About Me
Vice Verser...Born David James Purton, in Sydney's inner western suburbs, to an alcoholic, substance abusing, compulsive lying father and a single mother of four. The only one of his siblings to be connected to his father biologically, he was raised to be strong, with his mother knowing what hardships would arise from these connections she set out to toughen him up and create a son she would inevitably train to be able to face his demons alone. With this begining it seemed inevitable that this trouble young man would become a pioneer of a culture which at the time (early to mid nineties) was seen as non australian and put under unrelenting scrutiny from not only local media and law enforcement, but also was left for dead by the entire music industry at the time. but those ingrained instincts of fight and resilience won out, and Vice Verser was born.A name of many meanings...
The original creation of the name Vice Verser (then spelled, Vice versa) was to reflect the inner struggle of the emcee... fighting against his own internal demons (vice's) and the anger of his turbulent and violent childhood. This first appearance was in the form of an aggressive and head strong teen full of confusion and angst, who at the drop of a dime was able to return any and all oppositions freestyle rhymes with spontaneous witty retorts and rebuttals that would match OJ simpsons defense team in execution. This new found tallent was recognised by his then emerging new family in hip hop DOMINION. Producer ESPA (then known as ESP after his birth names initials) and Mass MC signed the young up and coming emcee to a freestyle battle in 1998. Still unconfident and relatively new to the battle arena, vice was hesitant to push for the recognition of crowds... but after being dragged to the initial entry comp and tying with a far less impressive emcee, the fight inside of Vice was sparked... On the day of the competition, Vice was in another place mentally... What was just a battle for everyone else became a pivotal point in this young mans life, the show opened with the tie breaker between vice and his weaker opponent for the final spot in the official lineup...The beast was awoken...
From the word go, Vice was on the attack... channeling all the aggression and strength he was raised to be, he walked onto the stage and faced his inner demons for the first time. It was a devastating performance, relentless throughout the entire night, finding his way all the way into the final round against HyJak... who won the competition and later joined the ranks of Vice Verser's crew DOMINION.Hiatus...
Just as the clouds seemed to part, and things began to change for the young emcee everything in his personal life collapsed around him. His first love to a Vietnamese girl was dismantled systematically by her overbearing parents who had a racial distrust for white australians, then his mother rekindled a relationship with her first husband the father of her other 3 children and Vice's older siblings... which in effect tore the family appart at the seems. The only solid platform of relationship and family vice had ever known was pulled out from under him, and left him in the middle of a very lonely place with no support.... Heartbroken and confused about everything, Vice disappeared from Sydney... with $20 dollars in his pocket and a suitcase of clothes he moved to the central coast on a journey of self discovery and regeneration. what followed was a series of physical emotional and spiritual hardships that would test the resolve of the strongest minds... from a relationship with a married woman to a relationship with a diabetic girl who nearly died, to being homeless and living out of garbage bags and sleeping in a car back seat during winter in a hospital parking lot... all these things could have seen the end of Vice... but the inner fight was again re-ignited.A new beginning...
Through all this, and the help of some beautifull and wonderfull people along the way (namely... Vice Verser's then girlfriend, Rebecca, (her mother) Judith, and the rest of the Kennedy family) who took in and helped Vice regain his feet.
Now with a full time job, a new computer, and a renewed drive for the life he had lost 3 yrs earlier Vice set his sights back on his return.
knowing he would need beats, and re-establish his place in the local hiphop scene vice contacted his former crew mates, But as luck would have it, events were already in play that would see the super crew of emcee's and producers/dj's torn appart and go their separate ways.
Unable to fathom this, seeing his second family fall apart just as his first had... Vice returned with a new mission... "To do it all for self". Without any means, any help or any plan he began.Part 1... The Beats...
The first thing he set out to do was teach himself how to produce... having recently bought a new computer to aid in his career as a graphic artist/designer he acquired some software and began testing what worked for him.
First was fruity loops, but that production method didn't suit Vice so he moved on to more experimental applications, ACID was the first program to grab his attention for an extended period of time, but due to (then) lack of midi support and crash problems he finally converted to Ableton Live... which is now his production program of choice.Part 2... The shows...
He also set out to re-establish his position amongst the performing circuit... realising he needed to buffer his performances with a little more variety he recruited one of his former associates from pre Dominion days, Erryn Bhalzan (aka Lesser Proffet) and created the group "Walkitalkiez". Although most of the work to establish this group was pushed by Vice, he tried to keep an even balance of performance and exposure between the both of them, Seeing the dedication and commitment of Vice, and the new stream of songs being created by the Walkitalkiez... Espa (DOMINION) decided to step out of music retirement and take on the challenge of recording the group. over the next couple of years the Walkitalkiez enjoyed moderate performance success performing as opening act for groups such as the hilltop hoods, amongst others.Part 3... The media...
Then the media was a go, teeing up film clips through a new friend by the name of Matthew Chuang in exchange for some sound design work for his personal video projects, and doing the rounds with radio host's. things were looking up finally.The final straw...
Just when the final recordings for the anticipated Walkitalkiez album were being finalized a long unsettled despute between Lesser Proffet and Vice Verser forced the group to splint and subsequently the album to be buried... Having been 100% produced by vice Verser, it was a hard sacrifice to make, but knowing the limited exposure and marketability of the album due to a non performing act it would have been pointless to pursue.THE WON IS BORN...
Vice Verser now had a new fight on his hands... A new performance to create, and a new reputation to build... for the fourth time he would have to start from the bottom, he would face all the same trials, he would have to push the same shit up the same hill... But... this time he would remember the golden rule... BY MYSELF.
A new name "THE WON" emerged from the depths of vice's new fight, it symbolized his solo effort from this point on, and the spelling of WON was in reference to his inability to allow himself to be beaten. The following 2 years of his life saw him endure through an abusive relationship, while creating a new sounding solo album, and completing his degree in Graphic design, which had been a life long ambition, and symbolized his personal inner growth from teen misfit to successful student.Vice city and beyond...
Now we skip forward a couple of years, a few major technical difficulties along the way, and an album waiting for pressing and release... "Vice City" the culmination of all these years of hardship, self discovery, and fight... finally realized and brought together in a cohesive and deep album, with all the angst of a troubled teen, all the bravado of a battle emcee, and all the sincerity of a lonely young man finding his feet... finally.
If you ever ask the question, why is Vice the way he is, you simply have to put on this album and take a walk down memory lane as seen through the eyes of the man himself.The "Vice City" album is due for release later this year (2007) through obese distribution, and will be available through all good local music stores.CURRENTLY... Vice is working on his second album titled "A Knew Me" which will pick up and fly where "Vice City" left off... "A Knew Me is exactly that" said vice... "It's the new begining, and rediscovering a lost side of myself, the me I already knew... the sound is bigger, i have a lot more input from others, more guest's on the performance, and production side, all round a more open album, where Vice City was me proving something to myself, A Knew Me is more me just being me now... just going with life, and enjoying where I've finally arrived."In addition to his music production, Vice is also dabbling in a bit of acting. He has recently wrapped up filming for a movie titled "braille" which is slated for release in 2008, Directed by matt Chuang for Scope Red films.Other artists currently rhumored to be working with Vice on his latest projects are ... C-Foe, HyJak, Jetlag, Miss M, and FAME.
