DM : The first reason would be that it ’ s fun . We ’ ve always been musicians first , so also the musicality of it – just the energy that you can put into it . The crowd feeding off of you , you can feed off of them and it affects the music . It ’ s a moving , breathing beast rather than just something programmed . That ’ s not to take away from whoever does what they do , but for me , I ’ ve always enjoyed performing from a young age . That energy that you get from the crowd moving through you when you ’ re playing and then going into your instrument and going back into the crowd and returning to you . That circle of energy is why you do it . For us , it ’ s just been a way of expressing our creativity and thinking about how we can do things different .
CM : Similarly , the three of you [ drummer Adam Tune and DJ Jr . Flo rounding out the trio ] write together and feed off of that collective energy . In your bio , you note that there is some heavy scrutiny while writing . Why is it important to break everything down continuously and to the barest level ? DM : I kind of like to think of us as an HBO type of thing , where you want to make sure that your programming is really quality . You write a draft and you rewrite and rewrite and you want to make sure that everything that comes out of your particular channel is at a level of quality that no one ever doubts what you ’ re doing . For us , it ’ s just been the way we do it . We ’ ve got three strongly opinionated chefs in the kitchen , all with different recipes and we all have to find a way to make something that comes out that we all can digest , to use that analogy . We just keep rewriting and rewriting and testing until the three of us are all happy with it . We have very high standards in terms of what we enjoy , so to get all three of us happy is always difficult . For better or worse , that ’ s our system .
CM : You guys have a collection of EP releases to your name now , Midnite Mass being the most recent . What is it about the EP format that works for Keys N Krates ? DM : I think , first off , it took us so long to finish songs , getting five or six songs that we were happy with . With the time that we spend on those five or six songs , you might as well be making an album in the sense that it takes so long to do that . So , we found that the short form of an EP is the best of both worlds . It ’ s not quite an album , but the listener feels like they get a finished body of work that they can sink their teeth into . But as an artist , you ’ re not sitting there struggling to finish 12 or 15 songs at a time . You can split those songs up into two releases over a year .
We also found , by the time we finished 10 or 11 songs , that might be a year , so the sound you hear on the album at the beginning might be different from the sound near the end of the year . That being said , we are now working towards putting an album together and seeing if we can do it .
CM : With such a range of influences and styles that you guys bring together , does finding
new inspiration and sounds become a job in itself or is it just natural ? DM : It ’ s natural and a job . Obviously you get into this business because you love music so I like to find new music . But a couple of years ago I was starting to get a little bored of finding new music , so I started DJing just to get back into the habit of having to find new music and that recreated my passion for digging for music . Right now , I keep looking for two reasons : one , to find a new song to play for someone if you ’ re out somewhere in a club or a lounge ; and two , just getting new textures and trying to stay fresh .
PHOTO : CARAS / IPHOTO
Shawn Hook
Shawn Hook is full of emotion and carries it with him down whichever musical path he travels . Some of these paths have led to studying classical piano , playing in a jazz combo , and playing in a disco cover band ; however , he feels most satisfied when he mixes these influences together , adds his own feelings and flare , and creates something that pops . The Juno nominee ’ s
52 • CANADIAN MUSICIAN