Krafty Kuts

Interview

K: My name is Martin, AKA Krafty Kuts and I run two labels; Against The Grain and Supercharged. We have The Freestylers, Splitloop, Skool Of Thought, Ed Solo and a few other artists. I run a weekly Breaks night called Supercharged in Brighton and tour the world as a DJ playing all styles of Breaks and Hip-Hop.

- Where do your influences lie?

K: Old Electro, Funk & Disco, like James Brown, Parliament, Kool &The Gang, Egyptian Lover and many others. I do like the old styles of music but once in a while you will hear some modern music that is dynamic and it inspires you to try and push the boundaries more.

- Being both a producer and a DJ, which one takes more precedence for you?

K: DJ-ing probably takes up more of my time as I am continually trying to improve my sets and find new tunes to play. I do want to spend more time in the studio, but the demand for my DJ-ing is currently pretty high so I have to take out more time to perform.

- When you are producing your tracks, how do you go about creating your music?

K: When I am making music by myself, I use Cubase SX and Logic but when I do collaborative projects with someone like A-Skills, we use a lot of Pro Tools. This is usually for the more Hip-Hop side of things as it gives a heavier sound. It’s a bit complicated for me and I haven’t gotten my head round it quite yet but I will soon!

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- Have you played in Asia before?

Yes, I have performed in Bangkok, China, Taiwan and a couple of other countries. At the moment, it really seems that the Breaks scene is really taking off and I hope it continues to grow the way it has. Especially in the Japanese market as the listeners there have a good ear for great tunes and they really know how to do their own music well and they make sure it is always done properly. They put their whole heart into it and take their music scene very seriously. Europe has a lot of Dj’s and music to offer that side of the world and if we can tap into it in the right way then it would be incredible. It would be amazing to see festivals in abundance in Japan much like how it is in Australia, America and the UK. It is a slow process and things do take time to catch on in Asia but when they do, they have the potential to be very successful.

Youtube : Krafty Kuts - Bass Phenomenon

- How do you feel the internet has changed the way the music industry is run?

K: The internet has had a good and bad effect. From a profile standpoint, it has been fantastic. You are profiled around the world so people can access what you are doing which is always a good thing. Also the awareness of what you do is increased but that is where the bad points come in. The more popular you become, the more people start to download your music for free and that can kill a lot of the smaller artists. There needs to be an effective governing body on the internet that allows people to setup an account and download whatever music they want for a very small fee. There needs to be one server that uses other small domains to access information and music from the artist; hopefully this would control and regulate the levels of downloading more.

Youtube : Krafty Kuts - Tell Me How You Feel

- How do you feel about the current UK Breaks scene?

K: I think that it’s going really strong and that people like the Plump DJ’s, Stanton Warriors and myself are putting out really great tracks that people can really enjoy listening to. It’s a great form of music that has so much energy and is definitely here to stay.

Krafty Kuts : myspace.com/djkraftykuts

Written by Selph