Artist Profile – Kravitz – (UK)

Kravitz has been on our radar for a while now. The Bath, Somerset based DJ and producer has been coming proper with some real stompers and we have been working behind the scenes for quite a while now to pin him down for an interview. These things can often take an age to orchestrate, but here we are. INSIDE DNB very proudly bring you some details on the man like Kravitz!

Welcome in!

Hellloooooo! Thanks for having me on board!  Yea life is mad busy at the moment, but I’m glad we finally got round to this. I appreciate you featuring me.

We’ve been chatting backward and forward for ages on various social media messenger services about getting this thing together, but you’ve just dropped an absolute smasher with your remix of the Paper Dragon track ‘Strawberries’ which made us pull our finger out. It’s a big track! Tell us a bit about how it came together.

I’ve been chatting with Jonathan Savage from Paper Dragon for a few years now. Him & Ruth Royall used to do the Paper Dragon show on SWU (a Bristol based radio station) and you could send in tunes for their consideration. They always supported local, up & coming producers and I was lucky enough to have them play a couple of my earlier releases on the show. Wind the clock forward to Summer 2023 and Jon asked me if I’d be interested in remixing a track from the new Paper Dragon EP ‘Amplified Nostalgia’.

I listened to Strawberries & instantly knew that was the one I wanted to remix. I was very honoured to be asked, but also a bit worried as to whether I’d be able to deliver something that matched Paper Dragon’s production level. I decided to just have fun with it and not stress myself out, and I have to say it genuinely was one of the most enjoyable tunes I’ve ever made. I’ve used Dr Meaker for mastering for years ( shout out to Clive) and when I sent it over to him to master he said “I think this will do well”,  which definitely made me a lot less stressed about sending it over to Jon & the rest of the group. Luckily they loved it and we’ve all been really pleased with how he tune has been received, culminating in a UKF upload on the 1st Nov.

Fair play. That is a fantastic achievement. You’ve only been producing for 4 ½ years, but have been DJing since you were 16 back in 2000 (readers who care enough can do their own maths!). What prompted you to get into making music after spinning it for such a long time?

I loved DJing as a teenager and  I would spend hour after hour spinning vinyl (I’m not a vinyl snob, but this was all that was available when I was 16-20). I lived in a flat with a mate & groups of friends would come around all evening & I would literally ignore them for hours whilst I had my head stuck in my decks. They seemed to appreciate the blends! I didn’t mix for a good few years in my twenties as I went travelling and focused on my career as an electrical engineer, but I got back into it again in my late twenties and early thirties, by which point a fair few of my old DJ mates had started making tunes. 

Two of my friends in particular (shout out Theo & Dubbz) kept going on at me to start producing, and although I was keen, I also knew it was a mountain to climb and required lot of time and patience. I started in early 2019 by trying to figure out Ableton and start jamming with a few loops, then suddenly Covid hit and with the ensuing lockdowns & furlough I realised that if I didn’t do it then, I was never going to do it. I absolutely threw everything I had at production during this period, watching as many tutorials as I could and making hundreds of really awful tunes. I was lucky to be surrounded by some mates who are really knowledgeable producers and they always helped me out and gave me tips and advice. Some still do to this day.

Did you find it difficult getting into the technology as someone slightly older than your average new entry?

Absolutely!!!!! I’m useless on computers, I’m just at the beginning of the generation where IT was starting to be taught at school & I’ve never really been a gamer either, so computers are not my strong point. When I’m in the studio with Son now I’m always asking for help with all the stupid stuff that should be easy (he taught me how to air drop hahaha). Luckily, I’ve got Ableton down now and can cruise through its functions with no issues at all, but it definitely took me a lot longer to get to grips with than I suspect someone in their early twenties would find.

Haha! Yes! I know this story well! You’re talking to a guy who is still flying by the seat of his pants! The music you make meanders between styles but is pretty unique. How would you describe your signature sound?

Thanks very much, it means a lot that you think it’s unique. My friends tell me I have a sound, but I think I’m still finding it. I never set out to make a certain tune or vibe. I literally sit at my computer and whatever comes out of me on the day is the sound and I just roll with it until I think I’ve got something. There’s usually always a point when I’m making a tune where I know I’ve got something good. It’s hard to explain, but I Just know that its going to be good. What I will say though is there’s a few basic ingredients that I like in my tunes….. clean snappy drums, 808 baseline (I love an 808) a nice atmospheric melody for the intro and a big vocal hook. That’s probably the ingredients for any tune to be honest, so nothing ground breaking there! (maybe, but you definitely do have a sound!)

You’re pretty well known so far for creating edits. These must be amazing fun to make, especially when looking at the broad range of tracks you’ve chosen?

I know recently that bootlegs/edits have gotten pretty bad press within the DNB scene, but I think they are a great way for up and coming producers to cut their teeth & potentially get spotted. Everyone loves to hear that vocal or melody they all know and love on the dance floor, so why not have DNB bootlegs? I must admit there are a few questionable ones knocking about, but if someone’s having fun and expressing themselves, who am I to tell them it’s wrong?

With regards to my own, I think I started off making edits of tunes for the same reasons I mentioned above. I used vocals from tunes I liked and turned them into DNB tracks as a way of honing my skills, and to hopefully deliver that tune that everyone wants to hear on the dance floor. My most successful edit was the Doja Cat – Vegas edit, the original tune was from the new Elvis movie soundtrack.

I was sat in the cinema with my girlfriend watching it and the track came on with that amazing hook “You ain’t nothing but a” and I instantly knew I had to do something with it. That edit ended up with three BBC Radio One plays (big up Charlie Tee), two BBC Introducing plays and support from lots of DJs who I’ve looked up to for years. I still get people come up to me now & say they play it in their sets, which is absolutely amazing and all you could want as a producer, and yes exactly, they are always fun to make!

When checking your label roster, there are quite a few influential labels that you’ve released music on. How have you found the whole journey from finished product to final release?

Getting tunes signed is the most stressful part of the process for me. I’m not the greatest producer in the world by a long shot and I know there are higher quality tunes out there than mine, but what I send out to labels is at that time my absolute best work. I put everything into my tunes & I really believe in them. I never send anything out that I’m only half happy with, so essentially you are baring your soul with your production then sending it off to industry legends to critique. Sometimes you get a tune signed pretty quick and its the best feeling in the world, but most of the time there can be a lot of rejection which you do take personally at first. I think I’ve learnt to not take it so personally these days, but it can be hard when you’ve given something your all to suck up a “no” or perhaps even just be completely ignored.

I’ve been really lucky that some great labels have been able to appreciate what I’m doing and I have to say that every label I’ve worked with have always been an absolute pleasure to deal with. It’s really exciting to have a tune signed, get the artwork through and then the build up to release day is a roller coaster of emotions! But I really enjoy it and feel grateful that I’ve been able to release with some really great labels at such an early stage in my career.

On to your original material then, and away from the edits. Do you have a set formula when it comes to creating music from scratch? Do you write with a certain label in mind, or do you just splat ideas down, or what?

I have never intentionally made a tune for a specific label, but once I’ve got something rolling I usually start thinking “this could be good for …….. or………..” I usually start with drums and then the bass and then I’ll try and find a nice vocal to fit in with it (this is usually when the magic happens). At that point I go back through it, editing the drums and adjusting the basslines to suit the flow of the tune. When I made Three Coffees Deep I started thinking pretty quickly that it sounded like a Bingo tune, so I got it finished and tried my luck by emailing it to Zinc. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that he would sign it, but he emailed me back the next day saying he liked it & would like to drop it on Bingo. I have to say that was a massive moment for me. I used to spin Bingo vinyl all the time back in my flat as a teenager, so to sign a tune to Zinc’s iconic label was a real full circle moment.

You are clearly a lover of fat, scrunchy synths. We are too. Is that something you enjoy in other people’s music too? Is it something you purposely create as a personal preference?

I take inspiration from all over the place and there’s lots of producers who I look up to and I guess emulate, but essentially I think if something slaps then it slaps. I do prefer the more roller vibes & jungle flavours compared to the more screechy and squelchy sounds that are currently going about in jump up, but that’s just my personal taste. Those deep sub basses with fizzy tops just sound so fat to me on the dance floor and I like to think I can give other people that “f**k off” moment I feel when I’m out and I hear a sick tune.

Oh yeah, that definitely shows! Every producer has a dream studio partner. Without upsetting anybody, who would be your go to collab partner if you could choose one for a weekend of making some serious noise, and why?

Now that is a tough one!!! I’ve been working a lot with Son for the last year and we just get on really well and have a great time making tunes, so I’m grateful that we met and happen to live so close together. I’ve currently got a tune on the go with Dr Meaker who is a DNB legend. I was really happy when he finally agreed to work with me, as I felt it was validation from someone who I respect highly. To pick someone out as a dream collab, I would have to say Dillinja. He’s just an absolute legend in the game and his productions are next level. Even his tunes from twenty years ago still sound as crisp & tight as current releases, and I have to say Big Bad Bass was such a big album for me. I nearly wore my vinyl out I played it so much.

Great choice! His sound is just HUGE! And who else would you say has influenced you the most, and in what way?

I think influence evolves over time and I’ve always absorbed what I could from the artists I loved at the time. Everything from De La Soul, Dr Dre, Eminem, Faithless, The Streets, Pendulum, Chemical Brothers, Andy C (as a DJ) and J Majik & Wickaman ,right up to recent influences like Clipz ( I loved Clipz back in the day also) Cliques, Kleu, the Dr Meaker live band, Kings Of The Rollers and many more. For me, a certain song or tune grabs me for whatever reason and I can’t explain it, but it just feels right and I can relate to it. This is how I try to make my tunes. if someone can really feel and relate, or even if it just generates some kind of emotion when they listen to one of my tunes then for me its a success.

You’re quite a prolific DJ too though and have played some pretty big events, not to mention your mini-mix on BBC Introducing West. You’re clearly get a lot from rocking a crowd?

I’m quite reserved and quiet as a person (until I get to know you), so I think playing tunes I love to people and watching them dancing and enjoying what I’m doing is a way of me expressing myself out loud when I’m not always able to do it in person. Curating a set full of fat tunes then shelling them out to a crowd is an absolute buzz and there’s nothing quite like the feeling you get when you step off the decks after a great set. It’s an absolute vibe.

Away from music, you’re a keen runner and have completed 5 half marathons. Are you mad or what?

I’ve never been great at football but realised at a pretty young age that I could run really fast, so running became my thing. I find going for a long run is a great way to relive stress and anxiety and these days I use it as a means of keeping my mental health in check. Sounds crazy, but I always feel my best after a good 5 mile run hahaha.

I totally get this, because I take a half hour walk every day for the same reason. The fresh air is fab for your mental health. Your stage name is a reflection of your Polish heritage. Tell us a bit about that?

My surname is Krawiec (pronounced KRAVIETZ) which means Taylor in Polish. For years & years I was DJ Krawiec, but I was lucky enough to have a mix featured on Skibadee’s “Saturday Sesh” live streams during lockdown one weekend. That was the first time someone outside of my circle of friends had taken any notice in my mixes and unfortunately the first thing I noticed was that he couldn’t say my name. He was really trying but just didn’t get it even slightly right, so I guess in a round about way I’ve got the legend Skibadee to thank for my name becoming Kravitz!

That is one of the best reasons to choose a stage name that I’ve ever heard! I’m pretty sure he’d love that. You lived in Australia for a couple of years too. How did you find the DNB scene out there?

I went to Australia for 6 months back packing and ended up being out there just shy of two years. I had the time of my life and partied a lot but it was mostly in the back packing scene, so a lot of commercial dance music was all I heard. Whenever I did hear DNB though it was always British classics and never anything Aussie, but that was down to me being in the wrong spots and not a reflection of their scene.

You’re back in the UK now though, and if our spidey sense is anything to go by, we’d say pretty big things are coming your way. Where can you see yourself heading, and what can we look forward moving into 2024?

Thanks for the kind words. I honestly and truly am just having so much fun making music at the moment. I’m not taking myself too seriously and trying to force anything and I just want to keep having fun with it and enjoy anything that comes my way (same here!) I’ve got a job that I enjoy that pays the bills, so for me producing and DJing is my release, or hobby even. In the next few months I’ve got a tune dropping on Love That Bass which I’m really excited about. DJ Ollie has been awesome to work with and has been really supportive of me, so it’s great to release on his label. I’ve got a tune coming early next year on Conrad Subs label Koba with a naughty Conrad Subs remix on the B side which I’m also really excited to drop. Going forward I’ve been working lots with Son, so hopefully we will be releasing through 2024. There’s also a great Vocalist called Chez who I’ve been working with too, so hopefully there will be some bits there too.

You are obviously feeling the old school revival that is taking place right now within DNB. That uplifting vibe is just so inspirational right?

Absolutely!! I think as DNB has started moving into the mainstream charts and dance floors it’s had an amazing side effect with the old school heads and underground legends pushing back a bit, by coming out with all this old school raw vibe music but using the modern techniques. This is amazing for the older generation because it evokes the memories of their younger years, but it also means the younger generation get a much more diverse scene with all these little sub genre pockets to enjoy. The 90s are back right now, not just in music but in fashion and even politics you could argue, so it’s really great to be able to make music using now using old school vibes that still sounds fresh today. I think that’s why I enjoyed remixing Strawberries so much. It harks back to the old rave sounds but with a modern twist. The whole Paper Dragon EP Amplified Nostalgia basically does this so go check it out.

Finally, drop the wisdom bomb on our readers before you go. What have you got for us?

I honestly think all I can say is have fun with your music, be true to yourself and do you and unfortunately, you’ve gotta put in if you want to get out. It takes a lot of hard work too, but its all worth it.

Kravitz, it’s been a pleasure talking to you and I wish you all the best for the future. BIG UP!!!!!!!!

FIND OUT MORE HERE:

Kravitz – Let Me Tell You in Kravitz releases (soundcloud.com)

https://instagram.com/ben._kravitz