Vypus
By: Lori Smerilson Carson
Florida, as we music connoisseurs know, is home to many talented musicians. Four of them known as Vypus just won Pass the Mic Music Face Off and are now making their mark starting in South Florida.
Vypus, comprised of Lead Vocalist/Rhythm Guitarist Adian Popelca, Lead Guitarist Jose Nunez, Bassist John Curl, and Drummer/Backup Singer Josiah Jimenez, have two singles “The Ghoul” and “Batman” which fans can catch on YouTube, but they have plans to make more music and play some Florida gigs.
Having the opportunity to chat with three of the members, they revealed some details about the band, Vypus music, and what fans can look forward to.
SFL Music Magazine: How did the band come together?
Josiah Jimenez: I was in an old band with the lead guitarist, Jose Nunez. That band fell apart, but me and Jose were still kind of like together, and then I said, Jose, do you want to practice at my house? He was like, “yeah, I guess” because we didn’t have a lot of stuff to do. Then Jose told me like halfway through us practicing, “alright, Adian’s on his way.” I don’t know who this kid is. I don’t know who he is. I’m like, what do you mean Adian’s on his way? “Yeah, my friend said he’s pretty good at guitar and he wants to jam out with us. He has work in an hour though.” I’m like, ok Jose. So, he gets here and I’m thinking, I’m just going to go through this, but then he starts shredding on the guitar like out of nowhere. Speak of the devil (Jose joins the call). He was shredding on the guitar. I’m like whoa! This guy can really play! Then he asked me to play a blast beat. I’m like, oh God. This guy can really play. You don’t understand. It went from playing punk rock beats to playing heavy metal beats so quick. I had to learn a whole bunch of stuff in a month, but I would have to say, it’s one of the best things that has happened to me so far, like in life. Then in college, because me, Jose, Adian’s doing trade school. We met this kid named John because at the time, we were having problems with our old bassist, but John was like, “oh I play bass.” I’m like, you want to replace our bassist? He’s like “sure.” And that’s how the band formed together.
SFL Music Magazine: You won Pass the Mic Music Face Off. What enticed you guys to enter that competition?
Adian Popelca: I think it was Josiah. He runs our Instagram and keeps sending me either different battle of the bands posters or show flyers of bands that are usually from California or Wisconsin or whatever it is. But he sent me one, it was a battle of the bands based in Miami. It was Hard Rock. Just like applying for colleges, you just got to apply to all of them if you get in or not. So, I put up an application. I submitted the video and didn’t think much of it until I think, two weeks later, I got an email from Steve (Lane) saying we got it. I already told the guys. That’s how fast I told them. I don’t think two seconds went by. I already told everyone on the band group chat that we got in and the excitement was really strong.
SFL Music Magazine: Besides this interview, what else did you win?
Jose Nunez: From this competition we got the award such as studio hours, bookings, music video, podcast and magazine. So, that’s to name a few. I personally think it helps us to get more out there. I thank the Lord for these opportunities that came to us, and we’re just excited to see what the future holds. Like what is the future of Vypus looking like? It’s honestly looking pretty good!
SFL Music Magazine: I listened to your songs “The Ghoul” and “Batman” and you have that tight, hard rock, heavy metal sound. What influences your music when you write?
Nunez: All of the band in general, we all have different types of interest in heavy metal, like the subgenres. Like for example, when I met Adian, he was very into the work of Chuck Schuldiner of Death. Josiah likes thrash, like Metallica and those guys. John is definitely much of a grunge guy, but also a doom metal guy that brings the heaviness to the band. Personally, for me it was always like, I’ve been into 80’s hairbands, thrash, but recently now I’ve been getting into a lot of power metal. So, with all those elements combined, it was like, this is a new sound, and we just don’t know what to call it. It’s that impressive!
SFL Music Magazine: What would you say is the band’ s goal?
Popelca: To see how far we can take our musical proficiency. The music scene in general in South Florida is very metal core, art core, grime core, death core, all the cores. So, it’s weird being kind of the same, but booking agents saying we can’t play because we’re not heavy enough. So, at that point, we just want to see whatever we like to play, we’re going to play. If people enjoy what we like to play, then that’s ultimately the goal. Helping them feel better through music, which I think is the universal language, and having a part in that it’s pretty cool! And for a hobby it’s definitely a passion project in this era with streaming and stuff, but honestly, it’s just playing out, writing. Writing is a lot of fun especially when everyone’s in the room together. It’s really when we write something that you can see in everyone the excitement and then ideas just come flying out from a cool part. I guess you can really just summarize it. You could say, it’s really all passion and all the work is just from our love of the craft.
SFL Music Magazine: Is there anything you would recommend to a band just starting to get together?
Jimenez: Don’t hate each other. No. If you actually think about it, when Adian kept telling me to do these certain things, I really just wanted to shut him down. I’m like, I don’t really do all that. But you’ve got to try it first before you shut it down, and if I didn’t, I’d probably be somewhere else, and they would probably be out there. You know what I mean? Like I give Adian things and Adian gives me things, and Jose gives us things, and John gives us things too, but he’s kind of eating food while he’s doing it. It’s hard to hear him while he has a Big Mac in his mouth, but the fact is, you can’t always have the idea like Dave Mustaine. Dave Mustaine claims everything is his like in a sense not 110%, but something like that.
SFL Music Magazine: So, you all write together?
Jimenez: Yeah.
SFL Music Magazine: What else can fans look forward to seeing from Vypus?
Nunez: Hopefully new music, as well as we’re going to work for releasing an album, and not just make music but make a whole musical experience. When they listen to the songs and songs feel connected in a way. Let’s say “Ghoul” starts and then goes to “Batman”, and you can kind of see there’s connection. Like a whole sequence like in a movie.
Jimenez: June and July we’re kind of on sabbatical, but then in August that’s where everything starts to build up again. That’s when stuff like more gigs, more recording, more stuff like that.
SFL Music Magazine: So, people can look for you guys playing out. Was there anything else you want to add for people to know about the band?
Popelca: I want to add on to the vison part of the band. I would hope that God willing, that we do kind of get out of the underground and start to make a little more traction. Not for the fame or anything, but it’s mostly for the resources that come along with that. I hope that whoever finds us interesting enough to listen to all our music once we start releasing more, is to see real growth with our songwriting and with the themes that we sing about, and all the topics that we want to dive into. I hope that there’s a lot of growth and a really strong path. Like an incline path, especially in times now. A lot of metal or anything aggressive genres in that sense, where everyone’s competing more extreme. More heavy, more this, lower the tuning of the guitars, faster drums and coarser vocals or whatever. Hopefully as a band we strive to be more, not to compete because this doesn’t feel like competition, but more musical rather than just being heavy all the time. That can get kind of old at some point. The aggression though is really fun and we’re not going to give that up anytime soon, but definitely being more musical and having a strong fear of complacency, I would say.
