INTERVIEW: Phoenix Keyz – “I’m Still Finding My Sound”

phoenix keyz when we were young

Following our recent review of Phoenix Keyz’s debut album When We Were Young, I caught up with the British EDM producer to talk about production, promotion and plans for the future.

How did you get into music production and build your reputation within the scene?
Well, whilst at college I was DJing at house parties and local venues and would always have ideas in my head of how I would have done parts of the tracks I was playing differently (if i had made them). I started making instrumentals on a music maker game for the Playstation which helped me learn the basic concept of song arrangement and composing melodies. From there I then got my own PC and a copy of FL Studio and used YouTube tutorials to learn different things along the way. I started out making R&B/rap beats and collaborating with artists via Myspace.

So how important do you think social media is for electronic music?
I think social media is vital for building a fanbase, interacting with them and constantly reaching new audiences, all from the comfort of a laptop. With the multitude of social media platforms now available, each with their own unique advantages, you’d have to be crazy to not maximize their potential. It’s all well and good to have great songs but you really need people to hear them so you can gain exposure, and social media is the quickest, cheapest and easiest way to do that.

What would your killer tip be in terms of promotion?

It’s obviously vital to have the social media side of things on lock, but branding is just as important. It’s no good blitzing out campaigns across social media if artwork etc. looks like it was made in Microsoft Paint in 10 mins. So making sure you are a brand with a consistent image is important too.

And target the right audience. On Twitter, I have a promo account that is used to follow the followers of similar artists so they follow back and will be interested in my posts!

What was your first big moment in your producing career?
I think the very first big break I had was with Pharrell Williams’ record label StarTrak Ent.

Pharrell had signed a latino artist called Sergio Veneno and had been in the studio with him working on some tracks. My management made contact and secured a collaboration with me and Veneno and we made a great track together called ‘Hey Mami’.

That then led to another collaboration between me and Veneno called ‘Be The One’, but we also had a singer named Uness singing on the record. Uness was signed by Ryan Leslie who was working closely with Bad Boy Records and P. Diddy. He was responsible for Cassie’s first hit ‘Me & U’.

When listening to your album, I could sense that you were dipping your toes in a lot of different genres. How did this approach work out for you and what were your favourite tracks to work on?
For me, I have to make what comes from within. If I can hear a melody in my head and cant get rid of it, I need to make it. I wanted to be able to have songs on the album that had different vibes and crossed genres but ultimately, it’s all electronic music to dance to and I feel everything has my style and sound to it. I don’t necessary like being pigeon holed but I guess I’m still finding ‘my sound’. The two tropical house style tracks were possibly my favorite to make and that’s because of the complexity and variety of sounds used to make what you hear in the final versions.

And finally, what are your plans for the future?
We’re going to be shooting a video for the debut single ‘Kill It’ later this year which I’m looking forward to. There will be a few more singles released from the album and some new stuff that’s already underway which I’m really excited about!

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