Been screaming since I was 15 years old, now 23. I’m a metal vocalist from Culpeper Virginia. I’ve always had a love for music, especially rock and metal since I was 10 years old. I listened to different bands like All That Remains and Disturbed and then I eventually dug deeper into heavier bands like Bless the Fall and Bring Me The Horizon.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/devil-worship-ep/1584193890?ls
I never really found a passion in the beginning, but i felt the urge to do something completely random. That random thing was scream downstairs listening to Asking Alexandria. I didn’t obviously get it the first few tries and constantly practiced everyday for about a year. After that I thought maybe I could do something useful with this. Then I put all my money into recording software and microphones. Eventually I found a place to purchase song samples people make on the internet, since I am only a vocalist. It is pretty tricky trying to find a band around my area especially since the one you know is from your ex’s best friend who believed her side after a breakup lol. Regardless I’ve found a decent producer in the United Kingdom and he’s been grateful and very understanding to what I want a song to sound like. He helped me with my first EP (Devil Worship) and is currently helping me on EP number 2.
The latest installment is going to be a 3 track EP consisting of songs about loss, cheating, mind games and pain. Which is why it is called Your Worst Nightmare.
I always say this in my bio for any social media page. If I can reach one person and they feel what I feel, I’ve done my job as a musician.
I’m not worried fame or making a lot of money, but the biggest challenge is probably finding people that actually enjoy my music. Some people do whereas others find it unbearable. Which is understandable since it is metal. Another challenge is my singing. I used to sing Sleeping with Sirens songs in my closet when I was 12 and 13. Then preformed a song by them in a talent show at school. Let’s just say that went…well to say the most lol. Now I’m finding it harder to balance singing with screaming.
I write lyrics to how others feel first and then do my own thought and kind of tweak them in. I always say I ALOT in my drafts but eventually I take at keast some out. Then find a rhyming pattern with words like lime=dime…etc. After that I try to find a style to make it fit. My new single coming has vibes from Ice Nine Kills and Famous Last Words.
I feel the music business has been impacted in good ways and bad. Good ways are it’s a network for people to find a variety of artists and also reach people on a major scale. Bad sides are there’s alot and I mean ALOT of people trying to network and market themselves with their band. Such as Until the Dead Walk and Valley of Dismay. I’m friends with members of both bands and they’re always doing something around the band every single day. I’m not saying anything bad about that obviously but there are so many artists in the world now it seems like it’s a difficult game to listen to over 20 bands maybe even 100 at the most. At the end of the day if each artist supported each other, they’d get to the same place at some point.
Ice Nine Kills
Motionless in White
Black Veil Brides
Lorna Shore
Valley of Dismay
Villain of the Story
Blessthefall
Spiritbox
Wage War
Bad Omens
Before I Turn
Dying Desolation
Forgetting the Memories
Bullet for my Valentine
Fit for a King
I didn’t really do much besides write poems and write story ideas. I’ve been wanting to make a book and get one published at one point.
My advice is be the best person you can strive to be with a lot of effort and if people judge you for doing music or anything you love in general, ignore them. Your in your “own world” as I call it. Make it thrive and find a following. Even if it’s one person or 5 people and it doesn’t go how you want. Just put in effort for those 5 fans you have. Because music isn’t about fame and fortune, it’s about reaching a person and they feel and relate to your pain.
I would change the way people are promoted. For instance a YouTube channel features one new upcoming artist in a certain area a week. Let’s say you have a podcast or Twitch stream (The Messiah and The Fox for example run by Evy Wisse). She features bands all the time with artists less than a certain amount of listeners to not only critique them but also support them at the same time. In my eyes thats honestly pretty cool and some bands have even blown up from just on her page. I think if popular bands sort of featured other artists that way it could really help the industry a little bit more.
I try to be as original as possible and find a style of not only vocals that fits my song but also find the right sound as well. Being in a music family and only the first musician to have original material is kind of big for me. I’ll look at other ideas and write/draw my own concepts or spins on them.
Just that I’m honored to be apart of this interview and I hope my words speak for some of those in the music industry. I would also like to thank not only you Modi FM but my parents, girlfriend, and all of my coworkers for being supportive and helpful throughout my career thus far. Here’s to 7 years and hope to have another 27.
