Simple Success making name for itself

The two-man band Simple Success works together to create music in many different styles and genres. | Courtesy of Sarah Levit

Starting a band isn’t easy. You have to buy a bunch of equipment — a guitar or two, a bass, a decent drum setup, amps, an equalizer and more cords than your parents would prefer to clutter their garage. Then, of course, you have to work out schedules for practicing, roles in the band, etc. Besides all that, you have to not suck.

For Kyle Vento and Edgar Miranda, though, much of this wasn’t a problem. Their two-piece ensemble is simply percussion and a DJ. While those unfamiliar with their band, Simple Success, may assume these two Houstonians are missing a lot of people and equipment, they’d be wrong. They make up for it with ambition, talent and a sincere love for all kinds of music.

Vento, an economics senior, and Miranda, a criminal justice sophomore at HCC who plans to transfer to UH next year, are Simple Success. Vento, the group’s percussionist and founder, worked with another DJ before Miranda joined Simple Success, but it never quite took off. He met Miranda, by chance, via the Internet.

“We met through Craigslist, actually,” Vento said with a laugh. “And now we’re like best friends.”

The duo’s setup is primarily a remix and production studio, but they have all the tools for a full studio at their disposal. On top of that, the two recently founded a label, Bella Musica, and already have one artist signed. They hope to use the label to promote more independent artists and propel themselves, as well as artists signed to their label, into the spotlight.

“Since we’re not lyricists or vocalists ourselves, we put together the music and say, ‘Hey, would you like to come join us on this?’” Vento said. “So it’s not only a creative thing; it’s also a unifying type of project as well.”

Simple Success’ style ranges from straight house to dub step, from hip-hop to electronic rock.

“We’re geared more toward electro and hip-hop,” said Vento, “but we’ve also reached out to the likes of the Ton Tons.”

When performing live, Simple Success performs mostly remixes to well-known hip-hop and club music, but occasionally Fat Tony, Lux or another artist they’ve collaborated with will hop onstage to perform a song together. Vento and Miranda were planning on releasing a remix-only album by January, but they hit a snag.

“The original idea was to have the remixes and the originals all on one CD, and we were trying to figure out the legal way to go around that, without having to do the whole sample-clearances thing, because we can’t afford it,” Vento said. “It costs thousands per sample, so what we plan on doing now…is a digital release of the remix album.”

They hope to have their album released digitally by January.

So far, Simple Success has worked with the likes of Fat Tony, Hollywood FLOSS, Lux, Shiner Ray, Mike Skills and are in the process of working with the Ton Tons, Bianca and B L A C K I E, whom they already have a few tracks recorded for.

“We’re music producers,” Vento said. “We’re not claiming ourselves to a specific genre.”

Some of the tracks they’ve worked on sound like backing-tracks to the likes of Nine Inch Nails. Others sound like something MGMT, Passion Pit or even Kid Cudi would lay vocals to. The creative process for these two musicians is always well thought out, but occasionally the final product is stumbled upon by accident.

“Sometimes, you already have a track laid out, and you just go with it,” Miranda said. Vento, who also plays guitar for a few of the group’s tracks, will record drums with every intention of doing a hip-hop sound, but once Miranda does his part and the two begin to produce something, the final product may have more of a grunge or rock sound.

“We just do what we want, really,” Miranda said. The group has even recorded a jazz track with Vento’s old jazz instructor. “On the album, we want to give everyone a little taste of everything. Usually when you buy an album, it’s all rock or it’s all hip-hop, and we just want to spread the word that there’s more music out there and open their minds.”

From hip-hop to dance to ’80s-era music, if you can put your preferred genre aside and simply enjoy music for the sake of enjoying music, Simple Success is simply one of the best acts in Houston you can listen to.

Simple Success plays at 11:30 p.m. Saturday at Walter’s on Washington. Log on to thedailycougar.com to hear two tracks by Simple Success.