Enter The Portal of Beats: A Guide to The Music of Decadence AZ
December 12, 2025
December 12, 2025
DEVAULT Releases Euphoric Dance Anthem, 'Feels Like Us'
Let me set the scene for a minute. It’s just before midnight on Day 4 of Electric Forest in Rothbury, Michigan. You can feel the energy in the air—that unspoken bittersweet feeling every festival-goer is currently experiencing as the 2025 edition of this fabled festival enters its final hours. You’re taking in every last bit you can, wandering around the heart of Sherwood Forest, when you hear strange sounds calling you closer… Is it dubstep? Is it a brass band? Is it reggae? Your follow the siren call as it leads you into the Grand Artique stage, the most intimate and eclectic of all the Electric Forest stages. What you have just stumbled upon is about to blow your mind: Cam Steen b2b NOiSEMAKER Dub will spend the next hour playing the most authentic, inspired, unique bass and dub music you’ve ever heard in your life, with live instrumentation (everything from the guitar, flute, and saxophone) and even on-stage dancers to round out the vibes. It’s your first time ever hearing of these two artists, but it would quickly become the highlight of your weekend. This is it. This is the quintessential Forest experience.
That unexpected and unforgettable set—the one that defined the entire weekend—is exactly how it went down for me. I had the opportunity to chat with Cam after his set and we were able to set up an interview. Read on for an exclusive conversation with one of the most talented up-and-comers in bass music.
First of all, Cam, thank you for taking the time to do a formal interview – I’ve really been looking forward to the opportunity to get to know you a bit more after discovering your music this past year at Electric Forest!
First things first, what has your journey been like to get to where you are now? I understand you learned to play guitar at a young age. How did you get into playing the handpan? And then into producing bass music?
I started my music journey as a guitar player at 9 years old. I played in numerous bands in my formative years, spending the most time in a metal band called kelp, and then joining other bands, learning how to play drums, learning jazz guitar. Because of covid, two bands I was in fizzled out and I was pretty tired of bands ending because of other people when I was so committed to music. This lead to a greater focus on the music I was creating on my own, and the interest in handpan. I saw a kabecao video (my favorite handpan player) and bought my first handpan. I was simultaneously recording music in logic, but with no real direction. It wasn’t until I started listening to “Um..” and “Chmura” that I started to really commit to the bass music sound. It was around 2022 when I started to go down the production rabbithole and take it as seriously as the professionals in the field. I wanted to find a way to combine my musical background with modern production – but had a lot of learning to do.
Do these different skillsets/interests come together naturally in your work as an artist, or do you ever find them competing for space in your creative process?
I have pretty much only been doing music for the past three years. I’ve made most of my money teaching guitar/handpan lessons. When I was learning how to produce I was almost mad at myself for spending more time practicing music than learning how to produce music, but once I got better at production that feeling disappeared and I’m starting to notice how everything I do in music is deeply connected. The skills are incredibly connected yet I feel very different when doing different activities. Practicing handpan feels like a break from music production, and music production feels like a break from teaching handpan lessons. It took some time, but now that I have really narrowed my focus in what I want to do in music, these skills seem to only complement each other. I’ve found in a room of sick producers I’m introduced as the best handpan player, and in a room of the sickest handpan players I’m the best producer.
I love that you incorporate live instrumentation into your production. Do you do all your own instrumentation on your tracks? Can you walk me through your process for creating a new track?
Most instrumentation is done by me unless stated otherwise on the track (will be mentioned in the credits), although I love having friends and other sick musicians contribute to tracks. When I start a track, I think about the key it’s in so if I want to add handpan on it I have the option to later – that’s why a lot of my tracks are in F# minor. Most often I start a new track on the computer opposed to playing handpan/recording it/ going from there. While learning how to produce, I felt like I had to prove to myself that I didn’t need to use instruments in my music to make a track and my production could hold its own. Every start to a new track feels different, sometimes it’s making a minute video for handpan that turns into a full track, sometimes it’s hearing an inspiring tune and trying to do my own version of it, sometimes it’s sitting at the computer praying to the universe something cool will happen.
What’s your favorite part about being an artist?
Personal self discovery, honoring my soul/purpose, traveling to do music jobs, collaborating with my favorite artists, connecting with wonderful people through music. I truly believe it is the best job in the world, and can no longer do anything else in life except pursue this dream. It has taught me so much about myself and improved my outlook on the world. It’s truly so humbling and rewarding, the full spectrum of human emotion feels amplified when your entire life is tied to your art.
Least favorite?
The balance between never truly having a day off and finding the discipline/ motivation to get things done. Responding to emails. People reaching out for connection, offers, stories, opportunities, and not having the bandwidth to give full attention/presence to everyone. The peaks and valleys of playing a great show to being alone right after, then traveling or sleeping in a tent. It’s hard for me to find a consistent sleep/work schedule when I’m consistently wrecking my circadian rhythm. Negotiating payment/declining offers. Pretty much when I was just starting out and would listen to artists/dj’s complain about little things I would think “damn, that’s a dumb thing to complain about when you’re getting paid to do your art full time,” but now I kinda get it. Despite all these things I still absolutely love it.
Let’s talk Electric Forest – how did you end up playing the Grand Artique stage?
I’ve been a huge fan of Grand Artique ever since I started going to LIB [Lightning in a Bottle] – my first time playing on their stage was playing guitar with MORiLLO at LIB 2024. Grand Artique booked NOiSEMAKER dub for Beyond Wonderland 2025 – and then Nathan [of NOiSEMAKER dub] roped me into playing a b2b with him. That was my first time with my name on a Grand Artique lineup. They seemed to like our set, and then booked us for Starbase where Nathan and I ended up playing about 8 hours worth of music in a little chill zone in the festival. That experience, and our involvement with Red Giant Project I think made us seem pretty chill, so then we got an offer for Electric Forest.
How did you and Nathan get connected? Can you explain that side project a little bit?
Nathan saw my set at SSBD [Same Same But Different] in 2021 when I played at noon on a side stage and enjoyed it. I remember talking to him at Lucidity the following year asking what “dub” is. It was always great vibes, and I loved the music he was making, so we started to work on music together – “Bubble Over” being one of the first ones. We live pretty close so it’s been fun and easy to collaborate, and Nathan has a sweet studio with a lot of analog gear. I started to play out “Bubble Over” in my own sets and people seemed to love it, Nathan joined me to play at SSBD 2024 and we got a bunch of great feedback and ever since I try to have him join me whenever it makes sense. The dub stuff we are making fits into my sets, but isn’t truly my sound – it feels like a perfect 50/50 between Nathan and I, therefore we needed to create a project different from our own individual ones. It’s also a pain to say “NOiSEMAKER dub b2b Cam Steen” at a festival, so King Bubble was born. It’s a very different set than my own and It’s been so fun building sets with a partner that leans into more roots. I’d say the project really differentiated itself when Nathan got booked at Beyond Wonderland – so I was following his lead with just a few of my tunes sprinkled in.
What are your plans for this project moving forward? Can fans look forward to more shows together? Do you plan to switch your focus entirely or maintain your solo project as well?
We have started a bunch of tunes together, so the current plan is to just release music at a steady pace. I want fans/talent buyers to know that the King Bubble set is a unique experience that is separate from either of our projects – and really want to honor roots dub with the addition of live instrumentation. If we keep releasing music with King Bubble, and simultaneously grow our own projects, I believe that distinction will be clear and we can develop something really cool/play more shows. King Bubble is incredibly fun, and aligns with my own music goals, so I don’t feel that I have to make a choice to focus on one or another.
You grew up in the Redondo Beach area and have since relocated to San Diego, where you seem to play local shows often. What are your long-term goals as an artist? Are you working toward a headlining tour or focusing your energy on efforts closer to home?
I just want to keep playing better shows, sell more tickets, play more shows on the road, release more music. I would love to do a tour one day! It seems the best move would be to join someone else’s tour that’s bigger than me. As things progress I actually hope to play local less often and only when it’s a really good opportunity. A headlining tour would be so epic, but also seems really far in the future, I have a lot more work to do before I would think about putting that together.
Is there a festival on your performance bucket list? How about a city?
There are a bunch of festivals on my list. I love festivals and it is one of my favorite parts of this scene. Shambhala, Sound Haven, Untz, Secret Dreams, Submersion, Bass Coast, LIB, Gem & Jam, Fire Lights, Ohm on the range, Wakaan, even Lost Lands. Pretty much if I am invited to play I am pretty down. I definitely want to play in Denver some day, its been my Spotify #1 city for months now. Somewhere on the east coast would be dope, I really want to just check every single city off the list eventually, big fan of traveling to play music.
You’re sitting on quite a bit of unreleased music… any hints on when we might see some of those?
I’m on track for about one single per month for the rest of 2026. Next planned release is in December with a remix for Morillo. King Bubble is going to finish our next release this month and have it ready for either December or January. I’ve been chipping away at an EP that I’m aiming to release in March. I’m a firm believer that releasing music is the most important thing, so I’m planning on doing a lot of it this next year with a mentality that it’s never going to be perfect and it just needs to be out.
Ok, I like to do a few rapid fire questions for funsies, so let’s get into it:
Any hidden talents?
Beach volleyball and super smash bros ultimate
Head to the afters or head to bed?
Really depends on the night, I love both
Fav artist at the moment?
Between Parkbreezy and Crawdad Sniper right now
Holy grail mustache product?
Death Grip mustache wax products
Original track you’re most proud of?
“Bubble Over,” feel like it’s timeless/simple (something i’m trying to do more of)
Cam was recently announced as direct lineup support for LSDREAM’s Dreamrocks II at Red Rocks Amphitheatre next May. He’ll also be making an appearance at Florida Groves next April. Keep your eyes locked on Cam Steen in the coming months—this exceptionally talented artist is clearly on the ascent. In the meantime, get familiar with his discography and stay connected below:
Connect with Cam Steen: Instagram | X | TikTok | Spotify | SoundCloud
