Today we’d like to introduce you to Dylan Banks.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My musical journey started young taking lessons on both drums and the piano starting in elementary school. I began seriously pursuing music in high school, forming many bands and then continuing my journey at Georgia State University: first as a percussion performance major, but would eventually change my instrument to voice and graduate with a Music Composition degree in 2014. I have been involved with curating events in ATL since 2008, but began the Volta Laboratory Social club in 2013, which started as a bring your own vinyl listening event at the old Edgewood Speakeasy and then began to put on more events with live performances and DJs, which led to the creation of VLSC Records in 2017 with some fellow collaborators Colin Mulligan (Mull) and Eric Reynolds (Flohr).
I have had way too many monikers and bands throughout the whole musical trek, but as of today I go by either Dee Belvedere (started 2017) for my DJing and more dance oriented endeavors, and also my birth name Dylan Banks (shout out to my mammy) for my more experimental electronic, pop, ambient and compositional material. I also teach private lessons on drums, piano, composition and music production, as well music theory and a few DJ students, including having the privilege to be an honorary lecturer for WRAS 88.5 students this past school year. As my alma mater, its been a great experience getting to be back on campus and working with upcoming musicians. I also run a SoundCloud podcast series The Volta Lab, which showcases DJ sets both dance and experimental.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been anything but smooth to be honest. Atlanta has always been a place of excitement and have had some wonderful opportunities, but I feel arts in general are in a disadvantage in the U.S. these days, and even more so an uphill battle for contemporary artists in the South. We lack a lot of the atrtistic infrastructure many other cities like NYC or Chicago have. But I also feel like some of the harder road has helped mold me to be just more persistent, but I always tell folx the path to success has been paved through consistent failures. I treat success like a batting average rather than a letter grade.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Many people know me for wearing many hats both musical and organizational. VLSC Records has been a big part of my platform since it began in 2017, but I always see myself as a composer, performer and teacher before other endeavors. I have taken a lot of pride in the work we have done at VLSC both in our musical releases and the events we have curated throughout our 8 years as VLSC Records, and into the future.
If I were to take any pride in the work, it has been both the labor of love it has taken to help contribute a part of the diverse sound of todays ATL scene as an artist and with VLSC, as well watching the many incarnations of this cities artistic output, and how I have been as well influenced by this cities ever changing energy into my artistic output.
What does success mean to you?
…As borderline insanity: doing the same thing and expecting different results, but maybe it took 396 times to fail and on the 397th you have that leveling up.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @hooch_boi_steez
- Other: VLSC Records IG: @vlscrecords
Image Credits
Photo Credits: ÆTHEROUH, Jordan Young, Simon SMTGNG, theoctopoda, Wyatt Meagher
