BLACKLITE DISTRICT

When Kyle Pfeiffer formed Blacklite District a decade ago, it was with the intent to create music that touched upon all of his influences and the music that raised him, simultaneously becoming his source of inspiration and therapy. Over the tenure of his career, Pfeiffer endured many ups and downs on the road to the top. His music turned from life enhancer to life saver. As Blacklite District returns with new music and a new lease on life, he maintains the same credo from the start of providing an authentic experience for every new and returning listener who presses play.

Born in suburban Chicago and raised in Spearfish, South Dakota, Kyle found music earlier than most in his small town. “When I was like seven years old, my grandparents bought me this little Sears drum set,” he remembers, “because my grandma had this Fleetwood Mac VHS tape, and I watched it nonstop for like a year.” A young Kyle would play along to the tape, though music changed meaning for him two years later when his mother passed away from a drug overdose. “My uncle played me Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘No More Tears’ and I became fixated by it,” he adds, as the song helped him cope with being so young and grieving. “I’ve been obsessed with music ever since.” Over the years, he would rotate bandmembers and jam with them while he sang and played the guitar, adding singing/songwriting along the way. By the time he reached his teenage years, Kyle was fully immersed in music—from the art to the business—studying the inner workings and learning about the who’s who of the music industry. “I would check all of the sales figures and the Billboard charts, watching how songs would crossover from Alternative over to the Pop side,” he recalls. He began tinkering with various sounds, as his love of Rock met new genres like Rap and EDM.

Blacklite District began building a buzz, touring and even making waves on the Billboard charts with a Top 35 hit “With Me Now” in 2014. It was fast and it was furious, though it ignited a downward spiral in Kyle. “I drank a lot and was dabbling with drugs,” he remembers. He continued along this destructive path until 2015, when he was hospitalized for acute pancreatitis. “I was told if I had another drink, I would die,” he explains. He didn’t fully stop and added more opiates to the mix. He continued a hot streak of songs like “The Struggle” (Top 40 on Billboard’s Rock Indicator chart), “Broken Souls” (Top 30 on Billboard’s Rock Indicator chart), and “Living in a Nightmare” feat. R8eDR (Number 21 Billboard Mainstream Rock Indicator chart). In 2018, his song “Cold As Ice” went viral, with over 100 million streams and reaching Number 35 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Chart. This was at the same time that Kyle learned how to tap into the video game world, by creating visuals through Minecraft. The combination was genius and only further propelled Blacklite District into full-blown stardom.

His career was skyrocketing, as his health was crumbling. He was hospitalized consistently and nearly died on several occasions, while simultaneously dealing with his estranged father’s suicide. Pills addiction turned to pills selling, recovery turned to relapse, relapse turned to overdoses. It was a cycle, as Kyle was entrenched in high end drug smuggling with El Cartel while still becoming a force in music. “My hits kept coming, and the money kept flowing in,” he says. “So in my mind, it was like I wasn’t one of those ‘junkies’ that’s glued to their house. You make those excuses to yourself, basically, because I was lucky and I was on autopilot in terms of making money.” In the throes of grief, he was introduced to Fentanyl, and began dosing himself daily with the toxic drug, coming within inches of his life.

“I was taking these blue M30 pills and that’s what’s currently all over the country right now,” he explains. “I had gotten up to taking over 40 of those blue pills a day.” Meanwhile, his 2020 track “Falling” had cracked the Top 20 of Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Indicator (and Top 3 on YouTube), along with “Wishing Dead” going viral that same year. Millions upon millions of streams and global stardom couldn’t shake his path, though Kyle ultimately hit his ceiling. He reached his final boiling point when he almost died for the last time, as Kyle—a parent as well—noticed parallels that he knew he had to end once and for all. “I felt like I was in the same spot that my mom was in, with me having this little kid at home,” he expresses. “And it's like, I have to break that cycle, otherwise, this shit just repeats itself again and again.” And so he detoxed in treatment centers, addressed his demons and the PTSD they bring, and at long last was clean and sober. He’s remained that way for over two years now. “I can say I’m one of the lucky ones,” he admits proudly.

In 2021, he released his autobiographical track “Live Another Day” as part of the Deluxe edition of his critically acclaimed project You’re Welcome. He followed the single with the deeply personal “To Live Is To Suffer.” By the close of that year, he dropped his 1990 project, fueled with another evolution to his style. “Before, I was looking to combine Hip-Hop with the mainstream, like a Post Malone style,” he explains. “But I started feeling less connected to that world because of how much it’s rooted in drug use, and I’m no longer a part of that.” 1990 was a return to his Rock roots, and at the close of 2022, he added more tracks, making it 1990 XL. Added tracks like “Worldwide Controversy” and “I Gambled and I Won” showcase songs of both trauma and triumph, displaying a clear evolution to Blacklite District’s sound, while still providing a sonic journey for new and old fans alike. “I’d like to do this with all of my previous projects,” he explains. “Adding more songs as an XL edition. It’s a nice way to show how far I’ve come.” It’s Blacklite District’s rebirth, literally and figuratively.

“You know, it feels like I somehow escaped this nightmare that I’ve put myself into,” he expresses. “It’s not like I no longer have to worry about it, because I do.” Most importantly, however, he’s here to bring his renewed sense of self to his music and hopefully change some lives. “The fact that I’m clear headed and fully aware now makes for dangerous creativity,” he says. “I’m taking all the trauma and pain of life and try to turn that negative into something positive.”