Meet Magic Cyclops, Winner of the Schomp MINI Local Music Contest

Last year, Schomp MINI launched a social contest where we had fans nominate and vote for their favorite local band. The band with the most votes would take home $1,000, along with a fully produced track provided by The Spot Studios. After a ton of nominations and votes, Magic Cyclops was announced as the winner. Magic Cyclops describes his genre as “air guitar, comedy, electronic, new age and new wave,” which definitely sets him apart from other bands in the local scene today. Schomp MINI collaborated with the Underground Music Showcase to interview Magic Cyclops, along with chatting with Glenn Sawyer, the producer/engineer/writer over at The Spot Studios, where Magic won one song worth of recording.

Magic Cyclops interview:

Congrats on winning last year’s social media contest! To what do you owe your success in this contest?

Magic Cyclops: 100% My friends! without their help I wouldn’t have won. I can’t thank them enough! Friendship IS Magic!

What kind of track can we expect to come out of that fine studio in Lakewood?

MC: Expect the unexpected!

Any special guests helping you in studio?

MC: It’s top secret.

We toured the space. Any thoughts about The Spot?

MC: It’s a great space I can’t wait to make Magic in there.

What is next for Magic Cyclops?

MC:Working on my one-man media empire that includes my web show on my YouTubing channel called Dungeons & Dorks, My British 80’s Radio Show from the 80’s on Radio 1. Voiceover work, new music, videos, a radio adventure drama, a stage play and looking for a job – I think that covers it.

Glenn Sawyer of The Spot interview:

Tell us a little about your recording studio, The Spot.

Glenn Sawyer: The Spot is myself and my production partner Rich Veltrop’s personal production playhouse and we are a little bit different than your traditional recording studio. We wanted to offer ‘big budget major label’ quality productions at an affordable price for the growing number of independent artists and came up with the model of converting a house into a studio that we could live and work in.  We ended up finding an incredible 7800 square foot mansion in Lakewood that’s perfect for what we do.  It has a variety of incredible acoustic spaces including our primary live room, The Cathedral, and is also big enough that we’ve been able to offer artists free lodging in our artist suite. The combination of great spaces and the homey communal living environment has created a dynamic that’s been very conducive to creativity.

Another thing that set us apart is our focus on production. We typically book by the production (song) as opposed to just time which is unusual for recording studios. This allows us to put in the extra time when necessary to make sure that every project we are a part of is as good as it can be and I think the results speak for themselves.

How has it been going so far?

GS: Things have been great so far.  We’ve been open for just over a year and a half now, and we’ve had the opportunity to work with a variety of great artists during that time.   It’s taken some time but we’ve slowly but surely built up a nice head of steam and we’re looking forward to what the future holds for us.  You can take a listen to some of the great artists we’ve worked with here: https://soundcloud.com/thespotstudios/sets/the-spot-studios-website

What is your impression of the Denver music scene right now?

GS: I’m really excited about the Denver music scene right now.  The thing that excites me the most is the organic feel of the scene.  Denver doesn’t have the music industry infrastructure that you would find in a Los Angeles, a Nashville, or a New York, so you don’t have a lot of people moving to Denver ‘to make it’ in the business.  I think the result of that is that the bands and artists here in Denver are making music for the right reasons.  That purity of intention is essential to making great music in my opinion so it’s cool to be in a place that isn’t full of people whose prime motivation is getting their face on a magazine cover.  Having said that, it would be great to see the kind of infrastructure that exists in other ‘music cities’ begin to develop here as well so that all of our great artists get the support that they need.

The other thing that I love about the Denver music scene is that people go out to see live music and the city appreciates the up and coming artist. There seems to be a disconnect when it comes to the perception of musicians these days.  Most non musicians are eager to discount the efforts of their musician peers if they aren’t headlining Red Rocks.  The truth of the matter is that no one gets to Red Rocks without playing some dive bars along the way so you never know who you might catch on the way up.  The people of Denver seem to understand this dynamic and the music scene is the result of that.

So, you met Magic Cyclops. Is he all you expected?

GS: To be honest, I thought he was going to be a bit taller but other than that he was everything I expected and more. He’s clearly a man that knows how to make an impression, but beyond that it struck me that he knows how to make a statement as well. One of the hallmarks of any great artist is the willingness to not only put out what they believe in, but also to resolutely stand behind it, and he seems to be fully capable.

Any thoughts on producing his track?

GS: I’m excited about producing his track.  It sounds like we will be building the track as we go which is always fun and some very interesting ideas were tossed around in our meeting today.  I’m confident that we’re going to deliver to the public a side of Magic Cyclops that they didn’t know existed.  I imagine he’ll be getting a call from the producers of American Idol again soon after but at that point he probably won’t need them.

Any words of wisdom?

Just to keep on doing what you guys are doing supporting independent artists!  The tallest redwoods were once just seeds so it’s important that we all support up and coming artists.  Also, thanks for taking an interest in what we’re doing.