DEEPCOVER – State your names
Charlie – I’m George Washington
Brandon – I’m Brandon
DEEPCOVER – So Brandon, how many bowls of weed did you smoke today?
Brandon – Countless, no actually 7 or 8.
DEEPCOVER – What mixes are you currently working on?
Brandon – We have 2. Shakira – She Wolf and Empire of the Sun.
DEEPCOVER – How long have you been producing music Brandon?
Brandon – Like 4 years
DEEPCOVER – What did you start off on and what was the first track you played around with?
Brandon – It was actually all self produced stuff from my band. And then I went from being from a band to recording our band stuff to like doing remixes of our songs and doing remixes of other peoples stuff.
DEEPCOVER – So what kind of band was it?
Brandon – You could say it was post-hardcore, but there was like some r&b in it and some soul and rock type stuff.
DEEPCOVER – How many people consisted in your band?
Brandon – There was 5 of us, I was the drummer and the singer. I would play to a click track. I had my own monitor. I would play and have my ear plugs and have the metronome on this side (point at right ear) and I would have the samples to my backup vocals and stuff like that in the left ear and just the samples of the vocals would be coming out to the crowd. That made me into a hella good drummer too.
DEEPCOVER – What was the name of the group?
Brandon – Lithius Sky
DEEPCOVER – And that was Las Vegas based?
Brandon – Yes
DEEPCOVER – And you’re from Vegas too?
Brandon – Born and raised.
DEEPCOVER – Whoa, rarity.
Brandon – Yup, troubled soul.
DEEPCOVER – Why haven’t you left?
Brandon – I don’t know, that’s a good question.
DEEPCOVER – Do you want to leave?
Brandon – I was about too. I was going to go to San Francisco for a bit.
DEEPCOVER – You should stay because it’s getting better.
Brandon – I’m already convinced. Yah I’m staying.
DEEPCOVER – So what else do you do besides produce?
Brandon – I sing, I played the drums for 13 years. I rip at the drums.
DEEPCOVER – Do you make all of your own drum samples?
Brandon – It depends, I make a lot of stuff from Reason and then I would personalize it to adding like different distortions and filters. A lot of times I like taking stuff from remixes and like cutting and pasting. I would take like 4 different songs and you wouldn’t even know. It’s like creating a mash and put it all together.
DEEPCOVER – Would you get mad if I were to say you create mash-ups?
Brandon – No. I mean that’s what it is right? A remix.
DEEPCOVER – Do you prefer remixes or edits?
Brandon – Remix. I prefer remixes over the actual song. It’s just cool seeing another artist’s perspective on how they would take it and would flip it.
DEEPCOVER – What’s your opinion on DJing?
Brandon – It kind of saddens me that it’s becoming like a novelty. I mean when you see playboy bunnies pushing a spacebar and they are getting spots like the playboy club, that’s not credible, but I feel what it all comes down to is just making the music sound the best possible and people having good taste in music, people who bring a fresh sound, something different to the table. That’s my favorite thing about some DJ’s.
You listen to some stuff and it’s the same old thing and it’s consistent. And then you have these other DJ’s comings out now that are just like killing it. They are coming out with sounds that you would have never thought you could make.
DEEPCOVER – So what do you see yourself doing 2-3 years from now? Do you see yourself DJing? Producing?
Brandon – Definitely, I will be jumping into that later
DEEPCOVER – What do you plan on using? What kind of equipment?
Brandon – It all depends on what I can afford to be honest with you now.
DEEPCOVER – Do you think that’s the case for a lot of DJ’s today?
Charlie – No because most of these kids are rich spoiled bastards.
Brandon – To be honest with you, the stuff I do production on, people will be like what the fuck is this kid doing, but then when they hear the end product it’s like WOW. I can honestly say I don’t even need a studio, just give me a Mac.
The stuff you can do with that technology these days it’s not even about necessarily the technology that makes it that much better but it’s with your mind, your brain, your imagination. That’s what’s making everything. You could have the most expensive equipment in the world but it’s not going to do anything if you don’t have the creativity.
Charlie – Definitely Talent has a lot to do with it. Rhythm is probably the main ingredient to the whole process.
DEEPCOVER – Do you have a signature sound you’re working on, or are you still developing as an artist?
Brandon – I don’t even know really. I just like making music, I like that every song I am working on now is just making me step up my game even more.
Something might have like this crazy 30 second dub step part in it and the rest might be like Italian disco. It’s just like mixing it up a bit but also making it flavorful so people are getting that vibe too.
Another thing I want to do through production, is work with a really popular song but be able to put dub step in it and put stuff in it like you wouldn’t hear on the radio or anywhere else, but have the younger generation hear that and have them start dipping into genres that motivates them to get their own equipment and start making music, start being competitive, and productive in their lives.
That’s what it’s all about. I would love to see all the younger generation watch us play or listen to something we are doing and go out and buy some equipment and say to themselves “I’m going to top that”, that’s even better, that’s awesome, that’s definitely one of my goals.
DEEPCOVER – So who’s your favorite producer? Young or old?
Brandon – Producer? There’s too many but if I were to choose, I really like the young producers. One of the guys that I like and I’m not sure if he’s a producer or not but Felix Cartel from Dim Mak. He does everything on the same program I use called Reason. He made this song I like called Montreal Dreams. He did all the songs on Reason.
To see what he can do on the same program that I have is just exactly my point. He’s like 22 years old too and he’s played around the world as well.
Another would be Sir Bob from the Bloody Beetroots. I watched a YouTube video of this guy and he takes his keyboards out and makes the beats, and then he brings out a bass and lays the bass line down for the song, then comes back and lays the rhythm guitar part down, then he gets the lead guitar down and it was like the most intense thing I have ever seen and it was this crazy disco electronic song. He was hella on point. It was really cool.
Seeing stuff like that is the real deal. People who are making music literally every single day, every second.
DEEPCOVER – So would you say that these producers have an influence to what you are producing now?
Brandon – Yes and no, I think that the music that I listen to has nothing to do with the music that I produce. There’s a dude that I’m working with named Angel and he’s apart of a local band here but he’s doing his own little solo thing and I did a couple of Drake remixes and I’ll take the instrumentals and I’ll splice them up and sample them into different parts and put beats over it and stuff and its all rap. It’s all hip hop and r&b but like ill sit there and take an aspect of what I would do in a remix and put it into that song.
For example the Beetroots did a song with The Cool Kids and its totally a hip hop song but they have this synth thing going on going through all the verses and its different song but you can still tell that they fucking did it
DEEPCOVER – So what’s your musical foundation. What did you grow up listening to?
Brandon – Ever since I was a little kid, I listened to everything. Unfortunately, I got into House just recently. It was weird because in like 4th or 5th grade I would listen to like Prodigy and Aphex Twin and then somewhere along the lines it bounced into like alternative and r&b and random shit. High school came and you kind of listen to everything and as soon as I bounced out of high school I was in a band and writing my own music and I eventually started to listen to hip hop.
DEEPCOVER – So Charlie, your considered the party monster of Vegas, how did you get that title?
Charlie – A couple bottles of beers and by the time you’re done with it you meet people.
DEEPCOVER – How did you get introduce to the dj culture, and how long have you been doing it?
Charlie – I’ve been on and off with djing for a couple of years now. I went back to AU and going to Gods kitchen, seeing basement jaxx and all those fools really inspired me.
DEEPCOVER – How long would you say you have been doing djing seriously for?
Charlie – Probably when we started The Nite Visions, our shit.
DEEPCOVER – Do you honestly feel that these are the best times as a DJ? As in Nite Visions?
Charlie – Yeah, of course. I mean it’s because it’s us getting together, and going harder than anyone else
Fucking shit up and showing the rest of these clowns what’s up.
Brandon – There’s nothing like this in this town and that’s the thing, I love what we’re doing with Nite Visions.
Charlie – Honestly people have always had the opportunity to do stuff like this along the years, but know one really took charge and did it.
DEEPCOVER – Does it feel refreshing?
Charlie – It’s something new and it should have been done a long time ago but I’m kind of glad that I’m apart of it, I’m psyched that I’m in the front lines of Vegas.
DEEPCOVER – What was your first initial perception from when you first started and now?
Charlie – It went from like house parties to bigger parties. It’s still in essence the same thing but maybe little bit more style now and tracks and it also pushed me to get more fresh material all the time. I don’t like playing the same old shit.
DEEPCOVER – How do you feel now working with Brandon? Has it had any effect on you as a DJ?
Charlie – In a way, it does and it doesn’t. It’s cool because it’s another mind, another perspective. In the same way it is with the other DJ’s in Nite Visions.
Brandon – There’s a different style in the way we mix, but its fun to hear the others and collaborate.
Brandon – The fun thing about working with Charlie is we have the same taste in music.
Charlie – We have the same raw gritty sound.
Brandon – We catch ourselves getting the same ideas writing stuff and that’s fun. That usually doesn’t happen often. And we get excited about shit on what we make too. Sometimes, even that’s refreshing, like just being giddy about something and showing people your stuff.
Charlie – It’s more like getting excited about making a really good track and thinking to myself,” I’m getting pussy with this track tonight” j/k but not really, can you edit that out ha-ha.
DEEPCOVER – Nope. Hah. So what was the first party you Dj’ed at?
Charlie – It was probably a house party in Vegas.
DEEPCOVER – Were you using itch?
Charlie – No actually, I was using CDjs. The most memorable party was when there were at least 500 kids going crazy at this house and there was the tall drunk guy with gauges swinging on the chandelier. It was pretty dope.
DEEPCOVER – How often are you guys producing? Is it like everyday now?
Charlie – Yeah it has been. We are always jamming out fucking shit up.
Brandon – It has been lately. We’ve started on like 3 different songs in the past 2 days?
DEEPCOVER – When do you think the EP will be done?
Brandon – Soon, it’s our main priority right now.
Charlie – Yes, very soon, we pushing to get it done by the 30th of January.
DEEPCOVER – What do you think your EP is going to sound like? Artist wise?
Charlie – We want it to sound more like tech-house shit, disco stuff into raunchy un-thought of beats and maybe throw in some dub step sounds into electronic rhythms.
Brandon – That’s the whole point, we want it to have a lot of different sounds.
DEEPCOVER – Would you say the EP’s a refresher to the music industry?
Charlie – Out here in Vegas, definitely.
Brandon – On an international perspective, it’s exactly what’s going on what is currently out there now.
In Vegas, it’s nothing like anything here, there’s nothing that sounds like this.
Charlie – Even out in LA it’s not even comparable.
DEEPCOVER – Sounds good, well that’s it and we can’t wait to hear this at the next Nite Visions.
Charlie and Brandon – Lates.