Interview: Blxxd & FVRY - 11th November 2018

Interview: Blxxd & FVRY - 11th November 2018

As time beats it ever moving path forward, it has become harder and harder to pigeonhole musicians into definable genres. Music has evolved, and with this evolution comes new and exciting sounds. Two such musicians responsible for these fresh vibrations are Blxxd and FVRY, who shun the idea that the sound they make should be grouped with anything other than the word “pretty.” Two of the more exciting and unique artists on the local scene and the latest addition to artist collective ZOOL Records, I sat down for a chat with them and discussed everything from their hometown, their ever-changing sound and surprising their fans:

I want to start with something basic, so what would you actually describe yourself as: 

Syeva Bondarenko (Blxxd): So Blxxd is a… solo production project I guess. It's as DIY as I can get it, I write everything myself, produce and record everything myself, mix it as well. Recently, with the live shows coming up, I've started bringing in a live band. I’ve got a live bassist and a live keyboardist. Music wise… its a mixture of genres I suppose. There’s ambient guitar, almost like post-rockish stuff mixed with lo-fi hip-hop. Imagine if Tyco was mixed with some lo-fi hip-hop or even some Joji stuff

Aidan Sheppard (FVRY): FVRY for me has been my music making passion for the past several years now. Officially I started about two years ago with the release of a remix of JC Stewarts Parachute and from there, I was working in the studio he was working out of (Zero Hour) and I started working more and more on stuff. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been playing with Logic, I was playing around with the school’s multi-tracking computer (laughs) against the rules of course. Eventually, I just got to the point where I was getting jobs, people wanted to work with me, and so I also started to work on my own solo project which was FVRY. It's just the stories and music that I want to make. I then started to develop my own sound from that, and it kind of defies any genre. It can defiantly fall into the category of electronic or something, but I just want to make pretty music, music that I want to make.

How did you two actually meet?

S: We lived in the same town, up in Coleraine.

A: We really bonded over this one period where back in 2016 the rest of our friendship group went off to university and during that year off we got more in contact with each other because we were the only ones left. Over time, we started to make music together and a friendship/co-production relationship was born.

S: Blxxd wasn’t really even a thing at this time. I was making music, I had a lot of different electronic stuff going on, I had a lot of inspirations but no definitive sound.

A: I remember back when you were showing me all those different demos, I was always like ‘dude, get this out, this is good stuff.’

So you were more aware of each other as friends before musicians?

S: Well I knew (Aidan) made music but we weren’t friends because of the music, it was more just like the music happened to be there.

A: The music came naturally out of that because one of us always had a computer open and we were always tinkering like “Oh you should try this effect.” That eventually got to us producing together we wrote (single featuring Belfast singer Rebekah Fitch) Normal Things together.

S: Even then, at the time we weren’t officially a thing.

A: I think it was around the time you released the Sapphire projects (a number of artists that were produced by the duo), that was the first time that you became Blxxd, that's what you were credited as.

So youse obviously have some individual success, why team up?

S: It’s natural.

A: It works.

S: We both make music separately and we were already friends so it just (made sense).

A: We like working together and playing off each other's strengths. I know for a fact that Syev is way more musically talented than I am (at this point, S buried himself in his pint to avoid the compliment) and the fact that I am able to sue that to help and put out better music is great. Another thing we get from teaming up and doing a separate side project is we get to release music that we wouldn’t get to release under our solo aliases.

S: We both established an, in general, poppy sound I suppose. That's the sound of the first official Blxxd and FVRY release, that remix. It was something neither of our fan bases would expect from either of us, especially given the EP’s we have put out.

A: (Laughs) It’s very glittery.

S: We just come out with this remix that's got guitars and full on metal vibes.

A: Heavy 808’s.

S: Russian screaming.

A: Good times. 

On that note, talk to me about the juice you’re making together a little bit

A: There’s defiantly music. Right now we’ve got a couple of concepts and unfinished audio files -

S: We’re kind of going with the flow, we’ve never sat down and said ‘let's write a song,’ it’ll be more like one of us is working we-early and the other person will come in.

A: - Yeah, exactly. So far we’ve released two songs as a duo: Normal Things which is like glittery but also more hard, and then we’ve had like the remix. We're working on, right now, another track that's a bit more melodic.

What was is it about this music that you were drawn to and wanted to make more of?

S: With the Blxxd stuff anyway, it was lighter and more ambient. I’ve always been into that sort of music, stuff that sounds nice in your ears. I’ve also been into like heavier music as well, but I took more influences from the lighter side, more ambient, post-rock sounds. But on the remix that we did, that was more of my heavier influences.

A:  I grew up around rock and roll, my parents were in a band, really got into pop-punk when I was a kid. When I got older, about 2011 I believe, Tron Legacy came out and, weirdly, that was my introduction to Daft Punk. I got super into their discography after that. From there, it evolved into hip-hop and it kept building up and up until I produced what I produced, and was happy with it.

What about your influences?

S: My main influences would be Tyco, he has a similar word flow (to me), and he had a bunch of different beats and guitars and synths. I'm trying to do something similar with Blxxd, especially the next few releases, I might write with the guys who are my live band. As for other influences, on the hip-hoppy side, it would be a lot of oriental samples. There are a few trap influences in there as well, they’re like the main genres for me.

A: For me, definitely the rock writing in American Idiot, that album defined me as a child and probably shaped the way I write music. Following that up, I was really influenced by Daft Punk and, weirdly, Owl City. Ocean Eyes still slaps. Later in life, I got into this artist called Porter Robinson who really defines me in a modern sense. I saw his live show in 2016, and it changed the way I wanted to do mien. I quit DJ’ing completely and got into drum pads and live synths and making my show actually live. Also, the way that he designed music really inspired me, just in maxing something pretty and beautiful, while not worrying about the genre. Production influences, I mean obviously there’s Kanye West, Run The Jewels.

What do you think makes you different from other acts out there?

S: I consider myself pretty open-minded to different types of music, that reflects in my guitar writing. Instead of writing a riff to sound like this metal band I would write something for this indie band mixed with this pop band. That translates into me writing electronic music. For instance, I am tone deaf when it comes to singing, so I would focus a lot more on instrumentals. I like adding layers and contracting something, I don’t want just a loop of the same thing.

A: What makes me different as an artist, off the bat, what we are doing in Northern Ireland right now, the music we are making, no one else is making that right now. No one wants to invest in this kind of sound. We’ve been working at it for a while and were committed to the sound. The other side is that no one out there is as invested as being eclectic as we are, investing in the different kind of sounds were trying to create. The combination of these big loud synths and real guitar and percussion sounds, that’s something that no one else around here is really doing. We are trying to make music that's more avant-garde and give it to a more mainstream audience.

S: Everything is very DIY.

What is it that drives you?

A: I want to make pretty music, the music I make is an expression of some of the harder things I have experienced in life. I just want to make something pretty in this world.

S: I want to make something that's fun to listen to and fun to play.

Why bring this unique sound to Belfast as opposed to a Dublin or London?

S: I’d say, to an extent, it has been more difficult. I’m more from a band background, being from the north coast and the scene is pretty different. But I also think its one of those things were it’s as different as you make it, but it is a little difficult to find people like us that we could start doing shows with.

A: It’s kind of a yes and no, it's hard to get in with certain people. the scene here is ‘interesting’ in ways that the north coast isn’t. People usually don’t know how to bill us either, they will say ‘are you a band, a DJ, a singer-songwriter?’ and we are kind of all of those things and none of them. That makes it very hard for people to put us in a bracket, which they need. On the other side of things, we’ve seen a lot of support. Big shout out to Olga Kaye on Q Radio who has given us a lot of time, ZOOL Records who have taken us under their wing.

S: But I guess as well, we live here, we went to uni here. I don’t know if this would have happened if we had ended up in uni in London or Edinburgh. This is where we are.

A: Who knows, maybe down the line we will base more stuff out of Cork or London or somewhere. There's a stubbornness with me though, this is my home, I grew up here and I almost want to awaken that scene here, it’s something I want to give back.

S: Even when I was in a band, I always wanted to move to Belfast.

What are you looking forward to this year?

S: I haven’t had, at the time of recording this interview anyway (laughs), had a single gig yet. I have one (Voodoo, 21st November. It was very good) coming up, and two more lined up after that. One in Menagerie and one in Portrush. Both of those are going to be me with the live band and backing tracks.

A: I have a few tracks backed up which I’m looking forward to releasing. I've started putting my own voice on some tracks, which gives them a more personal feel. As well as that, I’m really looking to evolve my live show more, more synths, bigger interactions with the crowd.