- Title: VR gig allows Cypress Hill fans to get up close and personal
- Date: 25th June 2020
- Summary: LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, UNITED STATES (JUNE 23, 2020) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) CYPRESS HILL MEMBER AND RAPPER AND MUSICIAN, SENEN REYES (STAGE NAME SEN DOG), ASKED ABOUT MONEY THAT THE LA VR GIG PROVIDED, SAYING: "Not enough, but I mean yeah, but not enough I mean... Like you said earlier, we had to postpone our whole, you know, world tour for the reasons of the pandemic. Luckily, you know, we've been, we've been able to, you know, save money as we go along. So we have enough to survive on for a while, you know, but I think, you know, it's not just us, it's everybody in the game that's taking a hit right now. You know, as far as that good live money goes, you know, and and that goes with the performances and whatnot. So what, you know, I've just got to hang on, you know, and ride it out and stay tough, you know, stay tough all the way through it. And we will see better days, I guarantee it."
- Embargoed: 9th July 2020 16:03
- Keywords: Cypress Hill Insane in the Brain MelodyVR Sen Dog Senen Reyes
- Location: LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, LOS ANGELES AND SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, NEW YORK, NEW YORK, NEWARK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES/ UNKNOWN LOCATION
- City: LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, LOS ANGELES AND SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, NEW YORK, NEW YORK, NEWARK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES/ UNKNOWN LOCATION
- Country: USA
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Music
- Reuters ID: LVA00CCJVAO99
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: AUDIBLE PROFANITY IN SHOTS 19 AND 21
American hip hop group Cypress Hill reunited for the first time since the coronavirus lockdown last Friday (June 19) to perform a virtual reality gig enabling fans to feel closer to the action albeit from the comfort of their own homes.
Musician and band member Senen Reyes, known as Sen Dog, told Reuters on Tuesday (June 23) he has missed being on stage and was happy to do the 'Live from LA' performance that was filmed and made available to fans by U.S.-based virtual reality platform MelodyVR.
"It was a really interesting experience, it was really cool, I look forward to doing something like that again," Reyes said from his base in Las Vegas, Nevada.
"It was more like just the four of us in the room, you know, with the electric walls, you know, jumping off. And it was an experience, to say the least," he added.
Cypress Hill, who made its name in the early 1990s and was due to go on a world tour when the pandemic took hold, played a range of songs, including hits "Insane In the Brain" and "How I Could Just Kill A Man".
Looking back at recording "Insane In The Brain" in New York in 1993, Reyes said the track has a special place in his heart, as even though they did not know how significant it was at the time, it became a game-changing hit for them.
"We were in the studio and we were hopped up on mushrooms, all of us, that whole recording session," he said, explaining they thought the track would just be an album filler. However, record bosses recognized it would be a "monster song".
Over the course of the band's 30 years in the music industry, Cypress Hill has sold more than 20 million albums and in 2019 its members were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Reflecting on the present day Black Lives Matter movement that took hold since the death of George Floyd under the knee of a police officer on March 25 this year, Reyes said there were warnings about police brutality in some of the hip hop and rap music from the 1990s that were missed.
"Those warning signs were failed to be looked at and listened to in the right context, in the right way," he said, adding that songs such as Ice-T's "Cop Killer" were a warning that things will "get serious one day".
"And you know that one day is here," Reyes said.
Cypress Hill was meant to be on the road with its latest album "Elephants On Acid". Those tour dates have now been moved to 2021, when the band hopes live music will be back to normal, without the constraints of social distancing measures.
While there is cash to be made from doing online gigs like the VR performance, Reyes explains that it is not as profitable as touring. Luckily for Cypress Hill, its members have enough to survive on.
"I've just got to hang on, you know, and ride it out and stay tough, you know, stay tough all the way through it," Reyes said.
"We will see better days, I guarantee it."
For anyone who missed it Cypress Hill's Live from LA show will be available on demand in most countries around the world from June 25.
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