From humble beginnings in a back yard shed to a plethora of worldwide
hit singles, Vicious Recordings has grown from a vinyl based underground
movement to one of Australia’s largest dance music labels with a distinct
global impact. Home to some of the most prevalent dance music artists
over the past two decades, Vicious is still running strong with their ‘21
Year of Vicious’ compilation out next month as a celebration of their
accomplishments and a testament to their continued relevance in the
international dance music community.
VICIOUS
Tracklist:
REMIXES
In
1993, Frankston DJs Andy Van, John Course
and Colin Daniels pooled together their
limited resources and started Vicious Vinyl.
“We wanted to put out dance music because that type
of music was happening worldwide except in Australia
and none of the major labels were doing it”, Andy
shares with DJ Mag Australia, “We thought, stuff it, let’s
just do it ourselves and we started to put together
some artists”.
As a brand new record label, Vicious’ initial artist roster,
including Ground Level and Carl Cox, was quite
phenomenal and was certainly a key factor in the
instigation of the heavy exposure Vicious was subject
to at the time of their first few releases. “I remember when
Andy and I went to the UK for the first time”, John
reminisces, “We were standing in a queue to buy bar
tickets at this underground party and ‘Dreams of Heaven’
by Ground Level came on and we were like, ‘This is our
song’. That was a long time ago and it seems like a small
step but when you first start and stuff like that happens,
your perceptions change over time.”
From unassuming vinyl origins, Vicious has managed to
captivate commercial and underground global markets
for 21 years with fresh, forward thinking music; music
that has evolved to contribute to the rapidly changing
scene and still remain highly credible. John attributes
the success of Vicious to their open mindedness and
willingness to adapt, “We’ve always had one foot on
the clubbing dance floor but we’ve never been scared
to put out records that are catchy.”
Throughout the history of Vicious, a number of
different imprints have emerged to accommodate for
the diversification and evolution of the records being
released. “We now have Vicious Bitch, Vicious and
Vicious Black”, John tells DJ Mag Australia, “They all
put out slightly different styles of music so that we can
keep a consistency across the sound for each
individual label.” Andy adds, “We’ve established the
imprints to connect with genres that aren’t specifically
the main genre because we like to support new
sounds that are cutting edge”.
This forward thinking nature has always been evident
with Vicious’ releases. “I will always remember when
we were doing electro stuff with Dirty South and
Vandalism back in 2004”, Andy recalls, “We did a
remix of a track called ‘The Creeps’ under Vandalism
and the label in the UK just did not like it, as it’s what
we called electro, and they said, ‘nope not for us’. They
just didn’t get the electro sound. We found out a few
months later that the remix was number one on DJ
Download and one of the biggest tracks of the year.”
Andy admits that,
048 djmag.com.au
“we’ve always been lucky, fortunate or
had great foresight to pick sounds that
are just around the corner and if it
doesn’t sell we don’t mind that. As long
as we like it and there are DJs that dig
what we do. That’s our main aim rather
than how many dollars we can make.
”
This progressive mantra Vicious subscribes to has led
to their continued success over the 21 years.
Melbourne house legend Sgt Slick and Perth drum
and bass outfit Pendulum earned Vicious their first two
dance music ARIA Awards in 1995 and 1996
respectively. In 2000 Andy Van’s project Madison
Avenue won the ARIA Award for Single of the Year with
their breakthrough track “Don’t Call Me Baby”. Andy
highlights the importance of this pivotal moment, “I
think that was a significant time for us to go, ‘This is
the first time a dance music song in a rock dominated
country has actually won record of the year’. That was
pretty special.”
Over the 21 years Vicious has been operating some
incredibly successful artists from been developed from
the ground up including Avicii, Dirty South and The
Potbelleez. “We’ve been incredibly fortunate to sign
some one of the biggest artists in the world before
anyone else did”, Andy elaborates, “Initial demos are
the first important thing. Can they produce? Can they
write a melody? A good song is a good song. It doesn’t
matter what genre, what era or what year. If it’s a good
track it’s going to stand the test of time”.
The way Vicious operates is a fresh of breath air. Trend
setting rather than trend following, Vicious has always
pushed and promoted unique artists in unique ways.
“Blogs were starting to happen at the time of Avicii’s
rise”, Andy tells DJ Mag Australia, “A lot of the labels
were trying to close down blogs because they were
listing illegal links of their songs. At Vicious we actually
embraced the blogs and talked to them and got them
to support our artists. DJs didn’t want to just