Moonrise Festival Artist Profile: Carnage

With the much-anticipated Moonrise Festival coming up in August, we thought it’d be cool to look into some of the DJ’s that we’ll be hosting on August 9th and 10th at Pimlico Race Course. This week, we have the President of the Chipotle Gang himself: Carnage.

What exactly does a DJ/producer have to do to be regarded as a rising star? Create a sub-genre? Carnage has done that. How about producing a radio show that has featured names such as Dash Berlin, Blasterjaxx, and Alvaro? He’s already done that. How about getting arrested by Florida police for playing too long into that night? Yeah, he’s been there and done that. To call Carnage a rising star is a severe understatement. Today, he is among the biggest names in dance music, leading a movement that continues to push the limits of what we know as EDM. But how did he get there?

Carnage, born Diamanté Blackmon, is not your regular, average-Joe DJ. He hails from Central America, born in the capital of Guatemala to Nicaraguan parents. He then bounced around several towns and cities in Maryland, before winding up in Frederick, MD, where he bought Fruity Loops, and taught himself how to produce music on his computer. After messing around creating mix-tapes to build up an online presence, he shifted his focus onto creating original material, and the rest, as they say, is history.

His rise to prominence has been nothing short of meteoric. He made his statement of intent in commanding fashion, by slapping 808-drums onto one of the biggest progressive house anthems of 2012, Hardwell’s “Spaceman”, sparking the birth of what we all know as “festival trap”  today. After churning out remixes of other big prog house hits such as Sandro Silva and Quintino’s “Epic”, Showtek’s “Cannonball”, and Deniz Koyu’s “Tung”, he again turned to making his own tracks, and found even more success with the likes of his hardstyle-influenced “Michael Jordan”, and his collaboration with Borgore, titled “Incredible”.

What separates Carnage from other DJ’s/producers is his unwillingness to be contained into a single genre. At his sold-out Echostage show, he played songs from all over the musical map, brushing on styles such as hip-hop, reggae, punjabi, and even had time to stick a little trance in there. Apart from his live sets, he has publicly proclaimed his desire to make whatever type of music that he wants. “If I want to make a rap record I make it, if I want to make a house record I make it. If I want to make some pretty shit I make some pretty shit,” he told VIBE Magazine last July.

So what’s next for the Maryland native?  A new album, which he claims is going to be “the most beautiful piece of art ever dropped by a human.” The album, anchored by lead single “Bricks” featuring Atlanta-based trio Migos, is one of the dance music LP’s that fans everywhere are mostly looking forward to hearing. With rumored collaborations with names like Tiesto, Rick Ross, Future, and Erick Morillo, it is rightly so.

Judging by how crazy his Echostage debut went, it’s safe to say that he will definitely be bringing more of his Chipotle Gang ruckus to Moonrise Festival. Tickets are still available here, get yours now while you still can!

Words by: Daniel Chamorro