Hello hivians,
hello music lovers!
this is our weekly interview post. We want to sharpen your senses for HIVE musicians, that´s why we made it our goal to interview a new musician every week.
There are a tremendous amount of very talented musicians on our HIVE Blockchain. Too many of them are going unnoticed. We at HMVF and Blocktunes are here to change that. Our interview series will let you get a look behind the curtain of some of these artists. Their music, their process, and their goals. Let us come together to support the music of HIVE.
Of course these posts will also have the purpose of collecting funds for HMVF, to be able to create as many music videos for these awesome artists as possible. 🎵
We wish you lots of fun with the interviews and consider supporting these awesome artists please!
This week´s musician is Shani Ace (@shani-ace)
As a developing musician you must be open to whatever musical styles connect with you. Do not lock yourself in one specific box. The most creative artists mix and match what they like and establish a whole new style of their own. Our new friend Shani Ace hits all this in stride. His electro-nu-metal-bass sound is truly fresh.
🎤 Enjoy the interview here!
First off, how did the artist name Shani Ace come about?
Well when I first started rapping around the year 2000, my artist name was still MC_AD.
About a year later, my best friend started calling me Shani (which he took from my last name), which people started to copy from him with different pronunciations. Some people even called me Chainy or Chain.
At the same time, I was also in a band, and our drummer and bass player both independently started calling me ‘A’ and ‘Z’ (taken from my first name). Eventually they merged that into ‘Ace’.
Since I always found MC_AD to be quite generic, I was looking for a better artist name, and decided to just put the two nicknames I got together.
By 2004, I was going by Shani Ace and that remained my artist name ever since.
How would you describe your sound?
People have described it as eclectic, so I guess I’ll go with that.
I have a very diverse music taste, so unsurprisingly my own output mirrors that.
I always wanted to make the kind of music that I’m listening to, because first and foremost, I make music for myself. I often have earworms of song ideas and I need to transform them into actual songs to satisfy that earworm.
And of course a diverse music taste also leads to a lot of crossover between genres.
When I was younger I only recorded & produced Rap/Rapbeats, while in our band - where I was one of the vocalists - I was mostly singing Rock (and sometimes Reggae) songs.
Later on I veered off into producing more electronic music, especially Dubstep & Dnb.
These days the most common sound I produce is probably Electronic Rock, and sometimes that turns into Nu Metal. Sometimes instrumental, sometimes I rap and/or sing on them too.
Plus some Dnb here and there, and generally the various kinds of Bass music (Dub, Dubstep, Dnb, Trap) add some special flavour to my electronic songs as well.
Which artists have had the greatest influence on you?
Apart from my father, who probably had the biggest musical influence from my earliest childhood, I would say definitely Linkin Park and Mike Shinoda in particular. He pretty much does the things I do (rap, produce, sing, as well as mix Metal and Rap together).
More recently also Tim Henson from Polyphia and Misha Mansoor from Periphery.
But there were always lots of other artists. When it comes to Rap (keep in mind I started with German Rap), Samy Deluxe was certainly a huge influence, but also groups like Blumentopf.
Later on, lots of the Dubstep and Drum & Bass artists that I was listening to influenced me as well, for example.
What is your songwriting process? How does a song come together for Shani Ace?
Oh there is not just one process.
I’m making melodies and beats with my mouth pretty much all day, because they are playing in my mind all day.
Most of the time I end up hum-composing melodies or entire songs, so what I often do is send voice recordings to myself in Telegram, with a working title, descriptions of the instruments and their tone, or just generally what the instrument or song is supposed to sound like. Sometimes I also get inspired to add lyrics to them later.
Other times it starts with the lyrics, which usually happens spontaneously (I used to freestyle a lot when I was younger). So I write them down in Google Docs. Sometimes I write the whole song at once, sometimes only fragments and I finish it later. Sometimes I also have an immediate idea for the melody and instruments as well.
But song ideas can also spark spontaneously while playing the guitar or keyboard, especially while trying out new virtual instruments. I’ve always been a huge improviser.
No matter where or how the song idea started, I then catalogue them all on a Trello board, because otherwise it would be impossible to keep track of them. I always have way too many ideas. Just for perspective: my Trello board currently has 270 cards (or tickets).
Of course that’s impossible to implement, so I prioritise those that I want to work on. There are multiple lists with different statuses (Backlog, Prioritised, Paused, Open, In Progress, Done - plus some for albums I’m working on), just like the statuses you have in a software development project. I even groom (estimate) my tickets with Story Points so I know how much effort each song idea will take.
What do you hope that the listener takes away from your music?
Honestly, I have no clue. You never know what the listener will find in your music (or really, any kind of art). You might have had a certain feeling when making the song, or maybe it was even based on a particular life experience of yours.
Your listener might relate to that - especially if there are lyrics - but they might also identify something completely different in your music, something relating to their life experience.
Listening to music is a very subjective experience, so what I would hope is that the listener can form a connection to my music, that it may inspire them, make them feel seen and understood, give them hope, solace, relief or whatever other feeling they need.
It’s all about that connection and it’s a very personal one.
How do you think being a part of the Hive blockchain will help your music career?
Honestly I’m not so sure it will at this point. I haven’t seen any significant progress or revolution in that area. As an independent artist, it’s still very difficult to get heard, and it’s also very time-consuming. And years on, I don’t see how blockchain helps with that, whether it’s Hive or Audius or some other platform. You could call me disillusioned at this point.
Share a tip for other hard-working artists out there searching for success in the new music industry?
Follow your dream as early in your life as possible. Spending time and energy on your music career is much easier when you’re still young and don’t have any other responsibilities or bills to pay. I was so far advanced when I was young, I was regularly playing concerts in front of hundreds of people, I freestyle with people all over Germany a lot, I was very connected.
But after school I was unsure whether the music thing would work out - and I didn’t want to use my dad’s connections - so I studied first and slowly, music started taking the backseat.
So my advice would be to take the risk, bet 100% on your music career, not 20, not 50, all of you, and do it as early as possible. If it doesn’t work out, you can still do something else.
Also don’t doubt yourself, because let’s be honest, that’s what all artists do, artists tend to be sensitive people. But you shouldn’t doubt yourself, you’ve got a talent not everyone has, and the fact that you enjoy making music proves that you’re good enough. Just do it.
And use any and all resources that you can, don’t be ashamed to use other people’s help.
What does the future hold for Shani Ace?
Hopefully a lot! :D
Since moving to Canada I haven’t really worked much on music (that’s currently changing), there were too many other things to do and enjoy. But those same things inspired me a lot, so while I wasn’t producing any music, I was recording tons of great song ideas on Telegram.
And I can’t wait to work on those, I will collect them in one or - at this point, probably multiple - Toronto-based albums, the first one will probably go by the name GTA (Greater Toronto Area).
But first I have to finish an album that I had started back in Germany, I’ve already recorded some vocals for it and just want to get this mini album out of the way so I can work on my new ideas (and probably skip all the previous ideas that are still open even though there were lots of good ones too).
At same time, I’ve been also connecting with local artists in Toronto and have found some networking opportunities as well. There are some open mics and I’m planning to go and perform some of my songs there.
Since moving here I also wrote down over 30 comedy bits, so one day I’d like to go to the Bucket Show (open mic) at Comedybar and give that a try as well.
And then there’s also another project that I would like to start soon. It’s basically going back to my freestyle roots, I wanna do something I used to do back in the days which was inspired by Eminem actually. The basic idea is that people just throw words out that I will include in my freestyle, I used to have a lot of fun with that.
So I’m gonna do that on Twitch, where people can suggest words in the chat. :)
And if I find the time, I would also like to do music videos again, but those are very time-consuming.
If you want to know more about Shani Ace, follow and keep up with the process here on Hive
Support this awesome artist and help him continue making great music!
Links:
https://linktr.ee/shani_ace
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2fOFXY9X7RvFjcQWr0bpgc
https://soundcloud.com/shani_ace
https://www.youtube.com/@ShaniAce
Have a great weekend everyone and see you at the next interview!
Yours,
The HMVF Team
PS. We are searching for more artists to interview and promote through our channels. If you create original music (or know someone that does) get in touch and let’s set up an interview and learn more about you. We love music and want to see it grow on HIVE. Be a part of it! 🎵
Help us collecting funds for the very first Hive Music Video production, which will be a song of @ravenmus1c! 💜