CH.89: If you were to categorize or describe the style of your music, what would it be and why?
QK: Synth Pop. It was never really meant to be that, but after playing guitar in my previous band, I wanted to try something different. I bought a broken Juno 106 from a friend of mine, fixed it and started teaching myself how to play keyboard.
CH.89: Where do you draw your inspiration from?
QK: Everyday life, I don’t think there’s one thing I draw inspiration from. It’s just a collection of snippets from my life, whether that’s love, work, art, depression. It all finds it’s way into our songs one way or another. From chord progression to lyrics.
CH.89: What made you want to start a band and how did you come up with the band name?
QK: Well everyone in the band has been playing music for years, in different bands or together. We’ve all made our rounds writing with other people, and I had always wanted to play with these guys eventually. It all worked out and we’re happy it did. I chose the name Quiet Kids, because after touring with my previous band, everyone we met would comment about how quiet we were. We were always observing and just listening, unless you got to really know us then we were talkative with each other. We were just like a tight knit family, and if you were lucky to get to know us, then you were welcomed into the family. But yeah everyone initially always commented about how quiet we were.
CH.89: Can you talk a little bit about what your creative thought process is like when starting a new album?
QK: Really the creative process usually starts with me diddling with chord progression, or a lead melody I had in my head. I’ll lay that down and a bunch of temporary parts and instruments that I think might fit We’ll then get together and go over everything and make the parts our own, or try other directions with the song. Lyrics and vocals always come last for me, that’s just how we do it. I’ll usually know the “theme” of the lyrics I want to write about, so that lends to the tone of the song, but don’t really write the lyrics until I have to.
CH.89: What would you want people/ the listener to take from your music?
QK: I just want them to relate to it. Life is complicated, and we’re all trying to navigate through it in our own way. If one person can relate to something I’ve experienced or said, then I’m happy with that.
CH.89: Can you talk a little bit about your lifestyle as an artist and what that is like?
QK: Being an artist is like always trying to one up yourself over and over and over, and never being satisfied. I go through my head refining and trimming ideas constantly, and can never really relax when it comes to ideas, but I would never have it any other way.
CH.89: When starting out an artistic task, do you think it is better to have a particular direction/set plan guiding your way? Or, is it better to act on impulse and go from there?
QK: It depends, both approaches will end in a good result usually, neither is bad. Sometimes you’re hit with inspiration and you have to get it done on the spot, you just have that urge. Other times you work on something for months because it isn’t quite yet there with the direction you have in your mind.
CH.89: What is one major lesson you’ve learned as an artist?
QK: To make your art for yourself, and no one else. It’s easy to want to please people, but as soon as you start doing that, you’re in jeopardy of losing the joy that you feel with art in the first place.
CH.89: Do you regard personal style & taste to be of highest importance?
QK: As long as you know who you are and you’re yourself, your style & taste will just be a part of you. It’s important to who you are, and who you are to others, but everyone has their own style.
CH.89: What do you consider to be the hardest thing about being an artist?
QK: Never being satisfied. As soon as we finish a song, we’re usually already ready to move on and write the next one. We love our art, but we always want it to be better.
CH.89: What is one thing you love about being an artist?
QK: Honestly never being satisfied as well. That’s what pushes us to be better. Once we have breakthroughs in our creative process because we weren’t satisfied, that’s when being an artist is really gratifying.
CH.89: Is there anyone in particular, any artists that inspire you in any way?
QK: Not really, I love all aspects of art, and I take from everything that I enjoy. There’s not just one specific artist I can think of that encompasses everything that inspires me.
CH.89: What do you think of technology in terms of being a useful tool for artists today?
QK: Technology really pushes what we can do as artists, people are doing things that were unthinkable just 10 years ago, even 5 years ago.
CH.89: Do you think being an artist allows you to view the world differently from those who don’t follow creative paths?
QK: It does, in a way. But everyone views the world in their own way, no one person thinks the same as the next. So yeah I see the world different than most people, but most people see the world different than me.
CH.89: Do you enjoy traveling? If so, do you have a favorite city?
QK: I do enjoy traveling. I’ve been fortunate to see a lot of the US, and a bit of Mexico. I just recently traveled to Puerto Rico. That was one of the most surreal trips I’ve taken. Everywhere you looked it was beautiful, even in some of the more run down areas we were. There was so much culture and this unique island lifestyle that everyone had. No one was in a rush, and it just felt like “you’ll get there when you get there”. So I would have to say Puerto Rico, no specific city, just because that’s what’s freshest in my mind.
CH.89: Do you have a favorite author or book?
QK: I haven’t read much in a while, but I thoroughly enjoyed Kurt Vonnegut when I was younger.
CH.89: Any future goals or plans for your music?
QK: Just to keep making it, I’d love to keep making music until the day I die.
CH.89: What does being an artist mean to you?
QK: It means I get to be myself.
CH.89: Any last words on the aesthetic of your music?
QK: Slow down and enjoy it.
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