“Hype Dream” By Visenya -- An Inspirational Song About Empowerment

When I recently discovered pop metal band Visenya, I thought there would be a cool story to share.  Little did I know it would be way more than that.  This band has been through a lot of changes over the years, but with tremendous talent combined with a network of great friends who also happen to be amazing musicians, it looks like this project is on the verge of taking off and I’m so glad I’m here for it.

Visenya is based out of Piscataway, New Jersey.  Members of the band include:  James Perry (Vocals); Mario Conte (Drums); Mikey Luna (Guitar); and Daniel Perez (Bass). 

James kindly answered my interview questions, and he shared so much awesome information, which I really appreciated because it gave me a lot of insight into him, his music, and the awesome team he has surrounded himself with. This is a long piece, but to me it’s important to share the story because I can tell this project really means so much to him and is something he is very passionate about.

This band originated way back around 2016 or 2017.  It began with James just writing midi instrumentals and trying to find people to learn to play the songs. His best buddy Kyle had a bass, so he got him to play that.  They also started playing with their friend, Chris, on guitar. They tried out a bunch of different drummers who didn’t work out, but eventually they got their mutual friend, Nick, to hop on the kit just because he had one and wanted to play.  He had played bass and was the singer in another band, but he had really wanted to be a drummer for the longest time and he pushed himself to learn a lot just to play in Visenya. James said he’ll always respect that.

The band recruited their friend Brian to play bass after Kyle wanted to step away, and the four of them recorded and released an EP called Common Place in 2019.

When the pandemic happened in 2020, the band members tried to write as much as they could over Zoom and other platforms, but each member slowly decided that he didn’t want the commitment that came with playing in a band. That left James alone to decide what he wanted to do with the band. It wasn’t all bad, because he did write some demos with the help of friends.  He decided that he wanted to continue the project however he could, because he didn’t want to just let it die after all the time and effort he had already put into it.

Fast forward to 2022, when James was doing photography and videography on tour for a metalcore band called ENOX.  He knew most of the band already because he had worked on the set of one of their music videos a couple years prior. They became fast friends, and James told me that now they’re some of his best friends in the world.

ENOX was staying in a hotel in California, and two of the band members had gone out for the night, so it was just James and ENOX’s drummer, Mario Conte, hanging out in the room watching TV and playing card games. James started working on the drums for the song “Sleep In”, but he left his laptop open on the bed to use the restroom. When he came out, Mario was on the laptop re-writing the drums completely and James jokes that his reaction was “Oh, alright, go for it.”

Later on James recorded everything for “Sleep In” and three other songs with the help of ENOX’s vocalist, Michael Guevarez, who is an incredible producer and songwriter.  James also wanted to get music video visuals for all the songs. Since “Sleep In” was first, he needed people to be the band in the video, so of course he asked Mario to be in it because he wrote the drums for the song. He wanted ENOX’s guitarist, Mikey Luna, to play guitar in the video, especially because he tracked the guitars on the song, but he was living in Georgia at the time so unfortunately he was unable to be in it.

From there, James started getting rough versions of the songs back from Michael, and he figured he could use those versions to film the visuals. The next one they shot was for “Hype Dream” and he asked Mario to be in it again to stay consistent.  Mario was happy to do it, but he asked if he could re-write the drums for it like he did for “Sleep In”.  James said he had actually been hoping for that, because Mario is the most talented drummer he knows.

Since then, every time Visenya has a new song, Mario says, “Alright, send it to me without drums so I can write them.” So Mario essentially inserted himself into the band, James said jokingly, but he didn’t protest because Mario is so good at what he does and is also one of his closest friends now, so it all just made sense.

Mikey Luna eventually moved back to New Jersey, and he also kind of just inserted himself into the band, saying, “If Visenya is doing stuff I want to play guitar.”  James reacted to this the same way he did to Mario joining, because all of the ENOX band members are his best friends, so it just made sense. Their buddy Dan Perez agreed to play bass in the videos.  He is kind of doing his own thing with music in general, but James still considers him as Visenya’s bassist, even though he shreds on guitar, because he’s always willing to help out and they all get along great and mesh musically.

How did Visenya get its band name?  Well, the members of the original lineup couldn’t come up with a good name. They were already playing together and had a bunch of songs written, but they didn’t have a name yet. They were at a show and outside the venue between bands, and their drummer at the time, who was a huge Game Of Thrones fan, just started reading off names of characters from that series. When he got to “Visenya”, they all said “Wait, that’s it!” And it stuck. So the band name is based on a character from the lore of The Song Of Ice And Fire series that they thought sounded cool.  This is just another example of how you never know how a band will come up with its name. Anything can be an inspiration.

When it comes to songwriting, James is the primary writer for Visenya.  However, it’s definitely a huge team effort.  James told me he tries to write interesting instrumentals first, or at least a cool riff idea to work off of, and then fit melodies and  lyrics into the songs afterwards. Sometimes a melody idea will come first, and he’ll write something around that.  It all depends on which idea comes into his head first.

James said he also loves to collaborate with others, because he has so many talented songwriting friends in different projects.  The Visenya songs “Sleep In” and “Hype Dream” were co-written by Joey Varela of VRSTY. Most of the band’s songs go through a pass with Michael Guevarez, since he is their producer and James really values his input.  Michael writes some riff ideas and adds some synths and programming to the songs they track.  James also opens the songs to ideas from Mario Conte and Mikey Luna as well. Of course, as mentioned above, Mario writes the drums, usually once the initial instrumentals are finished, and he also has good ideas in general in terms of songwriting choices.

For “Hype Dream”, James had this idea that ended up becoming the intro, outro, and chorus riff for the song, and improvised the first line of the chorus, “I’m so obsessed with coming up”, when writing with Joey from VRSTY. Joey helped to write the rest of the instrumentals and guided the vocals from the starting point in the chorus. The rest of the melodies and lyrics were from James just riffing what he called “nonsense” until he found something that worked. Then he wrote lyrics that fit the melodies. Additionally, Michael helped solidify the melodies and some of the lyrics in the latter half of the second verse of “Hype Dream”.

The three Visenya songs released so far this year -- “Sleep In”, “Delusional”, “Hype Dream” – and the next song after this, were all produced by Michael Guevarez, mixed by Robin Leijon, and mastered by Kris Crummett. The band tracked them as a group of songs, so it made sense for the team to stay cohesive for all of them. James’ friend Randy Benitez helped out on writing for “Delusional” and so did ENOX guitarist John Capparelli.

As mentioned above, Michael was a huge part of the writing process as well, especially for “Delusional” and the next song that James said he can’t name yet. James also wanted to give a shout-out to Mikey Luna for tracking all the guitars, and Roy Beatty, ENOX’s bassist, for tracking all of the bass parts.

This project is very much intertwined with ENOX in a lot of ways.  James said he honestly doesn’t think Visenya would be able to do what they are doing without all of their continued help and friendship. He also wanted to give credit to Christian Lawrence (“Sleep In” music video), Alex Kouvatsos of Blackwolf Imaging (“Hype Dream” music video) and Eric DiCarlo of SquareUp Studios (music videos for “Delusional” and the next unreleased song).

I asked about the inspiration or motivation behind Visenya’s songs, and James shared, “We just want to write cool stuff. We like metal and rock, we like R&B and pop, so we do our best to combine those things. I listen to and sing pop and R&B music all the time, so that’s my vocal style, and we put heavy guitars behind it and make it groove.”

In terms of lyrical content, James said inspiration comes from different places. He likes to write lyrics and thoughts down in his notes app when he feels something strongly, then he will go back to it and flesh it out more as a concept later on. “Sleep In” is a very personal song.  It was written about his aunt passing and how he slept in and missed a call from her while she was in the hospital, “Delusional” stemmed from James procrastinating on writing the vocals for the song, and then writing about that.

James shared that he  wrote the basic idea for “Hype Dream” around the time the original band lineup was falling apart.  Everyone was leaving one by one, and he admitted that he just felt kind of stuck and alone. He was thinking, “What am I going to do with this now? Can I continue with it just being me?” He told me he still loves his former bandmates and talks to them and hangs out with them often, but at the time, he did feel angry and bitter and had a bit of self-loathing about how, at the time, he felt like nobody cared about what he was doing.  He thought maybe writing music didn’t make sense and was questioning why he should continue to do it by himself. He honestly didn’t know if he could take on that task, but then he had a moment where he told myself, “Nah, I've got this.  I’m going all the way to the top and I’ll do it myself.” 

James admitted he obsesses over music, about it having to be perfect and authentic. Also, there is a part of him that craves the validation from other people regarding the art that he makes, which is why it’s taken so long to actually finally release these songs he’s been working on. He said he’s gotten past the bitterness that catalyzed these lyrics, but he’s still very much about the sentiment, especially in the chorus. He just reframed it so it’s more about empowering oneself to push through the b.s. and be confident with working towards and chasing a passion or a dream or a goal.

I’m fairly certain I found Visenya in my social media algorithm because of following ENOX.  This seems  be happening a lot lately – finding bands because of other bands.  The first song I heard was “Delusional”, and I was hooked.  My impression of Visenya’s music is that it’s upbeat and catchy with a vibe that listeners can get addicted to.  “Hype Dream” is no different.  The guitar riffs are sick, the drums are masterful, and James has a stellar vocal range.

It's not just about the music and vocals, though.  Visenya’s songs are about things that are relatable to anyone.  Regret over lost time with a loved one who is no longer with us,  stress about things that need to get done, wanting to make a name for ourselves and have an impact in the world we live in – these are all things that resonate. Simply put, it’s about the human experience.

Visenya has put out some really cool music videos, so make sure to check out the band’s YouTube channel. The three most recent songs, “Hype Dream”, “Delusional”, and “Sleep In”, have videos that are energetic and show the amazing vibe that defines Visenya.  The video for “Hype Dream” was shot by Alex Kouvatsos of Blackwolf Imaging, who is one of the best music video directors around and has worked with a lot of other bands in the same circle as Visenya.  James is super grateful Alex wanted to work with them.

James shared something interesting about the “Hype Dream” video. They shot it before they shot the video for “Delusional”, which of course came out first as that song was released prior to “Hype Dream”.  Mikey was still living in Georgia at the time of filming the “Hype Dream” video. For timing reasons, James really needed to get this video shot, and since he unfortunately wasn’t able to have Mikey in it, the band’s buddy Ben stepped in to fill in on guitar for the filming.  James also pointed out something else that is interesting and kind of amusing. Since these videos were all shot at different points and then not all released in the order in which they were shot, Mario’s hair is different in literally every video.

I’m actually going to share the links for not only the “Hype Dream” video, but also the ones for “Delusional” and “Sleep In”. They are all so good, and I want people to see them and get a better understanding of how truly awesome Visenya is.

Regarding what’s to come in the future for Visenya, James said, “We’re going to keep doing our thing. Writing and releasing music, because that’s what we love to do. There will definitely be more new music. We have more songs ready to go after ‘Hype Dream’, and we’re going to just keep releasing and promoting it to find our fanbase.  Hopefully we get enough buzz from being an ‘internet band’ that there will be a demand for us to play live, at least locally or somewhat locally, in the near future. We’ve got to keep them wanting more.”

Visenya is very active on social media. Their content is creative and a lot of fun, and it really gets their growing fanbase engaged. Make sure to follow them on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, as well as their YouTube and Spotify.

Written by: Annie Schlottman