Dysphemic: Tribal Bass and Classical Dubstep Producer

Dysphemic, born as Julian Treweeke, is a rising tribal bass and classical dubstep producer in Australian electronic music. Following the release of his Mind Bandit EP last year, Dysphemic has released his newest album Apollo. Dysphemic worked collaboratively on the album with his own brother, Yiani Treweeke, and it incorporated a lot of artistic influences from their youth growing up in New South Wales, Australia. Both brothers grew up as sons of the late, legendary Australian artist Vernon Treweeke, who is called the “Father of Australian Psychedelic Art”. Dysphemic and his brother Yiani included diverse Mediterranean and Middle Eastern musical influences into Apollo. Here is One EDM’s exclusive interview with Dysphemic, an artist whose music can calm everyone’s minds with groovy, psychedelic vibes. Apollo is out now for downloading and streaming via Dysphemic Productions.

Kenny Ngo: How have you been doing for the past couple of months?

Dysphemic: I have been extremely busy for the past couple months! While I was trying to finish my album I was simultaneously dealing with bush fires, floods, and the cherry on top: COVID-19. It’s been crazy, crazy times. Despite it being a crazy year so far, I’m feeling energized and fully inspired after dropping my album. I’ve been overwhelmed at how amazing the response has been.

You are considered to be a producer who specializes in tribal bass and classical dubstep. In your own words, how do you describe tribal bass?

It’s super hard to define genres nowadays. Electronic music is a big melting pot of a myriad of different sounds; every genre influences each other. It’s always evolving quite rapidly.  If I had to describe it in the broadest sense of terms, tribal bass is dubstep influenced by global music.

Also in your own words, how do you describe classical dubstep?

Dubstep that heavily features acoustic instruments with classical influenced melodies.

How was childhood like growing up with your brother Yiani as the sons of the “Father of Australian Psychedelic Art”, Vernon Treweeke?

It was certainly a unique upbringing. The older I get the more I realize how abnormal it really was. My dad was a huge contributing factor to my brother and I being so creative and why we both became musicians. We were always pushed to think out of the box and make art. As kids we were surrounded with fluorescent lights, psychedelic paintings, and 3D artwork. Visual art aside, our household was always engaging in a constant jamming session. My dad always had musicians over for jams at all hours of the night. Creativity was not only allowed, but heavily encouraged to flourish.

What is your most favorite painting from your father?

“Psychedelic Breakfast”. It’s trippy; Google it.

You just finished producing and releasing your latest album Apollo with your brother Yiani Treweeke. How was the work production like for the both of you?

It was so much smoother working with my brother. Everything was produced and crafted remotely since we live several hours away from one another. He sent me a riff and I’d play around with it, adding drums and other elements to see if I could turn it into a gem. Sometimes I’d need something extra so I’d call him up and – bang! – he’d have something in my inbox 30 minutes later. I grew up listening to my older brother playing music and composing melodies. I took it all in like a sponge. Now, when we write music together, there are never any clashes – it’s always a very natural process. I think this is because I was heavily influenced by his melodies as I was growing up. We were aligned creatively from the get-go.

What were the most challenging tracks to produce on Apollo?

“Arch Angel”. I’ve never mixed a track so many times to get it right; it was painful. It’s based on a song that Yiani wrote in B on piano with amazingly beautiful melodies. B is probably the hardest key to mix sonically for bass music, as the sub is hardly audible at that frequency. It never sounded the same in other keys, so I had my work cut out for me. It turned out to be one intense masterpiece and I learnt a huge amount of sound design tricks along the way.

Did you and Yiani get to experiment any traditional Mediterranean and Middle Eastern musical instruments?

We used bouzouki, a traditional Greek instrument, on some of the tracks. We try and use it as much as we can as it’s part of our heritage. It’s a homage to pay respect to those that came before us.

What was the last show or festival that you guys performed before the rise of the pandemic?

I played in Perth in Western Australia. I was all in and planning on doing a full Australian tour as well as a European/USA tour later following the release of Apollo. So many cancelled plans! The positive side is, however, having more time to lock down in studio and smash out fresh, new tunes.

Where is the one place that you would love traveling to once everything gets better again?

Mexico. It absolutely stole my heart when I toured there last year. It’s an entire planet in itself, and I made some of the best friends there! Shout out to all of my cabrones! Hope to see you all sooner rather than later.