By day Vikki Martin-Smith is the Station Manager, Music & Programming Director at 105.7FM Radio Metro.
By night she’s a crime-fighting (maybe a slight exaggeration) deep tech, prog house wielding DJ/ producer known as VMS. Teaming with Solstay, VMS release her latest single, ‘New Beginnings’, earlier this month.
Your single ‘New Beginnings’; is that an ode to something that you are personally going through at the moment?
Our amazing vocalist Lara Mae wrote the lyrics for 'New Beginnings', but it definitely strikes a chord with me right now. I'm moving away from my electro/ big room persona of Queen Victoria and concentrating on my deep/ tech/ progressive alter ego, VMS.
What was it like to work with Solstay? And any future plans?
Working with Solstay [Chris] is awesome — we both have the same vision for our brand and the music we want to make. We have lots of tracks coming out over the next few months, including 'Chasin' on Flamingo Records (with Fedde Le Grand on remix duties), and 'Tunnel' on 405 Recordings. At the moment, Solstay and I are also working on an EP which has a slightly darker/ techy vibe.
The remix comp that you held for ‘New Beginnings’; how was it received?
I wanted to give our Radio Metro listeners the chance to get a foot in the door and be featured on such a prestigious label, showcasing some of our local talent. The response was absolutely overwhelming! A producer called Cizz won the competition with his Deadmau5 inspired remix, but we were so impressed by entries from Robina, Rife and Sonic Boom that we decided to include their versions on the single release too.
Who in the industry would you most like to collaborate with?
The list is endless and covers all genres of house that I’m into. Eric Prydz, Laidback Luke, Armin Van Buuren, Hardwell and Zedd are absolute geniuses in the studio, and I also dig the work of Tommy Trash, Dannic, Dyro, Hot Since 82, Mark Knight, Showtek, New World Sound, Ivan Gough, Jochen Miller, Carl Cox, Bontan, Coyu, Motez... so many producers I'd like to work with!
‘New Beginnings’ is available now.
