Dieter Engel

From the age of 12, I developed an interest in playing guitar to impress girls (hahaha yes, that was the sole purpose at the time). This mindset came about after watching MTV for the first time and seeing the video for U2's "Beautiful Day." This was the year 2000. I thought, "Imagine the girls these guys are pulling," not realizing that these guys were probably married with kids. I don’t know the whole story of U2, to be honest, and I don’t mean to be misogynistic, but that is how it was.

Growing up in a semi-well-off home, we used to take biannual trips to Europe to visit family and friends. Even after my parents separated, this was still the Engel tradition. In 2000, we went to Holland, and my mother’s second husband’s sister noticed my passion for music and gifted me an old and cheap SG-shaped “Sakai” guitar, a 15W amp, a cable, and a pick. She told me to practice every day and make her proud.

In 2001, I joined the local church band. My playing was horrible—basic chords, barely able to play a song from charts. One Saturday at “practice,” a guy asked, “Do you want to audition for my brother’s band?” I said, “Hell yeah!” and took my 15W amp and cheap guitar the next weekend. Arriving at the location, it was my first studio experience, although the “studio” was in the brother’s lounge. Thinking about it now, it was a good space. I set up my guitar, and the members said, “Go for it, mate.” The first song I started playing (very badly) was "Seven Nation Army." They looked at each other, chuckled, and said, “Come back when you’ve practiced more.” I was embarrassed. Walking out with my tail between my legs, I thought, “Fuck you dudes, I’ll show you.”

I spent two years locked in my room practicing guitar, getting as many guitar tabs as possible from my one mate who had a dial-up connection. Obviously, there were the odd porno pics here and there—boys will be boys, you know.

One day in 2003, I heard one of my peers in high school had started playing drums, and my mate with the dial-up connection also played guitar. We decided to form our own band, “Feedback.” Our first gig was on a car transport trailer out in the bush; it was a sort of 4x4 track and a battle of the bands. Never having been on stage before, I froze up and couldn’t play anything correctly. We obviously lost the battle but not the war.

Throughout high school, I played in a lot of local bands and venues, even playing in a shopping mall once, with that metal zone pedal cracked up to 110! Hahaha. I obviously upgraded my gear after begging my parents over the years.

In 2007, after finishing school, I attended the Academy of Sound Engineering. It was fun, but more of a "thank God I have freedom now" kind of fun. I could grow my hair out, get piercings and tattoos, and do whatever I wanted. Although I did learn some stuff there that I still use today in my mixes and productions, so it wasn’t a big flop.

That same year, I met the Warthane vocalist, Sean. We would talk about bands we liked, mostly heavy bands. I was heavily into Slipknot, and he was heavily into Kreator. There was a sort of divide there. One day, Sean asked me to fill in for the bassist who had left Warthane, and I agreed. We played the Dakota Rocks festival as a charity gig. Not actually knowing how bassists play bass, I played it like a guitar, and they offered me the slot of permanent bassist in Warthane.

In 2008, we went on to record and release the album "Gallows are Calling" at Gunston Records, making some big waves in the SA metal scene. We played shows every weekend from Joburg to Durban to Cape Town. It was intense. We practiced every second evening. The drive from Midrand to Alberton and back was grueling, to say the least, every other day, not even thinking of the times we drove to Durban and back on the same day. But it was fun, thinking back.

In 2009, Warthane went on a European tour (self-funded)—thanks, Dad! My girlfriend at the time, now my wife, bailed me out with money while we were in Germany, as my dad refused to send more money. It was expensive. WACKEN! was the most expensive but the best festival I’ve ever been to.

In 2010, Diabolus Incarnate was born, and I released a demo entitled "Decomposition," which I produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered in my garage with a Pentium 4 computer and an onboard sound card. It turned out great, considering I did it one-man-band style. The success story came later.

In 2011, Warthane released "The Black Divine" and was planning a return to Europe. Sadly, tragedy struck the year before when we lost our guitarist Naz Berezovsky to a car accident after a gig at Doors Night Club. We believe he was fighting with his girlfriend via text while driving at 140 km/h and smashed into a stationary construction truck on the motorway.

After Naz’s death, I took over guitar duties and played many shows until 2012, when my son was born. Everything fell apart with Warthane as I could not commit to them as much as needed, and it was a mutual decision to depart.

From 2012 to 2016, I focused on my civil engineering career while playing in DI. We did a big show supporting Aborted, but there isn’t much more to report on SA shows. I’m still focusing on my engineering career until the audio gig takes off. If it does, cool; if it doesn’t, well, I tried.

In 2016, we immigrated to England—my wife, 3-year-old son, and two cats. We ended up in a dodgy 2-bedroom flat (we’ve obviously moved to a better place now). Six months in, I decided to contact a friend, Simon, who was a mutual friend of Naz, to start DI up in the UK. We played a few shows in London until…

In 2017, Inferno Fest in Norway approached us. We were blown away that the biggest black metal festival in Europe wanted us to play there. All I can tell you is it was the best show of my life. AND!!! They even paid us!!! Not much, but paid us indeed.

After Inferno, we played a couple of shows in London, but nothing major until…

In 2018, we played at a festival in Denmark—I can't remember the name—but this is where it all went sour for me playing live in bands. EVERYTHING! went wrong that night. EVERYTHING! It was the worst show ever; even my first gig on the trailer was better than that. Ha!

That year, I hung up my guitar for live shows.

In 2024, I decided to create Mix Or Die Productions. "Mix" is a nickname of my wife, and "Die" is short for my name. Right now, I am focusing on SA bands because I think most of them need help with production. There are bands who do cut the grade with their recordings, don’t get me wrong, but the majority need help. I’m also targeting France and the Netherlands at this moment.

By no means am I a world-class producer, but I am aiming for that in the future. I want to make SA music stand out from the noise. I want SA to be a big player in the music industry, and with my experience, I can offer that to musicians.

Thank you, and good night. LOL