Image via Oh Snap Kid
If you didn’t know him personally, DJ MEGANFOXXX’s perfectly constructed ‘bad boy’ persona may appear a bit contrived. I’m watching him play a set in black skinny jeans, a leather jacket with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a black tank top and well worn combat boots.
He has the words ‘read more’ tattooed on his knuckles. He’s brash and arrogant with an ego much larger than the diminutive frame that contains it.
But Daniel Pollard, 26, didn’t earn nicknames like ‘Disaster’ and ‘Rice Street Danny’ (anyone arrested in Fulton County understands the reference) because he’s all smoke & mirrors… I know crazy and Daniel is one crazy motherfucker. He’s caustic, and unpredictable but highly intelligent; he seems acutely aware of the cultural landscape bubbling under the surface of mainstream America.
Now, he’s bringing his attitude, knowledge and decade of experience in the music business from behind the mixing boards of Grand Hustle to become DJ MEGANFOXXX… the bastard child of pop stardom.
I’ve gotten the pleasure of watching MEGANFOXXX spin on numerous occasions, recently being literally right next to him as I prepared for this interview. He has an anarchist sensibility, sounding as if Trent Reznor and Gucci Mane got fucked up and decided to collaborate on a song one night.
“As artists we don’t ever want to do the same thing twice. We will constantly re-invent and challenge… we create through destruction.” MEGANFOXXX
Seamlessly, he may transfer you from the trenches of Atlanta’s ‘trap rap’ music scene to a sweaty, mostly shirtless bar in Chelsea to a fetish party with naked women dangling from hooks in the ceiling. His style is certainly not for everyone but that’s precisely his intention. This isn’t standing around, looking pretty, drinking cosmopolitans music… this fifth of Jack, controlled substances and unscrupulous women music.
You’ve been in the music industry for ten years now. You’re 26. When I was 16 I was busy reading ‘Sex for Dummies’ and watching Bugs Bunny cartoons… what I wanted to do for living was the furthest thing from my mind. How did you begin and what about music and your desire to create it, pulled you in at such an early age?
The desire to create has always completely consumed me, even from an early age. Whether it’s music, art… anything involving building something from the ground up… something that will last… something that will stand the test of time.
It’s a curse… it keeps me awake at night, and makes me impossible to deal with for a lot of people. I don’t work well with others. There’s only a handful of people I’ve ever been able to work with on a creative level and I cherish those relationships more than almost anything.
Growing up I was a punk kid living in a predominantly black neighborhood… I never lost my identity. In fact, this was probably a large contribution to my path.
You’ve worked with some pretty familiar names… Weezy, Jeezy, T.I. to name a few. What’s it like working with such recognizable artists and being apart of the Grand Hustle family?
It’s a gift and a curse. I’ve worked with some of the greatest urban artists of all time so its spoiled me, especially when I’m working on molding someone new.
I enjoy the challenge of getting a new artist to where they want to be but working with someone like T.I. who gets it, knows what he wants and works just as fast, if not faster than I do, it’s a relief.
Being part of Grand Hustle has definitely helped me learn the ropes of the ‘real’ music industry. I came from the underground music scene where business was done in back alleys; seeing how things aren’t much different in the actual industry was an eye opening experience.
I got my foot in the door engineering, then developing and producing, just playing my position each time, learning and soaking up my environment, accepting the scraps of advice occasionally thrown my way.
It wasn’t until years later that it all made sense to me how I could combine the past ten years of experiences into something that truly resonates with me as an artist. That was the birth of MEGANFOXXX and Heroes & Villains.
At the monthly event 'Collison,' cigarette in hand as MEGANFOXXX spins (image via Ty Davis)
Last year, you decided to come from behind the mixing board as DJ MEGANFOXXX and with your partner Pete Heartless have cranked out remixes of songs like ‘All the Way Turnt Up’ and ‘Lemonade’ under the Heroes & Villains moniker. What was your inspiration behind ‘MEGANFOXXX’ and give us an idea of what Heroes & Villains is all about?
I created MEGANFOXXX to be an ‘anti-pop’ star. What if, in a bizzaro world, you had an anti-celebrity DJ who did and said all the wrong things, played abrasive music for the counterculture, got praised for it and became popular? That’s MEGANFOXXX. Pure chaos and anarchy… not for the faint of heart. Balls to the wall, half naked girls everywhere and plenty of bad behavior.
The live experience is ‘DJ MEGANFOXXX’ but the production is all Heroes & Villains. Me and Pete Heartless have been re-imagining popular rap records in Atlanta and working on our own original tracks with artists.
Heroes & Villains is what happens when the people who are helping to create the status quo get sick of it and burn everything to the ground. It’s the sound of an uprising. To some we’ll be heroes… but to most we’ll be villains.
“That’s the most important thing authenticity. Everything has been done before… there’s nothing new. Originality is completely non-existent.” MEGANFOXXX
I’m in a bar with him, sitting in on an informal meeting. MEGANFOXXX dominates much of this conversation, speaking rapidly and often going on several tangents before making his original point. This is an interesting contrast to other interactions I’ve had with him. MEGANFOXXX can be a bit aloof, adding the occasional witty remark to a conversation and little else. To the observant, it’s pretty clear a large part of his mind wanders in and out of most social interactions.
"I created MEGANFOXXX to be an 'anti-pop' star." (Image via Ty Davis)
But when the conversation shifts to music or the importance of the villain in popular culture for instance, his eyes light up. Art, the philosophies and thought processes that go into its creation, are MEGANFOXXX’s comfort zone; this is the only time he appears completely engaged in what is going on around him.
At Sloppy Seconds, the event we attend after we leave the bar, MEGANFOXXX is continuing the conversation with the gentleman he was in the meeting with in between Jager shots. It’s obvious he takes his craft very seriously, almost to the point of obsession.
Or as he said to me when he answered the first question of this interview, “It’s the desire to create that completely consumes me.”
Tell me about some of the musical influences that have helped shape your sound and the Heroes & Villains sound?
Both of us came from a concoction of dance music, hip-hop and hardcore punk so you get this combustible mixture of cutting edge production techniques with a punk rock ethos and approach to the music.
Punk is a mindset… it’s pushing the limits as far we want to take them. When we used to DJ together, we would blow speakers regularly. I remember on one occasion Pete made one burst into flames.
We still have this mindset… more now than ever before. The remixes we’ve been doing have been heavily influenced by dubstep and trap rap; we just wanted to hear those records on beats we like better and feel fit the records better than the originals. That’s it.
We aren’t and don’t want to be considered dubstep producers… it’s just for the moment with these records and this environment this is what works best.
"Pure chaos and anarchy... not for the faint of heart. Balls to the wall, half naked girls everywhere and plenty of bad behavior." MEGANFOXXX (Image via Ty Davis)
In a broader sense, what inspires you in general as of late? I know you’re highly interested in fashion, love watching movies and are incredibly well read…
I consume everything. I seek out things to inspire and use them in a combination of cinema, music, photography and fashion to define the culture that Heroes & Villains is trying to foster.
I’m really inspired by forward thinking individuals who share their art with the world, minds who defy the status quo, people who push me to be a better person and most importantly life… all the beauty, the ugliness, the chaos and randomness of everything.
I try to remain in touch with what’s going on around me. If I’m not then my art can’t resonate with you or anyone else because it’s not coming from a place of authenticity.
That’s the most important thing… authenticity. Everything has been done before… there’s nothing new. Originality is completely non-existent. All you can do is take from things that resonate with who you are as a person and how you want to be perceived and try to make your point as concise as possible.
Let’s talk about the future. The first round of your event ‘Heavy’ kicked off last month to a lot of hype as well as controversy. Along with this, what else does DJ MEGANFOXXX and Heroes & Villains have in store?
Launching ‘Heavy’ was a big task.It took a lot of different people…. a lot of different schools of thought. We created a party that’s basically about listening to loud bass oriented music and having a good time.
Atlanta has an awesome scene and great people in it but in order for it to be legitimate to those on the outside we need to produce something from it.
Besides ‘Heavy’ all efforts are going towards Heroes & Villains, branding and building up the movement to be as strong as possible. Production wise, we’ve been working with T.I. on his new album… we’ve done records for Kanye West (Young) Jeezy, Drake, Yo Gotti, a collaboration with Johnny Whitney from Blood Brothers and Jaguar Love. We’re working on Heroes & Villains records with new artists, developing them too.
A few more remixes will be dropping throughout the summer… we’ll still be cranking those out and giving them to all the DJ’s to play around the city. You’ll also see several viral videos coming up with other new forms of promotion.
We’re also in the process of putting together a live show which will be unveiled around July to a few people and then we’ll unleash it so everyone can experience it. Hopefully, it’ll inspire people who are bored with current nightlife and accurately represent our intentions.
As artists we don’t ever want to do the same thing twice. We will constantly re-invent and challenge… we create through destruction.
Watch HEAVY, Episode II: Sexuality Is Not All We Own
The lights come on and the music fades… another long night has come to a close. I catch up with MEGANFOXXX… he’s sweaty, drunk and maybe even a little tired. Not that you would really notice; he didn’t spin tonight but he’s still ‘on’ so to speak. There isn’t much distance between ‘MEGANFOXXX’ and Daniel Pollard; the character is merely a larger than life extension of the person.
“Trouble. Fucking. Music. Excess.” He reveals to me these are amongst his several vices. This is underscored by the last thing I see him do this evening: he presents a parting gift to the man he was in the meeting with earlier before he returned to Los Angeles… two very eager and very willing women to accompany him back to his hotel.
What are some of your favorite vices?
Trouble. Fucking. Music. Nihilism. Excess. Chaos. Procrastination. Porn. Self Indulgence. Paranoia. Sarcasm. Decadence. Caustic Humor. Narcissism.
Finally… how did your nickname ‘Disaster’ come about?
It came from my talent of making bad situations worse. *laughs*. One of my best friends said my life was a ‘spectator sport’ for him. Everyone that’s close to me think I’m their own personal reality show.
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Posted on August 18, 2010