One Tweet Later, Deadmau5 Finds A Collaborator

Deadmau5 was working on some music and livestreaming the process along with some tweeting. It's a track based on the Ray Bradbury story The Veldt. A total stranger, Chris James reaches out, says he's just recorded some vocals based on the short story; and suddenly Deadmau5 has a collaborator. It's a great example of an emerging artist hooking up with an established star by being prepared to seize the moment and make his own luck.

Deadmau5 was livestreaming his work session via his site's stream and holding conversations on Twitter @Deadmau5. With the public record from Twitter and people recording the video feed, the story of Chris James getting the Deadmau5 cosign has been reconstructed at PandoDaily.

Using the post on PandoDaily as a starting point, I pulled together some of the tale via tweets on Storify.

You can see Deadmau5 at work on YouTube and check out a rough mix of the track below with Chris James' vocals coming in around 2:40 (plus various Deadmau5 noises):

Deadmau5 ft. Chris James – The Veldt [Livestream Recording] 90% complete

Note that the submitted vocals were tied directly to the theme and recorded over the track that Deadmau5 was working on at the time. Plus, Chris James presented it in a non-annoying manner. If you check out Deadmau5's Twitter feed you can see he's pretty quick to attack and such artists can be delicate to approach. Maybe Chris James lucked out but it's luck born of preparation and applying one's ability to a brief window of opportunity.

As Deadmau5 tells it:

"so, the melodies done… and a vocal really was optional at that point, wasnt too concerned about it. However, the electronic music community needs more people like Chris James, who i actually just randomly stumbled on via twitter, pretty insane."

"he had posted a link claiming he did a vocal to the track ive uploaded on soundclud, ill be honest, i *do* check demos out from time to time… but not nearly as often as they come in… for whatever reason, i took a shot and checked it out… i was fucking nearly in tears. Not because i think he's the best singer in the world… but because HE FUCKING GOT IT. TOTALLY and COMPLETELY got it."

"i had previously stated on the demo that the song was loosely connected to the short story i read… the kid went and read the story, and did what i did. His verses are connected to me in that way, this track is pure. This is how inspiration is supposed to work. Even before hitting the play button on his soundcloud, i almost wanted to roll my eyes waiting for the first verse to have a mention about his last breakup, or this other bitch he thinks is hot, or how he was on his way to a club, or just how warm and fuzzy he felt about THA BEAT (or 'tha bass' for that mater)."

"fuck all that."

"he righteously did his homework, and came up with just a few bang on verses that completely compliment the story and the mood, which is all i ever want from a song that contained lyrical content. Can't give him props enough."

See, kids, social media stalking can pay off if you've got the goods and know how and when to deliver them!

Hypebot Features Writer Clyde Smith maintains his freelance writing hub at Flux Research and music industry resources at Music Biz Blogs. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.