Interview with crimson//chaos. – the future of London underground

— Good evening. So now I'll list several facts about you and you need to say is it true or false:
1. Your name is Sonny,
2. You're 18,
3. You're from London.

— Yep, all true.

— You're in 6 month younger than me, I'm 19, but I all the more don't have such tough voice like you have. It's really powerful, tell me did you exercise it? Maybe vocal lessons and stuff?

— So I had guitar lessons since 7 years old and stopped at 15. With my vocals I'm completely self taught.

— That's sick, I saw your first release called "Black September" was dropped in 2016 when you were 14 or something, thus you had started doing music really young. How did you decide to introduce vocals into your art? Was it something that set you to?

— So under various names I've done electronic music since 11 years old. I don't know if it still exists online, but I had a song called "Rest Easy". It started as a witch house track, but I felt it lacked something so I put my vocals on it and it sounded kinda sick. But even before that in different bands and shit I'd sing then.

— I've found this song, it's on your Bandcamp. I thought it was a remix actually because I didn't recognize your voice. Why did you abandon Bandcamp? I think it's good music platform.

— So Bandcamp, to cut a long story short – I'm not someone that really cares about my marketing or anything, but I feel like Bandcamp isn't really used for artists in the scene I'm in. On top of that, the idea of directly taking people's money for my work didn't sit well with me. I feel like streaming for the consumer is a more pleasant experience.

— What's meaning of your nickname? How did you come by it?

— Completely random, man. After I wrote the first crimson//chaos. song and was going to drop it I was just thinking for a while for a cool name and came up with crimson//chaos. I lowkey hate the name though, but it's too late to change.

— Simpler than I imagined. So you were a member of VampCult. How did you get there? Tell why did it break up?

— So after sleepisformortals (now silverwitch9) did the Vice documentary I hit her up, just giving respect for the music. Then we talked alot and she invited me to join. We made "Sensation" and one unreleased song. Then I made another unfinished song with one of the members. The breakup was fine, we all just didn't want to be closed into one sound, as we all had really different styles.

— Interesting, I saw that documentary, it was pretty hard for me to find it. Is there a chance that that unreleased song will see the light one day?

— I really doubt it, I think it still exists on my hard drive.

— I saw your VK page, how did you know about this social media? I don't think it's popular in your country.

— Just noticed my Russian following had been growing so I thought I'd join VK.

— What's your inspiration? Which artists or places, maybe is there something special? I cannot compare you to anyone because you have such a unique sound.

— Firstly thank you that's so kind of you to say. So mostly it's a mixture of IDM and various goth and metal music. Main 3 influences are probably Autechre, The Body, and Joy Division. On top of that my friends really inspire me. Big shout out to 222ily, Nosgov and goofy. They all inspire me.

— What do you do in your spare time? Are there any hobbies of yours? Saw you're good in graphics and video editing. Also name your favorite movie, book and game?

— OK so mostly I'm a very busy guy, I mostly just find new music in my spare time. I play abit of video games, but not really. I'm out of the house most days out with friends. Favorite movie is probably "The Lighthouse". I don't really read books like that, but I've been reading some Anton Chekhov recently, I really fuck with that. And like I only really play League of Legends haha.

— OK, one of your music videos was shot in Japan, how did you get there? Share your impressions.

— Long story short so like my mum sews dolls clothes (the "User Disconnected" cover art is some of her work) it's a big collector thing in Asia so we fly out and she sells her stuff and it basically evens out to free holiday. So we get to travel around basically for free, it's dope.

— Nice. Tell me something about your side-project "the fool", as I know you have a tattoo with the fool on your shoulder. What does it mean to you?

— Oh so the tat is actually a jester. But I'm planning on getting a fool tat soon. So "the fool" is basically my throwaway account for songs I don't want to properly release. It's also a way for me to leak songs that I won't drop haha. But like the fool in terms of tarot cards is the idea of ignorance is bliss which is definitely something I relate to. And since very young I've always related to the concept of a fool in that sense.

— I think many people have concepts that became related in childhood and it's reflected in their future. Are there in the web the videos of your live perfomance except your Instagram? Would be interesting to see. If I'm not mistaken your concerts with Emo Yardii are called "Emo Nites".

— Yeah, man, shout out Lil Emo, he really put me on. I'd met him first summer 2018 I think at a gig and we talked for abit. Then I think through VampCult he found out about my music. Then for the first Emo Nite he just hit me up and got me to play and I loved it so much, then he threw a bunch more Emo Nites and I'd play them. I've made alot of rly close friends through Emo Nite, I'm very grateful. And sadly no, I don't tend to upload my live vids.

— Got you, hope you'll have many more unforgettable shows in the future. Are there somebody you want to do a feature with except those you've already done with? Maybe Sematary, his new tape is fire.

— I mean like people hit me up and shit to do songs – but I only like to keep it inner circle, I only work with my friends. That's why in recent times, the only people I've done songs with is juju, Nosgov, 222ily and Darcy Baylis. Sematary is fire man – really nice guy too. It's always just a case of me meeting new people I bond with and wanting to make songs with them.

— Wow I just found out that you have song with juju. He credited you on description so I didn't notice it before. Tell please do you have any schedule or plans about your releases? Are you preparing something new or it's just a volition of your inspiration?

— So I'm definitely in a weird place musically. I was on this SoundCloud dance shit quite early. Like "cc00" was written in 2018
and it was like a really sick new sound. But I feel like the sounds been overdone now with all this hyperpop bullshit, so I'mma either take that sound further, or I'm gonna start something new. 2 groups I've been listening to a lot recently "Natural Snow Buildings" and "The Body", both have kinda been inspiring me to try some new shit. Some really dark folk music or some shit – I don't know, but I'mma definitely be taking big steps in my sound moving on. I've got a couple of dubstep tracks waiting to be dropped, probably gonna release them in the next month or so.

— I fuck with "cc00", for real, maybe it's even my favorite album of this year, I don't know. Anyway big thanks to you for answearing and letting me make contact with you so easily. I wish you creative successes and harmony with all you love.

— No thank you, man. Really appreaciate you doing this <3