Where are you from? Who are you and what kind of music do you make?

Born and Raised in San Francisco, California. Artist’s name is Chvppy. And I make Emo Trap and Darkwave. 

That’s changed since the last time I talked to you. 

You actually have a genre answer. Yeah, I decided to go to one that I more fit into.

How did you go about that change? What happened? 

Well, honestly, I found it a little bit difficult to explain myself to other people that didn’t know what I sounded like musically. And I mean, it’s funny telling people that you’re genreless or genreful. I mean, most of the music that I end up sounding like is stuff kind of like little Tracy, Lil Peep with a little bit more rock influence, and then also kind of like Mr. Kitty and Pastel Ghost on that dark wave spectrum with some multi doma. So I kind of figured out the artists that I sounded reminiscent of, and I pretty much just picked what genres they were in, and I was like, ‘okay, I guess these are my genres now.’

I feel like I have often found that the music scene can be kind of limiting, especially in the way that you have to limit yourself to a niche to really build that community. So how do you kind of go about that like limitation? I don’t know. I try to look at it optimistically. I try to look at it as though it’s not necessarily a limitation, although I guess it kind of is.

I try to look at it moreso as just an expedited way to reach the group of people that are actually going to appreciate my music. Whereas had I been limitless, and I just called myself genreful, didn’t really pick a genre, then I had, it was more of a game of chance as to whether or not the right audience was going to find me.

But now that I actually have deciphered that I am darkwave and Emo Trap, that means I can try to hit those target audiences in a more direct manner, as opposed to just kind of throwing my music like out into the void, if you will, and then hoping that somebody’s going to appreciate it and pick up on it.

Now I actually have a direction, you know? 

Yeah, no, 100% that insight is like so fucking valuable to gain. But what inspired you to start making music, and who inspires you sonically?

Kind of funny inspiration to start making music. Well, initially I started playing trumpet when I was in fourth or fifth grade. I was young, but I started doing guitar when I was in the sixth grade.

And my parents were forcing me to go to lessons and I was fighting it for some reason. I really didn’t want to do it because none of my friends were doing it. And everyone was kind of doing sports. And although I was still playing sports, none of them didn’t really even think about playing music.

And eventually my parents showed me a video of, I think it was, ‘Song Remains the Same,’ it was Led Zeppelin. I forget what solo it was, but it was like this 10 minute long guitar solo that Jimmy Page did at Madison Square Garden on his double neck Gibson guitar. I saw that and I just totally geeked out and I was like, ‘oh my gosh, I love this.’ It was it was one of those like kind of like transformative moments where you don’t really get something and then you see something and then it clicks and for me that was kind of like that turn of point where I just started playing guitar like every single day and I Before it used to be barely getting me to go to a lesson once every week And then I started playing for hours each day without anyone telling me to do it. It was just like, I don’t know, something ignited in me. 

Sometimes it just comes in those magic moments. 

Yeah, and then you also asked who I guess sonically inspires me yeah, I Kind of going back to the thing where I draw from a lot of areas, but I’ve been able to dwindle it down a bit for some of the stuff I make that’s like more acoustic that I haven’t really released at all.

I have a lot of that stuff just kind of in my archives stashed away with files and everything. That’s like an Elliott Smith kind of like the shins if you will. That kind of singer-songwriter folksy melancholy vibe. But a lot of the stuff that I do put out is gonna be like I mentioned before like Multidoma, which is this really dope band from Belarus, Mr.Kitty, and Like a whole emo trap Lil Peep, Lil Tracy wave, all that good stuff. Yeah, it sounds pretty exciting. And What kind of inspires you to continue to make music now? Honestly, I tell myself that If I don’t do something with music in my lifetime, I haven’t done it correctly. 

So I kind of use that as just like a drive to continue to create whether I feel like it or not. And I don’t know, I’ve had moments where I really just don’t feel like writing music or playing music or anything and then I come up with one of my better songs that I’ve ever made yet.

So like it’s like, I don’t know, I just tell myself to do it. I saw a really good analogy from, I think Ed Sheeran said it, funny enough. He said that in order to get to the good songs, you have to, it’s like a rusty pipe, you have to keep running the water and a lot of gunk is gonna come out of the beginning, but then it’s gonna eventually start running clear. And yeah, pretty much listening to someone say it like that made a lot of sense to me and just kind of like keep on creating because obviously your first song isn’t going to be your best, but as time goes on, it’ll start getting better and better. And I guess the thought of me growing and creating better music over time with just continuous practice, that not knowing how good I can get, that whole not knowing kind of inspires me, kind of makes me want to see how good I can get, if you will.

100%. And what do you find to be kind of like the most difficult thing so far in terms of making music? 

The industry. Like making it in music, I guess is the way I took that question. But making music, like the creative process, I found, well, I’ll start with the creative process. It can be tricky because there’s always things going on outside of music. Like we all live our own lives, we all have our own things going on, whether it be in relationships, whether it be with family, whether it be with your own self and your own mental health, whatever it may be, like there’s always things going on.

So being able to get time to yourself to actually create something in a studio, it’s just, it’s not always an easy thing to do. Schedules don’t always line up with it. So I’ve definitely found that scheduling and like time management has oftentimes been a struggle.

And a while ago when I was recording a bunch of music like last summer, I was kind of doing a song a day for probably like two months. And I was starting to realize that my sleep schedule was so out of whack because I would get like a hit of inspiration at like midnight.

And I’d finish recording and like mixing my song at like 5am when the sun was coming up. And that whole like just unhealthy sleep schedule, it’s just like it takes a toll on people, but you also have to be like a certain level of crazy to actually succeed in the arts I feel like.

So I was willing to do it. Yeah, definitely time management. That’s probably the biggest struggle to actually creating on a consistent basis. And you know, having lived in the Bay before and kind of knowing what that scene is like, it’s so much smaller than LA, how has that kind of like affected you in terms of making your music?

Like what’s it really like being like a musician from the Bay? No, for sure. I mean we’ve talked about this before like other times that come down for shows. I like to chat with you about this, but it’s like that’s why I love going down to LA.

That’s why I like Sound of U Live. Like what they put on is like such a great like music collective and like… event space and just everything about it like it’s really great because you really don’t need a name to perform with sound of you live you just kind of have to be consistent and persistent and You just have to want to play and I feel like people at SOUL, they they see it when you want it, and they’ll give it the opportunity, which I really appreciate.

Growing up in a place like San Francisco, you said it yourself – the scene is so much smaller here.

It used to be a lot bigger. There used to be a pretty boom and underground scene here, but it’s just not the same anymore. So I feel like it’s definitely it’s maybe adapt to Creating more of an online presence as well as getting out of San Francisco and traveling down to LA like last summer I was coming down to LA quite a bit just to play with you guys and I was doing like different parts Podcasts and such I played at the Viper room On my own and yeah, I don’t know it’s just it’s inspired me to get out of the city for sure because I’ve come to realize it’s not really a place. I need to be for Creative side of me, you know.

What are your eventual goals in music? What will be that moment where you really feel like you’re either on the way to making it, and then that moment that you really made it?

I feel like you don’t know you made it until you actually did make it. So for me, I feel like, obviously, if I was looking at it from a financial perspective, once I can actually fully support myself full-time, just with music, that’s definitely making it not that area.

But as far as really making it in my eyes, I don’t know, I want to change people. I want to help people a lot with my music. And although it is a selfish thing to write songs because you’re doing it for yourself, I still do want my music to resonate with other people.

And I want people to actually get through shit with some of the songs I make. But yeah, just as long as I can support myself financially and change people while doing it, that’s what I think when I made it.

Yeah, 100% and like what do you kind of have in store? Like what are your plans to kind of make that happen? 

Keep grinding, keep making good music. I feel like as a musician, I feel as though you have a bit of an obligation to make music.

Like not everyone has the knack that other people do. And I’ve been gifted with the gift of music I guess. And yeah, I think I just have to keep on working hard, keep on brushing shoulders with the right people.

And just believe in myself 110% because nobody is going to believe in me unless I do. And I’ve come to realize that. 

You know, I saw your first performance at Sound of You U as well as like two more since then. What was it like performing and how has it kind of changed the way you want to make music? 

You know, I think at least the Sound of You Live, the shows I’ve been playing with you guys for like the Collabs with Sad Boys Club, like it’s funny.

I’ve had a designated four songs that I wanted to play like going into it. And every time I see other people perform, I end up switching my set list around a little bit and I’ll give the DJ different songs.

I’ll be like, okay, I tried to read the room and kind of get the vibe of the crowd and everything. But I just want to, for me as a performer, I want to grow in just, I want to grow in getting people out to the shows if that makes sense.

Like I want to have more heads at the performances so I can actually have a bigger community and like have a bigger event go on. But personally, I really enjoy the way I talk to the crowd and the way I hold myself on stage.

Hey, this is Fyeboy with Sound of U Live.

How do you get ready for a performance? 

Melissa Cross, YouTube for months. That’s the same vocal trainer that worked with Slipknot. So she helped me. She does traditional kind of like opera style warm-up techniques, but she does it for more alternative style singers. She has plenty of stuff on YouTube. She has a growing group. She does plenty of ad-libs. If you do vocals, you kind of know about it. 

So how long have you been seriously taking your vocals to the next level? Have you been practicing for a few years now?  

I actually haven’t really been practicing as much as I’ve been using kind of like what I got. ‘Cause like, when I was younger, I used to do a lot more rambunctious music, but now I just do some hip hop. I do some regular stuff these days. And so it’s interesting, but having the diaphragm that I have, kind of like, you know, the background, it’s me a lot of range. So I could pretty much sound like anything 

Talk to me about your music journey. Where did it start? 

I was the lead singer of a metal band for like four years. That was cool, and so that’s kind of where it kind of all started. Then, I ended up becoming an artist manager and working in the EDM space for a while. It was different, you know, jumping into that. And that’s kind of what prepared me for what I worked on today. 

You were managing EDM artists? 

Yeah, I managed the artists for like a year, year and a half. 

Do you still do some of that now? 

No, I mean I always provide consultation to anyone who needs, you know, any kind of suggestion. Anything that I’ve seen that can help anybody, I kind of Pass it along.

Yeah, that’s like a whole different genre, so it’s pretty cool to jump from that genre to be versatile enough to jump to your genre.

Right, I mean when you work in the EDM space, you get to use a lot of different styles of music in different ways and it tends to open up your mind a little bit as to how you can apply that same exact view to different genres kind of like at a macro, micro level.

As your style has evolved and your sound has changed, what’s been the most fulfilling part for you so far as an artist? 

Oh man, playing the Whiskey was pretty sick. You know, the System of A Down played the whiskey, the Doors played the Whiskey, and this is kind of like, I never imagined that I would play the Whiskey as a solo artist. And so it’s kind of like, crazy to think about, it’s probably the part that I think about the most because I thought that you had to do so much more to get there. I thought you needed a whole band or something like that, which is kind of knowing what’s the right time for a certain style. You know it takes a careful line between taste and practice.

What do you have coming out this year that we can look forward to? Any exciting visuals, projects, music?

Yeah, so I think we just broke a thousand streams on my new song that I dropped last night, so I’m gonna be putting up a canvas for that for everybody from tour. I went on tour with Beckiner in November of 2023. 

Shout out to Beckiner, who killed it for us last year. 

Beckiner’s the man dude. We had a really good time and we tested out a bunch of new music so I put out a lot of Jersey Club music. Well I put out a lot of Jersey Club music on tour like I wanted. Like the new fresh faces, and everybody reacted really well to it. So it looks like the first quarter of 2024 is going to be a lot of Jersey club style music and fun hip hop you know.

Are you from Jersey?

Yeah I’m from Jersey. I grew up in Jersey. 

What’s been the best part about growing up in Jersey?

Oh seeing everybody else catch up. So it’s like you know, there’s a lot of cities now, especially after COVID that are really developing, like Orlando, Houston. You know, we got places in Jersey that are kind of popping right now. Like the best part about being from Jersey and like now living in LA it’s kind of seeing a lot of the qualities that you know we have here in California being adapted by places like Jersey like we’ve legalized weed and stuff like that and so everything’s really calm now. I think it’s really chill. Great place to vacation. We have indoor skiing and snowboarding which we’re like the only place in the US that has it so it’s pretty cool. I like going back to Jersey for like the Jersey Shore, the beaches, the clothes. The vibes are totally different, you know. But it’s developing and it’s becoming even better and greater. So it’s nice. I enjoy being from there, but growing up in my career over here. 

Yeah, for sure. Is there anything that you want to plug coming out in 2024 that we haven’t spoken about?

No, I mean, other than the Jersey Club and stuff like that, we’ll definitely have a video that’s going to support the work. so we’re probably gonna see an EP and we’re gonna see some features.

Where can we find your socials?

I obey Fyeboy on Instagram. That’s I -O -B -E -Y -F -Y -E -B -O -I.

Do you have anything dropping soon? 

My band, Silos and myself have been working hard, and we’re really excited, just mixing it for EDM. We released a couple songs already, But the whole album is coming this year for sure. 

Whole album this year? How many songs are there, can we say? 

Yeah, there’s going to be 11 songs. Nice. I mean, it might still change. In other words, maybe we add another or take a full album. Yeah. It’s going to be like a full -on album. Because I think bands are coming back in a big way. Excited about a full record drop and wanting to come and see that band live.

How are they going to perform all these songs? 

The bands are coming back. Oh, they are. They are. They are coming back in a big way. Y’all been touring for the past 10 years. and it’s all in cycles, you know. And what I’ve seen is like the audiences want to connect to bands. As you know, some kid, he really wants to be a guitar player, another one wants to be a drummer, so they connect to different people in the band. But it’s like a solo artist environment that has been created, especially in Iraq. It just doesn’t connect. That’s why everybody just wants fans back. That’s why all the old school fans have told me. I’ve done all the festivals in the past few years. You always run into, you know, the Lipschitz, the Tahir, you know, the Deftos. It’s great. I love it. These old bands are really good. It’s great. 

As a drummer, you have a pretty… pretty legendary career. If I do say so myself, what bands have you toured with and musicians have you worked with? 

I’m actually from Germany, grew up in Spain and came here. I’ve been in a bunch of bands, projects, most normally like Billy Rick Cyrus actually. I was in the country realm for a while and then my good friend Tyler Rich, he’s really… For the past seven years I was with this project called Grandson. That’s when we really started touring the world. Yeah, it was great festivals, headlining tour, opening up like a tour. It’s like a massive drag. It’s a bring-up ride. Riots and I will be here in across Canada. Yeah, it’s been a wild ride, you know, being on the road for almost like 10 months out of the year. So long. But yeah, so that… or this new band? – Silo’s is an amazing band, killed it every single time. The music is insane. And, I mean, they have one of the best drummers to go with it, so there you go, that’s what happens. But you have a solid team there. 

Speaking of being an amazing drummer, who are some of your favorite drummers of all time? Give me a top three. 

Oh man, this is so… That is a hard question because, So talented. By growing up, I really looked up to Dave Grohl, my number one very first band. I was like 13, 14 and we played every single Nirvana song. And he’s just also respected for then transitioning to becoming a frontman. That’s so rare. Great drama. and two legendary bands and two legendary bands the guy is definitely great also I ended up studying a bunch of jazz and stuff so Tony Salago is not that one now but he’s a great jazz drummer drummer, that I had the privilege of studying in LA for a while, and then also Ralph Hamburg, Ralph Humphrey, who was with Frank Sapa for a while, and he’s also someone I was lucky enough to study with, he’s just all around, very, very experienced and amazing innovative drums. It’s our three rock bands a lot of times. Number one, yeah I was so so lucky to be able to work with Tom Moretto. and I’ve met him a few times and this is the first time. So Rage, I’m a one, and then what’s the metallic of this? Because they’re just like so consistent and so many decades. of just rocking and filling out festivals and stadiums. And I remember we did an aftershow, so coming out and playing there a couple minutes before Metallica, it was insane to be sharing the stage with this guy. coming, it’s amazing. 

Aside from drumming, you’ve had other experiences in music in terms of have you ever tried to be a solo artist? Have you ever tried production? Have you ever tried those types of things or hasn’t always been drumming? 

So definitely the main thing is drumming and touring as a drummer but I also tap into… It’s hard as a drummer, but I was like when I was a kid, my parents put me piano lessons. So I understand more than just boom, boom, kaka. And yeah, being a solo artist is hard. I have been tapping into doing a collaboration with some electronic music. music and live drums. Because again, being on the roads, even playing medium festivals, my old project, because we had some electronic influences. I can see even an EDM, you know, that few more live albums. So it gave me the idea of trying to start this project with drums and DJs, you know, but have to focus on the drums, like the performance of it, how it integrates. It’s a specific top medium, like the half time where it works well. So I’m working with a German artist called Polish Kid, which is very great. great. And yeah, the project is good. Oh, thank you for your time, I appreciate it. 

Where can we stream your music? 

Spotify, right now, Silos, we have quite a few songs out. What I’ve seen is like the audiences want to connect to bands. As you know, some kid, he really wants to be a guitar player, another one wants to be a drummer, so they connect to different people in the band. But it’s like a solo artist environment that has been created, especially in Iraq. It just doesn’t connect. That’s why everybody just wants fans back. That’s why all the old school fans have told me. I’ve done all the festivals in the past few years. You always run into, you know, the Lipschitz, the Tahir, you know, the Deftos. It’s great. I love it. These old bands are real good. It’s great.  thank you for your time, I appreciate it. Where can we stream your music? Spotify, right now, silos, we have quite a few songs out. Also, some remixes that are higher.

Is there anything else that we haven’t mentioned that you would like to plug? 

That’s about it, I may not really focus on this event right now. I’m going to do something this year, but yeah, go check out Saddle’s, dream it, come to shows, you’re going to push hard to see. Sound of you live, David Drummer from Silo’s, see you soon.