Kris Menace - Menacing Beats
Kris Menace is championed by a lot of big names (Pete Tong, anyone-) And he’s remixed a lot of big names (Underworld, Air, et al.): it’s little wonder, then, that his debut album is rather a big deal. 3D chats to the German Italo producer.
Your debut album Idiosyncrasies promises three CDs of Kris Menace magic. Are you at all worried about following up such an ambitious project-
I just do what I like and what I feel without thinking too much. If you put yourself under pressure or start to worry about things, you start to copy or do it the way you normally wouldn’t do, which isn’t really a good thing for the development of yourself.
You’ve worked alongside some prominent producers, people like Spooky, Fred Falke, Alan Braxe, Felix Da Housecat, etc. Considering dance music’s love for aliases and pseudonyms, are there plans for any side projects under your Work It Baby label- Or any side projects at all-
I do produce a lot of other artists under different names, but I don’t like to speak about it. I do also have some new projects coming up, but I think at this stage it’s too early to talk about them. I’ll let the results talk for themselves when the time comes…
The track Scaler is blowing up at the moment, with people like Erol Alkan and A-Trak already championing the track, and no doubt thousands of DJs scouring for it over the blogs. What’s your position on your success in the blog scene-
I’m very happy about getting all this support. There aren’t a lot of people out there who get the respect they deserve. I’m in a very lucky position and I’m very thankful for that. I do like blogs and think they are great – the only problem is that they share your music in the best quality available and that is hard for the running of a label structure in the music scene. I see it as positive rebellion. Let’s see where it goes…
‘Italo’ and ‘Balearic’ are two terms that have been thrown around a lot recently, with varying degrees of accuracy. Do you take as much influence from early Italo artists and Balearic as most reviewers would have us believe-
To be honest, I like all kinds of music and grow up surrounded by different influences and love to listen to everything. In the end, I think I just do what I like without looking what’s hype around me.
You started Compuphonic, and you also own Work It Baby – what’s the main difference between the two labels, if any- Is there a particular vision you have for Work It Baby-
Work It Baby has a more definite house sound and the label is more for friends. I haven’t released any record under the Kris Menace alias on Work It Baby to date. Compuphonic is more the kind of playground for myself; where I can drop a techno track today and a breakbeat track tomorrow.
Is there a tour planned to coincide with the release of Idiosyncrasies- You have some European dates booked so far, are you looking to head to the US or down to Australia anytime soon-
In fact, I’m banned from those countries, thanks to fucking Bush. I’ve already had a lot of requests to play there, but I’m not interested anymore in messing around with government shit. If they don’t want me, I stay in Europe and do my thing. It’s a sad thing…
WHO: Kris Menace
WHAT: Idiosyncrasies through Compuphonic
WHEN: Out April
MORE: myspace.com/krismenace