"Ephixa"
"Ephixa"
Creation. Innovation. Entertainment. These have been James's driving goals since he began producing under the alias of Ephixa. Since then, he has rocked the electronic music industry with his wide appeal and infectious sound. In the spring of 2007, this Canadian metal-head was introduced to an aggressive style of electronic music called hardstyle. He fell in love, and shortly after began experimenting with producing this style of music. A couple months later, Ephixa was born.
All stories have a beginning though, and this one is definitely no exception. Ephixa was born and raised in Cambridge, Ontario. Music was as much a part of his life as it was any other young kid growing up, listening to your favorite rock bands (Iron Maiden and Tool in Ephixa’s case) and experimenting with your first instruments. Ephixa first picked up an instrument at age 10 when he told his mom that he wanted to learn how to play the keyboard. Meandering his way through high school, Ephixa quickly developed a taste for loud, heavy, and rhythmic music. He learned to play guitar and played in metal bands with his friends throughout grade school.
It wasn’t until spring of 2007 that Ephixa was introduced to the first dose of electronic music that truly resonated with him: a fast-paced, heavy-hitting genre called hardstyle.
Ephixa began to ponder actually creating the music he loved. The discovery of hardstyle had opened a whole new world of music to him. Hardcore, trance, house, chill out, it was all good, and he wanted to be a part of the electronic music scene. A few months after discovering electronic music, Ephixa downloaded FL Studio and began producing music.
In April of 2008, Ephixa released his first song called ‘Path’ on the website Newgrounds. The song was his first attempt at hardstyle. From there, he began experimenting and honing the unique sound he is known for today. In September 2008, Ephixa joined YouTube and began uploading music there. Since then, the online video portal has been the primary catalyst in his rise from aspiring producer to growing force on the electronic music scene. He was soon frequently releasing hardstyle songs, including his hardstyle remix of the Legend of Zelda classic ‘Song of Storms’, which would go on to be the inspiration for his very popular dubstep remix of the same song.
Ephixa reached the first breakthrough in his YouTube career when he produced a trance remix of the hit Britney Spears song ‘3’. His remix of that song was the first song of his to reach 100,000 views on YouTube, and it served as a hefty expansion of his (until then) slowly growing fan base.
Ephixa’s first album release was a free 41 song collection of all the music he had released through October 2009. With the release of all those songs, he decided to shift the focus of his music producing from quantity to quality. It was during this time that he released such songs as ‘Bad Apple’, ‘Chipskream’, ‘Above the Lawl’, and his dubstep remix of Song of Storms.
In March of 2011, Ephixa’s music career took a quantum leap when he released a hastily produced dubstep remix of the psychotic ramblings of American television actor Charlie Sheen. The song quickly went viral, accruing over 2 million views in four days. The song served as a major catalyst to Ephixa’s career; the resulting fallout of its popularity invigorated his approach to producing music and affirmed his resolve to make a career out of music production.
Since then, Ephixa has redoubled his efforts and is now preparing to release his first real EP. He has begun to collaborate with other YouTube personalities and electronic music producers on various projects. With new releases and opportunities on the horizon and countless lessons learned in the rearview mirror, Ephixa will continue to drive down the road of success until every ounce of creative thought in his mind has been consumed.