Local DJ and Crypticon Records label head Snaps Provolone got his musical start in middle school, with a rock band called the Deviants. So why do DJs make up pseudonyms, rather than use their given name? “Hiding behind an alias is a fun and elusive feeling,” says Provolone (not his real name). “Making up a name allows us to roam free as artists and jump into projects and live vicariously through new alter egos. Aliases induce a sense of mystery.” Provolone founded the San Diego DJ-themed Crypticon record label in 2001. “I encourage all Crypticon artists to pick funny names. For instance, anyone who wanted a beat on the Italian Smoke Squad album had to have a mobster name.” The 34-year-old — who graduated from UCSD with a BA in multimedia production — declines to provide his real name for print. “It helps build a puzzle, like Bruce Wayne and Batman. I literally have 20 other names for myself, and most have been used in print for something or other. It [a pseudonym] also helps protect me and my family, in case I get crazy on an album or project.” “The question of DJ originality has haunted the movement since its inception. However, each sound is carefully chosen, manipulated, created, defined, oscillated, transformed, pushed, distorted, echoed, gated, and flanged for the best tone for its given intent. The rearranging qualifies as a new creation.” In addition to producing, DJing, and designing graphics, Provolone also says there is another project he would like to realize someday... “I do have a dream about creating a live stage band. I’m looking for a Chuck E. Cheese's to go out of business, so I can buy up all their freaky musical robots and then assemble them on stages in new costumes. With this musical-robot army, I could program each one to play the instrument of my choice, and the Cyborg Symphony would begin!” And if the music biz collapses entirely, he has a backup plan. “I’d like to have some of my original scientific theories taken seriously and published. For example, how leprechauns were really alien ‘little green men’ mining gold on Earth, only to be misinterpreted by drunken Irish storytellers.” That, and “I have this urge to take a long time carving a canoe out of a redwood tree.”” - Jay Allen Sanford

San Diego Reader

Crypticon_NUG_copy.pdf” - Beau Odom

— Nug Magazine