1. Growing Up
I used to have to ride this bus for an hour or so to get to school, it was out in rural NSW so we always had the same driver and he would blast ’80s nu-romantic and synthpop the whole ride, everyone from Duran Duran to New Order and Tears For Fears to Depeche Mode – I think that informed a lot of what I like about structure and emotional drive within music. When I turned 12 I became obsessed with hip hop; I still am, it’s the energy and the rawness of that that really hooked me in.
2. Inspirations
So many – guys like The Crystal Method, Unkle, Roni Size and Hybrid really kicked it off and there’s about a thousand newer acts who have kept that going. To be honest though, it’s mostly its non-dance acts that really draw me in – recently it’s been a lot of Cog, Editors, old Outkast and A$AP Rocky.
3. Your Crew
It’s myself and the other Paul [Richter] who have been producing tunes under the Karton moniker for about ten years now. We started out writing a lot of breakbeat and have touched on dubstep and house – these days it’s just lots of bass music. We like to use the talent of those who can sing much better than us so we’re constantly working with different vocalists.
4. The Music You Make
The Bass Bombs tour is all about capturing the Klub Kids sound so it’ll see us rolling through glitch hop, dubstep, moomba, drum and bass, drumstep and maybe even some breakbeat. It’s really about playing the tunes we like and having fun with the people. If it’s got a heavy bassline and a somewhat interesting melodic progression, it’s likely that we’ll play it.
5. Music, Right Here, Right Now
The scene at the moment is so strong, the internet has democratised everything so every good tune can find an audience and it’s less about what label a record is on and who’s playing it. That’s great for audiences but it can also make it harder for producers to get heard, which isn’t a bad thing as it rewards you for being unique and finding ‘your’ sound.
Bass Bombs launch ft. Karton (Klub Kids) at Chinese Laundryon Friday November 29 with support from Brooklyn Zoo,Hydraulix, Pop The Hatch, Autoclaws, Bassriot, Struz and Bocue.
