Keys N Krates talks with us about pizza, Jennifer Aniston, and their upcoming tour/EP {Interview}

After a long first day of North Coast Music Festival I had the pleasure of sitting down with Keys N Krates after their killer headlining aftershow at The Bottom Lounge. Keys N Krates, a three piece band out of Canada have been absolutely killing it during this Summer Festival Circuit. Their new single ‘Are We Faded’ is slated to be released on their upcoming EP ‘Every Nite.’ If you have a chance, try and catch Keys N Krates on their upcoming tour. This unique ‘trap band’ is made up of (pictured below, left to right) Synth/keyboardist, David Matisse, drummer, Adam Tune, and turntablist, Jr. Flo.

How was your day in Chicago?

So awesome. Played two killer sets with awesome crowds

I hope you guys got some good Chicago food before your aftershow

We made the wonderful choice/mistake of having deep dish pizza. It was great

 At what point during your aftershow set did you realize that most of the sweat was the aftermath of the pizza and not performing on stage in a hot venue?

Flow: Uhh. The Whole Set.

Matisse: You just made me aware of that right now. Wow, that’s Gross.

Matisse: We have played in Chicago before so we have learned our lesson the hard way before. We tried our hardest to not eat the entire pizza this time

Flow: But seriously, when I was hitting the pads, I looked down at one point and I kid you not, there was like a piece of cheese on my equipment. *Laughs*

You’re Getting ready to Go on a massive tour with Gladiator and Thugli. What about this tour are you guys most excited for?

  So much, but mostly Getting to play all these new places that we’ve never played before.

I Gotta ask, do you Guys have any ‘bus rules’ yet?

Adam: Well we have a couple, you always pass ‘ass to ass’

Flow: No drugs, because we are canadian and we can get kicked out of your country, and never play here again.

Adam: No number twos on the bus

Flo: We think, maybe no banging on the bus

Adam: But were NOT SURE about that one. Definitely the rule we would all be happy to break

Flo: I think mainly we just want to prioritize everyone that’s on the bus. I mean it’s us, Gladiator and Thugli we all have to live on the bus for an extended period of time.

Adam: I don’t know how we’re Going to do it yet though, because usually if one of us ‘passes wind’ you open a window, but I don’t know how you’re Going to do that on a bus.

Flo: Tom Wrecks from Thugli and I actually talked about making a contraption that’s like a big hose and you plant your ass on it and it funnels it out the window *laughs* it’s a big farting contraption. It’s like a big ass-sized hose that funnels into a smaller hose and you just fart into the hose and it just lets it out into the fresh air outside the bus.

You could just try and hold it? Ever been on a date with a Girl and you’re not allowed to fart?

Adam: Oh God, the worst is when you finally drop her off and she closes the door and you let loose and she comes back after she forgot her purse or something.

Matisse: I remember one date I went on, I left the car to Get something from my house and I came back and the entire car stank and I said “What is that??” hoping that she was gonna lie about the smell and she was like “Yeah, I farted.” And I think that was the beginning of the end of that relationship, literally. Because of that chain of events.

 Let’s talk about some of your new music coming out. We’ve already heard “Are We Faded”, how does it compare to the rest of the EP?

Flo: It definitely comes from the same principles as using interesting drums sounds, emotional chord progressions, and pitched up – diced up vocals,, but it’s probably the “happiest” sounding track on the EP. The rest of the EP is much darker.

What did you do differently on Every Nite compared to the rest of your material?

Matisse: We really tried to make a mini-album as opposed to a collection of songs. We wanted it to feel like a bit of a body of work, as much as possible in 6 songs. We also wanted to make it more of translate to your iPod or your house more than our previous stuff, but still maintain the banging aspect for the party.

What did you draw inspiration from for this EP?

Tune: So much stuff. We are always listening to Guys like Timbaland who used such unconventional sounds and had weird ways of approaching club music, as well as Guys like Jay Dilla or Just Blaze cause they are like the Gods of rap beats for our Generation. Current music like Drake, Banks, Purity Ring, the Weeknd, Hudson Mohawke, Machine Drum, Cashmere Cat, WaveRacer, M83 also always played an influence on the ep in some way. I also listen to a lot of Phil Collins so that probably creeps into our music somehow *Laughs*

 You dropped a fantastic collab with Grandtheft earlier in the year. What other collabs do you have in the works?

Flo: Nothing in the works yet. Lots on the table.

What is each of yours’ dream collaborator?

Adam : Jennifer Aniston.

Matisse: *Laughs* If I had to pick, it would have to be someone like Kanye, or Curtis Mayfield if he was still alive today. I would just want to get someone who is like a real, hardcore producer like Quincy Jones or someone like that. I would want to see guys who are real producers and watch how they arrange vocals and lay down beats and stuff. Dre too! Just to Get into their sessions and see what we come up with.

Flo: I want to do a track with Just Blaze! He is one of our most favorite producers of all time. He’s the homie

Adam : On the real though, I would Get D’Angelo. I fuck with his lyrics

When it is just you three making a song, how do you guys work together to produce a track?

Adam: We just argue until a song comes out.

Matisse: What literally happens is that there is a couch here, there is a laptop in front of you and one Guy sits at the laptop trying to come up with something and the two other Guys will sit on the couch on either side and scream at you what you do like and what you don’t like until the Guy sitting at the computer Gets pissed off and yells at one of the other Guys to sit down and do what he is thinking and then the other two Guys yell at him and we just keep rotating in and out.

Adam: And then we mix it for another year, in the same pattern.

Flo: I think one of us comes in whether it’s an idea, be it a drum Groove or a riff or a core progression,synth sound, chopped up sample and if we are all into it, we fuck with it. And we all take turns fucking with it and if it manifests itself into something cool we work on it until something Great comes out. And then Jennifer Anniston comes over and she finishes the song.

What are 5 tracks that each of you are listening to right now?

Adam: I think we can all aGree on:

Hudson Mohawke – Chimes

S-Type – Rosario

Drake – We Made It

Meek Mill – Levels

Jacques Greene – No Excuse (YunG Gud Rmx)

Thank you so much to Keys N Krates for taking the time to sit down with us, good luck on your tour!

::Pre-order Keys N Krates’ Upcoming EP Every Nite Here::

Keys N Krates talks with us about pizza, Jennifer Aniston, and their upcoming tour/EP {Interview}