DustBowlChampion is a young artist originally from Fresno, California. It belongs to a resurgence within the music movement generated from the mixture between the Post-Punk and Lo-Fi genres that is becoming more and more relevant throughout the world.
His sound is ultimately a reflection of the current state of disorder and chaos that thousands of people constantly experience. Thanks to its surround sound accompanied by indisputably addictive rhythms and ghostly vocals, DustBowlChampion manages to evoke an incomparable dark aura that invites us to dance under the moonlight on a cold autumn night.
With the release of “Shake”, one of his latest singles, he reinforces his roots within Darkwave and generates his own identity that is impossible to compare. This has not been an impediment to demonstrating his range and dynamism in terms of creating new sounds, as demonstrated with the cover of “Eyes Without A Face” by Billy Idol.
His music provokes feelings of nostalgia and melancholy in us that can only be satisfied by listening to his songs. With influences like The Cure and Joy Division, this young promise has taken the music scene by surprise and leaves us impatient to hear his future projects and everything he can offer us.
Listen to Cardinal Sin here:
Since when did you start making music?
Ive been making music since I was 17 or 18 years old. But under this name and under this project probably since 2020 officials.
How would you describe the sound of your music?
I’ve always describe it as dark but danceable.
César: Yeah, it has a certain darkness, but also I can perceive influence from bands like The Cure and Joy Division.
DBC: Oh yeah, totally. That’s what I was going for when I started the project. Those are my bigger influences when growing up anyway, I was bound to round into a bigger influence from all of those bands from the 80s.
César: It’s a very contemporary sound, in these first songs you definitively achieve innovation. It’s a good mixture of those songs with a touch of freshness.
DBC: I try to walk that line, with all of this different sounds. Try to make it sound familiar but also refreshing too.
Emmanuel: Your music sounds timeless, you could hear it 20 years from now and it will still sound timeless.
César; Do you think it’s influenced by the movements that are happening in the US, Mexico and other parts of the world. Post punk with a touch of lo-fi.
DBC: Yeah, the scene is really big in Mexico and Europe. I think it’s worldwide, and i have a lot of friends that are on the post punk scene. Which is great, they are all great people and Im glad they’re all on board.
César: Do you think this reflects something about the times we are living right now?
DBC: It could be, I think that right now specially in the US, it’s kind of an odd post pandemic scenario, I mean the economy is shit and I think that people are trying to just get distracted.
Emmanuel: Do you think your music has this kind of nostalgic of melancholic vibe to it?
DBC: Melancholy it’s the best way to put it, you can definitively get lost into this sort of sound.
César: Do you think your music is a reflection of your personality?
DBC: Mostly I’m pretty laid back, but I do think that with artists, you run into people that make their art completely away from their personality but at the end of the day. You’re still one.
Emmanuel: Why did you took that step to creating something different? Your evolution since your first EP to your latest singles, it’s even hard to believe that we’re listening to the same artist.
DBC: Im always trying to progress and keep it fresh. I don’t want to make the same thing over and over. I want to make something that I enjoy to listen to. Something that has a replay value, that I can go back at it and enjoy it. I want to feel proud of it.
Emmanuel: I guess you could say that you make music for yourself?
DBC: Yeah, that’s how it started at least, I wanted to make music for myself. But as an artist eventually you really want to people to love it too. We make it for ourselves but also for other people to enjoy.
César: The cover of “Eyes Without A Face” is one of the best covers I’ve heard.
DBC: Growing up, my mother was a huge fan of Billy Idol and all of this bands I really love. I wanted to make some sort of a homage and I thought I could give it a shot.
Emmanuel: The great thing about that song, is that you respected the song because you love it so much, but also you weren’t afraid to putting your own sound into it.
DBC: I sort of nailed the sound, but as you said I wanted to make it my own, I didn’t wanted to just try and recreate the song entirely.
César: Usually how’s your creative process when making music?
DBC: I try to stay focused for the most part but sometimes you do get sidetracked when yo try to press to make something. You shouldn’t force yourself to create. Usually the best and most organic way and what it tends to work the best it’s to just give it a rest and something will come along the way. Sometimes i’ll give it a rest, the hardest part for me is when it comes to lyrics.
César: Where do you find inspiration when it comes to creating something?
DBC: Yeah, to get inspiration I like movies a lot, I like sports. I’m a really big fan of baseball. I’ll find inspiration in sports for music and of course other music and artist.
César: That’s really cool, this is the first time we hear that someone gets inspiration from a sport.
DBC: Yeah, I love baseball. I watch it everyday.
Emmanuel: Do you have any future projects?
DBC: Yeah, I’m planning on realizing a whole album on October. I think it’s going to fit pretty well and people will dig it.
César: Will your album will have this specific fall vibe to it?
DBC: Yeah, I’m shooting for mid October, so we have sometime for when Halloween comes. People will appreciate it more if they could just listen to when it gets colder and darker outside.
César: I’m very excited for that album, I always crave that kind of sound when it comes to this part of the year.
DBC: I still have to curate it, which song will make the cut and which ones won’t. It will hace this really dark sound and vibe to it.
Emmanuel: What would you say to the people that have this necessity when it comes to creating but sometimes are afraid to explore that realm?
DBC: I’d say don’t be afraid, I mean everybody’s afraid of failing but as an artist it’s importante to feel failure, You have to start somewhere and most of the times it’s from the ground. It’s not only important as an artist but you shouldn’t be afraid to take a risk.
Emmanuel: If you could say an advice to your younger self, what would it be?
DBC: I would definitively say be patient, be patient with yourself and with your life.
