Please tell our readers who you are and what you do?
We're a duo going by the name Deafkid. We met in the early 2010's whilst working with the same artist (Ghostpoet) in the studio and on the road, but it took a few years before we formed Deafkid. Being both session musicians and producers the goal is to have a project where we can use all our influences and create quirky distinct pop music. In recent years we have worked with artists as diverse as Ghostpoet (Brownswood/PIAS), Emika (Ninja Tune/Emika Records), Will Joseph Cook (Atlantic) and female newcomer Pillars, alongside official remixes for Fyfe, VV Brown and Tall Ships.
How would you describe your style and genre?
Being able to write, record, produce, mix and perform a record from start to finish makes us quite unique in our field, there are a lot of producers with fantastic ideas that can get diluted through all the people having their say and those that go it alone can end up with a release that doesn’t sound as good as charting material.
With our new EP – Are We Deaf? we wanted to make it entirely by ourselves in our home studio. This was a first for us as we have previously invited in another producer as an extra ear. Our instrumentation is very diverse with samples coming from instruments we accumulated on our travels, the hooks for instance lead track Ethics comes from a re-tuned Mbira and tubular bells. The way we use our voices also sets us apart from others with Flo's high voice and French accent, combined with Chris’s more mellow British voice creating a distinctive sound.
Who are your biggest influences and idols … and why? Do you have any idols? Are you a super fan of anyone? (Dead or alive, musician or non-musician)
Always a tough one, we have a lot of influences. Chris listens to a lot of instrumental music from classical to jazz but has a soft spot for artists like Jeff Buckley, Mew and more recently C Duncan. Flo listens to a lot of music different music genres but if he had to name a few idols, it would have to be Led Zeppelin, Nine Inch Nails, Queen of the Stone Age and LCD Soundsystem as they all have a unique and distinctive sound.
What´s new right now? What should our readers know about that is coming up from you?
Having only just release the Are We Deaf? EP we’re concentrating on promoting that. We have an amazing video for lead track Ethics with an ensemble cast coming soon as well as live videos, a social media series called “Deaf Chops” where we play through the trickier parts of our tracks, a mixtape series called “Deaf Tapes” (recently featured by Kaltblut) and currently booking in live shows for early Autumn.
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What was the biggest mistake you made when you started making music and what would be the number one tip you could give to a newcomer musician?
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How do you get gigs? Can you share any tips?
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What has been your biggest challenge right now? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?
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How do you promote yourself? Do you have any specific promotion tips for other musicians?
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We meet again in one year. What has changed?
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https://www.facebook.com/deafkidband/