I’ve been involved in music my whole life. I used to play in a few bands, playing guitar, but was pretty frustrated by the limitations of the instrument, or maybe my limitations as a player. A few years ago I ‘discovered’ electronic music in a big way and this changed everything for me. I basically listened to a lot of stuff from labels such as Morr Music, Warp and 4AD and realized there was so much interesting and different music out there. Bands like Sigur Ros, Mum, and Bjork were early influences for me (funny they are all from Iceland).
I decided to start messing around with different programs and basically taught myself how to write beats and mess around with synths. The result of that initial experiment was my first EP which came out a few years ago. Lately I’ve been spending time writing and remixing for other artists which has been a really great learning experience.
How do you make your music?
Karoshi as a project has taken a few turns over the last couple of years. I started out just writing stuff at home by myself which was kinda cool, but I definitely craved having the input of other people and especially in the live side of things. So with the new album, Sleepwalker, which comes out this month, I decided to spend more time in the studio, recording live drums, guitars and vocals, and kinda expanding the sound in a big way. I still tend to do a lot of the writing myself as a first step in the process, but I am really reliant on the feedback from Dave (drums) and others to finish things off.
In terms of writing, I use a mix of software and hardware etc. The staple of my setup would probably be Logic, running Ableton Live and Reason. I am really loving the flexibility of Ableton in manipulating samples and time warping – especially in the live show. It gives us a chance to improvise a bit more and mess around with plugins on the fly. It is such a powerful program. Very cool.
I come up with ideas in heaps of different ways, but I mostly start with a beat of some kind – something I had in my head, or something just by mucking around. I will then spend a lot of time searching for the right sounds for the feel I am trying to create. I guess the structure of the song is probably the thing that comes last as I try to turn the different ideas into a cohesive song.
Although the album probably sounds very electronic, we have a bunch of other instruments on there, including melodica, piano, guitars, drums and percussion. Some of them are unrecognizable by the time they are on the album, but I did really like playing around with audio a lot more. It was really cool recording live drums too. We booked a studio for the day and laid down a bunch of takes for each track, and then Jordy (Producer) and I painstakingly went through each take and mixed and matched the best ones.
When do you best make your music?
I just spent a couple of months in Berlin in the depths of Winter, checking out the music scene there and writing during the day. I was holed up in my room in Kreuzberg with my laptop and a controller for hours on end, just getting different ideas down for later use. I really need that lack of distraction to get things moving creatively. Summer in Sydney has too much going on – I can always procrastinate by going to the dog park in Newtown or going to the beach! So Berlin was a really cool way to start working on new stuff.
You have a new album coming out soon, can you describe how it will sound?
I guess it is pretty different to what I have done in the past. My EP had a kind of cohesive sound – downtempo IDM I guess. But I wanted to try other things with the album and get a much bigger sound overall. There are some tracks on there which could be called ‘post-rock’, and others that are straight up electronica or pop. I’m really proud of the range/dynamics of the different tracks, and I think it marks a pretty important step for me in terms of my composition and production skills. Let’s hope others think its good too!
The live show is going to be exciting too. At the launch we have 3 singers, a marimba player, a guitarist, and me and Dave on laptop/synths and drums. I cant wait!!
How does it feel getting played on the J's?
Oh man. It was a bit of a dream come true really. Growing up listening to Triple J I always thought it would be so cool to get a song played on there. I’ve now had a few different tracks played on different shows and hopefully when the album comes out they pick up one of those tracks as well. On one hand I am just so happy with what I have achieved already, but there is also so much I want to do from here. At least I can say I have fulfilled some of my childhood aspirations.
Is karoshi your only music project?
At the moment it is, especially with the album coming out, and preparing for a live tour among other things. But I have some plans in the pipeline for another band, and some other collaborations. I like a whole lot of different music, so I guess its only natural to want to express all these things in different ways. After being in Berlin I am kinda hooked on the idea of DJing too. In fact, I’ll be DJing at a music festival in April for the first time which will be real cool.
Which local Sydney acts are you digging at the moment?
There are so many amazing producers and bands at the moment coming out of Sydney. It makes me feel quite inadequate actually, knowing the standard. I am really into what Collarbones are doing. I was hoping to get them to play at my album launch, but one half of the group is stuck in Adelaide for the time being, so we have Marcus (one half of Collarbones) coming to do a thing with Cleptoclectics. That will be cool to see. I have been listening to the new Peon album heaps. Cool wonky synth laden beats with some nice sampling. And of course, Ghoul – love those guys. They are really talented guys and I know they are going places.
Favorite place to eat in Sydney?
Anything in Newtown – which usually means Thai.
Place/thing you would most like to see/do in Australia?
I keep getting drawn back to the far north coast of NSW. I love it up there. I would love to be able to spend some time up there, writing music and exploring the rainforests and beaches. I particularly like Bellingen and Byron Bay (of course). If anyone out there ever wants me to play in Byron Bay I would be there in a second!
What is the future of you and your music?
Doesn’t everyone say ‘world domination’? I don’t know really. We want to promote this album, and tour a lot, and then think about the next album. I can really see it going in a post-rock, synth heavy, distorted drums kinda feel.
I’m really keen to play to bigger audiences though – or at least new audiences. That’s why we will probably try and get some support slots and maybe a festival gig or something. But in the meantime, we are going to keep playing, and hopefully people like what we are doing. I’m going to keep remixing and writing and see where it takes me…
How has the Internet helped get your music out there?
I guess the internet is good for more music business type stuff – I mean, it helps with booking gigs and finding other bands and promoting your stuff, but nothing beats playing live and also people hearing about you through community radio and the like. That said, I have always had people contact me randomly on myspace or last.fm or whatever and say they discovered my music by chance and so that is a really cool aspect of the internet and music. Also the ability to sell your music on your own is invaluable, especially being an independent artist up until very recently. It is pretty easy to find ways to sell your music or get it out there if you aren’t on a label, which I thought was pretty cool when I was writing music in my bedroom!
If you were to design a music sharing website how would it look?
I want to see musicians/artists taking more creative risks. I think streaming your music or whatever on a myspace page is ok, but it does seem a little boring or passé these days. I just heard about a certain band touring here soon who is releasing a thumb drive with 100 tracks, heaps of videos, photos, and other stuff – I think that is the future of music sharing. Really returning to the idea of adding creative value to things and giving the listener a different experience. That’s what I want to see, and something I hope to be able to explore in my own music in the future.
Details:Karoshi Album Launch – March 12 at Tone, Surry Hills. Tickets through Moshtix.
Supported by Telafonica, Jack Colwell and the Owls, Scissorlock vs Cleptoclectics
Debut album ‘Sleepwalker’ in stores and online through Other Tongues on April 1
Other gigs:
March 11 – Croatian Club, Newcastle
March 24 – 303, (Northcote) Melbourne
April 8-9 – DodgeFest, near Goulburn
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