Hailing from Norwich, Kontakt is one of the drum and bass scene's most versatile new-comers, having already secured releases on Diamond Audio, Unauthorised Audio and the legendary Serial Killaz imprint. He's made a name for himself as more of a producer than a DJ, his rolling track 'Mixitup' has been doing the rounds at this year's Rampage and Innovation in the Dam events, supported by the likes of Serum, Benny L and T>I.
We tracked him down for an interview to see what his plans are for the rest of 2019.
Tell us about Kontakt and what you’ve been up to lately.
I’m a drum and bass artist from Norwich and have been involved with the drum and bass scene for the past couple of years, but I’ve been producing music for much longer.
Music-wise, I’ve had a lot of offers for releases lately. It’s nice to see that people are appreciating my work and to be presented with opportunities that will ultimately help me progress as an artist. The only downside is that I’m not brilliant at balancing the workload, so I end up accepting a hell of a lot more than I can actually handle. But I’m a hard worker, so I’ll always get it all done.
How would you describe your sound and what's been your main influence?
My music gets quite varied feedback, so it’s quite hard to describe the sound one word, but it tends to reflect what I'm feeling in the moment. There are some tracks I’m really proud of but unfortunately I can’t announce them yet.
The main influence on my sound comes from local scene. A lot of the current artists have a very distinctive sounds and it's impacted the way I do things myself. A few artists have helped me out and have been beneficial for me in sculpting my sound. Some big influences include Vital Elements, as he’s taught me a lot and T>I has also given me good advice.
What made you start producing and how have you developed as an artist?
I used to listen to a lot of Eptic. He’s a massive artist now, but this was when the hype was around him back in the day. Listening to his music got me wanting to learn how the production side worked. Growing up, I've always had a musical background, I played piano, had guitar lessons and even owned a trombone. I’ve always loved music and it’s always been an interest of mine.
Later on when the dubstep scene evolved, I found it captivating and I was hearing sounds that you couldn’t get anywhere else. You couldn’t make that music using a piano or a guitar, you had to spend hours and hours crafting individual sounds.
I have ADHD and have always struggled to focus, but music really gripped me. I was able to give it my full focus and it was a good way for me to be creative and express myself. I could take whatever was on my mind and turn it into something. It really helped me out and gave me a purpose. I think a lot of other producers and artists would agree that once you get into music, that becomes your purpose.
What’s the local drum and bass scene like in your hometown and how has it been securing bookings in other cities?
The scene used to be brilliant around the Norwich area. There used to be loads of good events, hosted by some big names in the scene such as T>I, Oblivion and Serial Killaz. But unfortunately a lot of the clubs have started to close down and I'm not sure why? It happened at a time where I first started to achieve something with my music and right when I needed it on my doorstep, it just vanished.
I think it's gradually coming back and I'm hoping we’ll have some proper events going on in the area again soon. We do have a good festival though called Blueprint. There are a lot of big names being booked there and good production as well (shout out to Oblivion for putting that on).
In terms of bookings, I do alright but I don’t do an enormous amount of sets because I’m not overly confident on the decks. I’ve always said I’m more a producer than I am a DJ. I don’t own decks so I never learnt to mix that well. I spend all my time producing which better demonstrates what I’m able to do in the studio, rather than what I’m able to do on the decks. I have bookings and have had bookings but I’m not that confident in front of a big crowd.
Everyone’s geared up for your collaborative EP celebrating your 4k Soundcloud followers milestone. What are your intentions for this release and how has it been working collaboratively with other artists?
The collab EP is to test my abilities with sound design. I’ve been doing a lot of resampling with my patches by making something quite simple and then resampling, chopping, cutting and changing things. I have all these good ideas but you have to fine tune the things you know. The EP is an opportunity for me to really test myself and push my sounds out there, so each track is completely different.
I’m looking forward to getting the 4k EP out myself. When you are trying to pull out four collaborations as well as a single, it can be quite difficult to get everyone to get things done at the same time. With music, you can never really guarantee when something is going to be complete because it's all down to the creative flair that goes behind it. Once the creative juices start flowing, you can make what you want or as close to that as possible.
What are your plans for the rest of 2019?
To keep going and keep learning. I always aim to constantly improve my production and make a banger.
There’s so much more I want to say but I can’t give too much away unfortunately. I’ve got some big releases coming out, bigger than what I’ve done before and with tracks that I’m really proud of. I have a lot of upcoming work with Code Lost, which is myself and Ben Snow. It’s been a bit of a slow burner but I want to focus on that a lot more for the rest of this year. You can check out more of Code Lost here.
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