Psychoanalytic theory postulated the existence of a duality of base instincts in humanity: Eros, the sexual "life instinct" and Thanatos, the destructive "death instinct". In each of us, the clash between the two opposing motivators supposedly is the source of our individual quirks, personality problems, and neuroses. In a further blow to each of our psyches, our existence in civilization entails institutions such as "morality" and "ethics", which force each one of us to repress our base instincts. Our base instincts are sublimated, watered down into socially acceptable form - for some people, these instincts are manifested as artistic behavior.

Most scratch djs are reclusive, introverted sorts. They don't seem to get out much, and turntables can only go so far in the calming the fires of one's instinctual drives. Thus, we have the turntablist's affinity for pornographic materials. Is this the elusive porn/turntablism connection? More likely, this is just some weak attempt at pedantry on my part. So let's go to something more down to earth.

In the first article, we talked about porn stars. We shall now investigate the other side of the coin - the djs. The one of the first djs I spoke with was the mysterious music molester, the Wax Fondler, more popularly known as D-styles. He seems to have more instinct to repress than the average person - as manifested by his duality of awesome scratching skills with his recurrent expression of deviant sexual themes through both the audio and visual media - "Separating the skull from the body and masturbating in front" of a Black Market Snuff video. Perhaps through dialog with the man himself, we can learn a little more about the Wax Fondler, and perhaps gain some insight into the porn/turntablism connection.

Watch out for the next article, featuring an interview with two wild and crazy guys, DJ Relm and DJ Streak.

Interview with D-styles

This interview took place February 20, 2002.

Pone: This is the first question I ask everyone: What do you think the connection is between porn and turntablism?

D-styles: I think that there's a lot of dudes into "turntablism" and there's a lot of dudes into "porn". Not too many girls will admit to being into porn. Dudes don't give a fuck about admitting they're into it, so there you have it.

Pone: DJ Streak is kind of like the Vivid Video of turntablism - flashy album covers, sexy girls, etc. D-styles seems more like the Galaxy Entertainment of turntablism - bondage, fetishes, morbid kind of stuff. Can you talk about that kind of influence on your scratching, your music, your break records, and other work? Do you watch that kind of "speciality" porn?

D-styles: I can't watch a lot of the Dominatrix, Submission, Torture, Disciplinarian, Art of Spanking, Captive Co-eds, Bridled,Knots and Kinks, Tickling, Obedience, Kidnapping, Rope Burned, Bound and Gagged, Cuffed and Padlocked, Foot Worship, Humiliation, I Spit On Your Grave type of movies. I trip out on that whole sub-culture though. It's almost like the "scratch dj" culture in a way but way more below the surface. At the time when I started putting out break records, most records had funny, comedic titles or more serious titles to them. I wanted to bring in a different theme than what was out so I came up with Sqratch Fetishes Of The Third Kind. I wanted to outdo my previous break record title so I had to step it up a notch. So each record after that got sort of crazier and crazier. Honestly, I had problems with the printing company not wanting to manufacture my artwork. The cover for Black Market Snuff Breaks isn't the original artwork that I had planned on using. It was a picture of all these dead bodies and I couldn't find a place to print my covers so I made that cover as a last resort. I had to make STD Breaks in Canada because no USA printing company would print that. People would tell me that someone's mom complained to a record store about selling STD Breaks so they got returned back to me. I've had to hold back on the record covers because of all the drama. Bitch Slapped Breaks was supposed to be a whole different thing but I changed it last minute because I was scared that no record stores would carry something that had a cover that I was gonna use. As much as I'd like to elevate the next record to an even more crazier theme, I think I'm just gonna have to chill on it if I want record stores to be able to carry it.

I think my music and my scratching carries that same tradition of not wanting to put out what's being put out, you know what I'm saying? I see a lot of guys copying Qbert's shit and I think they need to learn the fine line of influence and imitation. There is a certain etiquette I feel that most serious musicians share and its "knowing where to draw that line." We all have that inner voice that tells us if we are copying something too closely. Most serious musicians will listen to that voice and know where to draw that line. I used to say that it comes with time but some people still don't get it and I doubt they ever will. Sadly, they are the ones missing the point of this art because its someone else's fingerprint that they're trying to duplicate and not their own.

Pone: Let's talk about Alcohol Razorblade Slide. Many consider that to be one of the best tracks on Qbert's Wave Twisters album, especially from a musical standpoint. But people really haven't talked about the feel of the track - dark, necrophilic. What inspired that song? Did you really separate the skull from the body and masturbate in front of it?

D-styles: That song was inspired from a bunch of different things. One was listening to a whole lot of Saafir. Another was listening to a lot of rock (mainly Rage Against The Machine and another band Refused). I was also watching a documentary on serial killers and I wanted to make some music that had all these images from that in my head. So that song was a fusion of all that going on.

I kept Saafir's rhyme style in mind and made a beat that I thought he would flow over. Then the rock influence came in with the guitar like bassline. The violin part was by accident. You know how sometimes you just drop the needle on the record and it happens to fall on that magic spot. So that's how I found that violin sound. We originally used "cut like a guillotine" instead of the Kool Keith's "cut your legs with the guillotine" sample, but because of sample clearances Q decided to use Kool Keith's version. The song came out dope, I can't complain. I'm glad that people liked it. The "separated the skull from the body and masturbated in front of it" sample came from a Jeffrey Dahmer serial killer video. I wouldn't enjoy masturbating in front of a carcass or skull.

Pone: Your break records have names like Gag Ball Breaks and Black Market Snuff Braxes. The Pharoahs of Funk CD has track names like "Urination". And we also have the samples we hear on your songs, like on "Clifford's Moustache." How do you find these things? Do you get ideas for songs and records from these kind of things? Or do you think of a song first, then try and find the sample or photo to fit it? And pasta (on Needle Thrashers 4)...that's not porn, what was up with that?

D-styles: I usually make the music first and then try to make a name up and whatever imagery that goes with it. Needle Thrashers 4 was more of a fun record so I didn't use any porn on that. Maybe I should have.

Pone: Those of us lucky enough to catch Scratch Attack radio heard a preview of your highly anticipated album, Phantasmagorea. Will we see a lot of porn, or fetish, or whatever sexual influence in that album? What else can we expect from the album?

D-styles: Not too much porn on my album. One song has a German woman getting spanked which turns into an all out orgy. Other than that, it's more of straight-ahead Death Skratch King Assassin type music.

Pone: The skratch world is eager to hear more from you - what projects do you have in store for the future? And of course I have to ask, anything porn related?

D-Styles: I have my own break record label now and I do have some more scratch tool records coming out soon. I'd like to concentrate more on putting out scratch music now rather than break records.

Pone: The album cover art for STD Breaks gives me nightmares - in eighth grade, after I saw a photo of genital warts, I couldn't eat lunch. Do you like looking at medical books, forensic pathology manuals, or death scene investigation guides?

D-styles: Yeah, I like looking at all that stuff. Anything that makes you say "aaaaah fuck that shit." I like fucking with people and pissing people off.

Pone: I hope anyone who reads this interview doesn't think you're some sick and twisted guy. Everyone should know that you're a pretty normal seeming kind of guy - so do you watch any "mainstream" porn at all, like Vivid or Wicked? Who are your favorite porn stars? Favorite porn flicks? What do you think of Peter North?

D-Styles: I used to keep up with all the mainstream porn. I'm not up to date with "who's hot" nowadays. I used to watch a lot of the Sodomania and the Gangbang Girls series. Bottomdwellers was a cool series also. John Leslie the director puts out good stuff. I used to watch alot of Evil Angel flicks. I took a class when I was going to San Francisco State University called "Variations in Sexuality." It was the most craziest class I ever took. The class was big,basically a huge movie theater with a stage that seated about 400 people. Every week we had people come in to talk and give demonstrations. You name it, we had to sit there and watch it. Some of it live,some on video. Everything from beastiality to vomit fetish was going down. Nina Hartley showed up and did a bondage whip scene with her lover. Girls where sucking horse's cocks. It was nuts. Dopest class I ever had. I recommend to anyone who goes to SFSU to take that class. I like how mainstream porn is starting to open up to the bizarre side of porn. You got guys like Max Hardcore doing gynecologist type shit to girls, Bukakke porn and also some soft bondage type stuff is crossing over to mainstream porn. Pretty soon pissing in a girl's mouth is gonna be accepted in mainstream porn.

Pone: What porn stars would like to work with, if given the chance? Soundtrack work, I mean. Unless you do want to act.

D-styles: Tabitha Cash used to be one of my favorites. I still like her, but Tera Patrick is fresh. I actually sampled her on "Clifford's Mustache". It's from one of the Randy West series Up and Cummers, number I forget. I don't know if Evil Angel is still around but I'd like to do some music for them. I think some of my darker music would go with what they are doing.

Pone: What porn star would you liken yourself to? For example, DJ Streak called himself the Ed Powers of turntablism - because he's into breaking amateurs (on his album covers) and he's just a regular-looking kind of guy.

D-styles: I don't know. Maybe the Max Hardcore guy. Somebody's got to do the break records that I'm doing. I might as well be him.

Pone: I've heard some of the other Beat Junkies are porn freaks. You get any porn influence from them?

D-styles: Rhettmatic knows what time it is. Curse definitely knows what time it is. He used to work at a porn shop, so he's met a lot of freaks in his time. Who isn't into porn anyways?

Pone: Is there anything else you'd like to talk about? Who's your favorite Pokemon? Briefs or boxers? Where's Waldo?

D-styles: I just want to recommend everyone to watch Leprechaun In The Hood. It's a funny ass stupid movie that was meant to be scary.