Read the TK Vicious Interview below and share it on social media.
Please tell our readers who you are and what you do?
Hi, I'm TK Vicious. I'm a Producer/Dj, currently mostly in the genres of UK Bass/UK Funky, House and Techno. I've put out tunes on some fantastic labels such as Play Me, U Wot Blud?, Strictly Flava, Juke Trax, Prime Audio and YoSucka! Most recently I released an ep called 4am Sweat (on Strictly Flava) This ep was an homage to the illegal warehouse parties I used to attend heavily when I first was involved with electronic music. I wanted to capture the innocence as well as the sheer outlandishness of those all night parties.
https://soundcloud.com/strictly-flava/sets/tk-vicious-4am-sweat-ep
To tie that in with my more contemporary interests, I brought a few friends on board for the remix ep. Including Sirr Tmo (Teklife), Mofaux (Southpoint), and Ghost Channels (Audiophile XXL) on the ep was a fun way to reimagine those more warehouse flavors for new dancefloors. https://soundcloud.com/strictly-flava/sets/4am-afterparty
How would you describe your influences and how have they changed over the years?
When I first was going to raves in the late 90's, I spent a lot of time in the main room, which at the time was primarily house and techno. Then I discovered the small side rooms that housed a just beginning jungle/drum and bass sound. I was immediately hooked. When I first attempted to produce music on my own, Drum and Bass was my everything. However I've always been on the hunt for new sounds , so over the years that followed; Dubstep, Juke/Footwork, Moombahton and Trap were my main areas. Throughout there was always this love of House and Techno, so when the more mainstream genres start to feel especially square to me, I returned home to their swinging embrace. Since 2015, 90% of the music I've written and released has been in the 120-135bpm range. I've been especially inspired by UK Funky/Garage and have a lot of stuff in that world in the crates right now.
What´s new right now?
Recently I've been settling into my new home of Los Angeles and supporting the 2 recent releases. I've got a ton of music I'm finishing up and finding homes for, look for those in 2018. I'll have a mix out on the "TRAXX with Two Tails" podcast at the end of December, subscribe to that podcast on itunes if you want to catch it. I'm currently taking 2018 bookings for dj sets as well.
If you'd like to get in touch or stay informed of my doings, Follow me on
twitter https://twitter.com/xTheKidViciousx
soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/tkvicious
FB https://www.facebook.com/TheKidVIcious
mixcloud https://www.mixcloud.com/TheKidVicious/
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Are you a superfan of anyone? How did you become a superfan? Do you remember how you become a fan and what turned you into super fan? Have you ever thought about why you´re such a fan?
If you've never heard of Mind Of A Dragon (or MOAD), then you owe it to yourself to check him out. He releases so much music and the quality levels of both production and composition are consistently sky high. I can't stop buying his tunes, even though I can't play them all out w/o the risk of being a MOAD cover dj. lol
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What was the biggest mistake you made when you started making music and what would be the number one tip you could give to a newcomer musician?
Make music because you love music. Don't make music because you want to be famous, don't make music because you "have to be a producer not just a dj". Make music because you absolutely love the process, because it helps you deal with life, because it is the most fun way you can think of to spend your time. There are times that it's an incredibly frustrating process, but if you're in it for the right reasons, you'll find ways to push through.
Also study basic music theory, like Keys and Modes. Watch youtube tutorials. Go hang out on livestreams (especially The Widdler's Wednesday Twitch streams). Do anything you can to consistently gain more knowledge about your craft, so that you can constantly push the envelope and feel progression in your work.
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How do you get gigs? Can you share any tips?
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Do you have good promotion tips for other musicians?
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Do you have insights on how to grow your audience on soundcloud that you want to share with our audience?
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What has been your biggest challenge right now? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?
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How do you personally discover new music?
I spend a lot of time digging through junodownload, and if I find an artist I like but am unfamiliar with, I'll go hunting for them on soundcloud. I also check out a lot of dj mixes from artists I respect and peruse their tracklists. Finally, I'm lucky to have a lot of friends putting out awesome music and I try to support them whenever possible.
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Once you discovered new music, do you tell others about the new music/artist you discovered? If yes, how exactly?
“Usually I'll try to showcase the artist's work in my sets and mixes, which I try to always include setlists for. One man's setlist is another man's shopping list.
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What is your number one tip to improve your music production or songwriting skills?
This is a tad artsy of me, but I like to think about a mix like a painting. A painting has Top to Bottom, Left to Right, and Depth. If all of the paint is in the center of the painting, it's not much of a painting. A mix is the same way. So spread things out L/R with panning, Front to Back with Reverbs, Volume and Delay, and Top to Bottom with EQ. Put your most important elements up front, and then use the rest of the space for the details. Use subtractive EQ, removing frequencies from instruments that are not essential to the mix. Most elements in a mixdown will sound a little goofy on their own, but when they're together they make the painting a success.
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What is your best tip for those who struggle with finishing their tracks?
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We meet again in one year. What has changed?
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http://www.soundcloud.com/tkvicious
http://www.twitter.com/xTheKidViciousx
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Enter your questions to the artist in the facebook comment section below.
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