Rising Stars: Meet James Edmunds of Denver

Today we’d like to introduce you to James Edmunds.

Hi James, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’m originally from San Jose, California! I went to college at the University of Denver and discovered electronic music and production the first month of school. One of my best friends from California, Jalen, had started making beats and DJing, and was kind enough to mentor me. I tried to apply a productive mindset to learning music production and fell in love with it, making remixes and songs with my friends. I released my first remix in college which ended up getting reposted by the Chainsmokers and other established names, which really gave me a boost in confidence and helped me realize I may have potential if I continue to work hard. I opened up for my first proper concert my senior year of college, opening up for Two Friends at the Gothic Theater in Denver. Since then, I have been fortunate to play numerous shows around Denver with artists that inspire me. I have continued to learn more about production and different styles of music, trying to refine my sound into what feels unique to me. I am still on this journey and have been tinkering with my sounds till I get it right! I feel that something great is on the horizon and I am excited to reach it.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has not been a smooth road forsure, some days there are opportunities that fall into my lap, and somedays the tide works against you. Personally I have really struggled with choosing to spend time on the music side or the business side of the project, which most artists probably do. Theres so many obstacles like label submissions, show marketing, ticket sales, creating release plans, managing social media. There’s so many things explicitly not related to the music that are still important which is something I’m trying to get better at.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have my own electronic music project called JAMESIK, which has been my brainchild since I started college. I really love creating music on my laptop and remixing my favorite songs. I love to make songs with my friends, make remixes of songs for my friends, and DJ to put it all together. I’m most proud of the remixes that I’ve made that live on Soundcloud. They’re not official or anything, but right now that’s the only place on the internet that they live. I’ve been working on original tracks as well too that I am proud of, but I really love remixing songs right now. I think what sets me apart from others is my taste in particular flavors of music and my ability to seek out hidden gems. I hope one day I’ll be able to develop a sound that is unique enough to me where you’d be able to know it is my song right away.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I got incredibly lucky early on having such supportive friends and people around me to push me into pursuing next steps with music. From the jump I had my friend, Ryan, walk down to the local bar club and get me my first booking. My friend, Erik, was immediately so supportive and helped me navigate through uploading my first remixes and bookings. I had tremendous luck with having the right people online come across my music and reposting. I was really lucky my best friend, Charlie, wanted to be my manager and made it all come together. There’s certainly been some unlucky things too, but I am really grateful that things really came together early on to get me inspired to continue.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesikmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JAMESIKmusic/
• Twitter: https://x.com/JAMESIKmusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs0ArengkIo&t=509s
• soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/jamesik

Image Credits
@chr.is.photo on instagram