While dubstep has accrued millions of fans the world over in just the few years that it's come to the forefront of the electronic dance music scene, it's often thought of as the devolution of EDM today. For some of us it's a guilty pleasure and for many of us, it's our outright favorite form of techno. For Datsik, it's a medium of choice.

Though he's often heard musing that the genre's a bastardization of EDM, the DJ born Troy Beetles has sounded off equally as much that what dubstep is to its ilk is the same comparison that was made between punk and rock n' roll when the former style first became popular.

A well-argued point, Beetles also points out that it's the overwhelming bass that he thinks people are often attracted to. Or at least that's what first drew him to the style of music.

"When I first starting making music, dubstep was in a state when wobbles were really cool. It was all crazy, whooping wobbly bass. Back then I was really into listening to Bar9, Rusko and Distance," say Beetles.

At just 24 years old, it's safe to say Beetles has established a DJ name known by most EDM fans, but it wasn't always his plan to tour the world, filling nightclubs with his inescapable pounding bass beats.

"I went to school for Audio Engineering and it was right when I got out that everything started happening for me," says Beetles. "I started making tracks and I would give them to my friends and I was getting booked for shows before I even had anything recorded. It was really all just perfect timing."

While he seems to be constantly on tour (he was actually riding in a tour bus, passing through Baton Rouge while we caught up with him over the phone) Beetles doesn't seem to mind being on the road, even if he's sick. In fact, he says performing when he's feeling under the weather actually helps him feel better. "It gets really intense in the booth. I sweat a lot, I feel like I sweat it all out," he says.

While Beetles works incredibly hard to create go-crazy-over tracks that translate well to live performances – watching people go apeshit over a new track is a feeling he admits he loves – he works just as hard to mellow out while he's on the road. But to what, exactly, you'd probably never guess.

"Lately when I really want to mellow out, we'll pump some Ace of Base. It's so good, especially the new record," he says.

While he finds a way to let loose during long stretches of touring, Beetles isn't immune to catching a little homesickness though and his time spent catching up on his R&R couldn't be any more strikingly dissimilar than the time he spends inspiring upwards of thousands of people to dance in the club.

"I love being home and being lazy. I have so much fun just playing video games and creating music," says Beetles.

It's hard to smash the word lazy in the same sentence as Beetles, however, considering he's not just making music of his own. Having just started his own record label, Firepower Records, he also happens to be managing a few acts as well.

"I'm trying to make my own little empire and I'm hiring all my little soldiers right now," he says.

But don't worry that this DJ will ever stop making music. He did, after all, just release his first record this past April, and it sounds like there will only be more to come – but it might not always be a straight-forward variety of dubstep.

"I'll always still be making music," he says. "I'd really like to score a movie. I think it'd be different and awesome." | RDW

Datsik • 10/5, 8 p.m. • Royal Oak Music Theatre • 318 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak • royaloakmusictheatre.com • 248.399.2980 • $25