Interview: Nosmo and Kris B from Nightshade Music

Interview: Nosmo and Kris B from Nightshade Music

8 October, 2008 | 3.22PM

• Written by: kevobrien
• Filed under: Music News: kris b, nightshade, nosmo

As head honchos of the soaring Nightshade Music imprint, Nosmo and Kris B. have been two of the busiest producers in the game as of late.

With the recent editions of top-notch artists such as Mazi, Pako & Frederick, Luke Porter, George Delkos and many more to the fold, Nightshade is quickly gaining momentum as one of 2008’s best emerging labels.

I sat down with the two Chicago stalwarts behind Nightshade, to pick their brains and find out what makes them tick.

Read the full, in-depth interview after the break.

While you have both done solo projects, you are primarily regarded as a production tandem. How did the two of you hook up?

Nosmo:  “In the late ‘90s, there was an annual three-day outdoor rave here in the midwest called Even Further. 

It was thrown by Drop Bass Network from Milwaukee; who were actually a Satanic crew. 

No shit, they put out death-core techno, and when you went to their events there were people wearing goat skulls and carrying flaming staffs. 

Spooky stuff but actually really cool, just for being so unique and trying to make the rave a total experience. I was heavy into industrial music at the time.

Anyway, my friends and I set up our tent, and not an hour after we set it up, some drunk asshole decided to drive through the campgrounds and ran over our tent with us in it. 

Luckily, he didn’t actually run us over, but it was pretty lame nonetheless. 

But we didn’t think to pack a flashlight for the three-day campout.

So we went to the tent next to ours to ask to borrow one, to try and salvage our tent. 

Our nearest neighbor was Kris and his friend Dave, sharing a majestic tent that boasted a bedroom, living room, and covered front porch. 

After hanging out for a while, Kris and I discovered that we were into the exact same music, knew some of the same people, and that we were nearly the exact same age with our birthdays just four days apart. 

We hung out rest of the weekend and then Kris invited me to DJ at a Virgo party he was throwing in Chicago a few weeks later. The rest, I guess, is history.

Your initial claim to fame was your very first release ‘One for the Road’ which was quickly snatched up by Sasha, who included it in one of his Essential Mixes. How did you guys feel when you learned about Sasha playing your music?

Nosmo: Well, we had always expected it...hehehe...just kidding. 

It was pretty amazing to have our first track so well received. 

We produced it on Reason 1, just trying to learn the software, and never expected anything of it. 

D:Fuse was actually the very first to start playing it, and then another great patron of ours, Nick McGeachin got it to Hope Recordings and many others. We are deeply and forever in the debt of those guys.”

Kris: Sasha actually got one of the limited single-sided white labels we had pressed, it was one of three copies that we made custom labels for. 

I sent it to him in the U.K. on a whim after getting an address. 

We didn’t hear anything back from them, and weren’t really expecting to. 

Then one day I get a congrats email from someone on my Essential Mix play… huh?!?! 

I had to look it up several times before I really believed it!

In 2002, I had dial-up, and I painstakingly downloaded the set to hear it with my own ears. 

Turned out it was an edit that he did on top of it, long before Ableton, which was a further compliment that he would take the time to make our track into his own.

You’ve been labeled by some as “masters of the genre” of progressive tech house. How do you guys personally describe your sound?

Kris: Man, running the label, I constantly have to categorize our music.

I no longer ask input because everyone has different ideas on it. 

Let me quote one of the artists on the label, Craig McWhinney, who brilliantly summed up my feelings on genres: “It’s funny how shit goes in cycles.... I’ve come to the stage now where I just shoot for good music, let everyone else label it!”

I honestly like all types of EDM, so it’s hard for us to stay married to one particular sound, since we’re married to the sea.

The challenge for us is making our stamp on a track, no matter what genre it is. As for the label, I think we’re finally settling into a sound all of our own.

Speaking of the label, earlier this year you undertook the creation and launching of Nightshade Music. How difficult has it been to find some of the great music that you’ve been pushing on Nightshade?

Kris: We’re fortunate with all the contacts we’ve made over the years - not just the bigger names, but the many producers and DJs that have gotten involved since we did. 

Much to our surprise, we’ve heard from many talented up and coming artists that were inspired by one of our songs, or Grayarea’s live shows. 

So when we got serious about starting the label, we had a strong base of talent to work with already. 

Now that the label has been out there for a bit, we’re starting to get some great submissions from around the globe, and I’m realizing just how many more producers there are now than ever before.

The accessibility of DJ and production software, in the opinion of some, is thinning the market, but I see it as a positive thing - more people can get involved on a personal level, which I think ultimately will help the scene grow.

So with that said, how do you feel about the surge of the digital DJ?

Nosmo: I love being able to DJ digitally. 

I’ve been dragging goddamn heavy ass expensive records all over the world for the past decade. 

While I appreciate the sound and feel of vinyl, I can’t wait for the day I can just show up to a gig with headphones and wirelessly access my entire music collection, right from the mixer. 

However, I have mixed feelings about the ease with which electronic music is made these days. 

I love that everybody can easily get their creative ideas out, but the market is overwhelmed by the sheer volume of music that comes out these days. 

It’s very hard to get through all the promos and have time to give feedback and even as, I hope, respected producers with a large discography, it’s still very hard to get your productions heard.

When you’re working together on a song, do you have a certain organizational model that you follow?

Kris: Haha… not really! We really let the creative ideas just flow. Sometimes Nosmo will get halfway through a track while I’m taking a nap, and I’ll wake up with a melody for it in my head. 

I try to structure the label, all of our promotion, and then all the administrative stuff we do, so writing the music is my escape from structure - but I am a German and a Virgo, so I tend to be a bit meticulous, even when I’m trying to let it all hang out.

What can I say? I take this music stuff seriously.

Working with a studio partner can sometimes be tense. Do you two ever butt heads in the studio?

Nosmo: The studio is usually fine, but after sitting in the studio swilling cheap vodka and PBR tallboys for six hours, things can get a little tense. 

We’re generally on the same page. Whenever I’m stuck, Kris usually has just the ticket that I never would have thought of, and vice versa. 

We don’t always agree, but we almost always respect each other’s creative ideas.

Kris: Yep, I would have to say that when we’re knee deep in music, it’s probably the only time we could simultaneously be called well-adjusted, level headed people who are pleasant to be around.

What software are you currently using to produce?

Nosmo:  We’re loving Ableton Live 7. 

We’ve been working with Live since the first beta version, and after trying many of the other platforms, Ableton is just the easiest to get around. 

We do our final mastering with wav plug-ins in Sony SoundForge. 

I know, I know, Logic is the ‘right way’ to make beats. Well, poo-poo to you studio snobs. We use whatever it takes to get the job done.

Kris:  Our productivity tripled when we switched over to Live from Nuendo/Cubase as our main sequencing platform. 

It just lends itself to our creative process efficiently. 

I’m a stubborn bastard, and I was a tough sell at first, but now I love it.

Live 7 is 64-bit, and all of the plug-ins support 24-bit processing, so the quality we’ve been able to get working nearly 100% in the digital realm is really amazing. 

And there’s the added convenience of using the parts of all of our Ableton projects for our live show.

Ok, now a quick game of ‘This or That’....Grey Goose or Stoli?

Nosmo: Usually Seagrams ‘cause it’s $13.99 a handle at our local supermarket, plus if you send in the receipts for three bottles you get $10 back. 

The only problem is that you can only get that discount once per adult per household so we’ve been putting them in relatives’ names. Yes, we’re frugal around here. 

But, if we get a drink ticket at the club definitely Goose.

Traktor or Serato?

Nosmo: I’m very familiar with Traktor, but I’d love to get more into Serato, since so many people swear by it.

Kris: I’m getting one of the new Pioneer CDJ-400s as part of our live show. It can be used as a CD player, a midi controller, and a native controller for Serato. So for my DJ sets, I think Serato will be my future.

Obama or McCain?

Both:  Obama! Obama! Obama!

Favorite party city?

Nosmo: Berlin.

Kris: I think it’s become NYC. I always get into some weird “only in New York” kinda experience there.

Boobs or butts?

Nosmo: “To quote our great friend Carlos here in Chi - imagine this with a thick Columbian accent - “Bro, I’m equal opportunity, but fucking a girl with no ass is like fucking a cat!” I think that says it all.

Kris: There’s no need for semantics, what I like has little to do with it, I’m not getting any younger – equal opportunity!

Blondes or Brunettes?

Nosmo: Brunettes are definitely preferred, but if a girl is desperate, drunk, or lowly enough to go slumming with either of us, who are we to judge?!

Kris: Preferably not bald? Nah fuck it, ya can’t knock it till ya try it.

New York or L.A.?

Nosmo: L.A.

Kris:  Both in moderation… my liver!

Sasha or Digweed?

Nosmo: That’s a tough one.  Over the years, I’ve leaned back and forth between the two, depending on what they were playing at the time. 

Originally Sasha back in the late ‘90s trance days, then Diggers when stuff got a bit deeper. 

Now I’m kinda leaning towards Diggers ‘cause (and I’m sure I’ll be chastised for saying this) but I wasn’t floored by ‘Invol2ver’. 

Gotta give props to both for helping our music careers, though. 

Sasha featured ‘One For the Road’ on his Delta Heavy mix and then not long after that Digweed played a live Grayarea set on his Kiss 100 show. We are forever indebted to both of them.

Kris: Sasha was one of the reasons I got into producing and DJing.

So there’s always a special association for me.  But over the last few years, I think I have more standout memories of seeing Digweed live. 

I’ve actually enjoyed hearing their sounds evolve over the years, and I really like seeing Sasha push new technologies and the medium. 

And we have one for you. Nosmo used to have this “Would You Rather” book, and the standout one was: “Would you rather fart confetti, or have a constantly moist left foot?”

You don’t have to answer that.

Great, um, thanks. Any exciting production projects in the works?

Nosmo: Loads. We just did a track for the 10th anniversary edition of ‘Dance Dance Revolution’ with Bill Hamel, and another for a Romanian Beck’s commercial. 

We’ve been focusing heavily on Nightshade Music’s forthcoming release schedule and trying to take on less remixes so we can have time to work on more originals.

Kris: After having 5-9 releases/remixes coming out each month for the last several months, I’m a little spent.

We’re happily planning on dedicating studio time to some new originals, and branching out into some downtempo and electronica, and letting our minds wander outside of the 4/4 125bpm box for a bit. 

Look for the NvK afro-rhumba-booty-tech project soon - we’re auditioning for side show performers now.

How about any big club gigs or radio performances?

Nosmo: We’re in the process of booking our winter tour. 

We’ll be touring with Thomas Turner, who runs Relentless Beats in Phoenix. 

We’re kicking off here at Vision in Chicago on Nov 22nd, and then we’re doing three weeks of live gigs mostly on the west coast. 

We’re just starting to schedule this but ideally we’re trying to do Omaha, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Denver, San Diego, LA, SF, Seattle, Vancouver, and Calgary (not necessarily in that order). 

We’ve played out our new live show here in Chicago, but this will be the first time we tour this new show. 

We’re really excited about it because we love to DJ, but playing live just has a special feeling. 

And ideally we’ll still be rocking some DJ sets at some filthy afterparties. 

I love those dirty basement after parties. That’s where you meet the most interesting people.

Kris:  I’ve got a few solo dates on the east coast as well.

I’ll be playing the four year anniversary party for Holosound’s ‘Citric’ parties at Vault/Element in NYC on Friday, October 10th. 

They’ve been good enough to bring me out every October since they started, and it’s always a blast. 

On Oct 11th, I’ll be making my Boston debut @ Rise as well, with Alex Fish from Holosound. 

Then making my way back to NYC, for Astro & Glyde and J. Swamy & Dill’s ‘LeSouk Sunday Sessions’, a party which usually goes well into Monday morning for me, and usually ruins my entire following week.

Editor’s Note: Also catch Nosmo and Kris B on their monthly”NvK Mix Show” on Di.fm Progressive Channel, on October 16th from 9am-12pm EST. They will also be doing a special guest mix on “DJMix.net Presents” on Proton Radio on October 24th, show broadcasts from 6am-8am EST.

www.nosmovkrisb.com

www.nightshademusic.com

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