Concerts featuring elaborate visual displays are a luxury typically reserved for artists with some serious financial backing, but as technology makes the tools of the trade more and more accessible, that’s all beginning to change. With talent and hard work, you don’t necessarily need deep pockets to achieve professional-grade results, a fact local DJs/promoters Adam Kuhnen and Michael Britton came to realize at an eye-opening party in the Twin Cities. Joining forces as Video Villains, they’ve spent the intervening three years carving out a unique niche in the Milwaukee music scene, lending their signature brand of sensory overload to a wide variety of area performers.
“Michael was in Minneapolis DJing on his own, and he brought me up to check out this party called Recess,” remembers Kuhnen, “and the stuff they were doing, I had never seen anything like that in Milwaukee before. It was completely amazing and nobody was doing it.” Impressed by the possibilities of the interactive projection mapping techniques he had witnessed, Kuhnen did a little investigating and before long was familiarizing himself with the software, just as Britton returned to town looking for a new project. “When I moved back to Milwaukee,” says Britton, “I wanted to start a monthly party that was something completely different.”
Plans for their own series were soon put on the back burner however, as an increasing number of their peers started seeking out their services. “Somebody approached us saying, ‘Hey do you guys want to do, like, a show?’” says Britton, “And we had never even really thought about making stage setups or anything.” It’s since become their bread and butter, and made them staples of the EDM scene, although the Video Villains are eager to avoid being pigeonholed and have provided their talents to Milwaukee musicians across a range of genres, most visibly with their sizable role in Alverno Presents’ Unlooped vs. Marvin Gaye program.
In fact, the challenge of stepping outside of their comfort zone seems to be a big part of what drives the pair, with schemes already in the works for tours, gallery installations and large-scale outdoor projections in addition to concert work, and they’ve been just as ambitious about pushing their eye-popping design style forward. “A lot of times with VJing and video mixing, people just download a bunch of premade clips,” says Kuhnen. “Early on, we had to come in with stuff that was kind of generic, but we’ve been trying to make more original animations, to make each show completely customized to the performers.”
They’ll certainly be pulling out all the stops for the acts playing their three year anniversary party, coming up Saturday, April 25 at Mad Planet, a diverse cross section of Midwest alt-rappers including WebsterX, Milo, Slim Brit, Bliss & Alice and Buju Fanta, all of whom should provide ample inspiration for Britton and Kuhnen, especially since they represent another change of pace from their typical clients. “Our anniversary party gives us the opportunity to bring in a crowd that we normally don’t work with,” says Britton enthusiastically, “to branch out, do something different and kind of open the field to new possibilities and new artists.”
Video Villains’ 3rd Anniversary Party begins at 9 p.m. on Saturday, April 25 at Mad Planet. Cover is $7.
