Bio from Sabbat | DJ Spotlight in the Velvet Rag | News & Updates
DJ Spotlight in the Velvet Rag, Feburary 2000
NAME: DJ Reverend Cybian A.K.A. Christopher Benton Kneeland
AGE: 32
BIRTHDAY: September 3rd
LOCATION OF BIRTH: Kings Park, NY
FAVORITE COLOR: Black (I know it's not a colour, I used to get flack from my grammar school teachers.)
FAVORITE FOOD: Sushi
FAVORITE BAND: I don't really have a favorite band so here are three artists that come to the top of my head. Philip Fichot (Die Form, D.F. Sadist School, Dsign, etc.), Rudy Ratzinger (:wumpscut:, help with startups like Noisex, B-Ton-K, etc), and Christian "Chris" Pohl (Terminal Choice, Tumor, Seelenkrank and BlutEngel)
Who is Chris (AKA Cybian)? DJ, Web Administrator, Paladin.
What were you like as a child? Always getting in trouble in school. School was basically boring for me. I was more interested in drawing, reading about WWI & II and listening to music. Going outside, playing sports and building forts also took precedence over homework. And then when my age hit double digits, the opposite sex was also thrown into the loop.
As a teen? Fuzzy years .... Just trying to stay alive and entertain myself at the same time. Most of my teen years were spent on Hollywood streets, at parties and at clubs.
How did you get started as a DJ? I used to do lights for Bryan Pollard back in 95 and early to mid 96. A couple of times Bryan needed me to step in for him during his sets. Between people asking me why I didn't DJ since I owned and had a lot of knowledge about music to noticing myself that there wasn't a lot of bands being played, I jumped on the opportunity when Bryan had a slot opened at Therapy. That is basically the short and skinny of it, Bryan giving me a chance to prove myself in the deejay booth and my love of music. I think it has worked out quite well over the past couple of years.
Who was your first musical hero? Probably John "Ozzy" Osbourne from the old Black Sabbath days. Who else would be an idol to a 10 year old back in the late 70's?
What would you consider to be the music that you enjoy playing the most at home? In a club? At home it depends on my mood and varies extremely (my musical taste not my mood, silly). If I am in a mellow mood, you'll find me listening to either Ambient, Soundscape or Darkwave (or your hybrids like Ambient Noise, Dark Electro etc.), which then sometimes transgresses to IDM or a little bit of Trip Hop. If I am in a more energetic mood, Epic and Progressive Trance and House will definitely fill the bill. Powernoize, Harsh Electro and EBM will either fill in the gaps between extreme mellow and hyper moods and can also really get you grooving while cleaning the house. And if I want to put a corkscrew into things, I will usually throw in a little Psychobilly. Usually I listen to a type of music for a couple of days and then move onto something else. Or maybe I'm in the mood to listen to a specific band like Depeche Mode, the Cure or the Reverend Horton Heat (it helps when the band has numerous releases for this type of fix) for a couple of days straight. One thing is for sure, I can never listen to just "one" type of music for weeks on straight. Variety is the spice of life? Is it not?
At clubs it's a different story. I always believed that a club should be energetic, a place to have fun and dance, not a fashion show to stand around and look like you're the "in crowd". This is why during my main sets or "spots" in the night, you will find me spinning mostly Harsh Electro, EBM and Powernoize. You will also hear me sometimes throwing in a little bit of Synth Pop to complete the journey or magical carpet ride of sounds and trips I try to bring to you.
Do you prefer to play long sets or short sets? Definitely long sets. I usually like to build up to a "high energy" atmosphere. If time permits, I can then bring you back into reality slowly and softly. And if time doesn't permit, get prepared to be slammed back into reality hard! Its about build ups and breaks. It's all about phat beats with harsh or melodic backgrounds. To hear one of my slower and more melodic ambient type sets, you would have to come and listen to one of my opening spots. Yes, I know it's hard to believe since most people arrive to the clubs when I am spinning my harsher sets, but believe me I do start out slowly.
Where do you do most of your music shopping? It varies nowadays. Years ago I used to order all my music mostly from http://www.infrarot.de. This was because it would take forever for new releases to hit the States. Also most local record shops back then didn't carry a great selection of imports that I wanted, so on-line was the only way to shop. Things have changed now and new releases are released the same day here in local record stores as in Europe. You can basically find anything you want here (well almost), which is why I have been buying a lot more things locally. But, I still believe for one of the best experiences in music shopping, one has to turn to InfrRot.
As record labels go, what is your favorite? Hymen and Ant Zen are always good and have never let me down. I would also like to mention one of the newer labels that just recently immerged ... Bloodline. They've been signing quite a few good bands lately and definitely should have an eye or ear towards.
What is your least favorite record label? Would the top corporate mainstream record labels, suffice for an answer?
In the area of mixing, do you have a style of blending that you like to go by? Beat mixing is always good. But any DJ will tell you that in the vein of Industrial/Goth, it can be pretty difficult. This type of music isn't beat orientated. But you can try to mix similar synth sounds and keyboards to get the same effect. This seems to work a lot better for "industrial" type music.
Who do you rate as a band that is up and coming for us to look for in the future? Converter has been probably one of the strongest and most innovative Power Noize bands that have come out in the past couple of years. I was impressed with the latest releases of Assemblage 23, Din Fiv, Imperative Reaction and Negative Format. It should be interesting to see where they go from here after their most recent releases. Also look for a few returns of some old favorites to be at the top of our scene again like Haujobb.
Where do you see yourself ten years from now? Retired, traveling and enjoying life with my lover .... or replacing Sasha in the dance scene. ]:)
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