(JT) Knoxtronica Presents: I'd like to start by asking you your name and where your currently out of.
Kastle: My name is Barrett Richards and I live in San Francisco.
JT: I'm curious on what got you started into electronic music and your influences? I have noticed that a lot of your music has a deeper side and I am curious as to what influences that.
Kastle: I got into electronic music when I was very young, pre-teenager even. I was lucky to stumble onto artists like Moby, Aphex Twin, Acen, and other rave music in the early 90s via the internet. Since then I've explored the production of many genres, but as I grew older I've definitely gone a lot deeper. My focus is on music that may be a bit esoteric, but that speaks to the soul, and is of a timeless nature. I try to find a balance between club and forward-thinking. Club music doesn't always need to be in your face, as loud as possible. I think a common goal for a lot of musicians is to capture life in music, and life has a lot of dynamics. I try to represent those dynamics in my music.
JT: I've seen you have made plenty of mixes over the time you have been making music. What kind of mixes do you love to play out the most at your shows? Does it differ from show to show?
Kastle: My live shows are always original and on the spot. My mixtapes are usually geared towards more home listening, where I go a little deeper. But what I play live definitely differs from show to show. Depends on the crowd, the venue, the party.. I've done shows where I play mostly high energy garage/dubstep, or shows in a tiny intimate bar where I play deep house cuts. I always improvise,. I'll go into a show with roughly 300 tracks in my Serato crate, usually have an idea for the first two songs and from then on its all about reading the crowd and the vibe.
JT: Who has been your favorite artist or artists to play with?
Kastle: I've done a few shows with Untold and he is one of my favorite DJs, such great sets. I always have a blast with my buds 12th Planet & Flinch... we are doing a big tour together in February. I've been with Mimosa a bunch lately too and we have a blast.
JT: Any heads up on what genres you will be playing in Knoxville for the Mimosa show January 26th?
Kastle: Oh I don't know what to call it... a whole lot of bass music, garage, 2-step, dubstep, housestep? Genre's are a big blur for me these days.
JT: Heard a lot of good stuff coming from you like the new "Technique" track up for free download on your website. Do you have plans for any new releases or projects?
Kastle: I've recently done a remixes for Kaskade, Treasure Fingers, 123Mrk, Jeuce and Atlantic Connection which are all in the pipeline to be released. Before I hit the road I'm wrapping up four new tracks; two are collaborations with Jason Burns of Cleveland and two are collaborations with iO from London. So you will be hearing tons of fresh new material.
JT: Who are some artists you are really big into right now and some artists people should look out for?
Kastle: 123Mrk, Jim-E Stack, Jason Burns, iO, 5kinandBone5 and Coni are all doing some really cool stuff right now.
JT: I myself have seen some of the craziest shenanigans at shows, what is the funniest or most interesting thing you have witnessed?
Kastle: In the early 2000s I was DJ'ing at a rave, and a dude on 9 hits of acid spiked the mixer to the ground. He got beat up by security, I plugged the mixer back in and it worked and I kept playing haha. Nothing has ever topped this experience yet, surprisingly.
JT: The electronic scene is growing and many very talented artists have rose from the cracks and it makes it almost difficult at times to be original and acquire your own sound. How would you describe your music and how would you say you differ from other artists?
Kastle: I think first and foremost you need to focus on sound design and develop unique sounds. I think a lot of artists go at it by mimicking other things they heard... things that are popular, which is why you hear a lot of the same stuff. Some days in the studio are me just making new sounds that ultimately inspire new music. Also, I think a lot of my sound revolves around my natural playing style... all of my synth leads and often times percussion is manually played live. The best example of that is my track 'You Know That I Know You Know', that I shot the music video for. All of those melodies were played live. In a good portion of my songs you can hear at least a little section that has some sort of "solo". I grew up listening to rock music back when guitar solo's were cool. It's about having those type of climaxes that just add to a track I think...
Music video for 'You Know That I Know You Know':
http://youtu.be/korn1wZdkrc
JT: What was the last song you listened to?
Kastle: This may be surprising but I am answering these questions while listening to Marilyn Manson 'Portrait Of An American Family'. What a great album!
JT: Is there anything you would like to say to your fans in the south?
Kastle: I'm stoked to share my music with you! Here's like 13 free songs for you http://www.kastledub.com/KASTLE.zip
Some links of interest on Kastle:
Kastle Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/kastledub
Kastle Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/kastledub
Kastle Soundcloud:
http://www.soundcloud.com/kastle
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