Young producer duo Makèz have recently released their debut EP on Heist Recordings, Different Planets. Fusing influences from disco, house and beyond, it’s a release right up there with any on the ever impressive Heist catalogue. We caught up with the duo to get to know a little bit more about them, their process and also asked for some advice for other young aspiring producers. Read the full interview below.
INTERVIEW
Hi guys, thanks for taking the time out to talk to us.. Can you explain to us, who are Makèz?
We are Kees & Willem, two friends and music fanatics. We met each other back when we were 15 years old. Back then, we started a musical journey together that we now call Makèz.
Over the last couple of years we made lots, and lots of tracks. We often contacted labels but for some reason every single time we got an answer like “sounds great, but not for us” or “this is not the right time” etc… As you can imagine this wasn’t very stimulating. Fortunately, this year one of our favorite Dutch record labels showed their interest. A debut EP on Heist Recordings, that’s a hell of a high for us!
Kees: After hearing Junkie XL’s remix of ‘A Little Less Conversation’ on my dad’s computer I knew I wanted to do something similar myself. I saved money to buy (yes buy…) Ableton Live and started to chop (or rape…) some of my favorite disco tracks and added house loops to it. I was so soaked up into the process of making new out of the old that I applied for a Music Productions study. In this period I had the chance of developing myself as a composer, sound designer and artist.
During the period of finding the right workflow and discovering ‘our sound’ we’ve always worked as a duo. This resulted into a unique workflow.
We struggled with the process of finding the right label. It literally took 4 years. So our advice is to keep trying, don’t give up!
Furthermore, try to get inspired by art you don’t know yet. Visit random concerts and museums, explore musical genres you don’t know that much about, and try and use that knowledge to create something original.
What’s in the (foreseeable) future for Makèz?
We are going to release a lot more music! Next to that, we’re working hard to present our first live-set performance at the Amsterdam Dance Event this year. Very excited about this!
The festival season might come to an end, but we are blessed with the diversity of musical events throughout the whole year. Not only in Amsterdam! Cities like Rotterdam, The Hague & Utrecht have exciting things to check out too. Last year there were over a thousand festivals in The Netherlands…. That’s a crazy number right? Big artists playing every week and festivals are competing to get your attention. It can be a bit overwhelming sometimes. But we try to see it as opportunities.
As mentioned before we present our live-set for the first time on ADE. This will happen at our own event Peak Mystique in one of our favourite clubs, Claire. We organize these monthly parties with a collective of talented DJ friends from Amsterdam. Our collective is playing next to Phil Weeks, Folamour, Dan Shake and Playing For The City (live) on Saturday the 19th of October!
However, we love record digging! We are always on the hunt for new sample tracks, and Willem is out there too often (€€€) for stuff to play at our gigs. He spent over 5 hours in Rush Hour the other day and came back with some diamonds. Mike Huckaby – Too Many Classics (To Be Left With Little Or No Protection) is one of them.
Barbatuques – Baiana (Du Chatinier’s Extended Mix)
We absolutely love the anthem vibes of Todd Terje – Ragysh. He creates a whole world without using many ingredients.
We like to close things off with a few of your favorite records taken from your record bag atm?
Klein & MBO – The MBO theme (inc. a great cover version on Rush Hour)
Jitwam – Honeycomb (Tartelet Records)
Demi Requisimo – SEMID002
Soundstreams – Love Remedy (on his own imprint)
Pal Joey – Party Time (Loop D Loop)
And of course.. Our new Different Planets EP on Heist Recordings.
