Camo&Krooked

The Austrian Drum & Bass duo, Camo & Krooked are smashing the scene with their current sounds. They are big news, with Grooverider stating that they are “”one of the biggest talents in Drum & Bass” and their Best Newcomer’s award strapped securely under their belts from the acclaimed Drum & Bass: Arena Awards from a few years go. BBM speaks to the duo about their success with Above & Beyond released in February 2010 and how they have since have gone on to win more awards for their productions and videos. Get ready for them to embark upon their Australian tour with the likes of High Contrast and S.P.Y who BBM has also caught up with this week. Things are about to really go off the scale for these guys.

Hi, how are you today?

Very good thanks – it’s already past midnight, trying to get a couple interviews done for the OZ tour we’re doing this winter.

What have you been up to this week?

We just came back on Monday from a long DJ weekend – we went to Leeds in the UK for a Hospitality show and San Juan in Puerto Rico. After that it has just been pure studio time so we’re tired already!

What is a typical week for Camo & Krooked?

Producing music during the week, travelling and DJing on the weekends, with a bit of sport and chilling in between.

‘Cross The Line’ is now out on Hospital Records, what’s the response been like to the record?

The response was really good, and it’s awesome that, even though the record has been out for over a year now, the tunes still sound fresh and people are enjoying them.

What did you want to put across in ‘Cross The Line’?

Well we wanted to produce a quite wide range of crossover EDM music, with the main focus being on Drum & Bass obviously, and to take Camo & Krooked in new directions with exciting fresh sounds.

How did it feel to win three awards in 2011 in the Drum & Bass Arena Awards 2011 for “Best Producer”, “Best Video” and “Best Album”?

It was a huge honour to win those awards and to see that a lot of people value your tunes, in which you have put in such a huge amount of work.

Camo & Krooked LIVE saw you performing a multi sensory show and using iPads, what drove you to this decision for a performance of this type?

We wanted to create a new and unique way to present our own music and Camo&Krooked overall. We arranged our own special Live versions on stage and had a really nice LED cage to go with it – it’s much more personal than only playing on your own and tunes by others on CDs.

How easy is it to utilize new technologies such as iPads for live performances? Obviously there was the birth of people using laptops a few years ago and now it seems insane that the iPad can have the same effect?

There are a lot of quite useable apps on the tablets which work very well and are much more easy to handle than you would think.

How did the Live tour go down? Are there any juicy gossip from the tour, did anything particularly funny or wild go down?

It all went really well and we always have good times and we have a family vibe going on with Ayah, Messy and later MC Youthstar. Sometimes we just got everything working in the very last second before we had to start, which was stressful.

You guys hail from Austria, what’s the Drum and Bass scene like out there?

The scene in Vienna is really healthy and there are a lot of good parties going on, beside that we have a few good international producers aswell – such as Mefjus, Body & Soul and Fourward.

How did you get involved in the genre and what attracted you to wanting to produce music of this kind?

D&B just has the maximum amount of energy of all EDM genres and there are so many different directions to go in it just really appealed to us.

You’re off to Moscow at the end of the month, what are the crowds like there?

Russia is always great, especially when it is a Pirate Station party – these are maybe the best D&B parties in the whole world, I dare to say.

You seem to be all over the place all the time, where would you say has the best Drum and Bass scene that you’ve played at?

There are good places everywhere on the world, but UK, Belgium, Australia and Austria are some of our favourite places to play a gig at.

You’ll be heading to Australia touring with SPY and High Contrast, are you looking forward to it?

Definitely a highlight we are already can’t wait for; Australia tours are always so good – nice crowds, friendly people and perfect weather while it snows in your hometown!

Where are you most looking forward to playing?

So many good OZ shows lined up, but Perth always feels a bit like home to us.

Do you think you’ll get a chance for any down time in between gigs? If so, what would you like to get up to whilst Down under?

We always try to hit some beaches and get some sun on the pale European winter skin and do as much cool OZ stuff as possible!

We must ask…where did the names Camo & Krooked spring from?

Well you have to write something when you write your first tunes. Camo comes from “camouflage” and Krooked from everybody’s favourite skateboard trick, called “krooked grind”.

Is there anyone you’ve noticed on the scene recently (perhaps up and coming) that you think our readers (and listeners) should be checking out?

Metrik is on fire at the moment and delivering some good D&B and if you are into french electro, make sure to check out “Lemaitre”.

Thanks guys! Good luck with the Australia tour!

Check out our interviews with some more of the Hospital Records family, including S.P.Y and big man London Elektricity!

Like dance music? BBM’s Podcast is chock full with some serious tunes!