BLASTER

MUSIC/DenISe J. Mallabo
Photos by Mike Vorrasi

Soaring HigH
UNOs exclusive interview with musician Jeff Kite whose music is a split between 80s synth-pop and something from out of this world.

ot long now I bet well be hearing more about Jeff Kite, a 32-year-old Chicago native and LA-based musician. His drive for music got him on board as the keyboard player (and occasional guitar player) for Strokes front man Julian Casablancas, whose tour promotes his solo endeavor. The tour has already ended, and now its time to work on his own music path. He is busy finishing an EP called Kite and playing alongside musicians such as drummer Alex Carapetis, Muses Dominic Howard, and The Killers Mark Stoermer in gigs. To categorize his music is a bit tricky, but this writer would like to say that its light, packed with synth and beats, its addicting and has hooks that will leave you humming along with it for daysdont say I didnt warn you. Lets get to know this talented being and his process for making music. At whAt point in your life did you decide to become A musiciAn? In high school, I was either 15 or 16. A friend of mine had a drum set in his basement that I loved playing, and I eventually got one of my own. Soon after that, I started a band with some friends. We were two guitarists and two drummers, which sounds like a pretty cool idea now, but it was only because we didnt know any other musicians. About a year after that, I took an electronic music class at school. It was around

then that I got into synthesizers and composition. So I switched from the drums to piano. hAs it AlwAys been your dreAm to become A musiciAn? if no, when you were A kid whAt did your pArents wAnt you to be when you grew up? It was one of my dreams. There were othersthere still are. Every so often my dreams change because my curiosity pushes me in new directions. But I always loved music. My parents just wanted me to make a living and be happy. you plAy A lot of musicAl instruments, which one would think youre most good At And which one would be the hArdest to leArn? Im probably a better piano player than I am drummer or guitarist or anything else. [The] hardest to learn? Depends on the person. Sometimes a person is just hardwired to learn a certain instrument, and their technique develops very naturally. Doesnt mean they dont have to practice. People assume that playing triangle or shaker or tambourine is easier than playing piano or guitar or harp or whatever. But the truth is that there is as much expression and musical subtlety in a tambourine as there is in a piano.

growing up who influenced , you to listen to good music? who Are your influences And why were they A huge pArt of your being A musiciAn? As a little kid I just kind of listened to whatever was on the radio or MTV. My older sister wasnt like Zooey Deschanel in Almost Famous, giving me Led Zeppelin records or The Who records or anything. Eventually I got into all those bands anyway. But looking way back, I remember listening to my dads Beatles records a lot. And I was definitely listening to pop music like Michael Jackson and New Edition. My first cassette tapes were Run DMCs Tougher Than Leather and The Fat Boys single The Twist. I think all those 80s pop and hip-hop beats stuck with me, which is why I was initially attracted to the drums. how did you become pArt of the sick six? I got a phone call from Julian Casablancas manager. Julian needed a replacement for the keyboard-guitar player quickly, because he had a show in Tokyo a week later. I was visiting my family in Chicago at the time, so I had to race back to LA and learn all my parts pretty quickly. We just kept going from there.

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every so often my dreams change because my curiosity pushes me in new directions. but I always loved music.
how wAs the experience plAying for JuliAn cAsAblAncAs? did it ever give you Any pressure since hes pArt of one of the most well known bAnds of his generAtion? I never felt any pressure. I guess Phrazes for the Young and all the other solo stuff feels so much like its own thing that I rarely think of Julian as the lead singer of The Strokes. Which is weird because Im a huge Strokes fan. cAn you site one of the most memorAble gigs thAt youve been pArt of, not necessArily with JuliAn And why wAs it so memorAble? Coachella was pretty special. So was the night we played in Chicago, my hometown. But there was a moment on the night we played the Benicassim Festival in Spain that Ill never forget. It was a huge crowd and at one point they started chanting, Reptilia! Reptilia! We had never played the song live. The only reason we knew it at all was because Julian had sent us a list of Strokes songs that he was thinking about incorporating into the set before we left for the tour. We had never practiced the song with him or anything. But there we were in front of thousands of people who were shouting for it. There was a quick little pitchers mound meeting where we were all like, Should we go for it? JP [Bowersock] smiled and said something like, Its gonna be a train wreck! Next thing I knew I was playing the intro with Alex [Carapetis], and the place was going crazy. That was a pretty wild moment. The song couldve fallen apart, but we nailed it and it rocked. At one point you plAyed keys, then guitAr, then bAss for the sick six, which wAs your most fAvorite thing to do And why? Its funny that people still refer to the band as The Sick Six. I think it was printed on one of the kick drums when we played The Tonight Show, and then it went away forever. But people still remember that name. As for the different instruments, during the Phrazes tour I was definitely a keyboard player. I had some guitar moments during certain songs, but overall I was playing keys. Then, when Julian started working Strokes songs into the set, I played bass on those. Those were fun to play. Everything was fun to play. during your tour with JuliAn, hAve you hAd Any memorAble encounters with some of the fAns? Nothing too strange. Everyone I met was super friendly. how hArd wAs it to mAke this ep? hAve you thought of A title yet? Not hard. I have a bunch of beats and demo songs that Ive written and Im constantly coming up with more. So the only hard thing was deciding which five to finish. The EP is self-titled (Kite EP). But Ill be releasing more music real soon, and those will have better album titles! cAn you tell us A bit About the process of putting this ep together? did you hAve Any help from your musiciAn friends? Like many musicians these days, I have a modest recording setup at home. Most of my ideas began there. But the writing process was different for each song. Some of the beats and melodies came to me when I was out of the house. The first recording of On The Run is me, at a restaurant, beat-boxing into my cellphone. In that case, I got home, programmed the beat, and then tried to envision the song as much as I could until I went to NYC to finish recording in a studio. As for the other tracks, they were all songs that I had written earlier this year. I basically told myself to stop writing new ideas and to pick six or seven songs to finish. As I was working on them, I played the tracks for friends, many of whom are musicians. So inevitably their ideas are scattered throughout the EP. if you cAn get two musiciAns who cAn 1) sing with you And 2) plAy Any instrument in one of your songs who would it be And why? Thats a toughie. Hundreds of people come to mind. Damon Albarn would have to be one. I like how he weaves different styles of music from all over the world with electronic music and pop music, in Gorillaz especially. Second would be Santogold. Her vocal phrasing is really cool and unique. Any plAns of mAking this ep A full Album? if yes, when Are you plAnning to releAse it? This EP will stay this EP. I dont have plans to revisit these songs in the studio. Im planning on releasing more tracks this summer and this fall. Probably as EPs, like four or five tracks at a time. whAt else hAve you been busy with lAtely? Ive been writing and recording mostly. I just finished recording some tracks with Vicky Cryer - a band put together by Jason Hill (Louis XIV) that includes Alex Carapetis (who you know from Julians band), Dominic Howard (Muse), Mark Stoermer (The Killers), and myself and about to head into the studio to record a couple EPs. One is a project that I started with my friends a couple of months ago called, Beat Club. The other EP is with a rapper from NY named F. Stokes that I've been producing some beats for. A few different releases this fall. I'm excited about all of them. if you cAn describe your music in three words, whAt Are they? Heart and soul. one lAst question, how do you keep your hAir fluffy And irresistible? Genetics. For more on Jeff Kites music, go to www. jeffkitemusic.com.

AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2011 UNO

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