Breakcliche

Origin: None

Alex Macedo, better known to some as Breakcliche, is a 21 year old DJ/Producer hailing from Colorado. Alex has had a life-long love for music that gets you movin’, stemming from countless hours as a child listening to old disco hits with his Grandmother, eventually landing him here today where he creates his own soundscapes to share with the masses. Hence the name, Breakcliche has set out on a mission to break free from the mold of electronic producers & DJ’s, whether it be through his own productions or live DJ sets, expect Breakcliche to push the limit and test the boundaries.

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There are rare moments when music touches you on an emotional level. It’s an experience unlike any other, whether you’re listening at home alone or standing in a crowd surrounded by thousands of friends, you know it when you hear something special. Those moments are what I try to create. That feeling becomes an addiction, kids like me spend countless hours working jobs we don’t like to buy tickets we can’t afford just to feed our need for the festival atmosphere. It was only a matter of time before I knew I had to be one of the lucky few to create these experiences for others, as countless others have done for me. All I’m doing is paying it forward if I can inspire someone out there the way others have inspired me, then mission accomplished. I’m Breakcliché, & I’m here to live up to my name.

Hometown: Sacramento, California
Currently Living: Denver, Colorado
Origin Of Name: It’s kind of a funny story how I came up with Breakcliché because it was completely random and happened in what seems like a matter of minutes. I was going by a different name at the time, Adoxo, which means nothing as far as I know. It was literally just a mix of random letters from my first and last name. One night while I was working on a remix for 3LAU, I glanced at the name and thought, “You know, Adoxo really doesn’t sound all that cool. And this remix sucks too.” So I scrapped the name, and deleted all the cliché-sounding progressive house music I was seemingly forcing myself to make. That hit hard, realizing I was forcing my music instead of letting it naturally flow as an extension of my own emotion as it does now. So I came to the decision to completely reinvent my image and sound. I decided I wanted a name that would make a statement upon first glance, something that could give people an immediate impression of what I’m bringing to the table before they’ve even heard my music. It was as simple as asking myself, “What am I really trying to accomplish with this?” The answer was to break the mold that some young artists, especially myself, conform themselves to. Break The Mold isn’t exactly captivating… But somehow “Break Cliché” came to mind. I said it a few times and it rolled off the tongue so well that I knew I had struck gold. I slammed the two words together, and there we have it. A name to perfectly summarize my intentions and also set the standard to expect the unexpected.
Source of Power: Coffee. On a more serious note, my friends and family. I can’t give them enough gratification for staying patient with me and allowing me to become the person I am today. First and foremost, without the sacrifices my mother has made there is no way I’d have the opportunity to do what I love. It definitely wasn’t easy to gain her acceptance of me attempting to go down this career path, I’m sure I’m not the first to have that problem. Next comes my team, my best friends CJ and Josh. They’re pretty much just here for mental support but regardless, it wouldn’t be right to leave them out. They continuously push me to achieve my goals and never stopped believing in me, even when I didn’t deserve it or didn’t believe in myself. I have entirely too many musical influences encompassing nearly every genre you can think of. When I hear music that comes from the soul, it ignites this indescribable feeling that I can only hope to give others through my own productions. On top of all this, I think the fact that I genuinely couldn’t see myself being happy doing anything else for the rest of my life might throw in a little initiative.

What advice would you offer someone thinking about entering the Discovery Project competition?
Just go for it! You never know what can happen. I passed up competition after competition because I didn’t believe I was good enough. I had never even thought about winning a competition like this until I saw the support I’ve been given over the past few weeks leading up to my win. Even with that, I never allowed my hopes to be lifted. This is such a surreal opportunity, especially regarding my circumstances. To anyone who is thinking about joining this, especially those who think the odds are stacked against them, I’d like to say that anything is possible with determination, as over-used as that response is. I have no classical musical training whatsoever. I never had money to pay for classes to learn how to produce, or pay for mastering engineers to finish off my tracks and I’m extremely grateful for everything I’ve been forced to learn because of that. At this point (as well as when I was creating my winning track), I have absolutely no studio equipment outside of my Macbook and a pair of Sennheiser HD 25-II’s. I inevitably had to sell my keyboard and DJ equipment to allow myself to have the time to create the track that earned me this opportunity. Right now I have less than 200 likes on Facebook, I’m the underdog in people’s eyes, which only fuels me more to show up my competition. The point is that I really feel like if I can do this then any one of you with the determination to win can do so as well. I don’t want to make this seem like a sob story, my hope is that this will give even just one of you some sort of inspiration to get off your ass and make your dreams come true.

Was there one particular moment in the recording or mixing process for your Discovery Project entry that made you feel like you were creating something pretty damn special?
Absolutely. I have a weird way of writing my music, I always start with the “drop “and then build everything around that. As soon as I wrote the chord progression for the drop for my Discovery Project entry I was in love and could tell this was something special from the start. It was an amazing feeling to be writing something that inspired me to keep writing, the track was essentially finished within a 48 hour period with minimal sleep. I couldn’t get myself to stop! I went into this track knowing I had to make something to impress as this was the first track I wrote as Breakcliché, not to mention this was headed towards the Discovery Project. I never imagined I’d receive this much support though, I never had more than 200-300 plays on anything so when I passed that within a matter of days I knew I was on the right track.

Are there any dots to connect with where/how you grew up to your musical output?
The funny thing is my Mom always tried to get me to take piano lessons when I was younger, but I had no interest in it at the time. If I could go back I’d definitely take her up on that offer! The origin of my musical passion and influence comes from both of my parents, and especially my grandmother (aka “Crazy Grandma”, long story…). My grandma always had musical instruments around. She introduced me to the guitar, drums, piano, harmonica and tambourine, all of which I was horrible at playing. That didn’t deter my appreciation for each and every sound though, and I was captivated at the thought of all of these sounds coming together to create music. I’m pretty sure my Grandma never left the 70’s, mentally or music-wise. All she ever listened to was disco music for the most part, that was my first exposure to “dance music.” My dad and uncles were big into the break dance scene as they were growing up, very funny to think about nowadays. They all had sound systems in their trucks so I was addicted to the beats and bass from a very young age. I also learned who Daft Punk was through my uncles, one of them had a poster of the Discovery album on their wall. Because of their name, I actually assumed Daft Punk was a punk rock band, I still remember being absolutely blown away the first time I heard “One More Time.” I had never experienced something like that but it directly reminded me of the disco my Grandma played so I was immediately a fan. My mom always gave me the freedom to enjoy whatever music I wanted to when I was young, it was pretty much necessary for me to buy a new CD anytime we went to the mall. She also loved experiencing live performances as much as I did, whether we were watching a performance on TV or standing in the crowd at Arco Arena in Sacramento, she always made sure I was able to get my musical fix. Seeing the crowd’s reaction was priceless, I couldn’t believe how people were jumping and screaming at the top of their lungs for an artist, that was very inspirational for me. That feeling when I saw the crowd’s reaction is what led me to believe from a young age that no matter what I did in life, it would have to be music-related. I was actually really huge on hip hop as a kid, nothing will ever top Dr. Dre’s The Chronic 2001 in my eyes. Unsurprisingly, it was the production that intrigued me the most about that album. Any time I hear those piano plucks in “Still D.R.E” I still get goose bumps. Fun fact: I’ve never told anyone until now but that album made me want to be a rapper. I wrote my first little rap in 2nd grade because of The Chronic 2001. Years later I started to attempt to program rap beats in Sony Acid, moved onto Garage Band, eventually landed in Fruity Loops and then Ableton where I started making dance beats.

What do your parents think of what you are doing?
I’m pretty sure both my parents still have an image in their minds of me scratching old school hip-hop on vinyl in some underground 8 Mile rap battle-type environment. My mom initially loathed the fact that I had no interest in furthering my education after dropping out after a year in college, but the truth was I was skipping classes every single day to try to learn how to DJ and produce. Not having parental support in the beginning was bittersweet for me, of course it sucks not having their acceptance, but at the same time having them tell me that I couldn’t make it was only inspiration to prove them wrong. It took a ton of convincing, some arguing, lots of disagreements, but at the end of the day that’s just parents being parents. They acknowledge the fact that I want to be happy doing whatever it is that I do for the rest of my life, they just want to make sure I’m financially secure at the end of the day. That’s a hard one to argue against because I’ve rarely been paid for DJing. I’ve gone far into the negative with paying for my own transportation to events, paying for places to stay at out of town events, buying equipment, and financing whatever else I had to in order to fuel my passion. It’s all about somehow proving to them that one day it will all pay off and I’ll finally be able to pay them back for everything they’ve ever done for me. That feeling when you know they can see the fire in your eyes and they finally recognize whatever potential you may have, priceless.

Do you have any memorable moments from past EDC’s or any other Insomniac party?
Of course! It’s no secret that I’m a huge Dash Berlin fan, I was so excited to see him close EDC Vegas 2013. Just days before the event I didn’t think I was going to be able to go. I had just lost my wallet containing all of my money a few days before at Bonnaroo Music Festival, but due to having some of the best friends a person could ask for I got to my first EDC! I had been to many major festivals before: Coachella, Ultra and Bonnaroo (of course), but nothing compared to being Under the Electric Sky of EDC. The stage designs, the performers wandering the grounds, the beautiful vibes and people passing them on, it truly stood out as the premier festival experience in every aspect. It was all topped off with one of the best sets I’ve ever experienced in my life. Standing out there with thousands of other Insomniacs, the sun rising, Dash Berlin playing “Till The Sky Falls Down,” now that’s an experience I’ll never forget. I owe so much to moments like that- they inspire me to keep working towards being able to create an experience like that for others one day.

What is your ultimate career dream?
There are so many things on my career bucket list I don’t even know where to start. First, as mentioned before, I’d love to hear that someone’s success was inspired by my own. Not to say that I’m successful yet, because in my eyes I’ve only taken my first steps towards that (winning the Discovery Project isn’t a bad start though, right?). But I can’t stress it enough, I get a lot of joy out of helping out other young producers and DJs, whether it be through track feedback or somehow helping them gain a more positive outlook on their own career path. I come across so many talented and passionate artists through social media every day, I’d love to have a label as a platform to help them share their music with the world one day. Also, I’m pretty sure my friends here in Colorado would be pretty let down if I didn’t mention headlining a show at Red Rocks Amphitheater like we’ve always talked about!

Are you impulsive with your work or do you have a sketch in mind before you start?
A good combination of both. For producing, I always have an idea for the type of track I want to create. Like I said before, I start with the drop when writing music, but nine times out of 10 that turns into something different. It’s not like I start with a trance track and end up with a dubstep track though. Being impulsive with your work allows you to create an extension of your original idea that you may not have been able to come up with without experimenting a little bit. I think it’s good practice to not limit yourself to your first idea, you’ll more than likely end up forcing the track to completion versus letting it flow naturally. A majority of the tracks I make are happy accidents, for lack of better terminology. The same applies to DJing when I utilize a combination of Rekordbox and Pioneer CDJs that allows me to be prepared for any situation while mixing.

How important is it for you to experiment and take on the risk of failure?
It’s arguably the best thing you can do for yourself as a producer and DJ. Try, fail, and most importantly, learn. I entered numerous DJ competitions over the past few years and never came away the winner. Not only did that push me to better myself on the decks, it helped me realize that I needed to stop playing what I thought the crowd wanted to hear and give them something new to hear. You can never really know what the crowd’s reaction is going to be. But if you’re up there giving it your all, people are going to recognize and respect that. Being comfortable taking risks while mixing will also allow you to become more instinctive while selecting your music rather than sticking to a planned set. The worst case scenario is that the crowd isn’t feeling the music you’re playing, and it’s moments like these that you’ll need to take a chance and bring in something new to keep everyone dancing. If you’re not able to do that, you run the risk of standing up there boring everyone to death or playing to an empty dance floor for an hour. As far as producing goes, experimenting is how you find your own unique sound. It teaches you to be creative and think outside the box while making music. It also helps you keep things fun! Anytime I’m struggling to make music, I try something new. Try a different genre or BPM, a new plug in, crazy waveforms or different types of synths and never stop learning! You should strive to be as diverse of an artist as possible.

What do you remember about your first DJ gig?
I was so unprepared going into it but that sure as hell didn’t stop me from putting on a good show. Back then I was DJing as a duo with my friend CJ. There was only one club in town that was bringing in DJs to play electronic music, so we set our eyes on that and went after it. It’s kind of funny looking back on how excited we were to play that tiny club. The only reason we even got the spot on the lineup is because a girl CJ knew put in a good word with the promoter who happened to be a friend. We ended up going to this guy’s house to sit down to talk with him so he could see what we were about. He was obviously pretty skeptical about booking someone he had never heard of or seen mix before. It didn’t take long to convince him because he could tell how much we wanted it. The crazy thing is neither of us had never even seen a Pioneer CDJ before and that was what we were going to be playing on. The only experience we had mixing was playing on our friend’s Numark deck at a few house parties. We were both working a lot at the time so we had absolutely no time to rehearse a set. We were burning CDs in my apartment 30 minutes before we had to open up the show and still burning the last of them in the parking lot seconds before we hit the stage. We had to learn everything as we went, they had a CD playing in one of the decks before we got up there and we couldn’t even find the eject button to take it out. The photographer that was there sarcastically said, “and that’s why we pay you to be here”, and walked away. That pissed me off even though we may have deserved it. As soon as he said that (and after I found the damn eject button of course) I knew we had to absolutely smash that set. Right after we finished, the promoter we previously convinced to let us play came up and told us we were being booked again whether we liked it or not. I take it we did a pretty good job.

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