Based in NYC, Demien Sixx is well known for his electrifying live performances, and his unmatched ability to fuse dubstep, electro house, and trap genres. His new five-track EP ‘The Eyes Of Tomorrow‘ is supercharged with that same intensity and showmanship he brings to the stage, making it a really enthralling and immersive listen. DMCWORLD grabs a world exclusive with the main man…
You blend several genres into your new EP, is there anywhere in particular that you draw inspiration from?
Riddim definitely gives me the best inspiration, particularly from my experiences on how it sounds when it’s absolutely loud – such as in a live venue. This is the right type of energy I seek and in combination with my vocals is the right production for super hype energy feels.
Your tracks on The Eyes Of Tomorrow have a nearly cinematic quality, using distorted vocals and (at times) and almost sci-fi feeling. When did you begin experimenting with adding these unique elements into your productions?
This type of production has always been in my scope, since the days of Zombie Infection (#techhouse) – however the outcome has never been this great. Several discussions with OWSLA veteran DJ Zardonic have allowed me to become much more focused and deliver the songs cleanly in this format. As for the vocals, the distortion was totally Zardonic’s work. I wasn’t originally planning for it, as I liked the clean vocal outcome of Maximum Overdrive; but when I listened to the final product I was enthralled with this style as it brings it two steps forward into a totally unique music style.
What’s the key to writing a commanding track?
I believe my work is self-inspiring…. once I start working on a song and it clicks, it’s almost like the song starts building itself and I am the instrument. Does this sound too much like being possessed? haha
What track on The Eyes Of Tomorrow was your favorite to produce? Why?
I really had a lot of fun writing ‘Universe’ because I wanted to nail down the Riddim style for over a year or so. When I started putting the vocals in, that was a rush in itself… the intro vocals in particular are something that I’m not sure I’d ever heard on any other song before. Lastly, Zardonic was able to take the vocals further by adding a more cinematic feel into them – and that made the whole production a very satisfying endeavor.
Zardonic provides a fascinating remix of your single “Astral Vampire” on your new EP, how did that remix come to be? What is your relationship like with Zardonic?
This one is interesting because this song was something I had produced about 3-4 years ago, then last year during the COVID crisis I rediscovered it along with my other unfinished works. There was no way I could still make it into a powerful drop. So I passed the song to Creator (Germany) for a collaboration that ultimately became the original ‘Astral Vampire’. However, Creator almost took out the whole melody out during his work… but I still managed to keep a small 16th section of the song with the original melody. Zardonic became obsessed with that part of the melody and interestingly enough he made the whole remix based on just that melody and even came out with the powerful drop that is also the same melody that I couldn’t figure out how to make into a powerful drop. Mindblown!
Regarding my relationship with Zardonic… I think it was key that at one point in the last few years Zardonic lived in NJ and we did a show together. That was the first time we met and we both had a similar stage persona. I think for this reason we clicked and we remained in contact even as he lives in Italy now. We plan to continue working together as he really brings a lot to the table when working on my songs in post-production.
You dropped your first extended release back in 2012, what have you learned about production since then? How has all that experience impacted your writing process on your new EP?
The hardest lesson for me was being able to DJ my own music. For me, I was not satisfied with this initial work much because I really enjoyed doing live shows and my music was not initially in that type of format. Hence, it wasn’t until I had been DJing electro house and dubstep for a few years that I wasn’t able to really produce music up to the standard that I was DJing. I’m not going to say my initial music was bad, but was not fitting the standard I was seeking… the high energy and the live delivery.
You’re known for your electric live performances, do you produce your songs with live shows in mind?
Yes, I keep this in mind and as I stated in my previous answer. The measures of the song, timing of the drop, etc… all has to fit that format. With the new addition of vocals it makes it a bit of a challenge to mix into my traditional sets, most of which are instrumental… but my experience with Open Sets is going to come in handy for mixing in all these new songs with heavy vocals included.
You perform in a very memorable and eye-catching outfit, what inspired it?
The main inspiration for my outfit is the post-apocalyptic and horror-scifi themes in my songs. Around the time I was doing my first live-shows I was also producing the song Thunderdome – and so I picked to develop an outfit to match the MadMax theme… and I’ve kept that style throughout now with some minor modifications from time to time.
What is the club scene like in New York City? How has it impacted your career?
The club scene in NYC is so focused on tech house and household DJ names that it has really opened the underground rave scene for my music. There are many people who don’t follow those mainstreams, particularly as NYC has so many people living in it – so it makes it a lot easier for me to find the perfect audience and people who appreciate my music.
What’s in store for Demien Sixx moving forward?
Coming off hot from the successful production of “The Eyes of Tomorrow” I can tell you that I feel renewed as a producer. There are already a good line up of collaborations that will proper another EP for the end of this year. There are two new Zombie songs in production already and one already sounding like Metallica meets Jauz… However in the meantime you can expect some instrumental releases and remixes.