Artist Profile: Hertz Donut

Hertz Donut is an electronic music production duo consisting of Mitch Mckinnon (Apatchi Sound) and Tim Lange (CrashCourse). The Electric Love team caught up with the boys at FlowFest in North Vancouver to ask a couple questions about their experiences, their goals, and their craft.

Electric Love: Can you tell us about your previous festival experience?

Mitch: Well, we have lived in British Columbia our whole lives so we kind of were raised around the whole West Coast bass music scene and were around festivals like Shambhala. We actually just went for the first year last year, so that’s kind of like our scene, that’s our passion, that’s our family and community. So we just live for that feeling and the festivals, we’ve been going to them since we were in our teenage age.

Tim: Being in the woods is like the thing you do in the interior. (laughs)

 Electric Love: Do you have a good tour story for us?

Tim: Oh we’ve got a good one actually! On our tour, our recent tour in February, we were, I think we were in Fernie, and we had our driver kind of abandon us at the end of our tour. And we ended up hitchhiking from Fernie to Red Deer because we had to play that night. It was quite a journey away and we were hitchhiking with all our gear on the side of the highway, in The Rockies. It was pretty interesting.

Mitch: Yeah, we’d had a couple pints the night before, so it was a little rocky. So if you ever go on tour: Be smart! And don’t party too hard before you gotta go on the road the next day!

 Tim: Absolutely.

Electric Love: What do you guys bring to the table musically speaking?

Mitch: Well, we bring a fusion of both tastes because we’re both prominent solo acts on the go at the time and both making such a different music together and on our own, so we’re always trying to, we always have a wide variety of music. So it’s kind of like one person likes a glazed donut, one person likes a jelly donut, the other guy likes the coconut cream, so like everybody would be like an assorted moxie that come to our shows, everyone’s gonna have their own little flavour y’know?

Tim: Trying to make everybody leave happy…We don’t try to make them, we just help them. (laughs) We influence them to be happy.

Electric Love: Cool! So what are you guys currently working on?

Tim: We just wrapped up our “Glazed EP” which came out on May 1st, and we’ve currently got another EP in the works. We haven’t named it...

Mitch: Yeah, we don’t even really know… We just got the debut EP out of the works, so it’s kind of like our presentation of what we’re about. The next EP’s gonna probably be a lot different in terms of genre because we like to bounce around and give everybody kind of our own little expertise in each little area. So big shout outs to Timothy Wisdom and Abstrakt Sonance for featuring on the EP, this debut one, so they’ve definitely influenced a lot of stuff for us in the future.

Tim: The West Coast funk scene has been a huge influence on our music, probably ever since we got into music I’d say. Yeah, we’ve got a lot of collaborations in the works as well with our friend Rapture, he’s out of Calgary—he’s a really, really awesome guy. We’re kind of just keeping ourselves busy to make sure we always have something on the go, and we’re very open to taking collaborations. Collaboration is super important, especially in the industry these days.

Electric Love: When you guys are performing a set, what do you think are 3 proper ingredients for an awesome turn out?

 Mitch: Good promotion! 100%. That’s the number one.

Tim: Yeah, good promotion is key. Energy is always a must.

Mitch: A good vibe and location too...having an accessible, great location that everybody can use and the proper amenities. Of course, you’re not always get that, but always try to accommodate the party who are, and the people who are the patrons, they’re the most important part. Like, you wouldn’t have the party if it wasn’t for them.

Tim: Yeah, you gotta cater to the patrons. For sure. It’s the most important part.

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/hertzdonutmusic

Twitter: @HertzDonutMusic

Facebook: www.facebook.com/hertzdonutmusic

Artist Profile: I Know Karate

Of all the artists we've profiled, I Know Karate certainly seems to have the most kick. Between his music, his stories and his songwriting philosophy, he shares some pretty interesting ideas and productions. The Electric Love team caught up with the bad boy of bunny rap in his studio for a chat...

Electric Love: We’re super excited to have you out at Electric Love this year! Can you tell us about your wildest festival experience?

I Know Karate: To be honest… I don’t really remember all of it. All I remember was basically it being like “The Hangover.” I remember taking, grabbing a Mickey, slamming it back, and not realizing what it was… There’s videotape of it, apparently. Apparently I was laying in the mud, I remember waking up dirty. I remember knocking off the speakers off the stage after someone else’s set… So basically I drugged myself without being cautious... Is that a good story?

Electric Love: Yeah for sure! So was this a festival you were performing at?

I Know Karate: Yeah, it was for APEX. So APEX was like basically still in the glory days of the rave scene in Vancouver when everyone went to raves. And basically, you could still make money—a lot of money—doing it, without much effort. It was out in Chilliwack, so in around the same area, that same area [as the Electric Love Festival].  

Electric Love: How would you explain your sound to someone who’s never heard it before?

I Know Karate: I would describe my sound honestly as raunchy sex—if you can even describe music that way. When I make a song, I literally ask myself 3 questions: 1) Could you dance to it? I would actually get up in here [in my studio]. Like, oh yeah, ok, you can dance to it. 2) If you listen to it on a long road trip, would you get really bored and sick of it after like 6 hours—like, that style? 3) And then third question is… Would you f*** to it?

Electric Love: What are you currently working on?

I Know Karate: My next release is an EP called The Orion Syndicate EP that’s coming out on Prison Entertainment in July. We’ve got so new much music, like 9 new tracks—it’s almost overwhelming.

Electric Love: You seem really busy making new music. What else do you have coming this year?

I Know Karate: Yeah, I have been pretty busy. I’ve been finishing up a contract because I also edit and compose and score for the Discovery Channel, so I haven’t taken as many bookings as I normally would have, but I’ve got some time off now. So I’ve got Electric Love, and I’ve got another festival coming up in Japan, one in Brazil, and one in South Korea.

Twitter: @iknowkaratemuzk

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/i-know-karate

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iknowkaratemusic

Artist Profile: DJ Jollay

As we continue to explore the many facets of electronic and hip-hop music - by sharing stories and music from our Electric Love line-up - we come to DJ Jollay, a Psy-Trance DJ whose passions and ambitions are evident. DJ Jollay shares some words and mixes with us for today's artist profile.

Electric Love: How long have you been making music? 

DJ Jollay: I've been DJing for about 3 years.

 Electric Love: What is your specific area of expertise?

DJ Jollay: My specific area of expertise would be mixing Psychedelic-Trance.

 Electric Love: What are some of the accomplishments you've achieved in your field?

DJ Jollay: Some of my accomplishments have been DJing at the Red Room, as well as at Club 560 in the taste lounge (Vancouver) for Organix, which is the longest running Psy-Trance night in Vancouver. Other highlights include DJing at the Hindenburg (Vancouver), DJing at Valhalla (Hope)- the only all Psy-Trance festival in BC.

 Electric Love: What are you currently working on?

DJ Jollay: Currently I am working on fine tuning my mixing and taking the steps towards producing my own tracks. 

 Electric Love: What about playing at Electric Love Music Festival are you most excited about?

DJ Jollay: The thing I am most excited about for playing at Electric Love Festival, is to able to expand the Psy-Trance scene and to bring the joy I feel from the scene to new people who may not know this kind of music.

www.soundcloud.com/jollay
www.facebook.com/djjollay
www.mixcloud.com/djjollay

Artist Profile: Goa Pete

Goa Pete is an India-born, Vancouver-transplant Trance DJ who plays an instrumental role in Vancouver's party scene. Armed with a desire to consciously uplift the masses with his blissful mixes, Pete contributes tirelessly to the Trance scene. He let us know a little about himself for our artist profile - check out Goa Pete!

Electric Love: How long have you been making music?

Goa Pete: 18 years.

Electric Love: What is your specific area of expertise?

Goa Pete: Progressive /Psy trance Music

Electric Love: What are some of the accomplishments you've achieved in your field?

Goa Pete: Label DJ for Alchemy Records - one of the most reputed trance labels in the world.

Electric Love: What are you currently working on?

Goa Pete: Currently working on various events till the end of the year with local and international artists. Also organizing a fundraiser for the survivors of Nepal earthquake .

Electric Love: What about playing at Electric Love Music Festival are you most excited about?

Goa Pete: Working with the team of professionals to bring together all different genres of music and looking forward to the top notch production.

www.goatrancemission.com

www.goatrancemission.org