Italian DJ and producer Mad Dog started along his musical path in 1993 when he discovered a radio show called Virus, hosted by Freddy K.
"Soon after, I found a record shop called Re-Mix and got into the illegal rave scene," he says. "I managed to buy some turntables and records, and I spent pretty much all my time practicing. In 1996 I was booked for my first live act. A few months later I had my own radio show, and we started organizing parties. We went from 250 people to 4,000 in a very short time. Then, in the early 2000s, we organized an event that didn't sell enough tickets, and I lost all my money. A few months later I decided to start again with a new project called Mad Dog. Things have been serious since day one."
Mad Dog describes his sound as hardcore, in all its forms.
"Slow, fast, melodic, epic, radio-friendly or completely underground," he says. "Distorted or clean. I've been in this genre for more than 30 years, so all those things are part of my sound. And I'm sure there's still a lot more to explore."
His latest release is the Midnight Rituals album. "I'm still into slower BPMs," he says. "I had this intuition back in 2020 that there was something interesting to explore around 160 BPM, and I still enjoy producing and playing that music. My new album is called Midnight Rituals. I didn't want to stick to one particular sound. There are different sides of my music on it, from melodic stuff to darker and more experimental tracks."
As for gear: "My go-to synth is a vintage Korg Mono/Poly. I use it for leads, weird sounds, pads and FX. It's a pretty basic synth compared to something like Serum, but I like having all the knobs in front of me. And it sounds great. My new studio is almost finished. It's a 4-by-6-metre room designed by one of the best Italian acoustic engineers, with a pair of ATC SCM110ASL Pro monitors and two subwoofers. And of course I still have the analogue gear I've been collecting since I was 16. Alpha Juno, TR-909... the list is too long."
Looking ahead, Mad Dog has plenty planned for the coming months.
"I'm planning to release Midnight Rituals in mid-November," he says. "After NDSM and Westerkerk, my third live performance will take place at the Opéra de Vichy in France. An opera theatre might sound like a strange place for Hardcore, but that's exactly what I like about it. There will be two singers, an aerial dancer and me playing some of my analogue gear live. I like that contrast between the theatre and the rave scene."
