RYKR

Bringing devastating basslines and infectious melodies to listeners everywhere, RYKR embodies music in everything he does. His productions are filled with blistering compositional ideas and sophisticated sonic weaponry to rival the greatest producers in music today. Styles ranging from electro to drum and bass, house, dubstep, glitch hop and beyond, no musical boundary will be left unexplored. Forged in the trenches of the practice room, the stage and the studio, RYKR looks forward to taking his unique and polished musical style to clubs and festivals around the globe for years to come.

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Music is but one aspect of my creative mind. I view all peoples’ senses as canvases, and music is the part of my creativity that tries to understand, absorb and express my sense of hearing to the rest of the world. For me, though, sound is my chief form of sensory expression, as I seem to understand it more than my other senses, so music happens to end up being my principle art form. Music has been in and around me since I was a very young child, and since it represents one of our principle senses, I do not foresee it disappearing from my body of expression anytime soon. When I create sound, I think of it from a very fundamental perspective, which is combinations of frequencies and rhythms. Everything I do with music is derived from this perspective, which I feel opens up my mind to be more divergent, and therefore, more creative. My relationship with music is a bit of a love affair, with the occasional quarrel or break-up, but we always seem to make-up and get back together again. Since our senses are so intrinsic to understanding the world around us, sound and music will undoubtedly continue to play a crucial role in my existence for a long time to come. I look forward to what I may express tomorrow.

 

Interview

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Home Town: Fullerton, CA
Currently Living: Los Angeles, CA
Origin Of Name: My name is Richard, but that a little boring, but in Dutch, Richard is Ryker, which sounds much more interesting. I took the e out to make it shorter, hence RYKR, in all caps.
Weapon of Choice: My eternally inquisitive mind.
Source of Power: My endless drive and determination.

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?
With everything that I write, there comes a moment when it really excites me, and that’s the moment when I know that I might have something special. When I say ‘excite’ I don’t mean an initial moment of adrenaline rushing through my body. I’m speaking about a profound feeling that is derived from the combination of ideas, sounds and production quality that comes from fighting the speakers until I’m finally getting the sound that I’m looking for.

Are there any dots to connect with where/how you grew up to your musical output?
I fell into music at a young age, almost by accident. Growing up as a kid in LA, I somehow found myself involved in the acting game, and through that I ended up meeting some people who ran a racket in the music biz involving child vocalists for hire. I started singing on records, movies, TV shows, etc., in studios around LA between the ages of 8 to 12. It was fun and engaging, but that winded down and I became more involved in athletics in my early teens. Somewhere around 15 or 16, I got back into music from the writing, producing perspective, and have never looked back. I also have a bachelors degree in music composition and performance from Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, CA bachelor’s salary experiences I had in the music world really shaped my love and devotion to the art of sound.

What do your parents think of what you are doing?
They are perfectly fine with what I’m doing. In fact, they would be very upset with me if I was not following a dream. They worked very hard during my childhood to steer me in a direction that I would want to go in. They had no legacies that they wanted me to amplify and improve upon. They simply wanted me to be me.

What’s the strangest part of your job? What makes you shake your head in wonderment about being a DJ and producer?
I actually find it all very normal. Remember that I grew up as an artist from a young age, so I can honestly say that I find the ‘real’ world much more strange than the ‘art’ world. But the girls, that is strange to me. When people throw themselves at you, simply because of your status, that’s weird to me, and not at all attractive.

What’s the biggest misconception about being a DJ? Or, what would people be surprised to find out about the profession?
The lifestyle, of course. These days for DJ’s it’s airplanes, hotels and studios, most of the time. Performing is only an hour or two, tops. Everything else is endless travel and work. The moments when you live it up can be truly epic, but it’s really just a never-ending grind.

Tell me about your most memorable night out as an artist or as a fan.
When I was performing at Nocturnal, actually. While I was spinning, my girlfriend spotted a group of scantily clad girls in barely there firefighter outfits in the crowd, brought them up on stage, and slapped my artist sticker on their bodies and took a picture. That was rad.

Do you have any memorable moments from past EDC’s or any other Insomniac party?
See the above answer.

How does what you do for a living affect you on a day-to-day basis? How, if at all, does it affect your friends and family?
I sleep in every morning and all my friends are jealous, unless they’re doing it too! But the biggest difference is doing something on a day-to-day basis that I truly enjoy doing. That is a blessing and a joy. Sometimes I get burned out, but the flame will always flicker back on.

What is your ultimate career dream? (i.e. get on Oprah).
Just to reach the pinnacle of my potential. I don’t want to look back on my career and feel that I didn’t go as far as a possibly could, or make as much great music as I possibly could. I don’t define my success by any single event or achievement. I just want to fulfill what is inside of me. This is the source of my drive. That and chicks.

Are you impulsive with your work or do you have a sketch in mind before you start?
I never stop writing, to be honest. I’m of the opinion that creativity does not work on a schedule, so neither do I. I’m always on call to my muse, and when an idea comes, I capture it using modern technology. I will use my studio time to develop and produce the ideas that I capture anytime and anywhere.

How, if at all, does listening to music figure into your creative process? What’s the last song you heard that made you drop what you were doing and go into the studio?
I can’t remember, to be honest. Maybe Madeon’s remix of “Raise your Weapon”. I’m really just searching inside of myself for ideas. I’ve listened to enough music is my life that it’s usually not something externally that sparks me anymore. It’s usually my internal ideas that propel me into the studio to compose and produce. I don’t mean to sound arrogant, I just feel that there is a diminishing return once you’ve reached a threshold of musical saturation in your life as an artist. At that point, one starts to turn even more inward to mine inspiration, and it’s usually there, embedded in your musical DNA, through all of the music that you have absorbed over the course of your life.

What’s the most important piece of gear in your studio and why?
My mind. Everything else is replaceable. But my laptop is also damn expensive.

How important is it for you to experiment and take on the risk of failure?
This is vital. Without experimentation, nothing would evolve and change. If nothing changed, then we would all be very bored. That doesn’t seem to stop some artists, but that’s ok. I feel that the culture is very good at self-correcting as it runs it’s course.

Do you have a list of people you’d like to collaborate with in the future? Why specifically would you like to collaborate with this person / these people?
No, not really. I take collaboration as it comes, and the majority of the time I focus on building my own creative output. I do like to collaborate, however, it’s just that I don’t really seek it out. I try to let it happen naturally out of conversations and friendships, rather than calculated business decisions. But in the end, business does seem to be business sometimes, even for the most noble and idealistic of us…

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?
What’s an iPod? I mean, seriously? but, maybe Phil Collins, I don’t know.

What sound or noise do you love?
One hand clapping. And the heartbeat.

What should every just shut the fuck up about?
IDGAFOS. I don’t listen to anybody about anything, really. Peoples’ opinions are a reflection of themselves. If somebody loves my work, I’m flattered. If somebody hates my work, person’s fine as well. The amplification of negative voices online is really an anomaly and is not representative of the collective conscience of a community at large. It simply does not concern me at all what anybody else thinks about almost anything. If I know somebody well and I value their own personal opinion, it is because I know that person to be intelligent, insightful and genuinely interested in sharing a helpful and additive opinion with me. If I don’t care about a person’s opinion, it is either because I don’t know them, or I find their opinion to be caustic, defensive and venomous. or at least kind of dumb. But I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt and try not to assume anything negative, or even positive, about anybody. This is super tough sometimes, but I still try.

What gets you excited when you think about the future of electronic music and club culture?
The eventual acceptance of artistic individuality. I want to see a musical landscape where even the most absurd and radical fringes find an audience and a living wage, in a world where the Icarus deception has been exposed, and every person creates their own brand of art. I think this is hurtling towards us at an unbelievable pace, and it’s the current and future generation that will be the catalysts for this cultural transformation. The connection revolution is amplifying and rewarding true individuality and brave, original art. This is most evident in the world of electronic music, in my opinion.

When you look at electronic music and the surrounding culture, what worries you about the future?
The adherence to musical trends. It saddens me to see artists literally copying each other to try and break through the circuit floor. I feel that if anything can derail our collective pursuit of cultural and artistic transcendence it is fear. Fear of failure, fear of weakness, fear of ridicule and fear of the unknown. The most successful artists may be undermined by the most lecherous. I fear this more than anything, ironically.

Do you have a secret passion?
I try not to hide any of my passions, but I’ll let you know if I find a new one.

How would you describe your sound to a deaf person?
I would invite them to come to a show and feel it with their bodies. Stand next to a 10-foot tall subwoofer and let the waves wash over their body. Being deaf is a severe limitation, to be sure, but music can still be enjoyed on different levels for those who are less fortunate.

Is success physical or internal?
Success is simply when you have decided that you have succeeded, physically and/or internally. The point is not to be vague, but to realize that we define success for ourselves, not anybody else. If we let others define success for us, then we are enslaved by their opinions. If we can break free from the status quo and dare to define our own success, then we can chart our own path without internal resistance and unnecessary self-judgment and criticism based on the opinions of others. This is how I choose to define it, and in relation to my own personal definition, I am far away from where I want to end up, but I feel that my choices are moving me closer and faster to that place every day.

What do you remember about your first DJ gig?
Way back in high school at a house party. had my gear set up in the corner and I ended up making out with a girl and forgot about it. when I came back, people were drunkenly messing my gear because the music had stopped. I had a hard time getting it to start again myself, as I was one of the drunken people.

What’s the hardest professional lesson you’ve learned thus far?
The harder you try to please other people the less likely you will be able to please them. This took me a while to figure out, but it boiled down to the idea of following your own creative vision, or trying to conform to the creative vision of someone else.

Do you have a favorite all-time mixed CD or series?
No, not really. I’m not a big mix fan. I like to listen to original music from the original artist in its original context. Mixes are cool for road trips and parties, but when I do me some serious listening, it’s usually in the aforementioned context.

What advice would you offer someone thinking about entering the Discovery Project competition?
Just make the music that you feel inside of you. There’s really no point in imitating the current style of the week. People trying to be somebody else constantly bore me, musically speaking. The more original the voice, the more unique the music. A truly unique voice is the ultimate goal for any artist, in my opinion.

Last words?
Manhole covers are round because manholes are round, idiot! trolololololol…

Winning Track:

 

 

Winning Mix:

 

 

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