Ray Volpe Eats Sleeps and Rages

Ray Volpe Eats Sleeps and Rages: DJ and producer Ray Volpe got his start in electronic music back in 2010.

“It’s been 13 years now, time flies, it’s so crazy to think about,” he says. “I was in 7th grade in North Carolina, just messing around making Call of Duty montage videos to the sounds of various electronic music. That’s how I found it and that’s how I fell in love with it. I was so enamored of the massive spectrum this overall umbrella of EDM really was. House music, dubstep, drum & bass, the list goes on with so many fusions and sub-genres. I was really into electro, electro house, and dubstep at first. Skrillex was a massive starting inspiration for me. I wanted to start making music like the songs I would use for those gaming edits, so I downloaded FL Studio and just gave it a shot. Honestly, I hated the user interface. It felt unnatural to me. I totally respect FL producers, and I think I could make it work now, but it just didn’t connect with me at that point. I quickly switched to Ableton, which I felt had a lot of parallels to the Adobe suite (video editing/graphic design programs I was using to make videos!) and it felt so perfect for me. It started getting serious for me in a few different ways over a few different points in time. At first, in 2013, I signed my first contract and put my first release on a label, that felt like the biggest thing in the world to me. I knew by that point I wanted to do this forever. The next year, Excision started playing out my music and supporting me. That was MASSIVE. He was the only EDM show I had ever attended just a year prior. I was a huge fan, and to gain recognition from him was something I never imagined to be possible as a kid making music in his childhood bedroom. That took my goals and passions and the level of everything up to another level. In 2015, 2016-2017, I signed with my old management team, and started playing shows regularly. That’s when things went “full time” (maybe not financially but definitely time wise). Those are the biggest points in time of the beginning pillar points of my career.”

Today, he describes his sound as a total fusion of a ton of different influences.

“If you go back 5-6 years, I think you’d still think the music sounds like ME but it’s evolved in ways for sure,” Volpe says. “I like to say I’m ‘commercial dubstep’ or ‘commercial bass’ or even just ‘digestible dubstep’ to be completely blunt (haha). I think my specific lane of the bass scene is very approachable to all listeners across the EDM spectrum. It’s not over the top heavy, or too soft, it keeps energy while also has a commercial feel that doesn’t feel ‘overly mainstream’ I guess for lack of a better term, though I don’t think mainstream is an issue by any means either, I love mainstream. I’ve noticed over the years having interesting clashes from my fanbase that want to see me a festivals, but instead of them saying ‘Oh he’s playing at the same time as Kompany” or another fellow bass act, I’m getting stuff like ‘he’s on at the same time as Audien, Timmy Trumpet, etc.’ Which is crazy to me, in a great way. It shows how diverse this community I’ve been able to build is. I love having a sound that’s very easy to listen to no matter what genre you usually vibe with. One of my favorite things about my project is that I think the sound is very much helping keep “brostep” or modern dubstep alive, a sound that’s been not as appreciated in the current climate of bass music. It’s hard to thrive when you’re pushing a certain niche of music so my approach has always been to fuse the thing I want with the current trends. It’s all about finding that middle ground for me, instead of just going full force into a specific sub-genre 100% where it locks you in. I use a lot of higher screechy sounds mixed with low vowel-y growls but also very crisp drums and high energy flows to keep things feeling bright. Aside from that, you’ll often hear me making melodic dubstep too. I try to not be pinned into one corner while ALSO understanding that everything needs to somewhat fit together, so you’ll rarely see me stray entirely out of left field and more like half steps or one full step in a new direction just to go right back again the next release. Making feels-y music comes a lot more natural to me with a lot less stress, but there’s a lot more gratification from making a heavy banger that can go off at the shows. I also have a massive love for the metalcore/post hardcore/rock scene. Whenever you hear me singing on a song, which I do somewhat often, the influence is easily the older scene kid music I used to listen to back in high school and middle school. I do have some more emo and metal influenced music coming too later on that I’m excited to share. Like I said, I’m a huge mix of tons of different influences and I think that’s the best way to be to create the best songs!”

Volpe says that he has a love/hate relationship with the electronic music scene.

“The bass side of things feels like it’s been lacking in some ways,” he says. “I can’t really put my finger on it. I think it’s natural, every few years things get stale and then someone swoops in and revitalizes it with a bunch of new life and fresh ideas. I think we’re just at that lower point now. I THRIVE when I’m inspired by a ton of great music to listen to by friends and inspirations etc. Lately, I’ve been missing that from bass music. On the other side of things though, melodic music and house music has been absolutely huge. The new Illenium album, Dabin’s last album. Both are incredible and inspire me a ton to make more melodic stuff with catchy toplines and emotionally driven melodies. House music is also just insane right now, whether we’re talking Mau P or Dom Dolla or go down into the bass house realm like Crankdat or Habstrakt. I don’t want to sound grumpy about my frustrations with bass music though, there’s so many amazing underground artists killing it and even headliners as well. Guys like Subtronics & SVDDEN DEATH are constantly pushing the envelope and then you have these kids like Emorfik or W IN K making crazy waves with these unique ideas. I’m also constantly struggling with pressure and anxiety to make music though lately, so who knows. This could just be me having my own internal crisis haha.”

His next release, “EAT SLEEP RAGE,” is out July 21.

“This actually goes all the way back to August 2022,” he says. “I’ve ran through so many small changes over the year, the very first one had this little zappy sound instead of the guitar when the drop comes in, and it never felt as impactful. It was such a pain for the longest time honestly haha but it was so worth it and creatively fulfilling to finally get it to where it is now. From the beginning, it was all centered around the huge vocal chant throughout. ‘EAT! SLEEP! RAGE!’ I think as cheesy as it sounds, everyone in the community can relate. We all thrive on going to these shows to have fun and headbang and escape from whatever reality we’re facing at home. While us DJs travel all the time for shows, so do the fans. I see so many recurring faces of people that follow us to every single festival we play. It’s amazing to form these connections with them from seeing them so often at meet and greets or meeting them at the rail etc. It’s like all they do is eat, sleep, and rage. No space for anything in between. I recorded the vocal at home here in LA and just felt the energy immediately. I think it’s perfectly paced to really be something people can yell and actually agree with what they’re saying. I remember the first time I actually got to play it out, Lost Lands. It was towards the end of my set and I spun out the last track. I got on the mic and told the crowd I wanted to try something. I had them repeat after me. ‘EAT. SLEEP. RAGE!’ – They said it back to me immediately. I had them do it again, in the pacing of the song. They did it back perfectly. A few more times, I slowly faded in the intro of the song and told them to keep it going. It led to them chanting the words as the song was being heard for the first time. A really cool moment was formed for a second. I tried this method a few more times, the ones that jump out at me the most were over Halloween weekend. I played Get Freaky in SLC and Supernatural in Denver. I recorded the fans chanting for those two shows, and if you listen closely, you’ll hear those crowds layered under me throughout the song. I thought it would be a really cool element to have the community themselves be part of the track. Stuff like that is special and I feel like it really brings us together to share the love for the one thing we love most, which is music.”

Looking ahead, Volpe has plenty planned for the second half of 2023.

“SO MUCH,” he says. “I can’t wait. ‘EAT SLEEP RAGE’ was the second and final single from my new upcoming EP VOLPETRON ASCENDS that’s coming out on Monstercat. It’s been a dream come true to work with them, I’ve looked up to that label since the very beginning of my career. The full EP which is five tracks will be coming out next month, I’m really really excited for everyone to hear it from start to finish. I think it’s a really cohesive body of work that sonically all meshes well and feels like a story when you listen through. We’re also gearing up to announce my next tour for the fall/winter that will span across USA, Canada, and Europe with headline shows and festival sets. That should be announcing incredibly soon by the time you’re reading this, if you’re here early! We have basically the next year planned for what we want to do musically and performance wise. It’s nerve-wracking to grow and have to do more stuff, like putting money into production and timecode for lights, lasers, visuals, etc but it’s SO worth it. Lots of anxiety lately, but a good kind of anxiety. It’s all just assurance that we’re on the right path and doing the right things! I can’t wait to show y’all the rest of VOLPETRON ASCENDS and I can’t wait to play it all year long! It’s going to be so fun!”

Ray Volpe Eats Sleeps and Rages: Ray Volpe’s “HAPPY SONG” is out now.

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