some Christmas lights we found in a box. Somehow, we still managed to play way above the max decibel level allowed at the venue.
We also went over the max capacity of attendees. We literally had a bouncer at the door whose job it was to warn us if any cops were coming. Halfway through the night, the bouncer had to run inside and up the stairs to the stage. I remember him coming barreling in, telling us to turn off the sound. We did, and got everyone to quiet down so we wouldn’t get busted by the fire department. It was totally surreal. Like, imagine pulling an Anne Frank at a rave.
Late in 2012, me and Xodus had a bit of a falling out. We ended up splitting up our equipment and going our different ways. This was a really difficult time for me. For the last four years, I’d been getting paid to play shows and travel across the Northwest. All of the sudden I was without a partner, had no turntables, and no way to perform by myself. Worse yet, I had to cut off my dreads and get some regular damn job at a fast food drive through. I had to say goodbye to Dreadlok Holmez, and hello to a normal life. I felt wrecked.
After working several different jobs over the course a year, I managed to save up enough money to get myself back in the game. I bought a DDJ-SX four channel controller that ran off of Serato DJ. I prefer it over CDJs, because I can manipulate loops and hot-cues on the fly. With CDJs, that’s a little harder to do. I decided that with all the changes that had happened in my life, it was time for me to change as a performer as well. I came up with my new moniker; Radikill, and changed up my style from dubstep to heavy electro and melbourne bounce.
I soon began playing house parties in Spokane on Friday and Saturday nights every weekend. That was when I really started to hustle. Every Friday after work, I would drive to Spokane and play a show. I’d stay the night on someone’s couch, and play another show on Saturday. Then on Sunday, I would drive home and prepare for the work week. That was my weekly routine from 2013-2015.
Since reinventing myself as Radikill, I’ve learned a lot as an artist. I’ve also worked hard to improve my musical performance, as well as my stage antics. I started adding in a lot of raw debauchery to really shake up my crowd, such as throwing blow up dolls out to the audience, launching money and merchandise out of a CO2 cannon, pouring liquor for fans. You know, real shit.
I’ve also gained a following which I affectionately refer to as my Radivillians. They support me at my shows and assist me in all of my gnarly stage performances. They’re truly a part of the experience and I’m very thankful to have them. Whenever I perform, there is always a Radivillian for me to feed liquor to, or crack a joke shout out to on the mic, entailing some ridiculous but true story that we’ve experienced together. Those guys have been extremely supportive.
By 2015, I became really well known within the nightlife scene in Spokane. Headyworks, the biggest production company in the area at that time, started to take notice. Since then, they’ve booked me for Conscious Culture Festival, three times at Pirate Parties, and Konnexion in Boise, Idaho. I’d been steadily building myself up as Radikill since late 2010, and by this time, things were starting to look really great.
Unfortunately, later in 2015 I was involved in an accident which forced me to take a break and evaluate myself. Me and some friends had just finished watching Flux Pavilion at The Knit, in Spokane. I and my friends were hanging out outside the venue and, well, we decided to do some stupid shit. What can I say, we were trashed.
There were some nearby buildings with scaffolding and other things that looked easy to climb. The buildings really didn’t seem too tall at the time. We decided, what the hell, and started climbing. When we got to the top of the (three story) building, someone decided it would be a good idea if we tried jumping to the building across from us. I suppose the jump didn’t seem so bad at the time either. Long story short, my friends made it, I didn’t. I ended up falling three stories and breaking my pelvis, part of my back, and my left arm in several places.
I was hospitalized, and eventually put in a wheelchair, when I was capable of getting out of bed. It was probably about four months before I was feeling one hundred percent again. It was an unfortunate accident that could have been avoided, but I’ve learned and moved on. After the third month, I was able to get out of the wheelchair and walk. As soon as I was out, I hit the ground running. Well, I was limping a little, but I limped real fast. I ended up getting booked and opening for NGHTMRE only a few weeks after I was recovered. I still didn’t feel one hundred percent, but I didn’t care. That performance would lead me to land many other slots at big events over the next year and a half.
I’ve been through a lot of setbacks in my career. Some of which were my cause, and some, the cause of the difficult industry I’m in. It can be very cut throat trying to get by as a DJ or musical artist. Luckily, I have the support of my fans, and a strong passion. I don’t plan on slowing down anytime soon.
-Radikill
SUPPORT RADIKILL ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Photos: Colee Photography
FOR MORE NORTHWEST EDM, FOLLOW RESPECT MY REGION ON FACEBOOK & TWITTER. HAVE A STORY WE SHOULD COVER? EMAIL US AT INFO@RESPECTMYREGION.COM.
