Kelvin K Interview
Where are you and how the heck are you?
“At the moment I am in Brighton, listening to jazz and relaxing before heading out to LA then SF to see friends and play. I’ve been living in Brighton for the last seven years. On a personal level am good, I’m blessed with good people in my life. Money is not abundant but I survive and most importantly I am happy. It sounds cliche but music in all forms makes me feel content. I tried stepping away and figured that out. It’s a tough time for everyone but I still feel blessed.”
You’ve done a bit of traveling over the years… San Francisco, Philadelphia and now back to Brighton, UK. How have those places influenced you musically and where do you like best?
“That’s a good question. I will take the influence bit first. In terms of influence, SF has got to be highest on the list because it’s where I got exposed to House and became involved. SF has always had some incredible djs and listening to them week in and week out certainly helped frame my ideas about what I like. Also, it was just a magical time in the early 90′s coming off of some pretty hard times in the states. With the risk of sounding cliche again, the parties really were amazing back then. Ironically, the first djs to really expose me and a whole lot of other people to what was primarily American music back then were from the UK. To this day they still have a huge influence on SF.
Next Philly – I guess this is where I got exposed to a more East Coast style of House and that broadened my perspective. In SF it was more Chicago Acid and had that SF pscyhedelic twist – dubby. But in Philly I got exposed to a more vocal and soulful side as well as more techno influenced stuff. I went out looking for House and ended up latching on to nites that King Britt and Josh Wink were doing, along with some of the other great local Philly Djs. I was only in Philly for a few years, but that experience really shaped my appreciation of the Philly/NY/NJ sound.
Now Brighton – Brighton is really where I have started to produce. Living by the sea and having more time generally here than the states has been great. I think Brighton is where I’ve really started to try and put together all of my influences and start to develop my own take in the studio. It’s a learning process and I am progressing constantly.
And now to the LIVING question! It’s a real toss up between SF and Brighton for me. I loved Philly, but I was always a West Coast boy and Brighton feels more familiar with its laid back vibe. I love living in the UK for all sorts of reasons, especially because I like to travel to foreign countries. It stretches your mind. It’s quick and relatively cheap to do that compared to the states, where you are so far away. But, SF is a fantastic place to live. California’s people, and it’s weather just nice. Not to mention Mexican food, which I love. If I could I would live half here half there!”
Time for a quick USA vs UK showdown, which side of the pond do you favour for…
“Sport? Gotta be UK. I love football. Proper football that is :)
Food? Gonna be the states here. It varies where you live there, but SF has amazing food and varieties of food. It wins on the Mexican food alone!
DJing & Parties? That’s a tough one. I’d probably say the UK for djing because there’s always been more support for our music here. Probably the same for parties, but my best partying memories are in San Francisco.
Lifestlye? UK. I am really into life balance and not working all the time. In the US it’s all about work work work. Also, where I live, I don’t even need a car. In the states it’s basically a necessity, because public transport is terrible in general. You don’t realize how much of your life you are wasting in cars and traffic until you break free. I am a huge public transport fan.
Girls? “I wish they all could be Californian girls”. Nuff said?”
Which artists are currently exciting you within house music?
“Franck Roger, Shur-I-Kan, Jovonn, Deepblak, Patrick Turner, Marlon D, Iz, Abicahsoul, Brother’s Vibe, JT Donaldson, Fred Everything, Replika, Jay Tripwire, DJ Fudge, Ron Trent, Pete Dafeet, BitterSuite etc… just good House not some microcosm genre. And of course the classics always excite me – Earth People “Dance” gets me going as much as ever and I am a big Jerzey Boy fan.”
And away from house, what other styles of music and artists are you into?
“I’m listening to Jazz now but I also listen to the Blues sometimes. A fair bit of Funk and Hip Hop and classic Soul and R and B. Good rock and Ska, mostly older stuff for me. Artsits like Webster Lewis, John Coltrane, Muddy Waters, Parliament, James Brown, Gangstaar, Black Sheep, X clan, the whole Atlantic Soul roster especially Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Rolling Stones, Kinks, Specials etc. I love classical too, but I don’t know many of the composers, It chills me out and it’s great to do office stuff to.”
We’re very excited to have you on Lost My Dog, can you tell us a bit about your forthcoming release ‘Basement Vibes EP’?
“Well first off, thank you. I feel proud to join a group of producers that have come before me on such a quality label. The EP sort of reflects my feeling that we can’t forget the roots of House in our efforts to constantly advance. Progress is great, but I think that simple House that it’s all built on can be just as moving. I guess I was sort of feeling what a lot of other people were at the time because we seem to be seeing a resurgence of that raw sound.”
Have you got anything else coming up we should look out for?
“I’ve got an EP due out shortly on Hudd Traxx. It’s a bit more dubby, but still influenced by that retro vibe. I’ve also just signed an EP to Conya so that should be out soon, and there’s some unreleased versions of older trax in the pipeline. I’ve got some remix requests too, so maybe some remixes.”
And finally…have you seen our dog?
“Nope. But I promise to keep looking.”
