Assassin of the Week: Viper

It’s time for another edition of EDM Assassin of the Week! This update features Detroit native and current Atlanta resident James Emery, but you can call him Viper. He produces complextro tracks that bring a fresh perspective to dance music as we know it. So sit back, relax, and grab the headphones as you enjoy discovering a talented new artist. Thank you Viper for reaching out to EDM Assassin.

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Tim: Your tracks are quite diverse in nature and unique. I would be able to distinguish one of your tracks from other dance songs on the radio. What goes into your style, and what types of artists give you inspiration?

Viper: Thanks! That was really what I was after. It’s hard in dance music sometimes to have your own sound and there are plenty of great artists out there that pull that off extremely well. As far as inspiration goes, that’s really tough. I listen to a wide variety of music from EDM to Classical to Heavy Metal. I can’t say just one or two, hell… even ten artists. I have too many.

Tim: How long have you been a fan of dance music? You have the skills to produce anything, but what was it that drew you to this genre and sparked your interest?

Viper: Oh, I’ve been a huge fan ever since I was a kid. Being from Detroit, techno obviously was a biggie for me. Whenever I could I’d go to warehouse parties. Man those were some great nights.

Tim: When did you first get interested in producing? Do you have a favorite program to use?

Viper: My first experience with doing anything audio wise, I must have been 7 or 8….something like that. I’ve always loved Halloween, but I hated the cheesy Halloween tapes you could buy at the store, so I decided I’d make one myself. I found out that if you pressed play and record a certain way, meaning not pressing down fully, maybe half to 3 quartes of the way, the tape will speed up and you can later add audio tracks using only one source. And in my case that was a crappy boom box. Everyone in the neighborhood kept asking Halloween night where we bought it from. It was a huge hit. So I did that for years, then moving up in the world getting mixers and such. As far as my favorite DAW goes, Ableton for sure, I swear by it lol.

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Tim: Do you also take on DJ gigs? What type of shows have you played/would like to play in the future?

Viper: I haven’t done any in a while but I’m dying to get back out there. Truth be told I wasn’t great at it. Serviceable maybe, but I wasn’t kidding anybody, or myself haha. One of my big goals is TomorrowWorld since it’s maybe a half hour from where I live. Movement up in Detroit is another I’m dying to play at. Will it happen? Who knows. But I’m hopeful.

Tim: Your tracks have been getting released on Hooki-Sonic Recordings. I’m unfamiliar with that label. How is your relationship with them?

Viper: That came about through Twitter of all places. Another Twitter bud @blastinbass who likes to mix my tunes dropped the name to me, so I decided to reach out. I wasn’t expecting anything (I never do) and they loved what I was putting out. Already have quite a few releases on iTunes, Beatport, and more. I’m extremely thankful and grateful that they’ve been so supportive. Fantastic energy and just awesome, good people. Always good to have. So again, a huge thanks to them.

Tim: I like the name Viper! What made you choose that for your stage name? Did the process of finding the perfect name take a long time?

Viper: Well my original stage name was Teutonic. I just Googled my last name and that popped up. So I ran with it for a while. But I started thinking there wasn’t really much I could do with it marketing wise, although I’m sure someone who is reading this will say, “You dummy….you should have done this or that”. I was trying to think of, “Well, what do you like?” I’ve always dug snakes, so there ya go haha.

Tim: As I mentioned, your sounds are so diverse yet all work together really well. You can have a song like ‘Outlaw’ that is a harder-hitting dub track, and on the opposite end of the spectrum you can have a track like ‘Sight’ that is more of a funky electro song. A lot of artists stick to one area, but your ability to bounce around with sounds makes you stand out. What goes through your mind when starting a new song? How does your production process flow and result in so many different end products?

Viper: Well again thanks for that. For some reason I just can’t stick to one genre. I love the challenge of taking on different ones. I love electro house, dubstep, drum n bass, and even hip-hop. So, I decided right from the get-go that I would try and do multiple genres. It drives some people crazy, especially labels. It’s hard to market that, but again, the guys I’m with give me total freedom and they dig it. As far as my production flow goes, honestly it’s a giant mess as you can imagine. But, it makes sense to me (amazingly), so I figure just roll with it. I never have a set genre in mind when I start off a new track. It just happens.

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Tim: You use the hashtag #Complextro on your SoundCloud for a lot of your original tracks. How would you describe that sound? Do you try to mix electro house with dubstep?

Viper: At least to me, complextro mixes electro house with that nice angry dubstep sound. It’s crazy, so that’s why I love it! I’m sure some people will disagree with what exactly it is (hence why I never read YouTube comments or UKF, that’s just a war of words in there), but hey, whatever I guess.

Tim: You were born and raised in Detroit, an area with major dance music history but now live in Atlanta. Have you noticed any differences in how people receive dance music between the two cities? Does Atlanta have an engaged dance music culture compared to Detroit?

Viper: To my amazement, Atlanta has a bigger dance music scene than one would think. Bigger than Detroit, no, but not bad. Dubstep and trap are big (although IMO trap to me is southern hip-hop renamed). But now with TomorrowWorld being here, I think the dance scene here is just going to continue to grow.

Tim: Congrats on becoming a fellow blogger! What is your favorite style of dance music to share and write about?

Viper: Hmm… on Bass Ship, I mostly try and find more complextro tracks (Can you tell I really dig it yet?). I do my best to find artists that nobody has heard of. There’s so much great talent out there.

Tim: What are your future music plans for the remainder of 2014? Do you have any special tracks you’re working on now or any cool gigs planned?

Viper: One never knows ; ) I like to keep everyone guessing, but there will definitely be more releases and such. Exact dates I’m not sure of yet besides one on July 7th entitled “7”.

Tim: Thank you again for reaching out to EDM Assassin! You have the floor! Is there anything you want to leave our readers off with? Any thoughts you want to share on producing or on the growing dance music scene here in the States?

Viper: Well I definitely want to send a huge thank you to my wife, Gina. She’s been so supportive in my music endeavors and there’s just no way I could have done this without her support. I’ve wanted to quit so many times and she’s always there to lift me back up and get back in the game. Another huge thank you (besides you guys of course) to @arealliferebel (his Twitter handle). We’ve been working together for well over a year now. He’s a fantastic rap artist from DC. We push each other hard to get the best out of ourselves. And, he’s just super cool too. Yeah, dance music here in the states continues to grow, and for all the talk of it getting too “commercial”, well maybe it is, but we all want our music heard and enjoyed. My main goal is to make people happy through tunes. I’m not after the fame or the money. Yeah of course the money would be great, but in the end, all that really matters to me is someone putting on a tune of mine and it puts a smile on their face or gets them through a rough day. If I can do that for even one person, I’ve done my job!

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We want to send a big thank you out once again to Viper for contacting EDM Assassin. I had the great honor of interviewing someone with your scale of talent. Keep up the great work! I am really eager to see what you bring us next. If you like what you’re hearing, you can follow Viper on Twitter @thevipermusic and follow his track uploads on SoundCloud. Are you an aspiring dance/electronic producer seeking a platform to promote your material? Contact EDM Assassin for an interview opportunity today. You can send your inquiry by Twitter DM to @EDMAssassin and ask for Grant or Tim. Once again, thank you again to Viper! If you liked this, we would love to hear your feedback.

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