I'm Patrick Eckel, I'm 22 and I currently live in Brussels, Belgium. I was born nearby Strasbourg in France and used to live in Strasbourg for the most part of my life. I moved in Brussels in September 2016 to pursue my studies as a graphic designer. I completed an art design bachelor degree at the University of Strasbourg in 2016, then I went to the College of Advertising and Design in Brussels for one year. I completed this year, and now I'm at the ESA 75 to do a graphic design bachelor degree.

What do you do?

I'm surrounded by rap and hip-hop music since I'm a child, so it appears to be an evidence to make some music by myself at a certain point. I reached that point 3 years ago when I decided to seriously write some lyrics and verses. Before that time, I was just writing on my phone for fun. I released my first project, named "Le Jardin des Peines", on the 29th of January 2018, an eight-track project with four featurings. It's mostly slam music (between spoken work, poetry and rap music) but some tracks are mixing slam and rap music. I recorded this EP with a belgian dj called CEED. who's doing an amazing job when it comes to do the mix and the mastering. In terms of concert or live, I did my first one the 27th of October 2017 at the Green Lab, a bar in Brussels. I was the first part of Yonah Branson, Juicy, Seyté (La Smala) and Red'Out. That was kind of a big experience for a small artist like me. Now I'm waiting to do some video clips for the project, and then I think that some other lives will follow. I'm also currently working on a new EP, but rap-oriented this time.

What´s new right now?

I released my first EP "Le Jardin des Peines" on the 29th of January. Here you can check the first clip "Inconnue" of the project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86pv45c3-NQ

There's more to come with a bunch of new clips soon.

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Are you a superfan of anyone? How did you become a superfan? Do you remember how you become a fan and what turned you into super fan? Have you ever thought about why you´re such a fan?

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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?

One of my biggest mistake was the fact that I wasn't really confident about myself during my very firsts recording sessions. I didn't know what I really wanted and, at the end, I wasn't that happy about the final product. You should be confident and you should be able to went out of the studio with the product you imagined at the beginning.

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How do you get gigs? Can you share any tips?

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Do you have good promotion tips for other musicians?

As a graphic design and advertising student, I think it can be a bit more easy to promote myself and to know how to promote myself. It's mostly on social medias like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or SoundCloud. I think that the best media you can use nowadays is Instagram. It's the easiest one to gain some visibility, to share your work, your projects and your music. So don't hesitate to post pictures, stories, and like a previous advertising teacher told me once, over-use the hashtag to have a lot of visibility !

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Do you have insights on how to grow your audience on soundcloud that you want to share with our audience?

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What has been your biggest challenge right now? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?

I think my biggest challenge is kind of a funny one because it would be to do a live at Le Botanique in Brussels. Le Botaniste performing at Le Botanique, wouldn't it be beautiful ? It's a big challenge and I need to work a lot, I know that. But like it has been said, "If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough", right ?

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How do you personally discover new music?

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Once you discovered new music, do you tell others about the new music/artist you discovered? If yes, how exactly?

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What is your number one tip to improve your music production or songwriting skills?

The best tip I can give is to listen to music everyday. It sounds like a not-that-helpful tip, but I'm not talking about listening, but also understanding ! As a rap and slam music songwritter, I try to understand rappers I'm listening too, understand how they write, the structure of their songs and of their rhymes. Then, you just have to write yourself, that's the best tip I can give.

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What is your best tip for those who struggle with finishing their tracks?

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We meet again in one year. What has changed?

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https://www.behance.net/patrickeckel

http://www.soundcloud.com/patrick-slam/tracks

http://www.facebook.com/lebotanisteslam/

https://www.instagram.com/thepatou/

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Enter your questions to the artist in the facebook comment section below.
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