M14

Hey VIPs, it's Bebop here and I am joining Night Shift at The Drop for a very special interview with M14 today. Hey, how's it going everybody? I am so excited for this interview. We've had it planned for a minute, and I got to catch your set at System Overload and you were tearing down the house. I was trying to wave all the way up there at that giant stage they had you on. So let's just get right into it. Tell us, where does the name M14 come from? So M14 came from M, the first initial of my name, and 14 because November 14th is my birthday. Okay, so what's your first name? Michael. Michael. So Michael 14. Yeah. That's a pretty dope name. So M14, where does your sound come from? What would you define as your genre? My genre that I usually play is probably tearout and rhythm. I like to play a lot of heavy stuff. I'm inspired by Marauda and a lot of rhythm artists. There's a new rhythm artist coming out that I'm into. And I like a lot of that heavier sound. Nice, a lot of awesome name drops in there, loving that. When you go digging for new songs to play in your set, what do you reach for? Honestly, anything that jaw-drops me when I'm listening. I'll just be with my headphones listening to certain music, and a lot of stuff sounds very similar to each other, so I always try to find something different and unique. I love that, trying to find the flavor in the song. Is there an artist you lean on that really gets the crowd going, one you know is going to get a pop? Definitely, there's a couple actually. I'm a really big fan of Crank Data. Cranky, I've always been a fan of. And there's another artist who's a big inspiration of mine right now. Crank, we just saw him at Rawhide, absolutely incredible. Whenever I try to learn a new thing, I always look at whoever's at the top and what they're doing, just so you really see what a professional polish is. And man, that show was polished. Yeah, I really wish I would have seen that, but I missed it because of work. Every time I see Crank, it's always exciting. Earlier I mentioned getting to check you out at System Overload, and as I understand it, right before that you had a head injury. So how did the surgery affect your set, and how did it affect you as a person? Actually, I didn't even think I was going to do the set, because they were trying to send me home with tubing in my stomach. What happened was I had an infection in my stomach, and the tubing that runs to my head all got infected, so they had to pull it out. They had tubing in me and they were saying I had three weeks, but System was two weeks away from that. So I was just waiting to hear back, and then right before I was going to get out of the hospital they removed them. They said you don't need them anymore, but I had to go home with a PICC line. If nobody knows what a PICC line is, they put an IV in your arm and it connects to your heart so I could get my medicine through it, so I don't have to stay in the hospital. I had that in my arm while I was DJing System Overload. It was very uncomfortable, but I did it, and I wasn't supposed to, because if it comes out a certain distance they have to remove it and put a new one in. They give you about five centimeters of length for it to come out. When I got done DJing and went to the med center because it was hanging out, it was hanging out 30 centimeters, dude. The doctor saw it and said, just wrap your arm up, go home, and get it done tomorrow, just enjoy the festival. But being on stage with that in my arm, trying not to move as much while you're up there DJing, all the chopping and everything, I ended up just pulling it out on accident. Well, you put your life on the line for the music and for the people. Otherwise they wouldn't have gotten that, and I wouldn't have gotten to see you out there slashing it. So thanks for really digging in on that one. Yeah, it was scary, because I really thought I was going to go out there and faint. I wasn't working out or doing anything for probably a whole month when that was happening, and I was getting really lightheaded, especially out there. I was just trying to drink water and DJ. I was like, if I pass out right now, everybody's going to know me for that. Did you tell anybody before you went up there, like hey, keep an eye on me, if I go down pick me up? I told my cousin. My cousin said if he sees me fall down he's going to get somebody, but I didn't tell anybody else. Shout out your cousin. Desert Hydra. Oh, your cousin's Desert Hydra. It runs in the family, man. Yeah, just not the height. We have a big height difference, but we're cousins. Like Sullivan King and Ray Volpe, right? Yeah, exactly like that. Did that injury and recovery affect the music you played at all? Did you play anything differently because of it? No, I played exactly what I wanted to. It was so much fun. Love that. Well, I got some headbanging in. We'll show some of those pictures, because your friends made a totem with you on it in the hospital. Yeah, I was in the hospital bed, they took a picture and made a totem, and the poster said from the hospital bed to the DJ decks. That's a hell of a headline. Yeah, it was sick. I wish they would have brought it in, but nobody wanted to actually hold it. Legendary status. We'll definitely share a picture of that right here in the interview. So speaking of local artists, shout out Desert Hydra, but who in the community, if you could do a back to back with anybody in Arizona, who would you go back to back with and why? It'd be Vibrations. Shout out Vibrations, the man, the Night Shift, the legend. So why Vibrations? Because me and him are really cool, and he plays techno and hard style and I really love it. I've always wanted to play a set like that, a pure set of all of it. I play little bits and pieces in my set just because I like it, but doing a whole 60-minute set with him would be sick. That would be incredible. You brought up hard techno. I think last time I saw you was at 9th and Jackson for the Night Shift hard techno show, and you told me then that you liked hard techno, and I was blown away, because all I'd heard from you was rhythm and headbang stuff. So how do those two genres meet? Do you play a little bit of that hard techno in yours? Yeah, I did a couple songs at Overload. That's what I originally started off with, EBM, liking that kind of music. I explored, then I found rhythm and tearout, and I really like that. But I didn't even like rhythm when I moved to Arizona two years ago. I purely liked dubstep, and everybody liked rhythm out here, so I gave it a shot to see if I could do it. Then I started doing the chopping videos, and everybody loves the chop. I got really into that and got pretty good at it, so that's why I fell in love with rhythm. I think hard techno was really trending hard in 2026. We see a lot of the top artists putting a little hard techno breakdown in their songs, so a lot of the top artists are fitting in more hard techno drops. But do you play more than just the drop? Do you also play some of the other parts of the song? Yeah, I mostly play stuff that's going to catch people's attention, whether it's a remix of a popular song people can sing along to. The reason I like hard techno is, if I'm doing purely 15 minutes of tearout and rhythm, it's good to switch it up. I like those jaw-dropping moments, because when I'm in the crowd watching other DJs and they randomly put in techno or hard style, it gets me excited and pumped, so I do that for other people too. And the switch in BPM changes people's motion. Yeah. So now let's take it bigger than Arizona. If you could go back to back with anybody in the world, dead or alive, all of history, who would you go back to back with? Schism. Why Schism? Schism was one of the first artists I heard when I was getting into this. It caught my ear and I was like, this is the sound I've been looking for. The never say die, all the Zomboy stuff. Love that. I've got a fun question for you, a little off the beaten path. You're at the tables, you're scratching, you hit the turntable, a genie pops out and grants you one incredible set anywhere in the world. Think Tiesto in front of the pyramids. Where would your dream set be? I think playing in the catacombs. Playing in the catacombs, like playing hard techno down there in Rome. Some Indiana Jones, that would be sick. Right there with all the tombs and skeletons, a whole rave down there. Yeah, because I'm a big horror fan, so stuff like that I love. That is wild, not what I expected. Super cool answer, and a little travel involved. It's also kind of trendy to do it in Rome right now, with the priest who's also a DJ out there. Yeah, I saw that. I love that, because the culture is expanding in ways nobody expected. Everybody's got a love-hate relationship with some of the trends in the EDM world, whether it's the fashion or the way the music's played. But what is one thing in the EDM genre that's a trend but you love it? I like especially when hard techno DJs throw in bass music, randomly, like Holy Priest does. I know people who really like techno don't really like it, but I think it's really cool, something different. You're absolutely right. Speaking of Holy Priest, him and Sullivan King just did a song exactly like that, taking those two genres, peanut butter and jelly, and everybody's like, no, this isn't what I came for. Yes, you did. This is exactly what you signed up for, hearing music you didn't know you liked until after you heard it. So what's a trend you hate? Social media influencers becoming DJs. So people who are a personality first and then become a DJ? Well, certain people get booked because they're really famous already. If they have a big platform, they get put on, and there are a lot of videos of DJs doing shows and people want to call out what they're doing badly. I don't like that. That's understandable, because as somebody running the circuit yourself, putting in the work and the time behind the decks, you want everybody to be doing that too, not getting a get-out-of-jail-free card just because they have a big following. So for a new aspiring DJ, what's a tip you would give? Don't try to impress everybody. You're not going to impress everybody, and you're going to stress yourself out trying. Just stick to what you like, play what you like, and people are going to like you for who you are. Don't worry about numbers on social media. I get caught up in it, I'll post a video and it has this many views, and the next day it doesn't, and I'm like, why? But just stay consistent, always posting, and be true to yourself. That's what my cousin tells me. Even though he's younger than me, he's my role model. I love that. Being able to look at your peers and admire them for their art is the sign of a true and incredible artist. And to dovetail onto that, if somebody wants to be a DJ but is worried about the social media, hook up with your friends. There's always somebody in your friend group who knows how to make your posts visible, and then work together with other artists, because when you collab you combine each other's audiences and talents. Don't be afraid to ask for help from people. People get scared, like oh I don't want to, but no, you should learn from as many people as you can. Absolutely. While we're on the deep topics, what's your soapbox? Everybody, when I bring them into an interview, I try to give them a minute to say what's important to them. What is it for you that you want the viewers to know? What's important is to be a genuine person. Be good to other people, help people out, ask people for help. Always take a break if you have mental health issues, because this thing can get kind of stressful. You're always trying to post every day and you stress yourself out. Everybody has a life to live, so make sure you know what's important. Burnout's real too. Yeah, it definitely is. I work six days a week at Amazon, 12-hour shifts, and I try to come home and DJ, get videos recorded, post them, and go to the gym at the same time, worry about my physical health. It does become a lot. Sometimes I've got to realize I need to take a break and enjoy life a little bit more, instead of just focusing on social media numbers, because there's more to life than just looking at a phone screen. Man, that's so true. When we look at the top artists, a lot of them plan for those mental health breaks, that vacation. Griz is a great example. He took his sabbatical, said he was retired, and what did he do the whole time? He made music, made plans, and then exploded when he came back. So it's good to have that time where you go back to the drawing board and make your plan. How about some shout outs? I love to give the audience and the other artists you work with the opportunity to say hi. I have a lot of shout outs. I met a lot of people since I moved. I didn't know what to expect coming out to Arizona, but my cousin convinced me. I met Vibrations, I met Lou, I met the Crimson Boys. Those are really close people to me. And especially my cousin. My cousin's a little reason why I started DJing. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't even have been out here. I wouldn't have played System Overload if it wasn't for him. He helped me buy my first DJ deck. That's big support from the fam. And I definitely want to shout out my girlfriend, because she was by my side when I was in the hospital. When I was out of the hospital, she was helping me because I couldn't walk fully yet. It was a lot. Shout out to her. I'm sure she's watching this right now. I'd love to give a shout out to Night Shift for this collab bringing us together, and hopefully there will be other awesome Night Shift collabs. And a shout out to The Drop for being able to be here. More people need to know about The Drop, everything from the vibe and the scene to the artists putting on and being about the community. Last time I was here, they were giving out little rubber duckies to people coming in, so I brought you a rubber ducky today as our little symbol for The Drop. This is the trend I love, the giving culture in the community, whether it's a trinket or candy or just passing on good vibes. That's what keeps me coming back, making friends like you, M14. And all of you out there who have watched, thank you so much for hanging out with me and M14 here at The Drop. Definitely check out the next Night Shift show, you can check out their Instagram. Check out Ready VIP, that's my podcast, in collab with Night Shift. And check out Vibrations, I'm going to link him in the comments. You can check out his page on readyvip.com, we have an artist section, and we'll have to get you on there now. Welcome to Ready VIP. I appreciate it. Until next time, VIPs, stay ready.