WilSun Drops Sick New DnB Track With Grim Slickers on Rolled Up Records

T- Can you tell me a little about your project and what you’ve got going on as an artist?

WilSun – I mainly produce Drum and Bass music. I’m based in Atlanta GA, I started producing music originally in 2011, it was more of a hobby for a long time. I never really pursued putting myself out there to build up the brand or play shows until a couple years ago. My artist name is WilSun, and I thought it would be really fun to take my name and make it into a pun and people have really liked it. Really, what I’m doing is just being out here, being myself and being genuine and trying to have fun with it.

T – What got you into producing EDM of all genres?

WilSun – I started out learning how to DJ like with turntableism and stuff from a coworker while working at Guitar Center and then started learning how to make my own beats to play and scratch. I got into electronic music after that when Skrillex and Deadmau5 started blowing up. I taught myself from YouTube so I could do more. Music has always interested me but electronic music was really interesting because being in a band was a lot more complicated in terms of getting people together so it just felt like a good fit and something I could do on my own.

T – What continues to motivate you to push your music and to be a more accomplished artist?

WilSun – What motivates me is i just enjoy it. I like making weird sounds and experimenting. Even if people didn’t listen to my music I would still make it just because I love it so much.

T – What kind of feelings do you want your listeners to feel when they hear your music?

WilSun – I want them to feel a few things. I think if you’re listening to the music I make and play, you’ll feel energetic and maybe get a hit of serotonin. I think my music really appeals to people who are on a long drive, it can help make people’s journey more interesting like if you were, you know, driving through Kansas or something. I just want people to feel good when they hear my music.

T – So you have a release coming out January 31, can you tell us more about it?

WilSun – Yeah so it’s a Drum and Bass track that I worked on with a pretty established Grime artist from the UK called Grim Sickers. He discovered me on Instagram and reached out to me and was like ‘I think your stuff is great.’ He sent me some ideas over and booked some studio time, he sent over some vocals and I just got to work on it. I’ve played it a few times at some shows and people just love it, it gets everyone so hype, they just go off to it. It’s a really fun track with a crazy bassline. It’s really special because we didn’t use any vocal samples from Splice, it’s all original.

T – What are some things that you try to do to make yourself stand out and sound unique in a producer culture where there’s just so much copy / paste with song formats and design?

WilSun – A lot of Drum and Bass has the same types of sounds and the same 2-step beat. What I try to do is take one motif inside the song and change it up a bit. I like to take an idea and make it evolve over the course of the song. I always think, what can I do to make this part of the song sound new. I use a lot of sounds that I capture on my phone like a drill or a saw running and put them into my songs. I try to find ways to get really creative with it.

T – What are you hoping to achieve with this next release?

WilSun – Well you know there’s this guy who isn’t from America who wants to work with someone from the states which doesn’t happen a whole lot in the underground. I think that this can show people that something like this can be done even with smaller artists.

T – What kind of advice would you give to new producers and musicians who might be inspired by your music and want to get started?

WilSun – Don’t expect this to be an overnight thing. You should start by learning the fundamentals you know, and once you get those down start branching out and learn more. You should expect to spend at least 10 years to get to a point where you’re pretty good and know what you’re doing. It just takes a lot of time learning and practicing.

T – Can you walk us through the creative process of how you made this track?

WilSun – Before I sent the project file over to Grim Sickers, I had already laid out at least half of the idea from my end and I was like ‘Hey here’s something that I’m working on.’ Really on the creative process side I just wanted like really fat drums and good basslines and for the track to really just have some grit them you know. I wanted to have sections with some different drum patterns. So there’s a 16 bar measure that’s a half-time drum beat and then it goes into the full drum and bass thing. I wanted something for when I’m performing and I’ve got the 2-step beat going and then it breaks and goes into the half time section and then you’re like whoa that was crazy. When i sent the track over, Grim Sickers was blown away by the production and just laid down some sick verses on it. I took some parts of his vocals and pitched them down and added some textures to his vocals. I wanted it to be a big but minimal track.