SerpentEyes is based out of Huntsville, AL, and has been producing since 2017 when he moved back home to the state after spending a couple years in California. His time with friends there helped shape his tastes for electronic and dance music. Starting with more aggressive tastes in Dubstep & Trap, but eventually moving into the UK 140 style of Dubstep and rekindling a love for Drum & Bass along with new passions such as Reggae/Dub and Breaks.

He recently released a free download track at Frozen Plates and recorded a production mix. Both available on the Frozen Plates soundcloud page. 

Hello SerpentEyes! Would you please briefly introduce yourself?

Hey everybody, my name is TJ AKA SerpentEyes I live in Huntsville, AL and love playing video games, making music, and having fun with my GF. I also Curate and Manage The Widdler's Community based Label The WiddFam as well as do Mastering and dabble in Digital Art.

Can you please tell us about your musical roots?

My musical journey really starts with an absolute hodge podge of ingredients. In my youth I enjoyed Gorillaz immensely, and I always loved to ask my Dad to play 80's Hits in the car. My Dad also introduced me to psy-trance, electronic, and French Disco through artists such as The Crystal Method, Daft Punk, and The Prodigy. As I entered my teenage years I started exploring Metal and its many subgenres, then finding out about an artist like Pendulum who collaborated with Metal band In Flames helped build the start of my electronic taste. I stepped away from electronic music for a moment in my teenage years, ironically put off to the wave of Skrillex style screeching American Dubstep.

I found myself then focusing on Hip Hop (Madlib, J Dilla, MF DOOM, Denzel Curry, Danny Brown, Flatbush Zombies, Pro Era, etc etc) for quite a few years where I found a huge love for Boom-Bap, Turntableism, and the heavy Sub lines of modern Hip Hop as well. When I turned 18 I moved to California from Alabama to live with my online gaming friends, from there I was introduced to even more Electronic music in the forms of Tearout American Dubstep, Trap, Space Bass, and the general rave scenes and the other longstanding electronic genres.

I have so many more influences in Dubstep now as well – but that is where I started to bridge and explore our genre. As I started my Dubstep journey I also began to dabble into Psychedelics and its styles of music, Flying Lotus is another huge inspiration for me.

Your dubstep sound is very characteristic. How would you describe it?
I think while though I may have many tunes with varying styles, my most consistent characteristic to my production is my approach to percussion and drumwork. I always want the tunes percussion and drums to translate subconsciously, your body starts to move without thought – and I think that concept is what drives dance music thematically. I also apply this approach now outside of my dance inspired tunes and into my ambient / experimental tracks.

When did you start doing music production?

I started producing about 7 years ago in Ableton learning in The Widdler's Twitch Stream

Can you lift the lid a little on your production methods? What tools do you use for making music?
Ableton, kontakt for my instruments, some samples for instruments, Phase Plant for my subs, synths, pads, etc. I'm a huge fan of Fabfilters Suite, Kilohearts Suite bundle, FreeClip, Using whatever analyzers you have as well.

When did you start djing?

About 8 Years ago

What has been your most significant experience as DJ?
I think for me rather than focusing on the one specific thing I've played or show I've done I just truly appreciate how I get to visit people I've never met before and yet talk to all the time online. Djing has also provided me with the ability to travel with my GF and make many lifelong memories.

When did you start listening to dubstep? What was the main thing that first got you into dubstep?

My roommate and good friend Knottybook showed me a key 3 artists that led me down my journey to Dubstep, and those were The Widdler, Bukez Finezt, and Truth.

You live in Huntsville, AL, USA. Can you please talk about the local dubstep scene/community?
My scene is somewhat strange, our cities night life is just barely a thing and not as much electronic focused constantly. There are a couple house promoters but unfortunately no SoundSystem crews. I would love to change that in the future. Fortunately for me there are some excellent crews in nearby cities!

Could you please recommend for us a few djs, producers, labels, and sound system crews from your city / region?

In Birmingham AL artists like VCTRE Samacca & CHARK.
In Tennessee artists like Makua, SKEYEview, Inside Voice, Chief Kaya, King Shotta.
In Georgia Nightshade Family, DJ Variant, Section 8.

From the European perspective the USA dubstep scene seems to be huge and growing rapidly. There are many festivals and small club nights all over the USA. What is going on there?

There is definitely a booming Festival scene in the USA, unfortunately for every somewhat good one there is one terribly managed and cancelled, so It's hard to say how healthy the scene truly is right now here. I feel like a lot of DIY promoters and production have been really dealt a terrible hand with how tight the economy is in the USA.

If a basshead, from among your fans worldwide, would go to Huntsville, which club nights, bars, festivals should they visit?
I would just tell them to go to Birmingham, ATL, or Nashville honestly.

How do you feel about the dubstep scene nowadays globally?

The Dubstep scene is more international now than ever, I've had the pleasure of working with artists from Serbia, Japan, New Zealand, and many more. I think the internet has dissolved borders when it comes to who can work with who in music. I think it's fucking amazing and it makes me appreciate living in a modern world with internet.

You are part of the The Widd Fam label. What is your part in the label?
I answer emails to curate tracks and anything else that needs to be coordinated. From there I will Engineer releases and make sure one of our in-house staff or someone commissioned makes some amazing art for the release.

My staff helps me manage the load by doing outreach to promoters, managing social media, creating video content for promotion, and hosting streams and making visuals.

Where did you release before FZP? 

I have released recently on LDH Records, Deep Dark and Dangerous, EMP, NOIZION, Sublimated Sounds, The Undergrowth, and more.

Do you have any forthcoming releases? What are your plans for the future?

I am currently working on a dark & heavy Dubstep/Bass EP with my staff member and good friend Sutehx forthcoming on EMP. Then from there I am wrapping up my Ambient LP set to release on my new Ambient/Dark/Experimental Label THE OCCULT

Please recommend five tunes and a dj mix that should be essential listening for every human being – the sort that would leave your life incomplete if you’d never heard them.
5 Tunes-
Freddie Gibbs & Madlib – Uno
Tame Impala – Cause I'm A Man
Gorillaz – El Manana
|M|O|O|N| - Hydrogen
Death Grips – Guillotine
Mix-
https://soundcloud.com/juanforteuk/leftlow-juan004-promo-mix

Thank you for taking time and answering the questions!
Thank you so much for having me! Was fun to think about them!

 
SerpentEyes
https://linktr.ee/SerpentEyes