Kissy Sell Out on graphic design, coming of age, and Gary Numan

Kissy Sell Out talks about graphic design, podcasts and new album ‘Wild Romance’ ahead of his return to Sankeys this month.

Essex-born Kissy Sell Out is not your cliché native, instead he concentrates on the highs, the lows and loops. As a technically skilled producer and DJ, the British electro pioneer runs San City High; a label that champions his favourites. ‘I’m the biggest fan of everybody that is on the label’ he gushes, confirming that the ‘label’ is not at all a stigma; instead it’s a connector that unites people, enabling them to share their common interests all because of a simple sign or genre.

Watch a video of Kissy Sell Out's last Sankeys appearance below: 

You founded label San City High. What are three things you look for when signing an artist?

The main thing for me is that I’m really into them. I mean I’m the biggest fan of everybody that is on the label. I love meeting people that really enjoy music and their own ideas and therefore if you give them an opportunity they’ll just run with it. You’ll meet some people that do a track and they don’t quite understand the music they are making or the genre that they are, then you meet others, like the guys on my label and no one understands their music better than they do.

How important is a ‘genre’ or label to music?

It’s not necessarily important to always give something a name. Having said that, one thing that really fuels music scenes is mutual loves of quite niche interests. So if you don’t have a name there’s no word that you can spit when sharing a common interest. It makes life a bit more interesting. A lot of people moan about sub-genres, but usually the ones doing the moaning are not the ones making the music. I think it’s a good thing. I actually quite like it.

New album ‘Wild Romance’ was released earlier this year. What’s something you did differently compared to debut ‘Youth’?

It’s tremendous pressure on someone when working on their debut. ‘Youth’ was like a right of passage and ‘Wild Romance’ was a coming of age. The difference with ‘Wild Romance’ was I did all of it: it’s mastered by me, it’s mixed by me, it’s engineered by me - I did all of it. I think it’s something I needed to get out of my system. I knew exactly what I wanted it to sound like; I knew that I wanted it to be a mix of classical music with a mix of speed garage, because that’s kinda become my signature sound. Figuring out how to do it on the other hand, took the longest time – cause it’s not easy. Once I got the flow right the album did itself. Now I think ‘Wild Romance’ is the best thing I’ve ever done, whereas I think ‘Youth’ is a three star album. Even though a lot of love went into it, it’s not accessible as it should be. On one hand it’s meant to sound like Gary Numan but what I found was that people didn’t take the time to notice. Not one person said it sounded like him. ‘Wild Romance’ is very different because it’s aimed at people on the dance floor; it’s 50 per cent wacky, classical ideas, but also 50 per cent bangin’ bass lines. When I was doing the mastering I made sure it was as loud as it possibly could be.

Do you think ‘Wild Romance’ was more of a self-project where you had more control?

Not really. I think with the first once I didn’t understand who my audience was. I think I assumed they were people like me, and that was too specific. A lot of people didn’t get. These days I understand who my audience is. I’ve been dong it for five years now, and I’ve got my sound and crew and I’m really happy.

You’re also a graphic designer and often design the artwork for your albums. Do you think the design is as important as the music? Is Kissy Sell Out more than just the music?

I think it’s just as important. It’s a shame that it gets lost with mp3s. I love the way you pick up 12 inch records and they sound the way they look. One of the things I was really proud of with my first album, was it looked, the way it sounded.

You also do podcasts, how important are podcasts for Kissy Sell Out? Is it another way for you to reach out to your fans?

I like that it’s a word of mouth thing, people find out about them from each other. It’s vital really, especially since compilation CDs don’t get released anymore. Compilations have kind of died, when I was growing up it was about underground DJs doing underground CDs but because CD sales are so poor these days it doesn’t really work out anymore.

A lot of successful creatives emerge from Central Saint Martins College. Has the school had a big impact on where you are today? You studied graphic design, which, is obviously different to music.

You say that but the thing is, the difference between graphic design and art is that art is about provoking ideas where as graphic design is about communicating a specific message to people. Electro literally is graphic design because if you wanna do a track that is about something you design it in a specific way. The visual element is just as important as the audio element.

Would the music industry be better or worse without the Internet?

It would be worse because we get a lot of vibrant ideas from the Internet.

You don’t think it stifles creative output?

Independents are struggling because they can’t now do stupid ego massaging things, like their own line of trainers. It’s a slight shame but the records are better, more people are making them. A lot of people talk about over saturation and there probably is that, but it’s probably always been like that. It’s when you encourage as many people as possible to do their thing that you get the more talented people breaking through in a bigger number. I think it’s great. If the Internet wasn’t here something else would be here. Though people would definitely buy more records if the Internet weren’t around.

You know how to play a number of instruments. Is there someone from your youth that had a big impact on your musical direction today?

I’m a massive John Martin fan. He was a folk artist who recently passed away. Go on YouTube and type in John Martin ‘Small Hours’, he’s basically playing an acoustic guitar with fixed pedals, it sounds like your listening to a violin. I’m very inspired by that; I love not knowing how music is made.

Last song you listened to?

I listen to dance music all the time so I do a lot of little mixes for myself, which is the same song playing for 20 minutes. The most recent one I did it with was ‘Morning Dew’ by Robert Plant from Led Zepplin. I’ve just looped the start and it’s so beautiful.

First album you bought?

First tape I ever got was Dance Zone ’94. My mum bought it for me!

Interview by: Jasmine Phull

Catch Kissy Sell Out at Sankeys on Friday 23rd September. Tickets are available through Skiddle below. 

Tickets are no longer available for this event