Keys N Krates Interview: SXSW 2010

Hailing from Toronto, Keys N Krates combines live instrumentation, turntablism and sampling to create an unforgettable show, which, in 2009, led them to be featured as one of URB Magazine's "Next 100." Spinner caught up with SXSW performers Jr Flo and Tune from Keys N Krates to discuss their unique approach to creating live re-mixes, their musical guilty pleasures and even a few of their vices.

How did your band form?

Tune: Greg and Matisse had a mutual friend, Abby, who knew that Matisse wanted to play with a DJ. Greg wanted to do a DJ/band thing, so Abby put them in touch. I played with Matisse for eight years before that, so I came into the group as well. After six months of learning each other's style and lingo, we performed in front of a live audience. It went really well, so we kept going.

How did you come up with your band name?

Flo: We (Matisse, Abby and I) sat down together one day, brainstorming and joking around a lot, to come up with a name. It just sort of came out, ya know? One of us eventually said Keys N Krates, and that was the end.

Describe your sound in your own words.

Flo: We basically take music that you may or may not know -- a lot of pop music -- and sort of re-interpret it live. We'll take an MGMT track and just transform it into something completely different. We'll come up with our own live composition, with keys, drums and a turntable. We've coined the term "live re-mixing." Everything that you hear happening in a show is being done on the spot, right in front of you.

Would you say that your music is a type of improv, then?

The thing that makes it different from improv is that we rehearse it. (The songs are) definitely compositions, as opposed to jams.

What are your musical influences?

Flo: We kind of listen to stuff right across the board. We love Portishead, Janis Joplin and Fleetwood Mac. We spend a lot of time in the car, so there's always a lot of music being played. Our road trips are usually about 30 hours, so we have time to listen to everything, including Fred Falke's dubstep stuff, like 'Joker' and 'Flying Lotus.' We're into the electronic beat-driven stuff, but we're also into the amazingly written songs by Fleetwood Mac. We're starting to slide completely original music into our base, so those influences are going into our sound.

Beatles or Rolling Stones?

Flo: Beatles

Tune: Stones

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

Tune: I gotta think about what I would want printed. You know what it is? It's Robyn! I like her new stuff, not her old stuff as much.

Flo: I don't think I have a guilty pleasure. Oh wait, I've got a guilty pleasure! It's the Dave Matthews Band.

What was the first record you bought with your own money?

Flo: Ice Cube, 'Death Certificate.'

Tune: Mine was the song 'Set Adrift on Memory Bliss' by PM Dawn.

What's your biggest vice?

Flo: Girls or food ... either one. If there was a hot girl or a burger in front of me, I may actually pick the burger, but it depends on how hungry I am (um ... for either).

Tune: Drinking.

What's in your festival survival kit?

Flo: Advil Liqui-Gels and Alka-Seltzer.

Tune: Booze and food.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while out on tour?

Flo: We played a show for the Olympics in Whistler. We played on an outdoor stage and there were skiers jumping through rings of fire behind us.

Tune: When we played in Berlin, where none of the crowd had any idea who we were, they just went crazy. Usually, the first time we play for a crowd, they kind of stare at us for awhile, because they're trying to investigate us, but this crowd in Berlin just got right into us.



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