Read the Velvet Skies Interview below and share it on social media.

Please tell our readers who you are and what you do?

Firstly, thanks for this opportunity and thanks to our friends, CYNICAL, for recommending us to you guys! I'm Peter and I'm part of a three piece band that relies on a mac and some instruments in our bedrooms called Velvet Skies ( Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/velvetskiesofficialband ) . Basically we are a few guys that really loved the style of music coming out of Australia at the moment in the different psychedelic and indie scenes and we started to put together some little jams from our houses. We've posted a few tame tracks on our Soundcloud and we're saving some good ones to chuck together on a little album for Spotify, which I personally think are way more fleshed out and driven than our others songs and thats just due to me learning more about producing as we progress as a band.

How would you describe your influences and how have they changed over the years?

I started off making rap tracks for a laugh after I started to get into producing music through garageband and then logic pro. We all love the Melbourne club style thats played at almost every party we goto or host and we love the rock, reggae and psychedelic influences in our influential artists like Sticky fingers, Tame Impala, Arctic Monkeys, Tash Sultana, etc. but we all had out moments through high school where we were moving towards metal, rap and other styles of music so from just three kids we have a broad range of influences between each-other. I (Peter) have personally been drawing a lot of my private music playing and recording from the wave of lo-fi branches of music thats been going on lately (Joji, Mac Demarco, HOMESHAKE and Triathlon) and have definitely found myself using that in certain songs of our bands'.

What´s new right now?

I don't want to give dates for the album on Spotify, but I'll be posting at least one new track within the next week on our soundcloud. If anyone wants to give us a gig then sure, that'd be awesome, but for us right now, we're realistically in the beginning stages of doing gigs, having only done a small pub for a short set, we're really just trying to get our sound out there and our foot in the door and are just hoping to have some fun with it all!
If you want to hear us or our new music (and you're a fan of indie/rock/pop definitely check out our soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/velvetskiesofficialband and give it a like if thats what you think of it )

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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?

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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?

Going into production blind. Theres always a learning curve, but trust me it gets so much easier if you talk to people with experience or even educate yourself on strategies and the technology through youtube and other video based sites.

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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?

Dont be scared to follow others on social media platforms if thats your main way of exposure at the moment. Start humble, no one likes people who are stuck up (hence why we need to probably start following more people on soundcloud, oops)

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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?

Biggest challenge for our band has been creating jam sessions because of issues with time availability and just with creative blocks and getting gigs. Working on fixing these issues now with the holidays giving us more time to sort ourselves out.

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How do you personally discover new music?

I go through heaps of Spotify related artists and find different new aesthetics that I've never touched on before. I have lately started going to bars where they play live music and that can often be an interesting way to find local artists and network with new people in your area.

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Once you discovered new music, do you tell others about the new music/artist you discovered? If yes, how exactly?

“I mostly show my friends the playlists i make out of the new music i find, but if its good enough i may share it on different social media sites purely out of respect for that artist.

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What is your number one tip to improve your music production or songwriting skills?

Watch educational videos. Personally i find that using compression often but only where necessary is a major key to making songs sound more 'solid'. I remember reading a forum where Kevin Parker, the main man from Tame Impala, spoke about how putting certain effects behind or infront of other effects on the chain can create vastly different sounds; for example, if you put a distortion before a delay, it sounds like a repeat of a distorted sound, whereas if you put a distortion after the delay it creates a more aggressive effect where the actual delayed recording is distorting on each repetition. When you're using Logic Pro (and im sure its similar with many other softwares) remember that this goes as well, the chain of effects can massively change the sound and clarity of your tracks so make sure to fiddle and experiment with that (almost always limit or compress the end product of each track the tiniest bit to make it mix better, i find it helps).

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What is your best tip for those who struggle with finishing their tracks?

Show friends who will give honest feedback so that you can figure out changes you want or need to make. If you struggle with finishing a track go away from it and come back later with a refreshed mind, hopefully with more ideas.

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We meet again in one year. What has changed?

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https://soundcloud.com/velvetskiesofficialband

https://www.triplejunearthed.com/artist/velvet-skies

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