We had a chance to chat with the dynamic duo of Epikker, Suniel and Henry, and we asked them about the origins of their creative partnership come to life. Suniel, with his diverse musical journey from rock and metal to classical composition and electronic production, met Henry Strange through an Ableton Live workshop, leading to the birth of Epikker.
Our discussion delves into the deeply personal inspiration behind their tracks “VibeKing” and “VibeQueen (Rising High),” showcasing the emotional depth and unique blend of genres that define their music. Suniel also shares the profound impact of a traumatic experience on his music and the healing power it offered. With their music sitting at the crossroads of epic and fun, Epikker reveals their vision to touch on a range of emotions and connect with their audience through their compositions. As they hint at an upcoming EP and more collaborations with Luminiah, the future holds exciting possibilities for this innovative duo.
Hey guys, welcome to CelebMix! Can you introduce yourselves and tell us a bit about your background and how you came together to form Epikker?
Suniel: Hi! Im Suniel Fox- one half of Epikker. I started in music early playing guitar for rock and metal bands. I went to school for classical composition and eventually got into electronic music production.. and that’s how I met Henry Strange. He was teaching Ableton Live workshops. As a touring professional, he was a key player in rewriting the playbook on Music Playback, specifically using Ableton Live for Playback. I played Henry some of my own music one day, and on that day we wrote our first track. I had never done dance music before… it was quite the crash course in music production :)
Henry: I’m Henry Strange of Epikker. I’m a music producer and Music Technologist. In Epikker and even film/TV compositions I’ve worked on I’ve always been the beats, drums, and sound design guy because I’m nerdy and love synthesizers and music gear in general. This love led me to become heavily into the tech. I’ve worked on tour as a DJ, and also a Music Programmer. I’ve worked on tours for well-known artists such as Kanye, Lady Gaga, Drake, Lil Wayne, A$AP Rocky, Dead and Company, and more. These experiences have led me to develop software and hardware under my brand Strange Electronic. We’ve made apps like Setlist and Lyrics which have changed the industry of music live performance. Suniel and I met and found that our skill sets were quite compatible and that collectively we make a whole different style of emotional yet energetic music that neither one of us would make independently. Then Epikker was born.
“VibeKing” and “VibeQueen (Rising High)” have a unique and deeply personal story behind them. Could you share more about the inspiration and creative process behind these tracks?
Suniel: Well, I always loved the Blues, and once I got into electronic music I had always wanted to combine these two genres. I just really messed around with chords and sounds until something emerged that sounded like a direction I loved.
Suniel, you mentioned your encounter with gun violence as a turning point in your life. How did this traumatic experience influence your journey into the world of music, and how did it lead to the creation of “VibeKing”?
Suniel: The world of music was my ONLY outlet for expressing how I felt. After that event, I really kind of shut down emotionally. I got myself help of course, in all different modalities but talking about what happened didn’t make me feel any sort of better. All it seemed to do was perpetuate victimhood. Composing music however was healing, and it allowed me to move the stuck emotions through my body. VibeKing resulted from one of these compositions, but a very special one because it encapsulated all the emotions I felt surrounding that home invasion – Love, Grief, Joy, Sadness, Despair, and Hope. It was VibeKing that made me realize that (for me) there was no such thing as a happy or sad song… but only songs that encapsulate the human experience. When I hear a “Sad” song I usually also hear Joy too because I don’t believe you can have one without the other. If you listen to the band Sigur Ros (one of my favorite artists) you will know what I’m talking about. Since they’re not singing in English, you have no idea what they’re saying… so you’re left with raw emotion untainted by lyrical meaning, which allows the listener to interpret the music how they feel it in their body. Maybe for some, it is depressing, or for others joyful. Neither is right or wrong
Could you elaborate on the role of blues legend Muddy Waters in shaping the melody of “VibeKing” and the emotional depth it represents?
Suniel: Muddy Waters was one of many I was listening to at that time, but I’ve always been in awe of how simple and emotional his playing was. I’ve always had an affinity for artists that persevered despite great struggle, I guess because I needed to know that it was possible for me too. I noticed that I was increasingly drawn to the Minor I to Minor IV chord progression and that’s where VibeKing was born out of. I played some voicings of that progression into midi in Ableton Live and I let the sequencer play the chords back on the Virus synthesizer while I tweaked the sound, and that became the intro to VibeKing. Once I had the vibe right, the melody just came to me instantly. Funny how music works like that.. one building block always leads to another.
Tell us about the legal battle surrounding “VibeKing” and how it eventually led to the collaboration with Luminiah. How did this collaboration impact your music and artistic direction?
Suniel: The legal battle was painful as you might expect! But it could’ve been much worse… our lawyer Chris Gazarian made the entire experience so much less stressful and palatable. I think the thing that hasn’t gotten much press is exactly how the song reached The Weeknd. One of our best buds (or now former best buds) Eric White came to us and asked us if we had anything Abel would like, cuz he said they were in the studio and looking for new tracks. As you might imagine, we were psyched at this opportunity, so even though I wanted to release VibeKing as my song (featuring a singer) this seemed like a great path to expanding into more songwriting and production work. Well, we know how that turned out.. really painful. The worst part was losing a great friend over it, BUT the silver lining is I made an even better friend in the process…
Luminiah is the daughter of one of my good friends Shawna and I have been hearing her music since she was 15 years old. Every year Shawna would play me new songs she was working on and I couldn’t help taking an interest because I would hear significant progress, growing and maturing with each song. I played VibeKing for Shawna one night and she said something to the effect of “You need Lumi on this song Suni”
I still hadn’t met Lumi in person, but VibeKing was wrapped up in a lawsuit and I loved Shawna’s enthusiasm about the whole idea so I agreed. I flew Lumi down to LA for a couple of days and to my surprise VibeQueen was born in a day. I had never written a song that quickly with anyone before, and it had me asking “Is this a fluke?” Well, on a second trip down we wrote another piece in a day, this time both the music and lyrics.. and in one f**n day. I was mystified again! And so this process has now been repeated a few more times now and we have 11 songs in the pipeline.
I think Lumi and I are still dreaming up this collaboration but I love working with her, and she’s family so it’s a no-brainer.
Henry: The legal battle was rough. Lost a close friend because of it. Lumi was the angel who came in and showed us that completion of this epic journey was possible!
Can you share your experience working with Luminiah on this project?
Suniel: It has been the easiest and most fulfilling collab to date. Not only was she open to my ideas, but she heard things I didn’t. I love learning from other artists.. still can’t believe she’s 21 years old. I think we’re going to see amazing things from her in the future.
“VibeKing” and “VibeQueen (Rising High)” are described as songs of resilience and rebirth. Could you discuss the themes and emotions you aimed to convey through these tracks?
Suniel: I can’t speak for Luminiah, but musically speaking yes Resilience and Rebirth do hit the nail on the head. I needed to rediscover myself through a very heavy period in my life and writing VibeKing helped me to do that. Lumi interpreted these themes intuitively and wrote VibeQueen lyrics with little to no input from me and surprisingly the lyrics reflect very similar themes
“VibeKing” is characterized by its atmospheric basslines and synthesizer elements, while “VibeQueen (Rising High)” showcases Luminiah’s powerful vocals. Can you walk us through the musical elements that make these songs stand out?
Suniel: The major elements that stand out are the guitar melody, the huge reverbed clap and drum beat, the 6/8 meter, and Luminiah’s voice.
The guitar melody only uses 4 notes, but the amount of space it gives you while saying so much was something I was proud of.
The signature drums were all Henry Strange. I had programmed some organic-sounding drums to reflect more of a Blues sound, but when Henry heard the song he heard it very differently than I did. The huge reverb clap did so much for the overall vibe of the song, it brought the song into more of an atmospheric and epic soundscape
I wrote the intro of the song in 6/8 without specifically trying to write in 6/8.. it kind of just happened from listening to all that Blues music and it brought out that guitar melody in a magical way. Writing in different meters other than 4/4 helps me sometimes to envision a song differently.
Once Luminiah came in and started singing, her R&B-esque sound gave the song its unique sonic palette. It kind of became this Epic Electronic Blues R&B song which was something I did not envision at all, but instantly LOVED.
Your press release highlights the unique blend of genres and musical backgrounds that define Epikker’s sound. Can you share your vision for your music and how you aim to connect with your audience through your compositions?
Suniel: Well we like to say that Epikker’s music sits on the edge of Epic and Fun, so like I was saying before about writing songs that speak to the human experience. We like to make deep songs that are also super fun. To be clear VibeKing / VibeQueen is an outlier here and it was never intended to be an Epikker release but in light of the lawsuit seemed like the only path forward for the two songs.
Henry: We like to think that our music touches ALL emotions and with vigor. Dark yet Uplifting, Emotional but Fun, Deep yet energetic.
Last but not least, what are your plans for Epikker? Are there any upcoming projects or collaborations you can tease for your fans?
Suniel: We have an Epikker EP in the works and many songs in the pipeline with Luminiah, but other than that we are opening up to more production and songwriting work with other artists and record labels. We do love collaboration and we look forward to what the future holds!
Henry: You can count on Lumi to be on more of our tracks!
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