It wouldn’t be a proper Music Ninja Residency without a lengthy chat with our featured artist. As you’re already aware, we brought in the Sultan Of Summer to help us kick off the best season of the year and before the most iconic summer holiday, we’re offering up a little insight into the man behind Viceroy.
TMN: Hey Austen – thanks for taking some time to sit down with us today. How’s the start of your summer going so far?
Viceroy: So far, so good! San Francisco has not your normal summer weather. I don’t know if you’re too familiar with how our weather patterns work. We have an Indian summer that’s September and October, and our coldest part of the year is actually regular summer. But, it’s been unbelievable, so far. It’s made it hard to want to do any work.
TMN: We’re really excited to have you as our Resident Artist this month. We looked back, and we’ve been covering you for the past four years. Is it hard to believe that you’ve been at it for that long?
Viceory: Yeah – it’s dawned on me that I’ve been at it for that long. The landscape has changed so much since I started. It’s a little more of a rat race than it ever used to be, but it’s still exciting and fun.
TMN: Let’s go back a little bit further than when you started getting blog coverage. How did the “Viceroy” sound come to be? Can you shed some light on your musical history?
Viceroy: I played instruments when I was growing up, and everything like that – guitar, bass, and that kind of stuff. In 2009 I studied abroad in Rome, and that was before electronic music took off on a mainstream level in the United States.
I was drunk the second week of school and at some sort of club or lounge with my friends, and I told one of the DJs, “I want a job here!” I was completely wasted. I went and talked to the manager and he gave me a job on Tuesday nights bringing in Americans. I wake up the next night and was like, “oh my god, I’ve never DJ’d or promoted before. What the hell am I doing?”
