Sunday, March 04, 2007
Time to Sell Out the Kissy's..
Ladies and gentlemen, time to find out what kind of sell out kissy is! Does he wants eternal glory or just stay himself ? Does he fancies becoming a pope, the next prime minister, or just a damn good artist? How to handle this interview: Find yourself a nice picture of Kissy, cut his mouth in half and practise on 2 different voices, one for the interviewer and one for Kissy. It will look very South Park but if you drink a lot, it could be lots of fun!..
Ready? Set.. Go!
Introduce yourself to the people who've been living under a rock for the last 2 years please..
I’m a 22 year old cheeky Essex boy with a girly name, a mullet and a strange obsession with the early films of Keanu Reeves and any music ever written by Swans. I'm also an art school outcast and all I wanna do is party like Bill & Ted which has made me a bit eccentric! I'm now sitting on my debut album (20% of which was written back when I was a troubled teenager), I'm trying my hardest to rerelease my first single called "Her" (which is a gothic electro tune full of dripping noises about how disillusioned I had become with the commercial art scene) and I have official remixes of All Saints, Gwen Stefani and Mark Ronson kicking around too.
Where did it all start? We know you from "Her", that got hyped at most of the blogs, and was on Annie Mac's myspace profile for a quit long time..
Haha that's funny I didn't actually know about that Annie Mac thing! "Her" really caused a big explosion in my life. I used the tiny amount of money I had saved from working as "the kid" at POP magazine (which runined my degree incidently, so don't try that at home kids!) to get some vinyls pressed in Hackney. I didn't know what I was doing atall and all I did know was from reading a guide on making a record on a BBC website! I had no distribution and had to catch the train from Essex so I could carry a ridiculously heavy record box around soho trying to get someone to sell a couple for me. I came home a broken man but then a week later I found out it was Rough Trade's record of the week! Every week from then on it has just got better and better as I first found out that Simian Mobile Disco had got behind it, then Boys Noize, The Loose Cannons, DJ Touche and Headman, and then Digitalism, Sinden, Mark Moore and the list went on...
You request people to do remixes for them or do people ask you to remix their tracks?
Now I get a lot of remix requests every day, but that's quite a recent thing. I requested to do remixes for Headman's Relish label, Neat People, The Loose Cannons and others and they all threw me a bone which I owe them alot for. Now I still look out for bands I think are really special because I know first hand how hard it is for struggling artists to break threw and the difference that can be made by working together. I've come across some snobby people in my time who wouldn't agree with that idea which is a real shame.
Bands I think are really special at the moment who I may or may not end up remixing are Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip, Neon Plastix, Kamikaze Cream Cake, The Black Ghosts and Bolt Action Five. I'm also a sucker for Trash Fashion and 1gnition too!
**question from one of our blog readers:
"I'd like to know if he only remixes artists he likes (turning down those he doesn't), or if he sees remixes as a means of increasing his exposure.....some people would snobbishly say remixing All Saints is to.....er....sell out, whereas others would argue that it introduces their fans to a wider (better?) world of music. "
Good question. That remix is all about proving myself and saying what I think about dance music to whoever is up for listening to it - as are all my remixes. I wouldn't have touched All Saints if I thought it was bad song in the first place. And so I do indeed turn down remix offers quite regularly - although if I'm honest I get my manager to send the email because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings! I don't think I really have a "Kissy Sell Out sound", I just have principles I stick to about what I like most in a song, like kick ass super fast melodies from Van Halen cds and Nickel Creek bluegrass cds, fat basslines like on live drum'n'bass tapes of Aphrodite and Mickey Finn I used to listen to at school, crunchy sprawling distortion from Sonic Youth's "Daydream Nation" album and doom music by Earth, Khanate and ofcourse Swans AND FINALLY I like the clarity of live instruments in experimental patterns and rhythms which I admire about James Holden, Coco Rosie, Sinden, Diplo, DFA, Felix Da Housecat's 3rd album and Scritti Politti.
So in conclusion to a overly long answer, if the cheeky essex boy obsessed with Bret Eastern Ellis books and collecting shit friday the 13th films gets the chance to tear up and rebrand a chart-topping pop group who would probably still turn him away from their vip champagne area - I say "FUCK YEAH BRING IT ON!" and if I accomplish all that and people still file it under "electro-house" I couldn't care less.
Can you live of what you earn with your productions and remixes?
Yes definitely - but only due to how hard I work myself. I only spend money on music, Gus Van Sant posters, my girlfriend, newcastle brown ale and second hand clothes from Camden market, so my life isn't mega glamourous but it's enough for me ;-)
When you start producing a new tune / remix how do your start? Do you analyze the original tune and then got inspired or start from scratch? How does the proces work?
I run straight through the samples looking for the hook - without properly analysing the original most of the time if I'm honest! Then the boring bit is reprocessing all the samples at a Kissy BPM - which is a nightmare for live tunes like my remix for The Dykeenies, and then I just get down to work and don't leave my studio until it's finished. I must admit that I definitely get "in the zone" when I'm working on a track, the only time I ever get grumpy is when someone phones during work. I've heard that Switch deals with this by going off the map for days on end - I'm thinking I might start doing that too haha!
Do you prefer to use hardware ( drumcomputers, synths) or vst's and software for your music, and if so.. which software do you prefer?
That's the only secret I'll ever protect about my music - mainly because, as far as I know, I don't use what everyone else does and I don't want people to find out how unprofessional my methods are haha! I don't know what a VST is?
Who / What are you main influences and what bands / artists you listened to when you was a teenager?
Scritti Politti's "Provision" album, Sonic Youth's "Daydream Nation", Smashing Pumpkins' "Siamese Dream" album, Swans ofcourse, ALL of Nirvana's albums - is it just me of has everyone forgotten about albums like "Bleach", "In Utero" and "Incesticide"?!? - Aphrodite and Mickey Finn, Ray Keith (who's from Essex hooray!), James Holden, the entire "Speed Garage Anthems" series, Joy Division, Simple Minds, The Cure, Robert Palmer, Klymaxx, The Church, Cocteau Twins, Smog, Shark Island, Bricklin, Winger...errr that's all I can remember for now!
What´s your opinion about the mp3 blogs popping out all over the internet... You think it's very illegal or do you think it's a great way to get hyped?
Great way to get hyped, all my remixes would be blogged by now if I had my way but no record labels would ever trust me again. Also blogging album tracks before the band's album has a set release date (like mine) can damage the chances of it ever getting released - so I don't really approve of leaking because you're not hearing what the band wanted you to hear - but apart from that it's "s'all cool" as they say in Brixton.
What´s your main goal.. Making a lot of money with your remixes/productions or just live a happy, healthy life.. What's your biggest ambition?
I've already reached my ambition really as I decribed in question 4, but I'm still desperate to have an album released which can be available to listen to all over the world - fingers crossed ;-)
Is there one producer / remixer / artist you admire and if yes, who and why?
Not really one in particular but maybe Green Gartside, James Holden and Aphrodite. I think people seem to miss the clear similarity between what Aphrodite was doing with samples 10 years ago and what myself, Duke Dumont, the Ed Banger team, the Solid Groove/Switch family of Sinden & Herve etc are doing now. That's why I keep sample cutting as an important ingredient in my mixes but try to move on with other aspects of a track like melody complexities for example.
Right now my new mates Nightmoves, Herve, Sinden and Duke Dumont are pumping out incredible stuff ;-)
Well you've heard the man. He's ambitious, talented and stable, a perfect combination. With his new album comin' up he gives us all somethin' to look forward to.
Exciting times coming up by the way! Justice album, Kissy Sell Out, Digitalism, Boys noize and so on and so forth.To keep you guys fired up, we include his song Keanu Reeves. Isn't that the man who is "the One"............ The One that can do the closest imitation of an actor who has no emotions? Big up.
Kissy Sell Out - Keanu Reeves (Grunge Version) (zshare link)
kissysellout space / kissysellout podcast / kissysellout site
Roppenzo // 10:21 PM // 4 comments
4 Comments:
totally dope bois!
Indeed! Very nice interview keep it up guys!
kissy seel out is fucking amazing!
im stil trying to get the vinyl from goodooks with his mix on it. its one of my favs tracks to play nowadays but sometimes in argentina it gets pretty difficult to get some records.
keep it up!
Excellent interview. KSO are on fire just now: especially fond of that "We Are Rockstars" remix .. makes my head go fizzy.
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