Interview: Kilter

Since exploding onto the scene a few years ago, Kilter has been at the forefront of the new wave of Australian electronic artists. We had a chat with the Sydney artist about his new single Fool For You, his upcoming national tour, and a sneaky album announcement!

You have just locked down a national tour starting in September, is there any particular part of the tour you’re most excited for you?

I’m excited for the whole thing, but I think I am most excited plus nervous for Manning Bar, which is the Sydney show. Just because it is the biggest venue I have tried to do by myself, which is going to be great, but it’s my hometown too so they’re always the most fun but also the most nerve-wracking. My mum will be there so the expectations are high!

Other than that I think the New Zealand shows will be really cool too. I have played over in New Zealand before but I have never been able to bring my band across, so this is the first time I get to go over with my guitarist and guest vocalists and stuff so that is really exciting too!

How is this tour going to be different to your previous ‘Shades’ tour?

The show in general has, I think, tightened up soooo much since then and grown a lot, not only in members (I never had a band back then) but also in all of the equipment I’ve got has probably tripled, much to the despair of my tour manager. So yeah, just bigger and better is probably the best way to describe it!

What was your inspiration behind your latest single Fool For You?

I worked with the vocalist Micah Jey and she did write in a couple of ideas herself, and actually this one was a Reggae style song, so she hit me up on Facebook and was like, “Hey, I have got some tracks I have written and some ideas that I have got, would love to hear what you think”. And it’s soooo lucky that I found it because normally messages can get lost soooo easily, I just checked out her ideas and really loved this one, and we worked on the track together and kind of grew to where it is now. It was an interesting way of working, normally you would have the beats first and then you would have to try approach the vocalist to find it, so with this one it was the other way around which is kind of weird.

Who is your biggest sound inspiration?

Oh that’s tough, at the moment I would probably say Mura Masa who is this young guy from the UK, I think he’s like 20 or something, but one of those ridiculously crazy, talented 20-year-olds! I just love that his stuff is really experimental and cool but also works within the sector of dance music. It sits within the right stage, but the sound he has is out of control, that’s been pretty inspiring for me.

You have said before you feel a lot more natural when you have an instrument in hand on stage, will you be bringing your keyboard or drums along with you on tour?

Yeah, everything! So I have got two keyboards and just locked drums down. It is kind of like a full drum kit now with snares, toms, symbols, and samples. I feel like one of those one-man bands with the bass drum strapped to their back and the tambourine on their foot with the harmonica, I feel like I’m balancing a million things at once. But even though that sounds complicated I still find that more comfortable than trying to DJ, which is something that I have never been able to do!

You’ve worked with some big names such as Porsches, if you could work with one person now who would it be?

Can I say someone I definitely couldn’t work with because they are dead?

Yeah, go for it!

This guy called Curtis Mayfield who is an old soul singer and I think doing something with him, or someone who is like him because that seems like a dumb answer because he is alive, or someone who has that really authentic, old 60s/70s soul-vibe. They wrote such amazing music back then, not only just the sound but also the actual songwriting was just incredible. I think that could make a really interesting cross-over!

Do you have any plans for a new album at the moment?

Without saying specifically ‘yes’ an album, yes I do! I have kind of taken the last six months off touring and have been locking myself into the studio, which is awesome because I find it very hard to be productive in between gigs. It’s been a good six months and I am sitting on more songs than I ever have in my life, which is awesome! There’s a lot of stuff I’m really proud of, so after the tour I will be locking myself back in to finish that all off. There will be new music even before that, I think I’m aiming to put out a new track around the time of this tour. It’s all going to be coming out soon, which is exciting!

What can we expect from your new stuff?

It is a little bit different from what I have put up so far, compared to the ‘Shades’ EP. Even the difference between the ‘Shades’ EP and Fool For You [my sound] has kind of gone further down that part so it is much more grittier and I think I have paid more attention to the sonics and soundscapes. I feel like it’s been a natural development over the last two years and my sound has grown with that. So yeah, I’m excited to see what people think about it!

Kilter Live Dates

FRI 2 SEP
Manning Bar, Sydney
SAT 3 SEP
Snowtunes, Jindabyne
THURS 8 SEP
HWLR, Melbourne
SAT 10 SEP
Fat Controller, Adelaide
SUN 11 SEP
Jack Rabbit Slims, Perth
FRI 16 SEP
Small Ballroom, Newcastle
SAT 17 SEP
Oh Hello, Brisbane
TUES 20 SEP
Bondstock, Gold Coast
Saturday 1 OCT
Yours & Owls, Wollongong

Get Tickets HERE