The Kollection

This was a special interview for me. This was a music fan meeting his favorite artist. I was excited and energized – this was one of those nights that made The Kollection worth every minute. My only regret was that we interviewed them at 1:30 in the morning before they headed to their next tour stop, and I didn’t quite feel like I had time to ask everything I wanted. Let’s shoot for an interview round two in a couple years and see what’s changed.

I love Macklemore, I love Ryan Lewis, and ever since these guys started working together the hip hop world hasn’t quite been the same. Their music is beautiful, passionate, meaningful, and real. These guys are the definition of art meets meaning. Below is an audio recorded interview of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. It is meant to be read as a conversation, I have made minor edits to improve the flow of the conversation.

It seems like a while ago, a few years ago maybe, the barrier to entry for what you guys are doing in hip hop was a lot higher. Nowadays anyone with a computer and a mic can create music, get on a blog, and on it goes. Do you care? Does this make you mad?

Macklemore: I think at one point the over saturation bothered me, but it bothered me for the wrong reasons. It bothered me because I felt like I wasn’t getting the attention I deserved. And when you’re that kind of bitter, resentful artist that isn’t getting recognized it’s easy to point your finger at other people that are making music and think that it’s their fault.

Ya know, a couple years later do I care? No, I think it’s great that people are making art. There’s always gonna be people that like, ya know, you listen to their music and think that they might be getting too much credit and ego comes into play, but I think overall if people are recording and people have a computer and have access to making art there’s nothing wrong with that. I think that with Myspace, that was kind of the beginning of the over saturation where people had a player and they could upload it and immediately get feedback, like around 2003, 2004. That was the first that I saw it.

But if the internet wasn’t there I wouldn’t be [here] tonight, and I was and am that same kid with access to a computer who happens makes music, and I love it. And hopefully those people do it because they love it and are progressives.

You’re a rapper. But I hope you realize that you’re a different kind of rapper, everyone else knows that you’re a different kind of rapper. You have a different message, a different style, a different tone – everything about it is unique and that’s why people love you.

Do you get a lot of people that treat you differently, with your message, do you people come to you with a different attitude or a different respect?

Macklemore: I think that in general, the message that’s in our music really resonates with the fans on a personal level and connects with them in a way that is personal. Like, they feel like a part of the music, it’s not just something that’s intangible or far away in the distance. It’s something that’s personal, that’s up close, it’s familiar – it relates on a human level.

Because of that, we have a very strong fan base that is a part of our music and is a part of our movement. It’s hard for me to compare it to other people, because I think that everybody thinks they have the best fan base in the world, and that they have the best fans. But the energy that we’ve experienced at these shows, for this tour in particular, has completely surpassed any expectations that I’ve had. Every single venue has just been incredible in terms of crowd participation and what people say after the show.

I mean, even if a show isn’t the hypest show – you know, like insane energy that a lot of these are – just talking to the people at the merch table and hearing their stories and hearing how they’ve been affected by the music is really inspiring and motivating.

So you did the And We Danced video recently. Are you going through some of your older works now, are you going to get back and do videos for them? I Said Hey and Love Song are a couple of my favorites.

Macklemore: Not videos. With And We Danced we wanted to do that video for a long time. We were very cautious to not have that hit the internet before people knew who we were, and not be know as the And We Danced dude – didn’t want that. So you know we did five videos this year, very different videos, very different songs for each video and you know, we wanted to do a video for And We Danced but it was all about timing. We had a window where we wanted to do a video and we said we think it’s the right time to do it.

Last year you were in Austin, and you kind of mentioned it in your show, but it was a different feel. How does it feel to come back one year later and just – everyone knows your words, everyone’s screaming out Wings

Ryan Lewis: I mean first off, to drive into Austin and have it not be South by Southwest was exciting. Just to see the awesomeness of this incredible city, whether there’s a festival going on or not. But then you know, to play here at Emos and not be playing eight other shows in that 48 hour period, and be able to play a longer set, and the set that you planned and you can invest all your energy into that set…it’s awesome. But to be here, and to sell it out and to headline and do the set that we planned was special. I’d put Austin up there with New York and LA and cities that are so vital to music, it was just a great experience.

Tell us about what you’re working on in 2012.

Ryan Lewis: We’re working on an LP, full length, that will come out in the Spring. That’s what we’re working hard towards – shooting for the spring – we’ve been working on it with the opportunities we’ve had while touring and doing other stuff, and I think January through March we’re going to go as hard as we can to make it happen. I think that, you know, some of the songs we’ve put out will make their way on there, but I think a lot of it is new stuff. I think it’s going to be really good, I’m excited for it.

Do you guys dislike blogs that post the music you’re selling up for free?

Macklemore: Ya know…no. It’s the internet. I’ll take exposure any day over, you know, dollars. That’s just where we’re at. And it’s just great if it’s a website that has traffic that has an avid fanbase that is constantly checking on it and we’re able to get new unique fans from it – that’s much better than the money that translates. Because you know, hopefully those people are the ones occupying these venues and coming to these shows in New York and making these shows sold out. Yeah, it doesn’t really bother me. I do think about it, I do see it, but it doesnt…

Ryan Lewis: I grew up in that generation that downloaded music, and to think that music is something that you can sell as a product, at this point between streaming websites and just how easy it is, is a dumb thought. It doesn’t bother me…it’s doesn’t. I think what you can make off of music to recycle back into your craft and keep going is great, but at the same time I think you gotta work hard and there’s a variety of ways you can keep your machine moving.

Macklemore: I mean it’s out there. If you wanna go to Pirate Bay you can find every song I’ve ever put out. I really don’t have a problem with it. You know, I do well on iTunes. Like I said, I’d rather have a bunch of new people downloading the entire collection and coming to the shows and singing word for word rather than trying to make extra money. It just doesn’t matter.

Last words for Kollection fans around the world?

Ryan Lewis: Thank you for your support – The Kollection is awesome! We hope to see you at shows in the future!

Macklemore: I second that. I will add…you can beat around the bush, as long as you want, but until you get in you’re never going to come…[laughs all around]

By Raave98 December 5, 2011 at 12:02 pm • add @

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Awesome interview, love these guys. Macklemore one of the greatest lyricists of our time teamed up with Ryan Lewis, one of the dopest producers out there. So sick, love the vibe these guys bring to music. Bringing back the love and the passion, can’t wait to see them in MN in a week.

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OnCue Interview

6 months, 1 week ago by Brian

I went down to Austin last weekend for the Dean’s List and OnCue show and had the opportunity to catch up with OnCue after his set. I’m a huge fan of Cuey, ever since I started following him way back in 2010. I remember getting Cueyfornication way back when, and letting this kid’s style grow on me. Throughout the last year, Cuey has gained so much of my respect, taking huge steps in his style and artistic quality.

This is my interview with Cuey – it in an audio recording transcribed, so it should read like a conversation. There were several points where we spun off side conversations, which I haven’t included, so minor edits have been made to maintain the flow of the conversation. Throw on some OnCue, read the video, and support this man on Facebook. Enjoy!

Catch me up on what you’ve been working on – how’s the Pledge to Rage tour going?

The tour’s going great! Tiring, because it’s my first tour, like, I’ve been beat. This is like actually the first night my voice has been close to 100%. It’s just been great, an experience, connecting with these fans. Like, I’m fucking down in Texas! I didn’t even know I had like three people knowing my lyrics down here! The whole experience of connecting with fans and kind of building my chops up, as a live performer, it’s definitely a first. So it’s awesome.

What’s going on with Can’t Wait? You ready to launch?

At this moment, I have to record one more chorus. Um, most of the mixes are done. 88 Keys produced a track on it, Sonny’s on it, Mike Posner did a verse on it [laughs]. He saw Feel Tall, and it was funny, he hit me up over DM on Twitter, and he was dude ‘dude I saw Feel Tall, what’s your number?’ And I used to record a lot in Michigan, so I got a call like five minutes later and I saw the area code! So I talked to him for like five minutes and he was all ‘yo it’s Posner [in dry Posner voice][laughs]‘ It was cool.

It’s just great, know what I’m saying? It’s definitely my most personal project to date, by far. I’m diving into shit that I’ve never really spoken about, just touched upon the surface about before – my personal life, my family life. I’m kind of going more into depth. It’s really an album. There’s only two samples, I sing every chorus except one song.

Tell me about the Feel Tall video – it’s very different than anything you’ve ever done. What was it like making that and watching it come together?

Well, pretty much we knew we had a real strong record on our hands. And it was just the culmination of like everything I kind of stand for, but it was still upbeat and ‘poppy’ kind of, I guess. Me and Adam, the guy who was on stage with me, with the beard, he directed it. Pretty much we both come from a graphic design background, so he did most of the work, but I helped out and shit. Like, before music was paying my bills, I was doing mixtape covers for hood-ass rappers, but I was making good money so I just taught myself how to do it.

We took three months to make it. Shooting it was a bitch.

How many views is it at now?

I think it’s close to 160 [thousand] and besides blogs, we didn’t really do any promotion. No YouTube codes, so it’s cool man. It’s growing, and it’s getting added into rotation tomorrow at MTVU.

Yeah, you won that, congratulations! What went into that, how did you get picked for that?

My DJ knows a lot of people at MTV, and we sent it over and mad people liked it. It’s crazy though, I don’t know if you saw it, but on the website they put me as the main picture too. So it was great.

What happens now, what’s going to come of it?

They’re going to add it into rotation at MTVU, I’m almost 100% sure it’s going to get added onto MTV Jams. I mean, it’s just a stepping stone, you know? It’s a first. We made that video on a sixty dollar budget! Sixty bucks. There’s other videos dude, $20,000, major labels, so it was great!

Tell me about your growth as an artist? Has it been huge steps with songs like Crashing Down and Feel Tall, or has it been a gradual growth?

I would say, every project I gradually grow. I mean, I’m my own worst critic. I don’t listen to Cuey Sings the Blues, I just can’t listen to it. I don’t like listening to it. I just look back and I’m like, nah, I can do ten times better. Leftovers didn’t really count…

I liked Leftovers!

I like it too, but I only did like six new songs for it, know what I’m saying? Those were just old songs that just never really found their way out.

What will you be doing after Can’t Wait? What’s the plan?

There’s a lot of shit going right now. I mean, I’m riding Can’t Wait until the wheels fall off, just because it’s that dope man. There will probably be another tour in the spring. I’m dropping a new video this Wednesday. It’s just as dope as Feel Tall, honestly, it really is. I’m not just saying that, but it’s polar opposite. It’s more It Usually Goes, rather than Feel Tall. It’s a really, really honest record. It’s very cinematic, it’s very moving. It’s like the first moving video I’ve done.

Your music is a lot more emotional that what we normally see on The Kollection – how do fans respond to that? Do people like it, do they ask you for more pop stuff?

I think my real fans want that of me. It seems like lately, just reading search results, people just say it’s so real, he spits what’s on his mind. And I’ve never really looked at myself like that, I’ve just always felt comfortable doing it. I felt awkward always talking about hoes and bitches, you know? Yo, that’s cool and shit, I like fucking too [laughs], but I just felt like that wasn’t me? Know what I’m saying?

There’s a time and place for everything. Kanye and Jay rap about that shit all the time, and I look up to them religiously. So it’s not like all you find in my tape deck is Common and Talib Kweli, like that’s not the case. But I’m definitely lightening up a bit on Can’t Wait.

Are you writing while you’re on tour?

Yeah, I wrote the last chorus today. What I have to do is go in the tour van, you know because we’re stacked in these hotels, and I just go off in the van, plug my phone in, and record.

What’s been the best part of the tour?

New York…was crazy. New York was important – there were important people there, my friends were there. I’m really excited for LA. Austin was really dope, it was on a Sunday so the crowd was smaller, but the place. Like this and Atlanta have been the illest stops yet. I’ll be back here for South by Southwest.

Where will you be this time next year?

Fuck [laughs]. Everyone says five years, or what you want in your career, but a year from now is…like, I can’t be ‘I wanna be forty grammys deep!’

I would like to have a good label home where they’re not trying to jerk me. That’s been the problem – a lot of people don’t understand. It’s too much of this, or too much of this, I just want to be me. I want to be comfortable, and I want to be widely known by next year. I think Can’t Wait will do a lot.

So I’m gonna say…I want as much success as possible that I can handle. You know, sometimes fame, and fortune – a lot of it’s fake. A lot of it can fuck up your edge. So I don’t wanna change. Put that: I don’t wanna change!

Alright, last words to Kollectors and your fans. Go.

Thank you. Look out for Can’t Wait!

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3LAU Interview

6 months, 3 weeks ago by Brian

A couple of weeks ago 3LAU made a quick stop through Dallas to play a show at the Granada, and we had the fortunate opportunity to meet up with him and hang out before the show. We’ve been following 3LAU and supporting his music here on The Kollection since June of 2011, and just a few months later, this young artist has already passed 16,000 Facebook fans. His rapid growth has been fueled by his ear for mashups, his style as a producer, and his energy as a performer.

We showed up to 3LAU’s set a couple hours early, and just started talking with him about music – electronic music, his rise as an artist, the changing music world, our favorite artists, and more. Before I knew it we’d talked for an hour straight and I’d forgotten to hit the record button! Below is a transcribed recording of our interview with Justin Blau. I’ve cut it down – a lot. It seems like we went off and had separate conversations after every question, but here’s the good stuff. This kid is excited with where he’s at, eager to keep growing, and has the energy needed to take over the world. Put on a track, read the interview, and enjoy!

Tell us about how you got started and your inspiration in Sweden.

So I went to Sweden last summer with my best friend Johan and my other good friend Steven, and I had never listend to house music. I only listened to stuff off Pitchfork – Radiohead is my all time favorite band and uh, I went to Sweden and my perspective completely changed. The club scene there – obviously, being 18 and being able to party was a big factor – the music was unbelievable. The vibe of people was unbelievable. And I decided at that point that I really wanted to learn how to produce the house music that I was hearing. I just felt that mashups were an easy way to get started.

So what were the first mashups you made – do you even like them anymore?

[laughs] I started just messing around in Ableton in like, I guess November or October of last year, right after I went to Sweden and learned how to use the software a little bit. Some of the first mashups I did…I’m trying to remember. I did this mashup of Tiesto and Boom Boom Pow [laughs] that was actually…it worked, but it was just interesting. I would play them around campus and people would be grooving to them and all, but they were by no means great. I didn’t even feel comfortable enough with them to send them around or anything, so I felt that I just had to work at it a little.

Then you did Girls Who Save the World in June.

Yeah, I started making a little bit higher quality stuff – just messing with some technique – over winter break, and I actually started making this track called Children E.T. which reappeared on the album as E.T. Youth Takes Shots, just ’cause I added some acapellas. That was the first, I would say, “good, solid mashup” I made. That was around February. I was really excited about that, and a couple blogs posted it around. If you searched for the actual track name it was up on all these European house blogs, which I thought was really interesting, but it didn’t hit the college scene. I wasn’t even really credited for it – which is fine, I don’t expect to get credit for putting other people’s songs together – but it was just a really interesting thing to see.

And then I made I-3low, but the original name was 3LAU That Shit Up and that was also a solid mashup I did around February. Then, I guess Girls Who Save the World didn’t come until around May, because I was really busy with school last year. You know, I tried to do well. Then, when summer hit, I was like I have three weeks before my job starts this summer, and I’m just gonna lock myself in my room and make a ton of stuff. And that’s when I literally did All Night Long and Girls Who Save the World in two days, and stayed up all night to finish Girls. It was literally an idea I had at 9PM and I just stayed up until 10AM the next morning, so excited about it, and then just spammed the shit out of everyone. And that’s where you guys come in! [laughs]

Alright, so you hit the blogs – you’re honestly a nobody, nobody has ever heard of you – what did you start doing after that? Do you have any specific promotion techniques?

The motivation, once I started seeing my name on blogs that friends read – you know, people would tell me like ah, I saw you on The Kollection, or I saw you on Good Music All Day – that was just a huge motivating factor that I’m actually getting my stuff listened to. So I started reaching out to as many people as I could, particularly Kap Slap, Jared. Jared was a huge help. I guess he noticed that I was doing a very similar thing that he was doing, and he helped promote me initially when he already had a solid following for the same genre.

We did a lot of work together at that point, which was crucial to getting my name out there, because he did already have an established fan base.

You did a collaboration with Kap Slap, and then you worked with Sex Ray Vision – tell us what it’s like collaborating online with people you’ve never really met before.

Yeah, it’s a lot of phone conversations. It was never really awkward, as I thought it would be initially, it actually runs pretty smoothly. We’re all artists, in one way, shape, or form, and uh, you know, learning to collaborate was a completely different learning process entirely. Jared and I spent a month making Turbulent Rock Anthem, which was probably the most complex thing I’ve ever worked on, in terms of trying to get everything to fit. It was like twelve songs, and three different random samples, and you know, most people don’t see it, but interestingly enough there was some Sex Ray Vision in that track. Then I got in contact with Sex Ray Vision through Twitter later on, and we both kinda originally used Logic Studio, which was what I used to record guitar and piano when I was younger, so I was vaguely familiar.

Then we started working on that Tiesto project with 24 hours left until the deadline. We made it, and it was voted to number one, so that was pretty cool!

And you didn’t win…

[laughs] Yeah, didn’t win. Unfortunately. But it was still a great experience working with both of them.

If you were going to mentor someone trying to get started in the game, someone saying they want to be like 3LAU and do what he’s doing, what would you tell them? What’s setting you apart right now? Obviously you’re growing faster than any other mashup artist out there – Facebook likes, at least.

Ahhh. Yeah…I dunno, I mean…

Are people out there just not focusing enough on technique, and just listening for what melodies fit in?

In all honesty, and not to reference too many other mashup artists, but there have been quite a few mashup artists that have garnered success only off the fact that they just pack songs with popular styles of music. And being somewhat of an audiophile, you know, listening to that stuff, people listen to it just because it has all their favorite names in it. And I think that was a huge barrier to overcome, for me at least.

The pressure of combining so much stuff versus just making something sound good enough for a high profile DJ to play. My goal in all of this, I want to make house music. I want house DJs to play my stuff in the clubs. I don’t necessarily only want to make stuff for kids listening on their iPods. I want to make stuff that people can dance to live. So that’s kind of how I’ve tried to differentiate myself, and I’ve had to learn the relevant technique to do so. It’s certainly not as simple as pulling an acapella and pulling a track and putting them together. It’s a pretty big misconception that a lot of people have, but uh, it takes some work.

Ok, so now you’re moving on to original production – what are some of the challenges you’re facing, where are you going with that?

It takes a ton of time. I think that working on originals has really been eye opening to me. I’d always made some stuff, and I’m going back through all my old stuff that I was messing around with, and I’m trying to make it a lot more professional. And it is just about the time you put in, it’s not as simple as being a great songwriter – it’s very engineering-oriented, it’s very scientific. Now, I’m still going to put out bootlegs, I will call them from now on, since that’s the official European name for them, but I’m still gonna put them out as they come and as I hear them in my head, but certainly the priority now is taking it up to the next level and making original stuff.

Who are some other artists you want to collaborate with?

Probably my favorite artist right now, not just in terms of style, but in terms of everything he’s about, Porter Robinson is just mindblowing. In my mind he’s revolutionizing electronic music in so many ways that I don’t think people necessarily perceive yet, but people like Tiesto and big names know that he’s big business. I mean he just did the College Invasion Tour with Tiesto, and the new album was…I am mind blown by this kid. He is changing things. Because of his age, no question.

You’ve obviously got some passion for this – where are you going to be in five years? NO! One year? One year from now…

Well, one year from now I’ll be finishing up school. I’ve decided I’m staying. There’s no reason to close doors in my mind, and I have two open doors right now, and I’m just going to keep them open for a little longer. In a year, I hope to be playing Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, then being in my studio, hopefully in California, working on music during the week. That’s the dream, and I’m trying to move there as quickly as I can. I feel like at this momentum I might have a chance, so I’m going to work on it [laughs]!

Do you like dubstep?

Hm. Tricky question…I…like dubstep, but I don’t know if I like the noise that a lot of people are listening to. I’m a huge Skrillex fan, I think Skrillex is extremely talented. People say that he comes out with the same song every time, I completely disagree. Artists like Flux, I like more, I just have a very interesting dubstep taste because I was listening to the Pitchfork indie world, artists like Burial and Skream – original dubstep that was a lot less grimy, I-wanna-rage-and-take-my-clothes-off kinda thing [laughs]. Burial put out this album called Untrue – he’s a UK dubstep artist – that was just really trippy graveyard dubstep music. Nothing grimy about it, very smooth.

Now dubstep has just kind of taken on a completely different form. It’s tough for me to say – I like dubstep, but when people hear that word it’s like a dirty word. Kind of like mashup is to a lot of people too. But I like certain dubstep, and I tend to dislike some of the heavier stuff.

Last words to your fans at The Kollection?

Well, it’s because of you guys that I am here today. I’ll say it, and I will say it confidently, so thank you all for listening and look forward to seeing some more stuff from me soon!

—

In recap, the interview feels so simple, and it really misses the passion that this kid has. Keep an eye out for Justin Blau, he’s doing big things!

Here’s a video shot from the night we did the interview. Much love to Esoteric Films for this one – keep your eyes peeled for our Kollection Banner hanging front and center!

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Meet the Artist: Seryn

7 months, 4 weeks ago by Leanne

Texas’ Seryn have become one of our most featured artists here at the Indie K, and I was lucky enough to get to see their show in Memphis last week and talk with them afterwards. This interview started with Nathan, Seryn’s guitarist, and I drinking PBR in the greenroom of the venue around midnight after the show. It evolved into a 3 a.m. meal at a local diner with nearly the entire band, tape recorder running. The conversation covered far more than what you’ll see below, but I think Seryn fans will appreciate the band’s discussion of their current success, musical style, and hopes for the next year, not to mention the personal quirks and charming moments that give you a sense of how down to earth and personable this group is.

Kollect the three tracks from Seryn that we’ve featured here on the Indie K above, and definitely look out for this band on tour all over the U.S. this fall. The energy and power they bring in their live performance is nothing short of stunning. I literally had to close my eyes at several points and soak in the sound these five people were making. With all that said, I hope you enjoy reading the interview as much as I enjoyed conducting it.

So I know you guys have had a pretty big year: Paste’s “Best of What’s Next”—that in itself is a pretty huge honor. What’s been your highlight of the past year? Proudest moment?

Nathan-Maybe paying the rent. No honestly, for me, being able to say even one time that the band gave me money, and that’s what I used to write the check to pay my rent? That was a big deal. ‘Cause I think lots of people work hard to try to get to that point. It’s a signifier in that it’s a really palatable step towards really the only thing we want to do, which is to be able to make a full time living off of playing music.

(Chris, the drummer / banjo-picker / pump organ-er / guitar plucker / accordion player / bell ringer enters the conversation)

If you guys could open for anyone, who do you think it would be?

Nathan & Chris in unison- Bob Marley.

N- The first thought that popped in my head was God, but then I realized the closest we’ve come to that so far would be Bob Marley. But in real world context, the business / practical / cheeseball answer is Coldplay, but the aesthetic, who do we esteem? answer is gonna be Radiohead.

C-Yeah. Probably Radiohead.

N-But as far as who do we get compared to / fan base answer would probably be Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, Mumford & Sons, Sigur Rós.

Who did the album artwork?

C- Chelsea painted that. We actually worked for like 6 months on coming up with album artwork, and then we threw it all out the window and Chelsea was like, “I have this badass watercolor painting that I did…let’s use it.” So in like one week we scanned it & took like a high resolution photo of it and just used that.”

N-Hey…do you wanna finish the interview at CK’s? Let’s go get food.

(Trenton – lead vocalist, accordian, ukelele, and banjo man along with Aaron – bass, trumpet, & cello man – join us for 3 a.m. breakfast at a local diner)

N-Let me tell you something. This coffee tasted like popcorn and then I added cream to it and now it tastes like women’s shoes. Taste this and tell me this doesn’t taste like women’s shoes.

What’s the difference between a woman’s shoe and a man’s shoe?

N- A LOT. You don’t want to taste my shoe.

What do you guys think about music blogs? What’s your take on blogs like the Indie K that feature free downloads?

N-We would love to make money, but we understand that publicity is more important than a lot of other things. So we understand that you guys are exposing us to your audience. People subscribe to your blog so they can get music, so there’s a mutual exchange going on. It might be nice in the future if your web site were to provide the email addresses of everyone that downloaded our songs so we can keep up with them.

I really like that idea. I’ll talk to Brian about working on that feature. Just to reiterate, the point of it isn’t to make money for us. I don’t make any money. The point is definitely to showcase you guys.

C-Yeah, as long as you’re not putting the whole album up there it’s fine. Because it’s good promotion. In today’s music business world, people don’t watch MTV to find music anymore. People look to the internet to find the music they want to listen to. What you’re doing is saying: here are three songs from this band that you might like; if you like it, take the bait and come to the show, pay the money to get into the show, and pay the money to buy the record.

Who writes the songs?

T-It’s super collaborative. It usually starts with Nathan, Chris or myself coming up with an idea, another person adding to it, and then slowly develops into lyrics.

Favorite song to perform?

T-“River Song” is pretty fun, just because of the high energy.

Where’d the name “Seryn” come from?

C-It came from space.

T-Nope. There were 3 of us, Nathan, myself and Chelsea, and we had our first practice and decided to play our first show two weeks later. So in that two week span we were like, well, we need a name. So we would just write all these different names on a whiteboard, put checks next to the ones we liked, and eventually just decided that Seryn was (phonetically speaking) the most pleasing to listen to, and we also liked that it was loosely derivative of words like “serenity,” “serendipity,” “surrender,” you know.

In a year or so, what would you like to see happening for Seryn?

C-Some more material. Playing more songs than we’re playing right now. Playing bigger shows. We want all of our shows to be like the biggest shows that we played, where we’re selling out, quitting our day jobs, making money from the band, that kind of stuff. And a new record is something we’d definitely like to at least be working on this time next year.

Do you think the next record will be similar in style to This Is Where We Are, or do you think you’ll change it up?

N- By the end of 2012, we will be on the Dubstep branch of the Kollection. True story.

C- When we first got together as a band, we were all huge fans of folk music. We were all listening to Sufjan Stevens, Nick Drake, Fleet Foxes, Crosby, Stills & Nash, you know. So when we got together to write this first record and wrote these 8-10 songs, we were all listening to that kind of stuff. So it was very natural for us to pick up the banjo & acoustic guitar and to have this folk sound. So we have this title as a “folk band” now, which we are to a certain extent, but we are all listening to different types of music now…(pauses)…Trenton, you wanna say something?

T-(grinning) I wasn’t going to say anything. I just smiled real big ‘cause I love you.

C-So it’s been a while since we’ve written songs. We wrote the songs on the first album and then we didn’t really write anything for a while, so now we’re going into the writing process again, and it really is a question of, “we haven’t written anything in a while, what’s it going to sound like? Where are we going to go with it? Are we going to totally change our sound?” The first record was “this is where we are” and the next record should be “where are we going to end up?” Hopefully we’ll find a unique direction no one has gone before.

Thank you!

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Yoni Interview

8 months ago by Brian

We had the chance to meet up with mashup artist and DJ Yoni a couple weeks ago in Austin, Texas, and I’m excited to finally share the official Kollection interview here on the site! Yoni has been a Kollection regular for quite some time now, with most of his mashups taking over the front page. His first mashup we posted, One More Yeah, remains one of the most popular mashups we’ve ever posted on the site.

Besides being a mashup artist, however, Yoni is a very talented DJ. His live set was incredible, and really showcased his different talents and abilities in a real world setting. As the night went on, his show got crazier and crazier, but the man kept his cool and kept a consistent mix of incredible music flowing. Below is our interview with Yoni – take a read and grab his mashups above!

Tell us about your background – where did you get started, and what got you involved with music?

Yoni – Where I got started was at my house, I heard one of the White Panda songs, heard Girl Talk, and I was really interested in doing it. So one night I went home, and I was like ‘I’m gonna sit my ass down, I’m gonna study it, I’m gonna figure out how to do it.’ Took me a couple hours, you know, to figure out logistics. From then on, you know, it grew.

What’s your inspiration for mashups?

Yoni – I feel like the electronic music industry is really growing, and I feel like the way to target the college population is to fuse electronic music with hip hop and pop, and you know, all these other genres that appeal to everybody. I feel like when I hear em, and they mash well, you know, it just clicks.

So what was the point when people started getting in touch with you to do shows, to travel around the country doing this?

Yoni – So I was at school back in February, talking to FSU, Ol’ Miss, and UT where I DJ’ed for Roundup. Ol’ Miss specifically was like ‘really love your shit, wanna get you out here for a show,’ so I just made it happen. Next thing you know I’m here performing.

This all happened pretty fast then, you know? You haven’t been making music for too long.

Yoni – I’d say it first hit the blogs around January of this year. December was when I started actually pumping out mashups that I liked.

There are tons of mashup artists out there trying to get a start. What are you doing to separate yourself and do your own thing?

Yoni – Tough question…you know, I feel like I basically mash live. So, you’ll hear music in there tonight that you won’t hear on my album, and it’ll be like a pleasant surprise. I feel like my unique taste for electronic, and my knowledge of electronic music, really helps my case. Fusing them well, the ear…you know.

So you listen to the Electro Kollection?

Yoni – Of course! All about it, all about it – the future!

Then what’s your advice for mashup artists just starting out, looking to do what you’re doing – playing shows, getting out there?

Yoni – You just gotta hang out on The Kollection! *laughs* That’s about it!

Marketing-wise, how do you do it?

Yoni – Well I got a wakeup call, about two months ago – still in the hundreds of Facebook likes – and I was like, you know, what am I doing wrong? I feel like I have the mashups to be in the thousands. But Facebook, Twitter – I’m on there all the time. You gotta always be promoting yourself. It’s literally a job. You have school, you have promoting yourself, and you have making music – and it’s a full time job you know?

What’s the next project from Yoni? Next album title?

Yoni – I’m working a new track, I might have to alter the name. You guys can throw this up there if you want – it’s called Driftin’ Goblins. It sounds really gay, but uh…*laughs*. It’s a mash between a song called Drift and…I feel like I shouldn’t be revealing this…but We Be Steady Mobbin’ by Lil Wayne. Throw in some Britney, you know, it’s gonna be a party. It sounds really sick right now, I’m really excited about it.

Where are you going with the music? Where are you gonna be two years from now?

Yoni – The next step is definitely producing. I’ve been working a little Ableton, you know, figuring out how to make my own songs. Avicii is the goal *laughs* so that’s my style – maybe a little bit of dutch, throw some dutch in there.

What’s your dream venue to play?

Yoni – Ibiza, I mean it’s a bit overrated. I’m gonna say anywhere I can that I have a huge base – maybe Ultra? That would be amazing. I went there this year and it was nuts.

Give us a quick rundown on production tools you use.

Yoni – As pathetic as it is, I use Sony Acid. A little Sony Vaio, my fingers are like breaking every time I click it *laughs* but yeah, I gotta upgrade soon.

And mixing equipment?

Yoni – Mixing, I use two Numark V7′s, great decks. And I use Serato Itch, and a Pioneer DJM-800.

Highlight of all of this so far – touring, music, production?

Yoni – The girls? *laughs*The support, you know. The going out, hanging out with [people] and then hearing them play my music to pregame to. Amazing feeling. So euphoric.

Any last words to Kollectors out there?

Yoni – KOOOLLLEECCTOOORSSS!!! Uh, give me five hearts! I want all five hearts! *laughs* None of this 3.7 bullshit *laughs* – you know, Kollect on, the site is the shit, the gear is the shit, do it big!

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At Dawn We Rage Interview

10 months ago by Justin

I had the pleasure of seeing At Dawn We Rage perform recently and was graced by their presence for an awesome interview. It’s always a great feeling when artists you admire end up being even cooler in person.They’ve even provided us with some exclusive tracks, just for The Kollectors. So go ahead, get comfy and meet At Dawn We Rage.

Note: The below interview was audi-recorded, then written. Read it as you would a conversation. Also, Travis came in a little after the interview started.

So where are you guys from?

Storm: I grew up in Tucson then moved to Phoenix with family and just kinda been here since then… I’ve lived in random places for like months at a time and toured a bunch since high school with different bands. I worked for my friends bands doing guitar tech and merch for a couple tours and worked with my own bands for a bit but it never really got a full band goin’.

How did that transition into electronic music?

Storm: I got tired of being in a band. Like four other people on the same page was too much. We were havin’ a hard time – I think we went through like 9 singers… ya it was stupid. Between girlfriends, drugs and whatever, you know? This way it’s me. I can play a show by myself, I can write all the music myself.

Where does Travis fit into all of this?

Storm: Um, he helps out when he can. Like playing some shows and stuff and contributing to tracks. We’ve been friends for like years so we hang out all the time and just make tracks.

What artists do you listen to now in this scene?

Storm: I know it sounds cliché but I love what Skrillex and Deadmau5 are doin’, I like a lot more chilled out stuff…like Teflon Tel Aviv and Tycho are some of my favorites… A lot of ambient stuff, I just love more ambient stuff. Oh, Skism, love Skism.

What would you guys say to aspiring producers/DJ’s?

Storm: Don’t pay for school. [Laughs] Seriously! Look at all these people who are like paying so much for this… Like I was gonna go to this one school when I got outta high school but I’m so glad I didn’t do it. I mean I know it sounds like I’m a loser or whatever but I was gonna pay 18 thousand dollars to get a degree… everybody I know that went doesn’t have jobs… the closest person I know that went to school is working at a venue taking out garbage. Well I guess sometimes he gets to hook up the mics [Laughs]. Now it’s almost 22 thousand and like learned everything I know from YouTube and forums – there are a lot of people out there that are willing to help you out. Honestly, just find just find your sound and use Ableton.

Travis: A lot of people just use the same sounds and loop them and shit… like just find your sound and be able to make music not noise.

Ya, something I was concerned about with the whole dubstep genre is like back with Benga and Skream and stuff like that, it was more of the deep, chilled out deep bass music focused more on creativity and production quality whereas now it’s all about throwing silverware into a blender and making a sound out of that [Laughs] Like that’s cool for a while but what do you think is going to keep dub alive?

Storm: Well I think it’s all about originality. Like trying new stuff, a lot of people like what we’re doing because we throw a little more melody into it ya know? You still have the heaviness.

Travis: It still has to be music!

Storm: I wanna hear a song, not just a bunch of sounds thrown together. I mean we do it, we throw sounds together but I still wanna have my parts that make it a song ya know? I’m trying a bunch of new things, I try not to use presets as much as I can. I’ll get on one I like and use it a couple times and as sad as it is I’ll have to retire it cuz it gets over used. There’s so many people that reuse the same sounds over and over again and I wanna hear melody…. It’s the same sounds in every song. I listened to a record the other day that was the same f***ing sound in every song.

It’s funny you say that, don’t you think Skrillex does that a lot?

Storm: Ya… but it’s f***ing Skrillex [Laughs]

What are your guys’ plans for the short term and long term for the group?

Storm: Short term is in the next couple months we’re giving out a free EP that’s almost done, it’s gonna be about for songs.

What’s it called?

Storm: It’s gonna be called Until the Light Takes Us. I like it cuz it’s like At Dawn We Rage and Until the Light Takes Us… it’s a black metal documentary that I really liked. After that we have a couple remixes coming out for Arcasia and Midnight Conspiracy.

Any collaborations or anything?

Storm: Umm not right now…

You guys recently did something with Captain Panic!, how did that happen?

Storm: Ya! Those are our dudes. I went out there for a weekend and just kicked it with them and we wrote that track, it was a lot of fun. I finally finished it in the last couple weeks. I was like ok, it’s time to knock this out, it took like 4 months to finish it… I was just doin so much other stuff…like we kinda overused a sound that a lot of people use in it.

Ya that was the only criticism I heard around that track. People kinda said that it sounds like they found a cool sound a made a song around it.

Storm: Ya for sure… it’s a commonly use preset. It’s sick and wasn’t being used too much when we wrote… but dude, it did really well. It got like 3000 downloads the first day. We were gonna release it on Beatport and everything, but you can’t beat 3000 downloads in a day.

I feel like that’s something a lot of artists overlook these days, even if you give a song for free, the money is made at the shows I feel like.

Storm: Dude. Straight up. We love our tracks charting on Beatport, but even if you’re top 20 on Beatport you might sell a couple hundred. But if you can get thousands in a day, that’s so sick. That’s why we’re doing the EP for free. So many people will share. If we give more for free we’re hoping you might buy a shirt or something… That way the money goes straight to us. More so that online tracks sales.

Travis: Ya we lose like 60% on those sales. It’s the logistics and exposure that comes from Beatport. People take you seriously if you’re on sh*t like that.

Storm: Ya it’s the promoters that wanna know you chart on Beatport. But like, does it really f***ing matter? Who knows? I’m sure it does in some aspect.

Well I know as a fan of music it’s cool to see artists giving sh*t away for free sometimes, shows their all about the music and fans, not necessarily the money.

Storm: Ya we have our own label through Beatport, we’ve worked with Heavy Artillery who are like sickest people…

Who else is on that label?

Storm: Captain Panic! Is on it, this dude Gambit who’s really sick, Figure’s on it… Urban Assault, also really sick.

Travis: Oh! Shout-out to Figure!

Storm: He really repped us out on this last, and it really helped a lot.

You mentioned earlier that it took 8 months to get that Captain Panic! Track out, what’s the average time investment in a typical track for you guys?

Storm: I’ll finish a track in a day, man. If it doesn’t get finished in a day, it won’t get finished.

Travis: Maybe we rearrange a few things but for the most part it’s finished.

Storm: I’ll hear a sound or get an idea and in like 3 or 4 hours it will probably be done. Then I’ll play it out… like tonight, we played a few songs I wrote a few days ago.

Travis: It’s like an artist man, he don’t paint one stroke at a time every day, ya know?

Ya, I like that. Good way to put it.

Storm: Sometimes I’ll play a track out and it the crowd won’t react well, which sucks cuz I may love a song but sometimes it isn’t a crowd song… Most do well and those go on a record.

What does it look like for you when you get a track going? Is there like a sound you hear and think that would be sick in a track?

Storm: I just come up with sh*t man. I have a template in Ableton that I use. I’ll just open that up.

Travis: One of the crazy things that’s been happening to both us is we’ll get to like the brink of like, “OK, no more, let’s pick it up tomorrow” and then right there it snaps and then you get the best sounds.

Storm: A little marijuana helps too… [Laughs]

Travis: Ya a little herb does help!

Storm: I think it helps with mixing the most, like I’ll smoke and just focus on shit. A lot of people talk shit on people who smoke but dude, I’m so f***king productive [Laughs]. I dunno, I’m just a productive stoner. Like the other day, I re-did our website, did a bunch of promo for our tracks, and finished some projects – all within a couple hours! I was like, “Ya, that’s what’s up.” I’m just not lazy I guess.

Travis: Honestly, this might be the first show we played not high! [Laughs]. Everything that At Dawn We Rage is, was accomplished high as f*ck.

Storm: We actually have a whole other company called At Dawn We Blaze. We wanna get into like the whole merchandising side of the music scene. We’re working whit company out of Colorado called Silver Surfer Vaporizers and we’re gonna get grinders custom made, we wanna get glass custom made too.

Travis: They actually do powder coating and everything. Super legit.
Be sure to keep me in the loop with all this. Sounds amazing.

Storm: Ya for sure [Laughs]. There will always be stoners man. I mean look at Seedless or LRG. They’re marketed towards that whole scene. With At Dawn We Blaze, we’re not encouraging drug use or anything, just tapping into the market that’s already there and just in the electronic music scene.

Travis: Ya we’re not promoting drugs. Just to be clear.

One question I love to ask is if you guys weren’t making music what would you be doing?

Storm: I don’t know. I don’t know anything else.

Travis: Maybe graffiti? Jail? Who knows.

Storm: I’m at a point where it’s all I wanna do. That’s what makes me happy. Maybe cooking? I just hate school. I’d be down to fly planes or something.

Storm: I just need music. I love making music and touring and that’s all I wanna do. Even when I was in a metal band, that’s what I loved. Honestly, I still dream about being in a metal band again. All of my friends bands got huge and I used to play with them. But I’d much rather get paid to press buttons and go jump around and have a good time then worry about that. More of a luxury like doing EDM stuff.

Travis: Ya it’s always something I’ve been really into and it will always be a huge part of my life. Like since I was a kid that’s all I wanted to do. And that’s what brought us two together: he’s great on the music side and I do all the graphic stuff. Music’s always been around to take care of us.
Well I’m glad you guys do what you do. You’re definitely taking off so it’s going to be cool to watch as that happens with all the apparel and other stuff you have in mind.
Storm: Ya dude, we have so much sh*t comin’, I wanna make an empire out of this. I want our name to be like a movement almost. It fits so well in the EDM scene.

How did your name come to be by the way?

Storm: It was gonna be the name of my metal band and it just kinda stuck.

Travis: In a lot of ways I think it kinda tied us back into that metal scene.

Storm: Ya, we get a lot of YouTube comments saying our stuff is pretty heavy, and we’re like “Ya, cuz it was gonna be a metal band!” [Laughs] We sell a lot of shirts to Norway for some reason… probably cuz of the metal scene there.

I feel like a lot of the kids previously in the hardcore/metalcore scene made the easy switch to dubstep or bass music because of the parallels in intensity and whatnot. I mean the breakdown in a metal song is similar to the drop in dubstep.

Storm: Exactly.

Well, do you guys have anything else you wanna say?

Storm: The record comes out hopefully be the end of July, it will be free, we’ll be sure to send it to you guys! Please tell your friends!

Travis: On that note, we LOVE all of our fans, thank for all the support. Seriously, we are super stoked to have you guys as fans.

Storm: Yes, it means a lot that you guys like our music. It’s our form of art so for you guys to like it gets us stoked cuz by the end of a track I hate it [Laughs]. And it’s never been about money, we just love the experiences and meeting new people.

These guys are honestly some of the most focused, down to earth artists around right now. It was great talking with similar minded individuals who simply love listening to and making music. They have a unique sound that is very distinguishable among a flooded genre so I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of ADWR. If you have the chance to see them live, I highly recommend it. Their shows are animated and captivating and the dudes behind the equipment are as charismatic as they are talented. Hit their Facebook if you haven’t already and be on the lookout for more At Dawn We Rage!

By Nick G. July 21, 2011 at 1:41 pm • add @

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Hey first off the Dub crunch break beats are sick. Secondly I’m stoked to hear that a someone made it onto Kollection from T-town… after all we actually do have some sick dj’s. keep up the songs

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Meet the Artist: Seryn

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Yoni Interview

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At Dawn We Rage Interview

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