ForeverKID

Something people don’t know about me, I suppose, would be that I started my career in music by playing guitar in rock bands. I went the college route after high school but immediately dropped out to play with a band. The band didn’t last long and I eventually moved on to other projects. I spent almost 10 years touring the country and making rock and pop records. When my previous group imploded in the summer of 2011, I decided it was time to do something just for myself and by myself. So I got a copy of Ableton from a friend, a couple of VSTs and dove in. I had always been fascinated with electronic music, way back from when I first heard Prodigy’s Fat of The Land and NIN’s Downward Spiral. It was something that I always wanted to get more into, and felt like it was finally time to really make the leap. Honestly, I never thought I would be making the kind of music I am today.

 

Interview

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Home Town: Loveland, CO
Currently Living: Denver, CO
Origin Of Name: About eight years ago I saw the name on a license plate and thought it was cool and it kind of just stuck with me. When I started making electronic music in 2011 and needed a name, I remembered it and here we are. I also have an obsession with never growing up, like Peter Pansyndrome, so it ties in that way for me as well. I also have the word “forever” tattooed across my chest in red.
Weapon of Choice: My own custom Ableton racks that I have built over the years
Source of Power: I honestly don’t sit around and listen to a lot of EDM music. I tend to listen to a lot of rock, alternative and pop—things that are more structured as “songs” and not so much dancefloor bangers. Some of my favorite artists are the Police, Smashing Pumpkins, Led Zepplin, AFI and anything 80’s new wave.

Was there one particular moment in the recording or mixing process for your Discovery Project entry that made you feel like you were creating something pretty damn special?
I had actually made the song “X” (which won the Discovery Project spot) way back in March. It was very much experimentation. The song has a “trap” type feel to it due to some of the percussion elements used, however it draws on a lot of styles (it has a drum step beat, with cinematic soundscapes and rock guitars) I had it pretty mapped out and ready to go, but there was something still missing. Once I added the progressive guitars to it, I knew immediately it was a very special tune.

Are there any dots to connect with where/how you grew up to your musical output?
My parents never forced music on me, or anything. My dad dabbled on guitar a bit. My uncle plays in rock bands even to this day. But music was mostly something I discovered on my own. As soon as I started doing it though, I never wanted to stop.

What do your parents think of what you are doing?
They have been 100% supportive thus far.

What’s the strangest part of your job?
The advancement of technology. Literally creating something from nothing with a computer and some plugins. When I got into music it was instruments and you had to have a band and a studio to get a good recording of a song. Now you can do the whole thing by yourself in your bedroom on a laptop. It’s really amazing how much it’s advanced.

What’s the biggest misconception about being a DJ?
The amount of work that actually goes into it. You can’t just download FL Studio, load up some loops and start playing them out. Well, you can but it’s not going to get you anywhere. It takes months to learn to DJ well and years to learn how to actually produce dance music well. People are unaware of the amount of time put into a song.

How does what you do for a living affect you on a day-to-day basis?
I basically spend every waking minute in front of my computer creating. It’s something I obsess over constantly. Always spawning new ideas and polishing up old ones. I think most my friends actually thought I had just moved away or died for a while. There was a time period where I didn’t leave the house for months.

What is your ultimate career dream?
It’s always been my dream to travel the world performing music and make a sustainable living at it. As long as I am creating and surviving, I am happy. I’d also love to be making music for film and video games, as well as producing tracks for other artists.

Are you impulsive with your work or do you have a sketch in mind before you start?
Every song starts differently. Sometimes I have an idea going into it for a beat or melody, other times I just open up my DAW and start playing around with sound design or loops. Once I get a basic template going for the tune, I just go nuts. Being impulsive and trusting your instincts is extremely important in the creative process. Just getting out of your head and experimenting.

How, if at all, does listening to music figure into your creative process?
Listening to other music has a large impact on my creative process. It inspires me to create my own music. The emotions in music, and what it evokes, is what inspires me the most. I heard some cuts from the new NIN album and immediately got right to the studio. Same with the new Celldweller release.

What’s the most important piece of gear in your studio?
The window to the outside world. I like to be reminded there’s more to life than a computer and a DAW. I need to get out and experience just as much as I need to be in the studio working. The time away is just as important as the time put in.

How important is it for you to experiment and take on the risk of failure?
It’s the most important thing in what I do. Pushing boundaries and challenging myself is what it’s all about. That’s what I live for; I have a hunger for it. The only true failure is to not even try.

Do you have a list of people you’d like to collaborate with in the future?
I’ve been the biggest NIN fan for so long, so Trent Reznor is definitely at the top of the list. His vision for his music is so intriguing. I’ve also always wanted to work with Jade Puget and Davey Havok from AFI, as I am a long time fan of their work. I’d really love to collaborate with Skrillex and Diplo too. They are both such innovators. Always pushing genres forward and exploring new things. I’ve actually had several dreams about working with Sonny, to the point that it’s becoming a bit frightening.

If we pressed Shuffle on your iPod while you went to the bathroom, what would you be embarrassed to come back to us listening to?
I really don’t think I’m ashamed of anything I listen to. Music is all an interpretation. Cyndi Lauper’s Greatest Hits maybe. I think I have a Britney Spears’ album on there somewhere too.

What sound or noise do you love?
I love the sound of the human voice. It’s the easiest thing to connect with because our ears are so accustomed to it. Whether it’s a full sung vocal with lyrics or just a breath or some little held notes. I usually put some sort of human voice element in every song I make.

What should everyone just shut the fuck up about?
This sounds like that, that sounds like this. Blah blah blah. Yeah we get it. Music is gonna sound like other music. It’s just how it is, especially when creating in the same genre, its bound to happen sometimes. I also get annoyed seeing people bash on the success of others—stop worrying about what others are doing and worry about what you are doing.

What gets you excited when you think about the future of electronic music and club culture?
The endless possibilities in sounds and textures. The fact that we don’t need high-end recording facilities with big record label budgets to make quality music anymore. The fact that one person can get out there and perform for thousands.

When you look at electronic music and the surrounding culture, what worries you about the future, what do you wish would change?
Some times when things grow so quickly they also can come crashing down just as fast. EDM exploded stateside over the past two years. The amount of electronic music being made right now is insane. And any kid with a pirated version of FL Studio and some VSTs can start calling themselves a “producer” overnight, just by putting up some generic loops on the Internet. I think that hurts the integrity of the culture a bit. That and the amount of people all doing the exact same sound, biting each other’s tracks. We need to keep moving forward in order for electronic music to continue to grow and evolve. There are two million “producers” on the Internet all putting out the same canned, rehashed dubstep/electro house sound right now. It’s time to evolve.

What are your weaknesses?
I have an extreme lack of patience, which I have been working hard to overcome. That and I want to create so many different things at once. I have so many ideas running through my mind, it can become hard for me to get anything done. I have to really make myself focus in on my tracks to finish them before I go and start 20 more ideas.

Do you have a secret passion?
It’s no secret but I love surfing and traveling abroad.

How would you describe your sound to a deaf person?
Show them a picture of a lion taking down a gazelle with the most majestic African sunset in the background.

Is success physical or internal?
Both I believe. To me success is doing exactly what you want to be doing without compromise.

What do you remember about your first DJ gig?
I played in a small hot sweaty room for about 30 kids. I didn’t know how to mix on decks, so I was just triggering samples and tracks in Ableton with a Launchpad. I had made a ton of mash-ups to play, as I wasn’t playing my own tracks yet because I didn’t think they were good enough. I played about 30 minutes. I remember everyone going nuts when I played Sub Focus’ remix of Rusko’s “Hold On.”

What’s the hardest professional lesson you’ve learned thus far?
Who to trust. There are a lot of people in the music industry (especially) who are just looking for a leg up. They don’t care about you or what you’re doing. They only care what they can gain from you.

Tell me about your most memorable night out.
Performing at Electric Forest is definitely one of the most memorable as an artist. As a fan, I’d have to say seeing Incubus perform for a very small crowd in 1999. They were a favorite of mine, and the place was so bare, you could literally just walk right up to the front of the stage.

What advice would you offer someone thinking about entering the Discovery Project competition?
Make yourself standout and be as unique as possible. Be genuinely yourself, or else you just blend in with the masses of people all doing the same thing. There’s no worse way to get noticed then to be one of the herd. Spend some time—find your sound. The track that I won the spot with was something very off the wall.

Last words?
The importance of finding your own sound as an artist, your voice and how you are going to deliver that to the world.

Winning Track:

 

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