Formula Indie Sessions _ Interview with KS

What is your earliest memory connected to music? 

First, thank you for this opportunity, and please excuse my English; it’s not very  good… Well! It all started with a guitar that my father had made with his own hands in  the Dominican Republic, shortly before we moved to Spain, although I don’t have  much contact with him now… I always remember it. 

How did your passion for creating music begin? 

I come from a country of music, heat, rum, and hot people, like the Dominican  Republic, merengue, bachata, salsa, street music, and I was always drawn to how the  bands made the music, the instruments… the timing, how everyone knew how to start  and when. But my first contact was with reggaeton. With a computer my father gave  me, I downloaded what is now called FL Studio, formerly Fruity Loops, and started  making beats, but I didn’t know you had to pay and I lost everything when I closed the  program after 9 hours… lol… 

What’s the story behind your current music project? 

How I must say that I first tried it when I was 19 or 20 years old because I had  acquaintances who already understood the programs and I wanted to know… but they  didn’t help me… well, after my first attempt my first daughter arrived and the game  changed, I had to worry about someone other than myself and I started working and I  left everything aside, in my mind they are just “dreams” – I said. I used to watch MTV,  Sol Music, and other music channels, and music videos almost all the time I had while  I kept “dreaming.” Then Covid-19 hit, and everyone was locked down. With that free  time, I decided to record a song for my son, Jhonny, who was a big fan of Dominican  Dembow, but it didn’t arrive in time. Then tragedy struck: my second son, Jhonny,  lost his life at 10 years old (but that’s another story). After ending up in the cemetery, I  understood that life is nothing. I spent my life wondering what people thought of me  as I stopped living, and I decided, at 34 (I don’t remember exactly), to get some things out of my head. Together with my brother-in-law, Maikel, we started dusting off the  ideas. We tried and tried and tried until we got a decent sound. I went to Seville,  Spain, to study a bit to improve (by the way, I now have three daughters), and I’ve  achieved a balance between my time for music and my family. 

How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music  before? 

My sound isn’t complicated at all… my brother-in-law and I decided to follow a Dembow  and Dominican Rap pattern in Spanish, but adapted to simpler words (we speak very  differently in my country), slang, street jargon, and street codes. I haven’t lived my whole  life in the Dominican Republic, so my style is a blend of Spanish from Spain, the Canary  Islands, and the Dominican Republic. We use dry, hard drum sounds, and if an 

experienced musician could play them on a drum kit, I’m not interested in elaborate or  difficult sounds. For our next projects, we’ll be incorporating a bit more melodic Rap. 

What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?  

Study… my people, you have to study. If you want to learn something you love, you can  do it on your own, but it will take you five years. But if you study, you might be ready in  two or three years, and you’ll have saved time to develop your music or any other  project. I got the urge to study very late… but I had to give it up to support my daughter  Alexia. “Not that I was the best in the class,” lol. 

What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?  

Well, it’s difficult… We have an electronic keyboard, a drum pad, and we use the DAW  FL Studio. This time, we bought a set of programs and effects (plugins) that replace  analog equipment and are cheaper, and you can get the job done. We also have an  interface, a microphone, good headphones, and monitors, but those are the last  things we use; everything is done with high-quality headphones. But my phone is the  main one. If I have an idea, I create the rhythm on a table or a bucket or something  and record it with my phone, and from there I bring it into FL Studio with clean  sounds. I do the same for lyrics; I record myself to remember the rhythm of that new  idea and adapt it later on a track. 

Which indie artist or song are you loving right now? 

I don’t have a favorite artist… if I like the rhythm at that moment, it’s my favorite to  listen to… it’s clear I have roots in artists I listened to when I was younger… but I  never became a fan of any of them… in fact, I’ve never been to a concert of any artist  who marked a period in my life… sorry guys, I promise I’ll go 

How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?  

My experiences have shaped 70 percent of my sound… I vent through my songs about  wrongs done to me, hurt, even by friends who aren’t really friends… but all that  started to change. We looked for a more cheerful sound… romantic at times, but  without abandoning the fast and easy street rhythm 

What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?  

Well… I never thought about it, I just started and that’s it! But really, I just wanted to  convey some messages, or rather, clarifications in the form of music, about past  situations. To be honest, Alessandro, I was even surprised that you interviewed me.

What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far? 

Damn! Dude (excuse my language), music is hard. You have to be persistent to get  something to sound halfway decent without a huge track record of experience. Music  also takes up a lot of time. You can be in the studio doing something and easily four  hours go by just organizing minor things… but being disciplined might be the biggest  challenge. We’re human beings, and the average attention span in this time is about as  long as a reel. 

What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at? 

I’d just like to perform, regardless of the venue. Obviously, I’d like to have enough  time to prepare thoroughly for audience, and to minimize mistakes, which will always  happen. But if I had to choose, I’d love to participate in the Latin music festival in the  city where I grew up, organized by the Spanish radio station Los 40 Principales. 

If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?  

Well! I have several from my country in mind as a producer. Leo Rd… El Mayor  Clasico in the dembow genre… in reggaeton I love Coscuñuela, he’s a bit like me (that  anything that isn’t important doesn’t matter) but I’d like to make more tracks before  knocking on doors 

Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)  

Thank God we have songs on all platforms… obviously we upload the videos to YouTube,  you can follow this link and thanks if you’re going to watch us.  

Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical  journey? 

Incredible, what a question… I have two answers. 1. My dream is to see myself in well produced music videos, with people supporting me, dancing, and to receive some  musical recognition, even if it’s just a vinyl record for 1000 plays—that would be a source of pride, etc. 2. The reality is that I just have to keep working at my humble job and keep  recording as much as I can, improving each time. I want to submit all the tracks we make  this winter for Latin Grammy consideration… just for the chance to do it and see our  songs at the top.

What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?  

Crazy (excuse the expression), if you have time, learn the story behind the songs (if you  speak Spanish). Get to know me, get to know my personality. Many people judge us  without really knowing us. I love spending time with my family, friends, and relatives. I  love road trips, sunsets, beautiful scenery, and animals are my weakness. I’m just a  regular guy who makes music with my brother-in-law, Maikel, lol, and we’re always  learning. 

If you want here you can add a representative Youtube video to insert below the  interview 🙂 

Of course, we did this work in Lanzarote, Canary Islands… We used artificial  intelligence combined with real footage, and the result is something I’m very proud of.  My team gave it their all to make a decent video.