We were lucky to catch up with Alex Epps recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alex, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I started making music in 2008, fresh out of highschool at 18 years old. As my music was getting better, I wanted to pursue DJing as a means to perform the music live. Eventually I was able to make enough money to sustain a normal living. However, at a young age, I was not mentally prepared for the stress of what this means of living entailed.

Lots of traveling, lots of meeting people I did not know, lots of traveling alone as a young vulnerable kid. You really don’t know what you’re getting into sometimes when you are booked to go play a show somewhere you’ve never been, and have people you’ve never met being responsible for your transportation and lodging and also paying you. It can be very challenging mentally for someone who has not had a lot of experience. Also, in turn, your ability to get booked as an artist relies on you constantly having to put music out, so in a way, making music kind-of went from something I enjoyed to something I looked at as work, and that kinda took the fun out of it.

So in summary, yes sometimes having something stable to fall back on while I have my hobby of making music for fun or for stress relief sounds very nice.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I got into electronic music when I was 18. I had always enjoyed more instrumental music, as most all of my family is singers… So I felt that making more instrument/electronic music really helped give me more of an identity musically. I started with a very bare-bones laptop, which ran very poorly, and gradually upgraded my gear as I progressed with music.

Electronic music easily took over as my passion and I still think about it immediately when I wake up in the mornings, even 15 years later. I’m always thinking of new things to incorporate into my music or gain inspiration from.

Most of my inspiration ended up coming from video games such as Silent Hill, Midnight Club II, and fighting games like Street Fighter 3rd Strike. Originally I wanted to be in a band, but found that generally my obsession with constantly wanting to progress and work on music wasn’t necessarily shared by others around me. Being able to compose and create music on my own in the electronic medium worked perfectly for me specifically.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My goal driving my creative journey is always about staying true to myself and my sound. It’s so easy now to just copy what works, or what sells, but in my opinion, that isnt what true art is about. True art to me is expression and highlighting your individuality and ability to put things out into the world that cant be experienced anywhere else.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

When I built my audience in social media, this was in the early 2010’s. I never payed for a single ad, or a service to gain more fans. My fanbase is 100% organic, although the game has changed a lot in most recent years. I built most of my fans with aligning with PLAY ME Records and releasing music with them, alongside releasing DJ mixes and music on Soundcloud.

In the early 2010’s really it wasn’t necessarily about your “brand”, and moreso about the music you were putting out. Over the course of the last decade, that has really flip flopped.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://cyberoptics.bandcamp.com/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/cyberopticsdub
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CYB3ROPTICS
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CyberopticsYoutube
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/cyberopticsdub

Image Credits

Sean Mo, Nate Navarro, Oh DAGYO