The two of them talked about various aspects of Kamixlo’s career, his recent release party, his influences, collaborations, identity, and his creative process.
Oliver Hochuli So I hear you had a good week. New music and everything. Congrats. How was the release party?
Kamixlo It was really cool, so many friends were playing and coming to the show. There was Endgame [see zweikommasieben #14], who I used to run Bala Club with. It was in a small spot in Brixton, down the road from where I live.
OH Very cool. So you played a few things off the new record or you just went with the flow?
K The plan was to play the record. Then, I guess we got kind of … I got a little bit too drunk or something and I didn’t play anything from the record. I just played a bunch of other shit. The release party was the day before the album came out so we’re gonna preview the whole album but that didn’t happen, but it was still fun…
OH How do you experience Brixton nowadays?
K Nowadays I guess there’s less going on here, it’s gotten quite gentrified. It’s full of boring rich people, there is not much of a scene or anything happening, but I’ve always still decided to live here. It’s my favorite place in London. I guess there are young kids doing some stuff but I’m not too tapped into that. I don’t really go out anymore, I don’t really listen to music too. I’ve gotten older, you know, and I’m not too aware.
OH So have you been clubbing? Was there a time where you went to clubs and really enjoyed it? When I read past interviews, it seemed like you’re not really into clubbing at all.
K Yeah, it’s true. I don’t like clubbing. I only go if I’m playing or a friend is playing or visiting. I’m going to be with people I know. I’m not really into being on the dancefloor and socializing. I’m not too social, I prefer if it’s friends. Back in the days, clubs had way more gross vibes. It was sleazy dudes, just that kind of energy. I didn’t like that. I much prefer going to live concerts. But I do appreciate clubs. I ran a club night for five years doing it the way I like it. It was way more musical and people could get lit and have their fun. I enjoy DJing and making people enjoy the club and dance and stuff like that, but it’s not something I personally like going to, you know?
OH Do you think the club as an institution can be a holy place? When I think of your music I want to hear it in the club. At least in some space where you can really feel it…
K That totally makes sense. The early EPs were obviously very club-heavy, but with a twist of noise and aggression. I tried mixing in the influence of the more experimental music that I love. I guess the music has always had the intention of being experienced in the club. But also, you could experience it in your bedroom, just alone in the dark or walking the street. I made “Paleta” to play in a club. Later songs were made to include into my DJ sets because I don’t really have a live show. I’m working on a live show but I don’t really have one where I could perform my music live and it’s something I’d want to do. But for now I do enjoy DJing.
OH I’m thinking of your EP King Kami [Bala Club, 2018], where there’s this one heavy track called “I don’t run from my demons… because sometimes I become them”. And then there’s the ambient one, called “NXB4VA”. Are you interested in presenting your music in a different context? For example in a museum, art installations, or galleries?
K 100%. I was literally speaking with my booking agent today because now that the album’s out I plan to do more live shows in different venues as art spaces. I want to be able to perform and show those different songs, the ones that people don’t know. I feel maybe it’s something that isn’t highlighted enough when people discuss my music. But songs like the ones you just mentioned, the noisier ones, the longer ones and stuff like that, that’s definitely something I want to put out there more. If I look back at my releases, it’s quite 50-50 of the club sound and the noise and ambient sound.
OH People imply that your sound is a mixture of nu-metal and reggaeton. Listening to your discography I get the impression it’s way more versatile…
K Yeah, that’s good. I’ve never been attached to a genre or one style. It all comes together. I hope that I am able to mix the stuff in quite cohesively. There’s more sides to my sound. I hope, when people hear of me or see something, they don’t just jump into the bangers but dive deeper into the projects, because there’s a lot more to be heard, I think.
OH There’s a lot of references to wrestling or metal in the way you present yourself. I read an interview where you talk about Jeff Hardy. A friend of mine always used to imitate Jeff Hardy and did these front flips…
K When I was a kid I broke my collarbone doing exactly that. Because I did this front flip off a huge window onto the floor. I was obsessed with Jeff Hardy. I stole a lot of my style from him. He used to have the colored hair and the gloves and all that. Stylistically he was one of the first that I wanted to look like and I ran with that my whole life. Now I have black hair, but I’ve always had colored hair, like Jeff Hardy.
OH Wrestling is, on the one hand, an art form, this theatrical thing with masks etc. On the other hand it’s a sport. What is wrestling really about for you? Is it the theatrical or competitive side that interests you? Or is it a childhood thing where there aren’t words attached to it?
K The first thing people say is, “oh, wrestling is fake.” I don’t watch it thinking it’s real. I love it for the matches. It’s like watching an anime fight. There’s so many crazy moves and it’s super dramatic. It gets emotional, if you follow the storyline of wrestlers, starting from the bottom, getting all the way to the top and getting these crazy opportunities to do these big matches. Some of the characters are super interesting stylistically and visually, it’s so beautiful. I don’t watch WWE anymore, but there’s a company called AEW and I watch New Japan. I like the more independent wrestling stuff because it’s way more crazy. There’s also deathmatch wrestling, which I watch sometimes as well, where it’s brutal. That’s the one where they have glass and barbed wire and fire and shit. It’s just really satisfying to me in every realm and I get attached to the characters. It’s like watching a TV series or a movie or an anime or whatever. You get really attached to it. And I respect it. I go to see wrestling live all the time. It’s so cool, so cool.
OH Visually or aesthetically I see a lot of parallels to your work. Once you described your first album Cicatriz [PAN, 2020], like sounding or wanting to sound like wrestlers jumping on each other…
K Yeah, it’s the impact of that sound and when I was fresher to production I’d be like: “Oh, I want this to sound like you’re getting punched in the fucking face or dropped on your head or spinning around.” I wanted to sonically recreate the feelings of what those moves would feel like, I guess I haven’t done that much anymore. Back in the day that was one thing that would always run through my head: to sound like something physical like a physical movement.
OH What’s going through your mind today while producing? Are you still on the same laptop from five years ago, still using Reason?
K Technically it’s still the same things. Of course I have different synths and I approach sampling differently now. I feel like nowadays there’s more of a concept and a theme to a lot of the songs. I produced the song “One More Night at the Line” on the new album because I was stuck in LA in a really funny hotel for a week. From my bedroom I could see this cheesy LA poolside party, just people being really sleazy and funny. I wanted to create a song that sounds like what this looks like. A lot of the songs have a bit more meaning behind them. Now I’ve traveled the world a lot more and experienced so many new things that I want to capture what this feels like. But I’m still on Reason, I still do it all on my laptop. I barely ever am in the studio. I literally don’t know if I made any songs in the studio. It’s always in my bedroom or at a hotel, on a plane or whatever. I really want to start getting into the studio more. I’m already working on the next album so I’ll see how I approach that.
OH Are you interested in other art forms? I read you’re doing a comic. Do you think music is really your medium or are you open to other mediums?
K It’s definitely my number one. It’s the only way I know how to express myself artistically. I do dabble in other stuff, but, nah, it’s always been music. That’s my main thing. I guess I said I am writing a comic, but that’s just something I’m doing for fun. I don’t know if it’ll ever come out. As a kid, I used to do videos. I had a YouTube channel, but it was stupid, like dumb kids content. That shit’s all disappeared off the face of the earth. But I think music is my medium. Maybe though, as I get older, there’ll be something that I like doing more or I feel I want to do but we’ll see if that happens…
OH Obviously, there’s a visual side to music. For example the cover of an album. I wonder if you’re interested in doing music videos? Or working more audio-visually in general?
K Visually, everything you see that’s attached to my music, artworks or merch or whatever, is 100% my vision. Of course, I have people help execute it. I do all my artworks with Daniel Swan, and he’s on the same wavelength as me. For the artwork of DEATHWORK [PAN, 2024], I’d be like: “Oh man, I just want this mask and this and that,” and then he’ll go away. I’ll just give him some moods and he would execute it perfectly. I feel visually he’s my soulmate, he’s the best. But music videos, yes, I’ve always wanted to do them. They’re so fucking expensive and I literally don’t have money, but there’s music videos coming. We filmed some shit for this album. It’s coming in the next few weeks, which I’m super excited to release!
OH Speaking of videos: You appeared in this Bladee music video the other day, right?
K Yeah that was fun. It was Mechatok [see zweikommasieben #16], Felix Lee, and me all together. We went to this place outside of London. It was this guy’s crib and he had all these nice sports cars and stuff. We were just hanging out chilling and they filmed it. It was funny for me, I’ve never really had to act. We had this really cool robot homer doll scene, but it got cancelled from the final cut.
OH How’s your relationship to Bladee and the Drain Gang? Did it happen through Bala?
K It was before Bala, even before Drain Gang. We’ve been friends since 2014 or 2013. I don’t know. It just happened. I guess the real connection to everyone was Palmistry [see zweikommasieben #14]. He lived in Brixton and I know Jonathan, Yung Lean, was a huge fan of him. At the first ever Yung Lean show in the UK, they would hang out together and me too, so we all just met. Everyone was just freshly releasing music but we’ve all stayed in touch since then. And we’ve worked in the past together. Bladee and me have a song from years ago called “Show You”. Whenever they play in London, I always go. It naturally happened from back in the day. It was a friendship based on just being homies and less musically, you know, we just hang out. It’s very sweet.
OH Getting back to DEATHWORK and the artwork. You changed your mask, didn’t you?
K It’s a new design. The old mask was designed by Nasir Mazhar. And the whole concept was angelico/demonico, the evil side and the angelic side. And I had worn that mask forever. I wanted a new version of it and Daniel Swan wanted to create it himself for the artwork. He made this fresh design. I don’t know if you can tell the details too well on the artwork. It’s completely different—different material, different everything. It’s asymmetrical somehow, it’s pretty and way more punk. The last mask was made so precisely and everything. Nasir Mazhar is a genius. He used to do the old Lady Gaga glasses. So I guess that was more precise. But then Daniel Swan’s approach is different. It’s more hardcore. It’s very different energies. I’m going to start wearing it for the shows coming up.
OH What is the mask about? We talked about wrestling a bit. There’s this theatrical thing going on and you talk about the Misfits or The Locust for example… Is it about identity or is it more an aesthetic thing?
K I would always wear random wrestling masks, there’s some old pictures of it. For the longest time, I hate being perceived. I like hiding my face when I play. It’s more of an identity thing at first, but aesthetically it connects back to the meaning of the music. In the first months I said it’s the visual representation of Angelico and Demonico, my first two EPs. I took inspiration from bands like The Locust. The Locust is one of my favorite bands ever. So it’s a stylistic choice but also an identity thing. It’s always been natural for me to want to wear them and play. I don’t feel like a weirdo in the club walking around with my mask. I feel at peace, honestly.
OH Is it on purpose that there aren’t many sets of yours online?
K For the longest time, it’s something I didn’t want online, just because there are special moments in my sets that I will repeat. Certain moments I save especially just for you to see it at the show. I don’t want it to be on YouTube. It’s fine if some people record it and upload it. I really don’t mind anymore. Honestly, I do wish there was a bit more footage of me playing in 2015 to 2019. It’s something I cared about way more when I was just starting. I wanted to be more exclusive, so you had to be there to see it. But now, I’m fine with there being more shit online. I’m not insanely happy with my current sets online, like, my Boiler Room—it’s so bad. I’ve done way better Boiler Rooms but they didn’t get archived. I wanna plan more recorded shit and I’m happy for that stuff to be out there now. There’s so many versions of my set that I do now that I’m totally happy for it to be seen. Especially because there’s so many places I don’t play. I would like for those who enjoy my music to have a set that they could see.
OH To finish, I’d like to talk about your day-to-day habits. What’s your work process? I read that sometimes you spend months on one song.
K I don’t have a routine honestly. I should do that but I travel so much for shows. I might do my own shows or I also DJ for my girlfriend, Isabella Lovestory, so I’m never at home. These are rare few weeks that I’m finally home. But my work approach is whenever the mood hits and I’ll make a song in a day or even a few hours and then it’s done. I just won’t touch it again. There’s a song on the new album called “Chaos” featuring Puzzle. I made that beat four or five years ago and I just kept working on it. I would always change the drums. And then even when I sent Puzzle the version of the beat, it was totally different. He sent back his vocals and I was just like: “Okay, let me rework this.” That’s for example a song that took years to make. I mean, he sent me his vocals a few months ago and I finished it quick. I needed his vocals to finally be comfortable with that song. Then there’s other songs in the album like “Godless”, which I did in one night. It depends, there’s not one schedule. But of course I’ve tried to work with music. When I’m home I feel I should be working on music.