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You are here: Home / Interviews / Keys N’ Krates Interview – May 14th, 2009

Keys N’ Krates Interview – May 14th, 2009

May 17, 2009 By Max Specht Leave a Comment

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Keys N’ Krates are a group who have proclaimed that they have “Re-Invented The remix”. I recently got a chance to ask them a few questions about their live show, touring, and “Yo Gabba Gabba”. Here’s what they had to say.

 

 

 

Please introduce yourself and your role in Keys N’ Krates?

This is Matisse the  co-creator, keyboardist, and mic man

How did you get started, what is the origin behind the group?

Basically Flo was working in the dj world and wanted to work more
closely with musicians.  I was coming off a lot of experience working
with bands and musicians but really wanted to cross into the Dj world.
We both had this idea about what could happen if you mixed djing with
live music in a club setting.

We had a mutual friend who introduced us.  We started jamming out and
vibing with each other and realized we had a lot of good ideas.  I
told my long time friend and drummer Adam Tune about the project and
he thought it was dope and joined in as well.  We locked ourselves in
a rehearsal room for 6 months and came up with our first live remixing
show.  The idea has been evolving ever since.  Even we don’t know
where we will end up.

Your myspace prominently displays the message “we re-invented the
remix” could you please elaborate on that?

 We combine sampling, turntablism,keyboards, and drumming to produce
remixes and we do it all 100% live.    We remix old tracks known or
unknown and repackage it to the masses with our own spin on it. The
fact that we are performing it all live has never really been done
before.  Hence we re-invented the remix.

Which of your remixes do you enjoy the most, or found particularily
interesting in one way or another?

mmm my favorite live remix of ours right now is our alliyah -one in a
milli remix.  There are a lot of cool musical elements we brought to
that track.  The way we flipped the beat and added the middle build up
section to me is siccckk.  I’m also a fan of our live remix C.E.O.  We
took that one and turned it into this epic almost movie soundtrack
arrangement.  The crowd always rocks out to it when we do it.

How do you feel thus far about your tour and the crowds you’ve been
performing with?  
I love touring. Love it!
 Some people get sick of it but so far I can’t get enough of it.   I
live to be on the road.  Even love the food.  The crowds have been
good to us where ever we end up.  Screaming and dancing like they’re
at a rock concert.
What can people expect from your shows that they wouldn’t find at just
any other club show?
 Our musicality for one.  A lot of bands start
playing live and kinda learn their instruments as they go.   All of us
are very good at our individual instruments and we take pride in
putting together a musically challenging performance. 

Also we have a lot of fun while we’re on stage and get really into
what we’re doing.  I think our fans pick up on that energy and that
gets them partying even harder.

If you had the ability to collaborate with any contemporary artist who
would it be?  
Y’know its funny but  I would really like to remix
Alicia Keys.  That’s just me though as a  fellow pianist and singer.
If you could be responsible for any one hit wonder in history, which
would it be?   
I would’ve wanted to produce the song Baby got Back by
Sir Mix a lot.
That song is the shit and I’d still be getting royalty checks haha
What is one musical trend or fad that you can’t stand and why?

Aaarrrrggghhh  Twitter and the music industry.

I have an account and I can’t stand the damn thing.  I mean who cares
what the hell I’m up to everyday.  Seriously?  Its an unfortunate evil
that we have to use it online.   I know some people are gonna fight me
on that.   But what is this thing and why do people find it
entertaining to read someone else’s pointless updates about eating
eggs in the morning?  I mean what the fuck is a twitter anyway?
TWITTER me?  C’monnnnn

On the group’s blog, JR Flo mentioned that he would want to be on the
show Yo Gabba Gabba one day, if you had the oppurtunity to be on the
show what subject would you want your song to be about?

If I was on there my song would be teaching kids about the dangers
of eating KFC.  I’ve eaten a lot of KFC in my day and kids let me warn
ya.
But…I….can’t……STOP.

Who are some other people in your genre of music that you feel are
talented and about to break?  
I don’t really pay much attention to
what other remixes are out.  I kinda just listen to good music.  I do
pay attention to other Canadian artists. Obviously Drake is gonna be
big.  I’m a fan of Zaki Ibrahim as well.
Thank you very much for taking time out to do this interview, any last
words for our readers at Driven Far Off?   
Yeah, Don’t do drugs.
Thanks goes out to Jesper for arranging the interview and Matisse for taking time out to answer the questions.

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