Hi there Siriu2, hope all is well. What have you been up to in the past year or so?
S: Lots of meditation and day labour lol!! Cleaning old ladies’ houses while listening to a lot of trance and psychology audiobooks lol! Seriously though, productions, leaving Miami for a quieter town that’s less expensive so I could really get to work on my dreams and more or less doing and spending what it takes to really position myself to offer the gifts I have.
Oh ya, and relaunching Siriu2 lol! Which, by the way, is Sirius 2.0, which includes YOU too (u2), which makes it not just about me, but “us” (u2), “us” becomes “we” and when we all come together, a lot of love through dancing, smiles, and hand hearts (S2) are held high in the air at festivals as the music sets us free from daily life.
However, I have gladly taken on the task to make this my daily life. It does come together much easier when you find those who are truly worthy of their craft to help you and you position yourself to have the time to work on your craft.
This new project of yours is very Trance orientated, rather a different path of what you’ve been on in the past, what brought you into the Trance realm?
S: I was in conflict with myself.
I love just about any kind of electronic music. Over the past few years I DJ-ed and produced the grooves of banging tech house and funky techno, with a kind of big room and tropical twist. Basically if Carl Cox, Fedde Le Grand, and Thomas Jack had a music child, it would’ve been my “Mikey Shanley” stuff. However I was conflicted because before all of that, I went to Point Blank, Sonic Academy and Berkley College of Music to mostly study trance and audio production, mixing, mastering and the business of music. Before even that, I was a Sirius, one of the USA’s most prominent up and coming UK Hardcore/Drum and Bass/Hard Dance Mash-up DJ. I really missed the sound of up-tempo and epic productions that were big, wide and inspiring. Plus, I was looking for a way to fuse electronic music and help people. It was imperative for me to not only make progress but to give something back. Trance is where that was. The productions are fun to make, the music is healing, and the Trance Family is welcoming, bright and open. In other scenes, I was too confined. It was like, if you aren’t producing stuff that’s understated, very cerebral and more or less spaced out like you’re on some disassociated ketamine trip, then you aren’t in the club (literally and figuratively). If you can’t project an image of total lack of caring and like you’re so tragically bored that your own press photos look mean yet are also putting me to sleep, then you don’t fit in. It seemed producing happy music or shining too bright is looked down on and that is not me. I want to look around and see fans that are present, and not just bobbing to an abstract beat with a look on their face that reads “what am I doing here?”
It has to be about something more than that. It is about something deeper than DJ’ing and productions standing alone and I am excited to show you what it is!
You’ve started out this new project with a mashup of Brian Kearney, Plum and Reorder naming it ‘We Are All Over Again’, is this mash up style of tracks something we are going to be seeing in the future?
S: This is my Deadmau5 (his masterclass is rad BTW) honesty on the industry moment: labels, and the industry as a whole, seem to not care about it as far as the promotional aspect of getting people into my efforts, yet fans do. It seems to be a purely promotional tool that true fans love and enjoy. It gets organic eyes on you, but that’s about it. The plays have really racked up on Soundcloud and people love it. Plus it’s hard to get people to notice. You can have a great logo, great photos and a decent mash-up for fans and even interaction and that isn’t necessarily enough (or the whole picture) for the industry to help you, or rather “let you in”, if your original music isn’t quite there yet. The excitement of an e-mail comes in, only to hear that yet another label has passed on your stuff. After going to the beach and having a mild existential break down, you go home and you take a good look at how to improve, and you take monumental action to do so. Work on your craft for 8 hours a day for 30 days and you’ll actually have hope that you can do this, if not actual traction of a track about to be signed, press, and high hopes.
I have a lot of fun things about to burst that I am not necessarily allowed to talk about yet…but let’s just say I won’t have to release mash-ups as my only source of music recognition for long. I gave that away, didn’t I? Oops!
Have you tried any other styles of music in the past, if so, do any other dance genres differ in difficulty when it comes to production?
S: Who makes their own music anymore!? That’s hard work that creates yuck yuck feelings in my head and tum tum! =)
It’s all a long path, haha. There really isn’t any easy out. For as minimal and “rough around the edges” as some genres may seem, to make it really sound top notch and attract top labels, there’s more than goes into it than most producers think (once again: 8 hours a day for 30 days). However, this is the music industry so it is sort a constant meteor shower to sift through. Simple tracks sort of get simple attention. Some people like that. Some people even tour small clubs around the world with what “seems” to be simple productions. That just isn’t me. I don’t want to fly into a city and play a mini boutique club with a mini boutique sound. Basically that question, like most things in music (IMHO), must consider your personality and motivations as well. Everything will have it’s pros and cons. Not knowing chords and music theory can make trance production quite messy. Not understanding rhythmic patterns in techno can make it quite messy. Not understanding LFOs for, say, Dubstep kind of leaves you out to dry. Consider what you like, your motivations and your personality.
You have to know what you don’t know and you have to know what you need to know along with the proper sounds to actually make what you want to make and have it sound like it is actually on the same road as other tracks in that genre…but also be original…but not too original…haha it’s crazy…or just ask your mom for a ghost producer for your birthday and be like CVNT5.
How long have you been working on productions for?
S: I’ve been producing music for 11 years. Had I had something like Point Blank or Sonic Academy when I was in my teens, it would’ve cut that time in half…plus I was living in Key West and drinking a lot lol. I thought I was the Jimmy Buffet of Techno. Some days, I was, other days, I was more like Mr. Lahey. I thought I had all the time in the world…then I woke up with my university days almost behind me and realized I was behind on my goals. Sad. I’m fixing that now.
How did you get into the music industry?
S: I started off in punky-emo-ish rock bands as a teen. I played guitar, drums, sang. My mom and grandpa were well known radio DJs in Pittsburgh. I literally grew up in radio stations, stayed out all night, got home schooled, the Duke of Earl (Gene Chandler) gave me pogs…it was really something special. My band got signed and we toured. At the same time, I discovered DJ’ing and the band sort of hit a wall. Our drummer was, apparently, hiding a heroin addiction, which to this day still surprises me, and I just wanted to move on. As a DJ I only have to depend on myself, so I did, and I do. Eventually, I signed up for Berklee, then Point Blank, The Sonic Academy. I read a lot. I study a lot. I ask a lot. I adjust a lot while also continuing.
Apart from music, what do you like to do in your spare time?
S: I study the music business.
Are there any other musical ventures you have explored or are exploring?
S: No. There is no time. Let this be a lesson to the kids out there: it’s not just very hard, but it’s shooting yourself in the foot like deliberately giving yourself cancer or HIV to think that you have all the time in the world to seriously (“Siriu2ly”) pursue, say trance, but also on the side, pursue dubstep. If you are serious (“Siriu2” hahaha…sorry) about thriving in the music business, I feel it is best, at least until you really get your recognition up and running, that you concentrate on one genre or thing. I recommend you do something that interests you without it being apart of your identity. There’s a special level of sort of “detachment” that helps you achieve actual success, as opposed to something that is so “you” so ingrained in your head as your highest vision of yourself that if you don’t get it, you feel you have failed and you have nothing left and that is completely unnecessary. It’s hard to explain right now. Don’t be seriously distracted, be Siriu2ly focused….(cue the “more you know” stars)
Has music always been a passion of yours?
S: Yes. It’s just what I grew up with from infancy in the radio stations of Pittsburgh.
What would you say have been your biggest musical influences which inspire your productions?
S: My experiences at Ultra Music Fest as a fan, in the crowd. That is when I really developed a better understanding of how big productions really work. The Carl Cox and Friends tent changed my life, Paul Van Dyk, ASOT Tent and the Hardcore Heaven Weekender in the UK.
What is your favourite equipment to use on your productions?
S: My Focal Alpha 8’s. Ed Brooks recommended them and, wow, was he correct! I love Ableton and Logic. Special place in my heart for both of those. Fab Filter Plugin’s are nice as well!
Can we expect any new releases from you any time soon?
S: Yes! I gave it away a little earlier, but I just signed a record deal and a few other surprises are in the pipeline as well.
Thank you very much for your time to chat to us, any shout outs you would like to make?
S: Information is great, action applied to it is better! Go out and win! ::S2 hearts::
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