When Suppression XTRA RAW published its line-up, there was one DJ on it no one ever heard of: Sickmode. Only a few weeks after the name first appeared, he plays a significant role for the event: Sickmode is the anthem creator for Suppression XTRA RAW. We talked to Aleandro about the start of Sickmode and his very first anthem ‘Unleash your Aggression’.
READ ALSO: Malice is splitting up: “Double the madness”
Suppression XTRA RAW was the first to come out to the public with the new name Sickmode. After weeks filled with rumors and speculations, things got cleared up due the Gearbox 10 years documentary: the raw hardstyle act Malice split up and Aleandro forms a new act, called Sickmode. Now, thousands of “SICK” comments on social media and one highly praised performance at Gearbox X later, Sickmode is a name every interested hardstyle lover knows.
“I produced 26 tracks in 3 weeks”
During his first performance, Aleandro presented a set with a massive amount of new, own tracks. “To be able to do this, I produced a lot of tracks in a short amount of time: 26 tracks in 3 weeks.” He says it has been his dream since the beginning to create something all by himself and wants to play his own music in his sets. “This was extremely exhausting for me, but that performance gave me more motivation than I’ve ever had before. It has been very stressful, but also very rewarding.”
“Imagine the feeling of finally getting that dream job you’ve always wanted and worked extremely hard to get. That feeling is exactly what I have”, Aleandro says and describes how it feels now being a solo artist: “I have complete freedom with everything I produce, share on social media, wear to parties etc. I feel a lot more relaxed and free. I can be what I want.” Also his alias is of course an expression of his personal experiences. As in the Gearbox documentary already mentioned, moving from Italy to the Netherlands wasn’t easy. Difficulties plus a lot of stress led to serious mental health problems.
“It resulted in me getting depression”
He left family and friends, spoke neither Dutch nor English and had general problems with the new life in the Dutch system. At the same time, he had a strong ambition to change the hardstyle scene in an experimental way and was always pushing himself to the limit, which led him to force himself to spend all his time focusing on the music. “All of this together resulted in me becoming very mentally sick and resulted in me getting depression. When I get depressed, I don’t want to think about anything so I need to make music. I can do this for days without eating or sleeping – sometimes producing 3 tracks per day. This obviously makes me more sick, but in that moment I don’t care.” Adding the fact that many fans tell him how “sick” his music is, eventually created the name Sickmode.
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After many years of working hard to build a fan base and to achieve a reputation with his former act Malice, Aleandro again started from zero with his new alias. His connections within the scene and the experiences he already gained, are helpful though. Since the start, artists and fans are spreading the catchwords “Sickmode” and “sick” on the internet.
“The difficult thing is to communicate with people that I have changed my name”
“Of course I’m very grateful for the fans who are loyal to me and for the artists who are already supporting my music and I hope everyone will continue to do this”, Sickmode says. “The difficult thing is to communicate with people that I have changed my name. This means I have to spend a lot of time on social media and playing on a lot parties to have people follow me again.
The next party where Sickmode will perform is Suppression XTRA RAW – the event for which he created his first anthem ‘Unleash your Aggression’: “I wanted to make something which stayed true to the Suppression theme of this year. Also something that would make everyone sing together. Of course I wanted to add some ‘ping pong’ kicks and crazy gated sounds in ‘Sickmode’ style. I know that the people who come to Suppression always expect something crazy.”
“At Suppression everyone knows every track, people scream on every drop”
Suppression has always been one of Aleandro’s favorite events, because according to the DJ it’s not just a party where artists play and people dance. “Its like one big family where everyone knows each other and it’s something we built together. Everyone knows every track, people scream on every drop. It’s always a really great night and great feeling.” From his set, fans can expect a Gearbox X 2.0 performance, but with even more own tracks.
Besides his first anthem and tons of new music, other big news recently came along: in the beginning of next year’s festival season, Sickmode will present an album showcase. With this album, Aleandro wants to represent everything he wants to see in the hardstyle scene. “I want to take everyone on a journey of different emotions. I want everyone to feel what I have felt and experienced in all my years of producing, like rage, aggression, happiness, sadness, memes, laughing, dumb stuff – literally anything and everything.”
The album is still in progress and planned for the beginning of next year. Sickmode already reveals that it’ll contain collaborations with a lot of artists from different styles and labels, as well as the name of the main track: ‘No Limits’, perfectly fitting to what people can expect from Sickmode in the future.
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The producer states to keep trying to create something new that doesn’t exist, like he did with Malice. “You can expect absolutely anything. Any kind of tracks or any genre of music. It will be complete freedom but also staying loyal to my unique sound. There will be a lot of experimentation and fusion of music.” To summarize all this and describe his music, Sickmode only needs 3 words: “This Is Sick.”
Suppression XTRA RAW will take place in the North Sea Venue in Zaandam on 7th December 2019 from 13:00 until 01:00. If you want to be part of this xtra raw experience and witness Sickmode’s first anthem and second performance ever, get your tickets via the official Suppression website.
Footage via official website Pure Bookings
