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It’s very rare in this day and age to find new pioneers who work hard day in day out to constantly push the boundaries of harder music. Hard Dance & Hardcore’s newest superstar Kutski aptly fits this title and is without doubt the most exciting cross over talent to emerge from the UK in the past decade!
With his infamous technical ability, incorporating DMC-style scratching and mixing into every perfectly constructed set, its not difficult to see why he has earned the tag ‘the people’s favourite’, voted the UK’s No.1 hard dance dj in the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs poll and scooping up awards for ‘Best UK Hard DJ’ and ‘Outstanding Achievement’ in the Hard Dance Awards 2010 as well as best hard dance dj in the Hardcore Heaven Awards!
You are from the UK, a very important country for dance music. Do you feel The States are catching up though?
I think so! I mean you only have to look at history of music in general to see this trend. When a style of music becomes popular in The States, they export some of the biggest acts world wide! Think punk, metal, hip hop etc… The list would go on! Until now EDM has always been a predominantly European thing, but now it’s blowing up in such a big way, I think it’s going to be very interesting to see the effect America has on dance music in general!
Is there a difference you could point out between UK and US producers?
I don’t think there are any general differences that could be held up across all styles. It’s tempting to look at the explosion of trap music at the moment, Flosstradamus etc, and say this is the result of producers that are making EDM, but have grown up with the hip hop culture in America. But at the same time you have acts like Atmozfears from LA, who are making straight up hardstyle, with the same production style as the Dutch. So I think there are differences, but it varies from act to act, and no more so than any two countries!
If you could choose one track to make a person fall in love with hard dance, which one would you pick and why?
Wow, thats a tough one! To make it easier on myself, I’ll go with something pretty current and say Frontliner “Halos”. The vocal is totally original, the struct of the track is so beautiful, and you really feel the impact of the melody emotionally… Especially in an arena with thousands of other people. Aside from what makes this a masterpiece musically, it has all the right elements to make it a dancefloor killer, which of cause is what is most important for any dance music track!
Who is your favorite artist from EDM outside your own specific genre?
I really listen to a lot of different music, all kinds of different styles. As I mentioned earlier, I’m very interested in what’s going on with trap music at the moment, as this is so heavily influenced by hardstyle production at the moment, but also the early hip hop movement with the whole 808 thing. I’m obviously from the hardstyle scene, but as you can guess from my DJ’ing style, I have a great appreciation for the early hip hop sound and culture. So this seemingly unlike fusion of sounds is very interesting to me, and I’m currently listening to a lot of stuff from Baauer, Luminox, Yellow Claw, Flosstradamus etc…
Describe the wildest party from the last two months.
At the time of writing (early February), the last 2 months have been crazy! I’ve played everything from an underground hardcore rave in Germany, to an “end of world” party in Hawaii, to an NYE arena show in the UK, to a rave in Canada where it was -22 outside lol!! Just looking back at that makes me feel highly blessed that I’m able to perform at such an incredible range of parties all over the world 🙂
Have you ever felt scared while playing an event?
Of course! The moment the nerves aren’t there is the moment you should question your passion. Obviously some of the club shows you can jump straight in and be in your element, but I think any DJ would admit to butterflies in their stomach when stepping on stage in front of tens of thousands of people. It’s that mixture of nerves and adrenaline that I feed off.
What is the most difficult thing you had to deal with surrounding your career?
Balancing a personal life along with this career is always a difficult one. You have to spend so much time dedicated to what you do as an artist. You are always traveling, and when you’re not traveling for gigs you need to be in the studio, presenting radio shows, and working on a million other things, so this doesn’t leave much time for anything else! Relationships are difficult etc, but there is so much I love about what I do, any negativity gets washed away!
The most lavish event you have ever played?
It would have to be one of the big Q Dance events like Defqon 1! The production at that event is like nothing I had ever seen. 40,000+ people incredible stages! To put it simply, the closing show of Defqon, puts to shame the opening ceremony of the Olymipcs lol, and as a proud Brit, that is saying something lol!!
Is there a final thing you would like to say to our readers?
Thanks for taking the time to read my thought on music, the scene, and life haha! If you want to check out more of my work, you can subscribe to my “Keeping The Rave Alive” podcast on iTunes (or www.keepingtheravealive.com), and follow me on facebook, twitter, youtube etc… I’m easy enough to find 🙂
Thanks again Kutski for taking the time for this interview!
Thank you!
Kutski will be making an appearance on ITV Live The DJ Sessions February 23rd
Connect:
Website: http://www.djkutski.com
Facebook: facebook.com/
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