The first weekend of Igloofest reached temperatures below 20 degrees Celsius and saw a massive surge of attendees flow through Montreal's famous old port. Saturday night was graced by the appearance of three Dirtybird legends, Kill Frenzy, J.Phlip, and Justin Martin. I had the opportunity to sit down with Kill Frenzy and ask more about his recent work, latest album, and more.
EARMILK: To start, have you ever played a show in this temperature before or anything similar to a setting like Igloofest?
KF: No, never. This is the first time I've been here and it's the coldest place I've ever been in my life. I've never been in -20 Celsius degrees before.
EM: Does it surprise you to see all the Montrealers out there raving?
KF: Yeah, it's really cool to see everyone come out raging in good spirt, the open air vibe, definitely a unique experience.
EM: Have you and J.Phlip prepared anything ahead of tonight for your back-to-back set? Or is it much more spontaneous and autonomously picking music as you go?
KF: We've played before together so we really work well together. We didn't have to plan anything because our styles just flow so well. We definitely have similar styles of music. We've played in Miami, Detroit, and a few other places I think. A lot of Dirtybird parties. It's always amazing to play with J.Phlip.
EM: Would you say you have similar mind sets of when you come together for a live set?
KF: Yeah, definitely. It doesn't clash when we want to take it somewhere. It's very natural when someone start playing a song because it flows into each other. I don't really think about it.
KF: We only saw each other 10 minutes before her show, she came down from her hotel room, I came down from mine, and we went straight into the party.
EM: Do you feel Igloofest attendees are getting a diverse taste of Dirtybird talent tonight?
KF: We all have a distinctive style of DJing so I hope it's interesting for people to see our sets. This has already been a great start personally for my album tour.
EM: Dirtybird Records often release mixtapes or albums composed of several artists on the label, do you feel that single track promotion can significantly help build attention for each artist?
KF: It's very good for beginning artists who are not as well known. With the compilation albums, you might get to listen to new people you've never heard before and that really helps bring them up. My whole career really started when I did that "Booty Clap" track on a Dirtybird compilation. I have had nothing but good things since then.
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EM: You’re debut album Taylr Swift is one of 2014’s hottest records. How long did it take to make from initial idea to day of digital release?
KF: Well the first few tracks I made without thinking I was going to do an album. But I was thinking, maybe I should make something bigger. So I called Claude VonStroke, told him about the idea, and he said, "yeah man, go for it". I realized I had to fit all these pieces together and make it into an album.
KF: In total it took about six months to finish the whole thing. The one track I did with Christian Martin was when we were on tour in Australia at Bondi beach. We had fun with our laptops because he had these little speakers we were using to make music. That's actually the oldest track on the album. All the other tracks came months after that one.
EM: Do you think your work ethic and personal drive was much more focused on a bigger project?
KF: Yeah, it brings up your productivity. I was also lucky to not get stuck and be blocked from making anything. Sometimes it happens, you get stuck and won't make music for a few months. You break through that and make some special shit!
KF: Justin Martin is doing a new album as well, so I had to make sure I had mine out first before my deadline set by the label.
EM: The album starts very vocal orientated and light hearted before becoming more acid infused and techno toned. We’re you aiming to create an overall flow from one song to the next with the order of tracks?
KF: Yeah, I think so. The way the album is structured for me is a DJ set, it's exactly the same flow.
EM: Which song did you have the most fun producing?
KF: I think "No Panties". (laughs) That was just so fun, I was just making up names as I went. I did the vocals myself as well, so I was trying to get the inner girl coming out.
EM: Is there any sexual or naughty story behind the track or names in “No Panties”?
KF: One name especially, my girlfriend Sabrina. I had to put it in there on purpose. But the other names, they have nothing to do with anything. Except Hermonie, when I said it I didn't even think about it, I thought it was so stupid that I just had to laugh.
EM: What upcoming music, whether original production or remix, can you tell Earmilk’s audience about?
KF: I have a new track with Justin Jay coming up called "Momentum". We made a new track together coming out on his EP. It's coming out at the end of February to start of March.
