KJ Sawka

Interview

- Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

A: My name is KJ Sawka and I am a drummer and producer from Seattle, Washington. I’ve been drumming for 20 years, I’m 29 now and have been producing music for 10-12 years.
The live set is mainly about the drums. I play a wide range of electronic styles, from DnB, Breakcore, Breakbeats to a little bit of Downtempo and Techno. I use a laptop and a drum machine, pads and triggers. As soon as I start drumming, that triggers all the bass lines and other sound effects to start. My records/albums are more electronic sounding whereas the live is all about the drums.

- What do you prefer? Playing live or producing tracks?

K: I love producing tracks and trying to get them released on record labels for people to listen to but there’s no feeling like playing live though. At the same time, I have to put in the time to produce tracks before I play live so the set will sound good. Some people think that I play every single sound you hear in my live sets, but actually, there are a couple of pre-recorded samples, but not many!

- What’s your set up for live performances and what about in the studio?

K: Usually, I have a smaller size kick drum, to get a really tight booming sound, it’s pretty much the opposite of a rock drum set-up. I use tight snares and a floor tom.

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K: I use the bass drum and the floor tom to create those rolling double bass drum lines so I can use just one drum pedal and have more room for other sound effect pedals. My setup is slim when I’m on the road but when I have it with me, I have a variety of pedals controlling the laptop which is a Mac. I use Ableton Live and a SPD-20 rolling drumbreaker which triggers off the samples. It’s all connected to the laptop and sampler/drum machine, Kaoss Pad and microphone.

In the studio I use Battery, Reactor and Guitar Rig. Most of my arrangements are in Ableton and Pro Tools and I try to studio outsource my live drum samples because I can’t get a good enough sound from my home studio.

Youtube : KJ Sawka Live on Radio

- Were you ever in a band?

K: I am in 6 bands currently, but the solo drumming is probably my biggest gigging think at the moment. I am in band called Arisawkadoria which is kind of like a live sounding Amon Tobin; it’s very jazzy and DnB at the same time and this is doing very well too. Another band I am in is called Dabouge which has a great singer and we do a mix of downtempo and brokenbeat stuff and this too is doing very well. You won’t believe this but I have been working closely with a guy called Blake Lewis who came runner-up on a US TV show called American Idol! HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9-avrGTk9U" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9-avrGTk9U He is a beatboxer and singer that decided to enter this really commercial show on TV (which is actually one of the biggest shows ever in America) and he came second.

Youtube : KJ Sawka on the Roof

- What UK artists have you worked with?

K: I have worked and remixed a girl called Henta who does kind of Downtempo and Electronica music. I worked with London Elektricity on some tracks for them. I appeared on a track by Amon Tobin called The Killer’s Vanilla on his full length Foley Room album. We have been playing shows together whenever he comes to Seattle and he’s a huge inspiration to me. I have also worked with Dave Traxx, A-Sides and Nicky Blackmarket.

- If you could create the ultimate band, who would be part of it?

K: I would have myself on drums, Squarepusher on the bass guitar, Amon Tobin doing the mixes and some crazy keyboard player!

Youtube : KJ Sawka - Live

- Can you name any influences you have had over the years?

K: LTJ Bukem has been a huge influence on me as well as Venetian Snares. Actually, I’ll just list them; Massive Attack, Planet of the Drums guys like AK1200 & Dara, The Chemical Brothers, Hybrid & Richard Devine.

- Would you say that there are differences between the UK and US electronic music scenes and if so, what are they?

In Seattle, the scene is very dark with lots of Rock, Metal and DnB. House and Breakbeats don’t go down as well over there. I think it’s because it rains a lot there which I guess is the same as the UK. I think that the man difference lies in the roots of the electronic music scene. It lies in the hearts of the UK whereas in the US, the roots lie in Country music and Rock. It feels like this was where many genres of electronic music were born.

Youtube : KJ Sawka - Montreal