I met Lord Verm at the July 12th event at Tropicasa, @tropi.casa as mention in the flyer "2 super groups San Antonio, and the RGV come to together to take you on a sonic love trip of r&b, indie, and hip-hop." As the show was ending I learned that Verm was actually from the 956 along with Karena, @ksol2000 who is a valley native. I found this to be super interested as how people from different locations were able to come together and create this super group called The Romance Club, @theromanceclub, but this feature is about Vermin The Villain, @verminthevillian.
Verm goes on to share what he's been enjoying as of recently "I have been enjoying reading this poetry book I picked up called, 'Immortal Poems of the English Language' -- that, and watching old episodes of Columbo. And making music of course." For sure I'll have to check out that book due to always been on the look out for new reading material. He goes on to also mention some of his favorite locals "From Laredo, I have to shout out Ozotso (Diego Canales) (@ozotso), the homie pushing out dope works in illustration, painting, and ceramics.
In San Antonio, the homie, ARK (@ark.eq), is definitely pushing the boundaries of music with his beats. And of course I have to shout out the whole crew, The Romance Club (@theromanceclub) FATHERWASP, KARENA SOL, HELLCAT!, GEM, and TOMMY STARCHILD. In the RGV, I definitely have to shout out Tropicasa (@tropi.casa), a shop that keeps it real! They have always taken good care of me and my friends any time we come through -- shout out to Flacucho (@_flacucho), a real one!" Tropicasa has really been popping off along with the other venues/locations within the RGV having weekly events. From pop ups, markets, shows, and art exhibitions. It surely is growing!
As The Romance Club was playing I noticed Verm would switch from instrument to instrument and it made me wonder how long has he been working with music and his choices behind the multiple instruments "I've been creating my own music since late 2014. But I grew up doing marching band (drumline) since middle school -- which is where I credit my foundation in theory. Back then I wasn't creating my own music so it was different, but once I got the desire to create my own music after high school, I started to incorporate instruments I knew how to play in my beats. At first, that only included drum set and a bit of guitar, but as time went on I started learning how to play other instruments through experimentation that I thought would be dope to put into my music (piano, bass, and DJ scratching). Having an understanding for one instrument allowed me to pick up the others more quickly. The choice of learning these instruments was pretty much aimed towards helping my production. I often work with vinyl records and samples, which I'll flip into a beat, but sometimes if there isn't a sound that I'm hearing in my head in the sample, I'll just create it myself with the instruments + effects etc." That's very interesting to know as Verm mentions "having an understanding for one instrument allowed me to pick up others more quickly" as interesting as that is, its hard for me to understand as someone who doesn't play an instrument. Figuring out how to play one and moving on to another sounds difficult, but as he mentioned "my foundation in theory" is something that added a step into the knowledge of multiple instruments? In the end he certainly had a goal being "pretty much aimed towards helping my production."
There's something about Vermin The Villain such as the name Verm chose that goes along with his mask and music he creates that goes together very well. Thinking of the word "Vermin" I think of a plague like a rat something harmful to others with falls in line with a "Villain." He goes on to share on how the name came to be "'Vermin' was a nickname I picked up in my adolescence which actually came from a mispronunciation of my last name. My government last name, 'Fermín', was mispronounced as "fur-men" -- which became 'Vermin' -- which was shortened to 'Verm'. That's how my producer name came about, ;'LORD VERM'. The 'LORD' part of it has an interesting backstory to it actually, but I only share that in person." I did not expect that at all, but that's really neat. Not only does the name go well with the work he produces such as some of the verses from "Obliterate" and especially "END MY SHIT." As I use these 2 tracks as examples is it a coincidence that the type of music created and Verm presents himself are intentional? As he says "Back in the day in 2015 or so, I was actually going by LF Vermin -- the "L" and "F" being my initials. But eventually, I decided to change it to Vermin the Villain because I thought it rolled off the tongue a bit better. When creating, I just make shit I think is dope at the moment, and I suppose so far it has naturally fit the villainous aesthetic. Perhaps that won't always hold true... we'll see." We truly shall see.
As he mentions creating music from 2014 to now how has he changed or evolved with his work? "I remember when I was first making tracks the beats and the raps were a lot quicker. I had a heavy influence from break beats and music I was hearing in the bboying scene at the time. Back then, I was living in Pittsburgh, PA for school and was active in the bboying scene out there, so I was exposed to a lot of faster rhymes and beats and shit. I was making songs cramming in a lot of words into every verse. Now I've learned to appreciate space in a song, and found a balance between slow and fast that I think works for my music." I'm glad to hear Verm's growth as he learned and has learned to "appreciate space in a song." As time certainly goes on so does the way we work and there is nothing wrong with a little change.
With a backlog of years creating music is there anything Verm would like to experiment with? "I think it would be dope to create a song based off of the cover art, instead of making the cover art based off of the music. Also experimenting with modular synth sounds and just interesting/alternative sounds in general. I think making a track with a hardcore band would be tight, and like sampling some drumline sounds too would be nasty. I've been talking about making a song with a visual artist friend of mine with a process of 24 hours with no food or water while they work on a painting for the cover art just to see what would happen creating in a survival state. " Maybe creating a single and then creating the cover art for that as a stepping stone towards then fully creating a full album cover? Aside from that these ideas sound really good! Especially the "drumline sounds" as it reminds me of Verm sharing his roots back in middle school.
Is there anything we should keep an eye out? "I've got a ton of stuff in the vault, some collabs, beats and other fun stuff, just trying to finish up a few things that have been pending before releasing those. But I am currently working on a big project, '9 CIRCLES', to be released later this year. Other than that, finishing up The Romance Club mixtape that we've been working on. " I'll be keeping my eye on these releases for sure!
From the numerous amount of work created does he have a favorite track or a favorite verse he's created? "Of the tracks I have released, END MY SHIT holds a special place in my heart. The whole process was very interesting for me, and it was a song that got created in deep quarantine when a lot of folks were hitting rock bottom, myself included. It was also the first song I had put out after a two year hiatus, and I made it and dropped it immediately after I finished school in May of 2020. I got a tattoo of it on my leg too so it's a song that I definitely have love for and will look back to as a memory of that period in my life." Now this track is out there and just listening to it as he mentions "got created deep quarantine when a lot of folks were hitting rock bottom, including myself" just hearing that distorted instrumental sure does set the mood especially with " I haven't felt my soul in months If life's a joke then I'm the pun...Shit fell apart Living in the dark Tryna see the spark." Go check out the track "END MY SHIT."
How did Verm become part of The Romance Club? As he shares how it came to be "Tommy and HellCat! originally started it sometime in 2019 I believe. But the group as it is now wasn't formed until Summer of 2020 once quarantine had come in full swing. We were all already friends and Tommy, Karena, and myself were in another band which went on pause because of the pandemic, so we sort of naturally all just continued making music throughout the pandemic. We would basically all link up at my crib and chop up and hang out everyday, go running, and swimming and shit; it was tight. The songs we made during all of that became the majority of the songs we play now and yeah The Romance Club became the main focus. The chemistry is natural as we are all friends, even though sometimes we get into small disagreements. Things are good though and the club is tight!" Overall the performance on July 12th had amazing chemistry and I'm sure the crowd felt that too. I'll never forget as I got the signed poster on my wall. Looking forward to the future release!
With "9 CIRCLES" releasing later this year how would Verm like to grow with his work?
"I really do enjoy learning and applying things I've learned into my work. I enjoy pulling inspiration from many different disciplines and fields like the sciences, literature, nature, and art/film/video games etc. So I hope that I can continue to learn in life and grow as a person and artist ultimately. My work is just a reflection of myself, my thoughts, and my experiences. I hope to keep creating until I can't anymore." As we grow so does our work. From our experiences to what we witness. There's so much we can apply. Just go for it! As a creative even if you didn't like how it turned out at least you tried!
From Laredo to The Valley was were his thoughts on the local scene,
"People actually pull up and get down. It's tight. Honestly one of my favorite places to play."
As he shares one final comment,
"Keep an eye out for 9 CIRCLES"
https://linktr.ee/lordverm/
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