VAVLT revived

In the baking sunlight of a cloudless Wednesday afternoon, Daniel Pollard settles into an oversized rocking chair on the patio of an Old Fourth Ward coffee shop. He pops the lid off of a to-go cup and blows steam away before taking a sip of hot tea. Many know Pollard by his stage name, Daniel Disaster. The contrast of his pale white skin against the black tones of his pants, shirt, and stocking cap gives him a vampiric presence. It's an image he has cultivated as part of the brand of his Heroes x Villains (HxV) DJ and producer moniker.

"There was a time when this corner was a dangerous place, but that's long gone now," Pollard says, recalling the late '90s when he would skip school in his hometown of Savannah to hang out in Atlanta.

The purpose of those long treks was always to seek out new music. In those days he would scour Atlanta record shops such as Satellite and More Dusty Than Digital, where he first encountered mixtapes by the likes of Detroit house and techno luminaries Jeff Mills and Juan Atkins and Chicago house music producer Derrick Carter. It was an eye-opening experience for Pollard, who turns 32 this year. It required both a sense of adventure and a desire to look beyond his own comfort levels.

"Even Little Five Points was a dangerous place at one time," he says. "I've seen these neighborhoods change over the years. And I've seen the people that go out change with that." Pollard, who's navigated clubs from Los Angeles to Athens, Greece, thrives in the gray areas beyond the avant-garde of Southern hip-hop, electronic dance music (EDM), and techno. From the angular minimalism of the artwork for remixes and singles posted to his Soundcloud page to song titles such as "Plagues," "Living Life," and "Vultures," the ominous and billowing beatscapes he creates push HXV's dark aesthetic.

The tagline "step into the void with me" is often included with show announcements. And indeed, his sets are immersive, reaching for deeper planes of musical experience than the convulsive bass drops and air horns of club music's mainstream cannon.

Rather than cater to the demands of a growing rave scene, Pollard has created a cultural front. Each month he hosts VAVLT at the Music Room on Edgewood Avenue. VAVLT is a petri dish of sorts. It's an environment where HXV, along with like-minded local artists such as BLKKMorris, RL Shine, Descender, and Gravez have license to explore without tailoring their performances to meet the demands of a typical club scene. AT VAVLT, artists can experiment with their sounds to learn what works and what doesn't.

"Working with Daniel has just reaffirmed that you have to trust your instincts and do what you believe in," says Robby Phillips, who performs as Descender. "Don't sell yourself out because someone else thinks you should do things a certain way."

Pollard's mission is to tap into the mystique that originally captured his attention when he first came to Atlanta. And to establish a night where those in search of a more provocative and challenging club experience can come to discover new music.

"It's a balancing act," Pollard says. "You try to get away with what you can in the risks you take. But setting an expectation before the night even begins, or as the night develops is the most important thing. You're going to come here and you are not going to hear this kind of music anywhere else. This is what you come here for. Sometimes you have to be OK with people not liking it."

VAVLT launched in 2011 when Pollard and fellow DJ BLKKMorris (Christopher Williams) hatched a plan to create a private night at the W Hotel. It was mostly a night where a close-knit group of friends could play what they wanted.

"Daniel and I were both interested in the idea of secret societies back then, and we wanted to bring an element of that to VAVLT," Williams says. "We wanted to bring cool back to the club scene — it was like the illuminati of Atlanta nightlife."

The original VAVLT parties ran for 18 months between 2011 and 2012. At the time, dub step was approaching critical mass in Atlanta nightlife. Pollard, a former producer/engineer with T.I.’s Grand Hustle, had already developed a reputation for pushing Southern rap into electronic dance clubs with his own take, rebranded as luxury trap.

"We liked the juxtaposition of those words and ideas," Pollard says. "Trap is not luxurious by any means, but what we were doing was more like a softer, higher quality version of trap music. It was the couture version, the artisan version of it."

The club world ran with it — ran it into the ground. "I don't connect with whatever trap music is at this point," he says. "It's so far removed from what it was back then. Now I play at big shows with lineups that have trap DJs and they don't play one rap record."

Since January's VAVLT relaunch, HXV's musical direction has veered toward a stylistically dark take on techno music. "Trap music became kind of this obnoxious older brother kind of thing," he says. "By infusing it with a techno aspect, I'm trying to create a more tasteful version of Atlanta electronic music. Everything I've always done is make Atlanta music with outside inspiration."

Still, trap music is the genre that put HXV on the global map. And while promoters and venues around the world book HXV based on his name and abilities within that context, Pollard is a much more versatile artist with a broader palette of music knowledge and skill. Since VAVLT relaunched at the Music Room as a new monthly, it's no longer a private party, but it demands dedication to the music.

"The guy is well-versed in so many genres of music from house to techno music to trap — he's just soaked it all in," says Keiran Neely, co-owner and operator of the Music Room. "He can step outside of himself and show that he's capable of a lot more. Just because he plays this mainstream brand elsewhere, he still has roots in the underground. He's doing it himself, but he's also bringing up new producers and DJs that may not have the opportunity to play around the world if not the Southeast."

At night, when performing on stage, Pollard's vampiric presence is the same as it is during the day. His attention remains focused on the dark and immersive vibe of the night, sometimes spinning the entire night with a four-hour set.

He has spent the first half of the year establishing VAVLT as a solid foundation. For Pollard, it's a long-term project that he wants to foster and watch grow. "It's a whole five-10 year plan kind of thing," he says. "I'm taking my time to make sure it's done right."