In this interview spotlight, I chat with Lexxi Vonne about the music, the challenges, the technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
I am from London UK and I create electronic music that does not seem to fit into an exact category. All I know is I focus very much on the quality of the production so that no matter what comes out artistically people will not wonder what hit their ears.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
I have been led here from being a fairly successful DJ as Miss Velocity and wanting to create a new version of myself where I get to play my own creations.
My influences actually vary. There is a lot of cinematic, house and drum’n’bass flavour in what I make but I also love electric guitars so a bit of Rock has made me who I am. My motivation to keep going is because, as a full time DJ, I had to play everyone else’s music. In one night it would start with Bob Marley, move onto Abba and then DMX. Not in the same 10 minutes of course!
I spent hours and hours sifting through good and bad music and realised that it really is a matter of just doing what you love and what you believe people will listen to. I will never make 100% of the room happy and I guess neither will my music. As a DJ I can read a crowd and I hope that my music will push boundaries while playing on people’s tastes. I am ready!
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
This release is the first one but it has taken me many months to figure out what I was going to release first. I have 9 EPs ready to come out all with their own story and style. I cannot wait for you guys to hear them. This particular EP is probably my most pop focused one and it has a lot of strong collaborations, whereas, the next one will be just me and with pretty dark sounds in comparison.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this over saturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
I receive a lot of press releases for the magazine that I work for (Fab UK) and also a lot of DJ promo. I can honestly say the main challenge is getting heard by the people who may actually like my music because I do not have the financial backing others do nor will I get to people’s ears quicker. I do however have a great team that I have handpicked and hopefully the music talks for itself.
Has technology helped? Well in some ways yes but having to save artwork in 20 different formats is a little overkill haha. I am in it full time so I do not mind so much and I am ready to give my all so let’s see!
What was the last song you listened to?
Nothing Else Matters – Metallica
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
I love collecting vinyl but I only listen to MP3 or Wav. Not sure if I have CDs anymore as they just get damaged too easily. I own about 10,000 vinyls both 12 inch and 7 inch and that gives me pleasure, but organising them is a bit of a job in itself. MP3/Wav, however, is easy to access and play.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
I do not have a preference. What I do know is that places such as Spotify could do a lot better at paying its artists. Soundcloud looks promising at the moment and band camp is pretty good for this but again let us see.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
I would say to stay in touch with what I am doing my Facebook page would be the best: https://www.facebook.com/Lexxivonneofficial
To keep up to date with what my label is doing then: https://www.facebook.com/Ritualsalvationmusic
I am very excited to show you what will be next and I hope you enjoy taking the journey with me. Soon I will update the above pages with my soundcloud and the rest of the streaming world such as Spotify etc.
Anything else before we sign off?
Yes I hope you guys enjoy the artwork as I did most of it, therefore, have decided to release my music as singles to attach cool visuals to them. I am looking into minting NFTs for all of the artwork that comes out through the Ritual Salvation Label. If anyone is into Crypto this might be a fun thing to get involved in and will be on a limited basis.
