Looking to stay hot following the release of their critically acclaimed album, Legacy, last year, and their recent summer hit “Barcelona Nights,” Vicetone has added to their arsenal once again with the release of the moody new single, “Always Running.”
Vicetone shares, “This record feels like a refreshing mix of nostalgic and new Vicetone sounds, and we hope our fans will love it as much as we do.”
Always ones to keep listeners on their toes, the Dutch duo returns to Monstercat once again with another pop-tinged offering that serves as a nod to their lifestyle both as busy musicians on the road and as true fitness aficionados.
Being a label fan favorite for just about a decade now and keeping things consistent with a steady barrage of new music, we took the time to catch up with these two to discuss their new single, evolution as producers and more!
DJ Life Mag: How has the world of electronic music changed since you two first started back in 2012?
DJ Life Mag: How would you say your sound has evolved since then?
Vicetone: We’ve gotten more comfortable trying out new sounds and expanding our sound palette, and overall we have become better and more versatile music producers.
DJ Life Mag: What does your studio setup look like these days?
Vicetone: We work exclusively in the box with a set of fantastic plugins that we know in and out. We use Genelec 8351a and 8361a speakers, with the 7370a and 7360a dual subwoofers setup. We have a few keyboard and guitars too that we record as well.
DJ Life Mag: What’s your creative process in the studio?
Vicetone: It’s honestly different every time – part of the fun of making music is that there’s no set routine, not set of rules to follow – so it’s always changing. Usually we do tend to start with a melodic idea and work from there, but other times it starts with sound design and then evolves into a fully fledged song from there.
DJ Life Mag: When you have a tough week or hit a wall creatively, how do you get yourself back on track?
Vicetone: We don’t work at all! Sometimes we’ll have a week where we aren’t in the studio and only do things that we enjoy. When we then get in the studio after that, we feel all refreshed and usually very creative too. We think music shouldn’t be treated as a 9 to 5 job – sometimes we work all day until well into the night, sometimes we take a few days off to recharge our creative batteries. It’s never on a tight schedule, and that just tends to work for us.
DJ Life Mag: You’ve had viral success on TikTok in the past, how do you manage to separate that content from the rest of your path as an artist?
Vicetone: It’s obviously a really cool thing to see your song go viral on TikTok, but it’s not something we actively think about or have strong opinions on. We just focus on creating the music that we love and are proud of, and anything that happens to the song after we release it is out of our hands. We don’t mind it at all when our songs go viral organically, we think it’s awesome to see our songs resonating with people all over the world.
DJ Life Mag: What words of wisdom do you have for up-and-coming producers looking to make their presence felt but feel overwhelmed having to juggle all these platforms?
Vicetone: Focus on your music first, always. The number one thing that should set you apart from the rest is your music and how unique you sound. If you have to rely on other things to have your music heard, whether it’s popularity you might already have, humorous content in order to get your music out there, or other social media fluff, that will work for a while, but ultimately it’s your music that will give you long-term success and make you stand out. That’s how we see it, anyway. Music comes first, the rest is fluff that you will figure out as time goes on.
DJ Life Mag: Give us the scoop on your new single, “Always Running” and how it came together.
Vicetone: We got sent an acapella of “Always Running” and instantly fell in love with it. We had the arp ready for it right away and it all felt so right once we started mixing it all together. It’s one of those songs that tends to really grow on people as they listen to it more, and we love how catchy the melodies are and how they all work together.
DJ Life Mag: Monstercat has blossomed into a powerhouse label within electronic music and gaming; you two have been working with them for a decade now! How does it feel to continue to have releases on the imprint?
Vicetone: It’s cool to think that we have released on Monstercat for ten years now – it honestly sounds bizarre when you say it like that. I remember when we were brand new and they were the new cool label on the block, so it’s rewarding to see how we grew and the label grew as well. They’ve always treated us well, giving us a lot of creative freedom as well as being artist friendly in general.
DJ Life Mag: What else does Vicetone have in store for the remainder of 2022 and beyond?
Vicetone: A lot of new music next year, some of the best we feel we’ve released in a while. Stay tuned!
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