The Bermuda

By Morgan James

With music success outside of the Coachella Valley, Hip Hop group, The Bermuda is bringing their music home to share with an enthusiastic local audience. Gaining popularity one show at a time, these rappers are thrilled at the warm reception. With several local upcoming shows plus one in Los Angeles with Insane Clown Posse, The Bermuda is picking up steam in a major way. Rappers Mad Hatter, IvytheGiant, and Bunkz have worked hard recording over the last few years releasing their first album The Chronicles and opening up for Tech N9ne in San Diego. Their latest album Backyard Hooligan, released in April, includes the breakout single and music video “Laying Low” and November 8^th they will release the second single and video for “Hooligans.” Friends since high school, these three talented rappers are following the path that comes naturally to them. I spoke with Mad Hatter about the group’s motivations, favorite memories while performing, and what’s next for The Bermuda.

MJ: How did The Bermuda come to be?

MH: “We had this group of 8 friends that we started at school called the Big Belly Krew. This is when I really started hanging out with IvytheGiant. By senior year it was only about 4 of us friends left, and while I and Bunkz were still working together, IvytheGiant and I became best friends. Whenever I was recording with Bunkz, IvytheGiant was always there. Well, one day while recording one of my solo songs, I said, ‘I hate rapping by myself on the mic, hop on this track with me.’ Ivy was nervous because he never even fathomed rapping, but he got on the mic and I thought he was a natural. The same thing happened with Bunkz who was initially just our producer. The group formed around 2014. And by 2015, we had our first 18-track album done.”

MJ: What motivated you to start pursuing music as a career?

MH: “We didn’t take music seriously in high school but when we graduated, reality hit us. I tried college and did not like it. The same went for Bunkz. I feel like music for the most part had strong effects on our lives growing up, so it was only right after listening to others spill their heart on a beat, we asked ourselves, ‘why can’t we try?’ Now we have been doing this for almost 3 years and I have no regrets on the decisions we’ve made to get here. We love making music, and we hope we can get to a point to where we can make a career out of it so our families don’t have to struggle anymore.”

MJ: What is your most memorable show?

MH: “Our most memorable show would have to be last May when we opened up for Tech N9ne in San Diego at The Observatory. It was a pay to play show, but it was worth it. When we step on stage for a little show, or a huge show like that one, it’s like we are in another world where problems and fears don’t matter anymore. There are 800 people you have probably never met in your life, and you have their full attention. It’s really a surreal feeling to us, something I don’t think we’ll ever get over; all those people screaming our name, chanting with us, bobbing their heads, taking pictures with us after. It was something that we really never wanted to end.”

MJ: What has The Bermuda been up to recently?

MH: “We finished recording Backyard Hooligans in January and released it in April. That album was actually very fun to make and we have a lot of videos from hundreds of studio sessions for that album. We recorded that album in about a year, recording about eighty songs for it. We then picked twenty that matched the vision that we had for this album. From Jan-Apr, we shot 4 videos for the album and took a break from recording. Bunkz and IvytheGiant continued making beats and we decided that at the end of August we would start working on new music. The first song to come out of that was “Laying Low.””

MJ: You have an upcoming show with Insane Clown Posse. Please share your successes in presenting your music beyond our valley and into Los Angeles.

MH: “Yeah the ICP show is going to be awesome. They have an amazing fan base and it will be a really rowdy show. The way we started getting our music out in the valley, ironically is by taking it outside of the valley first. What I mean by that is when we released our first album The Chronicles, we knew that it was a different style from what everyone else was doing out here and thought no one would like it. So instead of distributing the CD’s out here; we went to LA, Hollywood, and Venice to pass them out. Then we starting to get in touch with promoters out in those areas to do shows, with local or National acts, whatever we could get we’d be happy with. The same promoter that we got the Tech N9ne show with actually is the same one we’re doing the ICP show with.”

MJ: What’s next for The Bermuda?

MH: “We are planning on releasing 2 new songs and videos over the next 6 months in addition to our recently released music video for “Laying Low”. On November 8th, we will be releasing our new single, “Hooligans,” along with a video for free download. Right now we have about 4 or 5 shows coming up this month and 2 already booked for next month. We are starting to get a lot more shows locally and we love it as the valley is a great place to perform. There are also a couple of local musicians we want to work with to broaden our spectrum of music by using new instruments, and getting different voices on our tracks.

Shout out to our fans, friends, and family. Thank you Morgan James and CV Weekly for this interview and letting us be part of the music in the valley.”